Saving Grace

dogs can be bitten by foxes

Saving Grace: Vet’s warning over the curious incident of the dog and the fox Grace the Staffie almost learned the hard way how curiosity killed the cat, when she poked her inquisitive nose into a fox’s lair. The vet who treated the seven-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier that received deep wounds around her face, ears and …

Vets urge tortoise owners to microchip their pets

tortoise microchipping

We’re urging tortoise owners to microchip their escape-prone pets in a bid to reduce the number which end up in rescue centres every year. They may seem unlikely escapees, but hundreds of the reptiles go missing across the county every year. Tracking down the owners can then prove extremely difficult if the animals aren’t microchipped. We …

Call for canine cameraderie to help boost blood donors

 A leading Essex vet is calling for some canine camaraderie to help swell the numbers of dog blood donors at its practices. Cherrydown Vets, which is based in Basildon and has surgeries in Wickford and Stanford Le Hope, is appealing for dog owners to register their pets as potentially life-saving blood donors. An ideal donor …

Hamster Lavender loses leg after cooker calamity

hamster broken leg

When the Weeks family brought little Lavender, a four-month-old Syrian hamster, into our out-of-hours service, it was obvious she had caused herself some damage. The family had been left baffled when Lavender was not in her cage and had apparently gone missing from their Wickford home. However, after a hunt for the newest member of the …

Heat Stroke in pets

heat stroke warning for pets

Heat Stroke in Pets With temperatures soaring it is important to know about the effects of heat on your pets. With their thick coats they can find it very hard to regulate their temperature and this can lead to heat stroke. A dog was brought in to us recently suffering heat stroke after going on …