Merry Christmas from all the staff (and their pets) at Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital!
We apologise that large parts of this site are or have been out of date - the site was hi-jacked in late 2008 and content deleted - the site is being rebuilt from a more than 12 month old back up.
Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital is a modern, full-service facility providing all you need for the care of your pet.
Our new hospital opened in December 2002, making us sixyears old! Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital is the newest stand alone veterinary hospital in the ACT. Of course, Michael Hayward and the team have been serving the pets of Gungahlin since early 1995, so we are really nearly 14 years old. We're a small-animal hospital – that is, we look after cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, mice and rats, ferrets, fish, injured wildlife and small reptiles and amphibians. Find out more »
Summer 2008
Is your home a little empty? Could your life be enhanced with a pet? While 62% of Australian households share their lives with a furry, feathered or scaled comapnion, about 80% of those who don't would like to have a pet at some time. Is this the time for you? We have kittens available through our cat adoption centre. We've successfully rehomed more than eighty cats - mostly kittens but also a number of adult cats. Click on the link to find out more.
But this is also the season for animals to spend more time outside, and when warm weather pests are abundant. In the last few weeks, we've seen dozens of animals with grass seeds (seven different animals on Monday 10 December alone). We're removing grass seeds from abscesses between the toes (and other places), from eyes, ears, and even from the vagina. They cause intense irritatrion, pain, and can lead to serious consequences like eye ulcers and ruptures, generalised infections (septicaemia) and even death. In many cases, a sedative or anaesthetic is required to remove them. To protect your pet: keep them out of long grass, keep grass and weeds short in your yard (and remove grass trimmings), keep their coat trimmed short (especially around the face and the feet), and check all through your pet's coat, eyes, ears and feet whenever they come in from outside. Report weepy eyes, ears, and new swellings to us, and organise an appointment to have them checked.
We've seen a number of animals affacted by snake bite, by tick paralysis, a case of Parvovirus, and some nasty car accidents. The veterinary practice at Bungendore report they have seen 18 animals affected by snake bite in just the few weeks since the weather warmed up!
With snake antivenene alone costing about $780, plus intensive care, you can see that a run in the long grass can be very frightening and very expensive. We encourage you to think about Insurance for your pets - read more here »
Dog Parks
Michael has been working with the ACT Government on a proposal to develop two enclosed off-leash dog parks - one at Lake Ginninderra and one at Lake Tuggeranong.
The ACT has lots of off-leash areas (details available here) but none of them are enclosed. Dogs who run off leash, whether in an enclosed area or not, should be healthy, vaccinated, well socialised with people and other dogs, and be under control - you should be able to call your dog back, or put it into an "emergency drop", with instant obedience.
This is a very exciting proposal - the Government usually seems to spend money on everyone except dog owners, who make up about 40% of the community! We'll pass on more information as it becomes public. The off leash park at Lake Ginninderra should be opened very soon, while the off leash dog play area provided by the developers of Forde is prving very popular.
Equine Influenza
Although we do NOT see horses, we have provided this fact sheet for your information. Click here (updated 1 11 07)
