Yarra Ranges Animal Hospital

Friday cuteness with Rosie Macaroni 🤩
Dr Liv & nurse Siobhan couldn’t resist a cuddle after she was a very brave girl for her ear exam

Guess who?? 🔎

For something fun we thought we would add some throwback photos of our staff members over the next few weeks and see how well you can pick them!

First up is this little animal lover and his dog…❤️

Can you guess who this is?

🐶🐱 Diabetes — and how we can monitor it!

Just like humans, dogs and cats can get diabetes to but what actually happens when a pet develops diabetes?

When we eat a meal, the food is broken down and glucose (sugar) enters the bloodstream, causing blood glucose levels to rise. Normally, this rise in blood glucose stimulates the pancreas to release insulin.

Insulin acts like a key 🔑 — it allows glucose to move from the bloodstream into the body's cells, where it can be used for energy.

In diabetic animals, this process doesn't work properly.

In dogs, diabetes is most commonly caused by the pancreas not producing enough insulin. In cats, diabetes is more commonly associated with insulin resistance, where the body's cells don't respond properly to the insulin being produced.

Either way, the result is the same: glucose stays in the bloodstream instead of moving into the cells, leading to persistently elevated blood glucose levels.

This is why diabetic pets often develop signs such as:
•Increased thirst and urination
•Increased appetite
•Weight loss
•Lethargy

For most diabetic dogs and cats, insulin therapy is an important part of treatment. Finding the right insulin dose is a balancing act — we want to bring blood glucose into a healthy range without causing it to drop too low.

Traditionally, monitoring a pets glucose levels has been done in the clinic. However we can also use a continuous glucose monitor to monitor glucose levels at home. You may have seen these used in humans.

We recently placed one on this gorgeous patient Leroy 🐶 The small sensor sits on the skin and provides glucose readings throughout the day sending the information to the owners phone and allowing us to see how their blood glucose changes in response to meals, insulin and other factors.

These monitors aren't necessary or suitable for every diabetic pet, but for some patients they can be a really valuable tool when assessing and fine-tuning their diabetes treatment. 💙

Jimmy presented to us with a squinty sore eye after getting poked by their other dog’s bone - ouch!

To check for ulcers on the cornea (the clear outer layer of the eye), we place a green stain in the eye which sticks to areas where the surface of the cornea has been damaged, making an ulcer glow bright green. In the first picture the green spot in the centre of Jimmy’s eye is the ulcer. 🟢

Eye ulcers can be incredibly painful, so we treated Jimmy with a combination of pain relief/anti-inflammatory medication and eye ointment while his cornea healed.

After two recheck appointments we can report that his eye ulcer has completely healed.

The second picture shows his resolved eye ulcer with no more stain uptake 😄

🐶 Next Puppy school class starting 15/9 🐶

🐾 Tuesday’s 7pm - 8pm for 4 weeks

Contact the clinic to book in 9739 5244

Puppy Preschool | Yarra Ranges Animal Hospital Why choose our Puppy Preschool? Welcoming a new puppy into your family can be not only exciting but also a daunting experience. Our Puppy Preschool classes are designed to help you make your puppy’s introduction to their new family and surroundings as seamless as possible. Our teachers are highly

To chew or not to chew...that is the question

Fifi the tiny 3.8kg Chinese Crested dog presented to the clinic with a history of vomiting multiple times and off her food. We performed some abdominal xray's and found the culprit - a large piece of bone that FiFi had swallowed and not chewed!

We took her to surgery to perform an exploratory laparotomy and found this piece of bone had made it partway through the gastrointestinal tract before getting stuck in the jejunum (part of the small intestines). After careful manipulation the bone was dislodged through an incision into the intestines, before closing her back up again. We are very pleased to report that she has made a great recovery, is back home and eating normally again.

Although bones can help with cleaning some dog's teeth, they can also cause gastrointestinal issues including in pets especially when they are not chewed up properly in Fifi's case. 🦴🐾

Meet this gorgeous Tonkinese named Charlie who visited us today for a dental procedure. 💙

After a thorough oral examination, we performed full mouth dental X-rays, allowing us to assess the health of every tooth—both above and below the gumline. Just like in human dentistry, many painful dental problems can’t be seen with the naked eye and are only detected on X-rays.

Following the X-rays, we completed a professional scale and polish and carefully extracted any teeth that were not able to be saved, helping this lovely patient wake up with a healthier, pain-free mouth.

Charlie also got lots of cuddles from the nursing staff while in for the day 🤗

At Yarra Ranges Animal Hospital, we provide comprehensive dental care, including:
🦷 Full-mouth digital dental X-rays
🪥 Professional scale and polish
🦷 Surgical and routine extractions
💙 Modern anaesthetic monitoring and tailored pain relief

Our next puppy school class will be starting Tuesday the 21st July from 7pm - 8pm. Contact the clinic to secure your pups spot 🐾🐶🐕🦴

We have had a small male entire dog handed into the clinic from the Yarra Glen area that has been unfortunately hit by a car. If you are missing a small dog please contact the clinic asap
9739 5244

🦷🪥 DENTAL SERVICES🪥🦷
At Valley Equine Vet Services, we are passionate about teeth!
Whether your horse is young or old, it is important to ensure their oral health is optimal. Dental issues can present in a variety of ways including...
- poor performance
- weight loss
- discomfort/resistance when ridden
- dropping feed/quidding
- choke
- headshaking
- bad breath/halitosis
- facial swellings/discharge

All dentals performed by Valley Equine Vet Services, are done so under sedation. This allows us to examine all aspects of the mouth in detail and to address any issues accordingly. We are also able to further characterise any abnormalities with x-rays of the head and teeth if required.

Included in all dentals is a general physical exam, sheath cleaning (for the males) and a digital dental chart is provided for your records.

With many horses on break over the colder months, now is the perfect time to book a dental appointment in preparation for the competition season ahead. We offer discounted rates for multiple dentals as well as split travel between owners.

For any queries or bookings, please give us a call on 0490 490 811