J A N U A R Y - A P R I L 2 0 1 6 N E W S L E T T E R

Ashlea Veterinary CentreFace of Ashlea Vets 2015

We have had so many wonderful pictures of your lovely pets this year but all the pictures are now in and the votes have been counted, so we are happy to announce the winners and runners up of

the Face of Ashlea Vets 2015…

Winner of FurriesToby LangstaffWinner of DogsMolly Turner

(3rd) Princess Elsa Jordan(2nd) Dusty Learmount

(2nd) Millie Moran

(3rd) Dusty Trusler

(=3rd) Buster Horsena(=3rd) Oscar Hyslop (2nd) Bomber Queen

Winner of CatsOscar Reay

From April 2016 it will be law for all dogs in England and

Wales to be microchipped and registered on a microchip

database.

Don’t forget to microchip your cats too, for while it is not a

legal requirement they are much more likely to go missing and so we think it’s just as important!

At Ashlea Vets microchipping starts from £9.60 so please

contact us for more information or to make an appointment.

The new law means it will be a criminal offence if your dog does not have a microchip or if the

details registered on the microchip database are incorrect.

A microchip compared to the size of a grain of rice

Ash being scanned for his chip.

Well it’s all been happening here! I’ve been very busy helping them choose the winners for the photo competition although why they insist on having anything but a cat category is beyond me! Since I was last in touch I’ve been diagnosed as hyperthyroid

and am on a special food and unfortunately I can’t hear anything anymore. In some ways my deafness is huge blessing as I can’t hear the noisy dogs that the humans

keep letting in, barking away, and when we had the generator running during the floods I was none-the-wiser

about the noise everyone else was talking about. The disadvantage is that I’m not able to hear when my humans need my help with another

animal that’s not behaving so well. I always used to run out to see how I could help if there was a lot of noise! And I can’t hear it when someone

opens something yummy to eat and I need to go and do my best impression of a starving cat. But apparently this is “good for me” as I’m not allowed

anything other than my y/d food. I was sceptical of this at first but it does seem to have settled my condition. I feel better, I look more fabulous than

ever and the humans say my bloods are now fine.

But I know you want to hear about the humans too so I’ve been sneaking around, no mean feat for me now, and have found out the following…

Katy and Michael welcomed little Joseph Michael into the world on the 22nd September weighing in at 6lb 7oz. Big brother Sam is helping lots

and all are doing fine. Then not long after on the 2nd November Natalie and Alan welcomed not so little but equally lovely George Anthony, weighing

10b 7oz. The whole family are doing great.

And there’s even more baby news… these humans, what are they like? Lauren starts her maternity leave in January, with Laura starting her maternity leave in March, so there will be no shortage of babies round here! I need to learn how to train these babies

to sneak me some tuna and milk into the building!

Student nurse Fliss has completed her training with flying colours and has moved down to Manchester to be with boyfriend James. She’ll be missed and there’s going to be some lucky pets down there who get her as their nurse. Becca started with us in October and has fitted in very well; she gives me lots of strokes so I’ve told them she can stay. We’ll also be having Marie come to join us for a while to cover some of the maternity leave. I’ve not met her yet but I’ll make sure that I show her the ropes when she starts. We have a new student nurse too called Jess, she is

learning not only the things the humans are trying to teach her but exactly where to put my things in the staff room. Anyway I’m going to have to go as I’ve got some more sleeping to do but I’ll keep a look out for any news and

if anything can’t wait until the next newsletter I’ll sneak onto Facebook when they’re not looking!

Abby’s Scabs’ Viewpoint…

Apart from the obvious reason to prevent unwanted pregnancies, as the old sayings about rabbits are not unfounded and they can produce a crazy number of babies! But behavioural problems such as aggression,

growling, false pregnancies, urine spraying and fighting are often reduced or removed after neutering.

A little known but very important reason to neuter rabbits is to prevent often fatal uterine cancers which are seen in 4 out of 5 female rabbits over 5 years of age. Spaying will prevent these cancers and will reduce

the risk of mammary tumours. Here is a X-ray of a rabbit that unfortunately did develop a large uterine adenocarcinoma; the enlarged womb has been outlined by a series of dots.

Neutering can be done from 4 months in male

rabbits and from 5 months in

females. Contact us for more

information or to book your

rabbit in.

Why should you neuter rabbits?

Working hard with the ph

oto selection

George Anthony Hedworth

Becca with rabbit Junior

Joseph Michael Clarke

Jess with me

We continue to be blown away by your generosity every time the newsletter comes round and the charity donation totals are added up! Just before this copy went to print we had raised

£1527.93 in 2015 which takes our cumulative grand total to £15,262.22.

We can’t believe we have raised over £15,000! So far this year we have held our Quiz night, two Jam and Chutney Sales, a Cake Bake, sold some Red Nose Day cakes, with general collections from our Charity Box as well as one off donations from certain clients. We are always open to suggestions for fundraising ideas and

suggestions of charities we could support in 2016 and beyond.

In July we presented a cheque for £700 to the organisation Prism Arts. They are an inclusive arts organisation which sets up and runs arts projects that are fully accessible to all. As a charity, based in

Cumbria, their aim is to develop projects that enable disabled people, young people and older people to engage in the arts. Projects are shaped and led by their participants; the work has a significant impact on people’s lives,

benefiting their health, wellbeing, creative development and self-confidence. We’ve been delighted to use some of the money raised to support Prism

Arts; matching funding from the Arts Council will help the organisation to grow and support further projects in the county.

We continue to support Yang Tang Long through International China Concern (ICC) and so £300 of the money raised this year has gone to her. ICC is a Christian development organisation that changes lives by bringing love, hope and opportunity to China’s abandoned and

disabled. We first heard about them through vet Laura who has been out to volunteer with them 5 times. For a few years we used to send a suitcase full of supplies (literally) out with Laura and her husband Phil

when they used to go to China as volunteers but they’ve been a bit more grounded since having their daughter so we decided to continue to support ICC by sponsoring one of the children they care for. We get regular updates and photos of lovely little Tang Long, some of

which are proudly displayed on the fridge in the staff room. This year we have also twinned our toilet with a toilet in Pakistan for a £60 donation, through www.toilettwinning,org. Toilet Twinning provides people in the poorest communities on the planet with a decent toilet, clean water and all the information they need to stay healthy. It’s the key way

to help whole communities break free of the poverty trap.We have given £200 to Walking Home for Christmas which raise funds for Walking with the Wounded's "Home Straight" programme which supports homeless and injured Veterans back into employment.  The Charity currently supports its projects all over the UK but it has a significant presence in Cumbria and the North East, particularly in Newcastle. We have

sponsored Mr Vernoum, a client of ours, who has walked from Newcastle to Kirkbampton on the 6th -

9th December, walking straight back into Storm Desmond! He said “It was a wild and woolly walk but well worth the effort. Thank you for your donation.”After the floods in Carlisle the Animal Refuge Centre in Wetheral has kindly taken in lots of cats that have been made temporarily homeless. We contacted them to see how we could help and they said ‘cat litter’ so we decided to go for it and ordered over £150 of cat litter! See the next page for tips on cats that have been flooded or are stressed or look at these links.

icatcare.org/advice/problem-behaviour/stressed-catswww.feliway.com/us/What-causes-cat-stress-or-anxiety

www.zylkenepet.co.uk/spotting-the-signs.htmlIf you need any help with a dog or cat that is stressed

because of changes due to the floods please get in touch.

Thanks for all your support and generosity over the last 12 years, we have only been

able to raise £15,000 because of you!

Fundraising

Chris and Kirsty proudly presenting the £700 cheque to Prism Arts in front of our

very own art installation.

Our sponsored child, Yang Tang Long

Scabs investigating our donation for cats at the refuge.

Mr Vernoum and his dog Molly practising for his sponsored walk.

Flood affected and stressed cats

AS H LEA V ET C E NT R E

RECOMMEND A FRIEND AND WE’LL GIVE YOU BOTH £5 OFF!Once your friend has registered with us we’ll give you a £5 credit towards your next visit, while your

‘friend will get £5 off their first transaction of £15 or more. This credit can be used for such things as neutering, vaccination, flea and worm treatment. Full terms and conditions can be read on our website. To claim your £5 credit fill in your details on a card available from reception then pass the card onto your friend. All they have to do is bring the completed card with them when they visit us to register. There is no

limit to the number of friends you can recommend but each friend may redeem only one voucher.

Many small breeds of dog struggle with ‘slipping

kneecaps’ (luxating patellae) where the kneecap jumps from its normal groove at the bottom of the thighbone (the femur). This is usually the result of a slightly misshapen shinbone (the tibia) and is corrected by an operation which moves the tibial crest sideways, thereby

straightening the pull of the patella ligament.Slightly larger breeds (eg. spaniels) can benefit from a deepening of the groove at the time of surgery. However this risks permanently damaging the cartilage

beneath the kneecap, and a new plastic implant (‘Ridgestop’) can instead be applied to the side of the groove to help the kneecap to resist the urge to leap

from its normal position. The x-ray shows the post operative result for ‘Tweedy’, the first case we have treated this way. Tweedy

made an excellent recovery from the surgery and is now back to full exercise with no recurrence of the problem.

New help for an old problem…

When Carlisle last flooded in 2005 we saw a significant rise in illness related to stress in cats who had been flooded out of their

homes. We’ve written our ten top tips for flood affected cats, but they apply to any cat stressed for any reason.

1) If you have more than one cat and are having to confine them to one room make sure the cats in the room are good friends, i.e. they will sleep together/lick and groom each other, otherwise the cats will be

better separated as nobody wants stuck in a room with someone they dislike!

2) Make sure you have plenty of litter trays available - at least one more

than the number of cats - having some covered is sensible as cats can feel very

vulnerable when on the tray. The commonest stress illness in cats is cystitis so it is important they have ready access to trays.

3) Have multiple feeding points in a room so cats don't feel pressurised, having to gobble down their food because they

fear the other cat is going to steal it.4) Have plenty of hidey-holes. Cats like to hide when they are

upset - let them, it is their way of coping; they will come out when they feel more confident. Cat carriers or cardboard boxes will be fine, preferably raised off the ground.

5) Make sure they have plemty of fresh clean water available - a lot of cats prefer to drink running water so pet fountains can be a great idea.

6) Consider the use of some anti-anxiety medicine, even if only temporarily - phone the surgery and talk to us and we can advise you.

7) Use a Feliway plug-in in the house - this can help the cats feel more at home.

8) Cats with bladder problems constantly want to go to the tray, produce small amounts of bloody urine and are

obviously uncomfortable. If you see any of these signs seek veterinary attention immediately, for in male cats this condition can cause the bladder to block and very

quickly become a life threatening emergency .

9) Overgrooming can also be a sign of stress in cats (and can mimic allergic skin disease).

10) If you are housed in temporary accommodation - please make sure your cat is microchipped in case

they try to wander back to your old house.

Ashlea Vet Centre LtdUnit 2b

Port Road Business ParkCarlisle CA2 7AFTel: 01228 549177

www.ashleavets.co.uk

www.facebook.com/ashleavets

Surgery TimesMon, Tues & Thurs

9am - 6.30pmWed & Fri

9- 6pmSaturday

9am - 3pm

Consultation by appointment only

For emergency advice or attention beyond these hours phone the practice on 01228 549177 and

listen to the message for the duty vets number

Veterinary SurgeonsChris Barker MRCVSKirsty Barker MRCVSMorag Liddon MRCVSLaura Askew MRCVS

Kathryne Hodgson MRCVSReceptionists

Christine CoulthardNatalie MurphyAlex Jennings

NursesRowena Batey RVNKaty Clarke RVNLauren Smith RVN

Rebecca Campbell RVNStudent NursesLauren BoweAbbie Ritchie

Jess Taylor

Practice cat‘Scabs’

We ‘open by candlelight’ for two days