Welcome to Our Blog
We will be adding to our blog frequently, so please come back to this valuable resource
How much is that puppy in the window?
In the last year we have seen the cost of buying a dog soar from approximately £700 to well over £2000. Is this a true rise due to a lack of puppies or are people taking advantage? Last summer it was reported there was a shortage of puppies due to COVID-19 preventing...
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Christmas gift guide for your dog
For the destructive pet: Durable Kong toyOld cardboard containers with treats inside (so you don’t mind their need for destruction here!)Exercise days, organised events or organised with a friend for a long country walk.Sniffer dog training to tire their active minds...
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Winter walks
With reduced daylight hours at this time of the year we may find many of our walks will be early morning or at an early dusk. The weather also lends itself to wetter, colder conditions and so our attire or, ‘wet weather gear’ as we refer to it, takes the forefront...
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Is your pets quality of life changing?
This year we are all faced with an uncertain winter period but those of us who are lucky enough to have pets they will provide a good focus. As the colder months progress an important topic of conversation that we find comes up with owners is osteoarthritis...
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Autumn is here
The season changing can bring about a change in ourselves and, by close association with our home-dwelling fur-companions, change in them too. During this COVID time, the change in season may bring about some anxiety as we prepare to stay indoors more with darker...
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Porky pandemic patients
The last 6 months have been a difficult time for us all, having a dog or a cat no doubt, for myself included has made that slightly easier! It has given a reason to get up and get out, not to mention a very important reason for our once a day exercise that was allowed...
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Separation anxiety
This is a hot topic at the minute as so many people are heading back to work or back into the office. And if not now then perhaps again in the (hopefully not too distant) future! Some breeds are more prone to anxiety related problems than others. Some people are...
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What diet should I feed my dog?
You can walk into a pet shop or do a quick search online and there are now hundreds of different diets for your dog. From specific breed diets to age stage diets to even vegan diets. It can be very overwhelming to know what to feed your puppy or dog. As vets there are...
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Simple tips to help your vet…..
As vets we are facing very busy consulting periods trying to catch up on the many vaccinations that our patients missed during the height of lockdown, not to mention the neuterings that we are performing alongside the routine day to day emergencies. So we thought we...
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Conjunctivitis
A common problem we treat is a red eye or eyes. Whilst often we often find owners have tried an at-home human remedy to no avail this can be very detrimental and we will tell you why. Eyes are not something we like to leave for another day so best call us as soon as...
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Seasons changing
Whoever mentions Christmas in Summer should be muted!! It’s not socially acceptable to discuss Christmas in Summer and, most years, I agree with this entirely. Live for now, seize the day and enjoy summer. However, with Covid-19 dominating most of our 2020 and...
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What vets make of black wiggly lines?
Have you ever seen an image of your pet the vets have taken and to you and anyone else looks like a set of black and grey wavy lives? Or you’ve seen a similar image on the telly or perhaps you yourself have had an ultrasound or an ECG and wonder how on earth those...
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Worming cats
Our cats and their worms.... The most common intestinal worms’ cats get are called roundworms and tapeworms. Most infected cats do not show signs of having worms. Very heavy burdens of worms can cause weight loss, vomiting and diarrhoea and irritation around the anus....
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Phantom pregnancies in dogs
‘All dogs go through a hormonal ‘pregnancy’’ With the huge surge in puppy purchases during the Covid-19 lockdown this year we thought this would be a good subject to cover. We recommend that if you are not planning on breeding your bitch then she should be...
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Breed spotlight – German Shorthaired Pointer
All of our vets and nurses here at Swaynes’ have a lot of different dog breeds between us. We have Labradors, chihuahuas, spaniels, terriers to name but a few. As we have featured on the blog before many different breeds we thought it was the turn of the German...
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Vomiting – a very ‘non-specific’ sign
There is rarely a day that goes by where we don’t see an animal who has been vomiting lots quite suddenly or has been intermittently vomiting for a fair period of time. Dogs and cats in particular are prone to vomiting. You would think, therefore, that we would be...
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Breed spotlight: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
There are so many wonderful breeds out there and we are in a privileged position of meeting most of them! We thought we would turn the spotlight today on Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, “Cavies” for short. Cavies are such sweet-natured, loving dogs. They are very soft...
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UK faces puppy shortage!
A dog is for life not just for lockdown…… As a vet nothing more brings a smile to my face than our clients calling us to let us know they have a new puppy in their lives! I don’t think any of us could have prepared what 2020 has thrown at us so far or the huge...
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