Hello everyone, and welcome to our June practice newsletter!

 Hello everyone, and welcome to our June practice newsletter! We hope you have been able to enjoy some of the warm and sunny weather we’ve been having already (and that there is more to come!). Summer months are traditionally the busiest months in the practice so it seems only right that we have a busy newsletter to go with it.

This month as well as introducing a member of the team we are sharing some seasonal advice, plus some updates from our practice including the new procedures we can now offer.

Meet The Team

We are thrilled to introduce you to Emma, the newest member of our vet team. She is originally from Ireland and grew up surrounded by pets, which naturally sparked her passion for veterinary care from a young age. She began her academic journey with a Bachelor of Science in Veterinary Biosciences from Aberystwyth University, before going on to complete her Veterinary degree in Slovakia.

Since qualifying, Emma has enjoyed working in Hampshire and has recently relocated to Suffolk. She is passionate about animal welfare and always strives to create a warm, supportive environment for both pets and their owners.

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 Grass seed season

Whilst most of us enjoy the summer months they can be quite a challenge for our pets. Not only do they have to endure warm weather in a fur coat, but there are also snake bites, wasps and bee stings and even grass seeds to contend with too! The same adaptations that help grass seeds penetrate the soil and stay in there, unfortunately also make them very good at finding their way into the skin, down an ear canal or even up the nose! Once they get into one of those places it isn’t always easy to get them back out again as they can often break into smaller pieces or simply resist coming back out the way they went in owing to their shape.

To make matters worse (assuming there is sufficient space) if they are under the skin they can move further along, leaving behind a tunnel like tract which could become home to an infection for example, potentially causing more problems and discomfort. 

Whilst leaving the grass longer before it is cut is great for much of the other local biodiversity, it’s not always ideal for our canine companions, especially when the seed heads start coming into play. Getting a grass seed stuck somewhere is most likely going to be very uncomfortable, and so there will often be clues as to where a problem is forming.

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Microchip Awareness Month

Microchipping involves implanting a small, electronic chip (about the size of a grain of rice) under your pet’s skin - typically between the shoulder blades. This chip carries a unique ID number (often 15 digits long) that can be read with a scanner and matched to the owner’s contact information stored in a specific national database.

Why is National Microchipping Month important?

In the UK it is a legal requirement that puppies should be microchipped and registered with the breeders details first of all, this is often done when the puppy is around 8 weeks of age, depending on breed. Adult dogs can be chipped at any time. It only became a legal requirement for cats to be microchipped much more recently, on 10th June 2024. Microchipping is compulsory for all cats over 20 weeks old. 

When your pet has a microchip implanted, it should last their lifetime. Whilst thousands of pets sadly go missing every year, if they are microchipped the odds of being reunited with their owners quickly and easily is greatly improved, even if their collar and/or tags fall off

or they get lost.

Quick, simple and affordable: Implanting a microchip takes just a few seconds and is no more painful than a routine vaccination. We offer microchipping for £20.00 per pet or if you are part of The Woodbridge Pet Club, then it is discounted to £10.00 per microchip.

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