Eden Vets June Newsletter
Diabetes
Did you know, up to 1 in 200 cats and 1 in 300 dogs are diabetic making this a common hormone disorder. Diabetes is closely related to body condition score, especially in cats, where obesity can be the main cause of diabetes.
Feline diabetes is similar to type 2 diabetes in people, where insulin is produced but is unable to work due to the body being “resistant”. Cats can also go into “remission” with diabetes, meaning insulin therapy is no longer required. This may be possible if the disease is picked up quickly, and an underlying cause is treated/managed.
This is in contrast to dogs where their disease is more closely related to type 1 diabetes; meaning insulin is not being produced by the pancreas (due to the body attacking itself- autoimmune) and remission is less likely, with lifelong treatment usually being required.
Typical signs of diabetes include:
- Excessive drinking and urination- usually this is very noticeable
- Hunger despite eating very well
- Weight loss despite a good appetite
- Clouding of the eyes (cataracts)
More serious signs if left unmanaged can include: - Collapse
- Neurological signs such as walking strange/confusion
- Severe vomiting and diarrhoea
- Anorexia
A simple blood and urine test is usually enough to diagnose diabetes. Upon diagnosis, further tests maybe recommended to screen for other concurrent problems such as urinary tract infections, Cushing’s (another hormone disease common in dogs) and pancreatitis.
With prompt diagnosis and management, diabetes can be well controlled with daily insulin injections. More recently, we can also now use continuous glucose monitoring devices, exactly the same as humans, to monitor glucose hour by hour.
If you have concerns your pet could be diabetic, please book and appointment with one of our vets. Diabetes is also screened for in our senior cat profile amongst several other common diseases that can effect older cats.
Meet a member of the Eden Vets team
We would like to introduce some of our amazing Surgical team:
We are going to start off with our surgical nursing team: From left to right we have: Laura, Lucy, Beth and Faye
Meet Laura
Laura started her veterinary nursing career working in referral and first opinion in 1998, and qualified in 2003. She went on to gain her diploma in advanced veterinary nursing in 2010.
Laura started working with the Eden team in 2020 and enjoys all aspects of nursing, but her main interest is surgical nursing and all aspects or anaesthesia.
Meet Lucy
Lucy is our surgical team lead, she qualified from Reaseheath College in 2020 and began her nursing career at Eden in 2021 on the night team, where she gained valuable experience in emergency and out-of-hours care. After six months, she transitioned to the day team to broaden her clinical exposure and take on a wider variety of cases.
She has a particular passion for surgery and anaesthesia, with a strong interest in critical and emergency surgical procedures.
In 2024, Lucy completed a certificate in Anaesthesia and Analgesia, further advancing her clinical knowledge and enhancing her ability to deliver high-quality, evidence-based patient care. She applies this expertise daily, particularly in the management of complex anaesthetic cases.
Meet Beth
Beth qualified in June 2022 from Harper Adams University with a BSc (Hons) in Veterinary Nursing; she joined the team at Eden shortly after in May 2023.
Initially joining the team in a mainly first opinion role, she went on to develop her knowledge and understand of all elements of veterinary nursing, getting experience in all the areas that Eden specialises including medicine, orthopaedics and soft tissue. Since she has found a passion for surgical nursing and has recently made the move fully to the surgical team.
Beth has intentions of completing a certificate to further her surgical nursing skills.
Meet Faye
Faye has worked in the veterinary field since 2017 and qualified as an RVN with a distinction in 2021. She joined the Eden team in 2022, where she discovered a passion for surgery. Faye is currently pursuing a certificate in surgical nursing and has a particular interest in wound management and anaesthesia.
Secondly let’s not forget our surgical soft tissue surgeons Georgina and Ginnie…….
Georgina and Ginnie are deeply passionate about their area of expertise, and with decades of experience between them are best placed to assisting our referring vets and our patients. They collaborate on cases and work closely with the wider team to ensure every patient receives tailored care.
Meet Georgina
Georgina is one of our founders, Directors, and Surgeons. She graduated in 2012 and since has dedicated her career to small animal practice. Prior to becoming a Director at Eden Vets, she gained a wealth of experience within first opinion and referral practice. Georgina successfully achieved the BSAVA certificate in Small Animal Surgery with RCVS Advanced Practitioner status in 2018.
Georgina is an experienced soft tissue surgeon with a huge passion for improving the lives of her patients and continually strives to develop and evolve her skill set. She has a particular interest in brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome and complex abdominal surgery.
Georgina has completed the renowned Canine Diagnostic MSK US course lead by Dr Debra Canapp at Canapp Sports Medicine in the USA. This facility, alongside our current orthopaedic referral service, will expand the diagnostic ability and management of many soft tissue injuries seen in practice.
Meet Ginnie
Ginnie graduated from Liverpool University in 2012 and later achieved her certificate in Small Animal Surgery in 2018. Ever since she has been using her advanced skills and knowledge to further her love of surgery. She is extremely enthusiastic about diagnosing and treating her patients and always goes the extra mile when it comes to their care. She enjoys a wide array of soft tissue surgeries and is continuing to expand her repertoire in the field.
Eden Vets highlight of the month…
Please join us in congratulating Steph,
one of our Practice Nurses who has completed her certificate in “Canine Arthritis Management”. The certificate focuses on early recognition of arthritis and recommended management.
Arthritis in dogs, particularly osteoarthritis, is a common condition that requires a multimodal approach for effective management. Treatment options include both medical and rehabilitation strategies. It is also a very under recognised condition, and early management can help improve long term outcome and quality of life.
Rehabilitation & Non-Medical Treatments can include:
- Physical therapy and rehab- @pawfitvetphysio provide onsite physio
- Hydrotherapy
- Laser therapy
- Acupuncture
- Environmental modification
- Weight management- a lot of pets with arthritis are also overweight due to their reduced ability to exercise. We also provide weight clinics where caloric needs of your pet are discussed and tailored diet regimes as necessary.
If you are worried your dog is struggling with their mobility or you would like advice about management of arthritis, please book in to speak with Steph who can provide her wealth of knowledge in this area.
We have some exciting news…. We are developing our premises to provide additional services for your pets.
This project involves renovating the final part of the upstairs of the building.
This extension creates a brand new feline only prep room, theatre and catteries. With additional dermatology room, large dental suites and additional dog treatment rooms. There is also space for several offices for our administrative and vet teams.
The team are working tirelessly to complete this project over the next few months.
Stay tuned for more build updates over the coming weeks!
Eden Vets Star Patient of the Month
This Months star patient is bouncy Bonnie.
Bonnie presented to our team with intermittent gastrointestinal signs in March this year. These signs did not improve with the usual supportive care measures, so further investigations were performed to try and get to the bottom of what was going on.
Unfortunately, the results were concerning. Blood tests showed that all her blood cells (red blood cells; all types of white blood cells and platelets) were much lower in number than they should be. This was serious and the most likely cause was a problem in her bone marrow. Additionally, there was an increase a specific type of globulins (inflammatory proteins). This can be associated with inflammation of certain infectious diseases but is also associated with cancer.
CT imaging of her abdomen and chest was performed, and a bone marrow sample was obtained. Results of these tests led to a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. This is a type of neoplasia (cancer) of plasma cells, a type of white blood cells that usually produces antibodies. The cause of multiple myeloma is unknown. Often animals have low grade signs (like Bonnie) but affected animals can develop complications like kidney disease, anaemia, infections, bone pain or weakness, high blood calcium levels and neurological symptoms.
Luckily multiple myeloma is a good cancer to have, as far as cancers go. Treatment is available and response rates and survival times are very good. As this is a cancer of blood cells it is widespread through the body so surgery would not help. Instead, we treat these patients with chemotherapy (drug therapy). This means Bonnnie now receives two types of oral medications at home. She is tolerating these very well with minimal side effects.
Bonnie still has intermittent diarrhoea, but we are hoping this will improve completely with time and other than this she is fit and well. At her latest blood test a few weeks ago all evidence of the cancer was gone. Her globulin levels were normal, and all her blood cell counts were also normal. This indicates the medications are working well and Bonnie is in remission! Hooray!! Massive congratulations to Bonnie and her owners!
Remission means the cancer has disappeared and this is the aim of chemotherapy. Sadly, it will never be completely cured, this is not possible, but most patients with multiple myeloma experience long remission times (often years). Ultimately the cancer, often comes back but fingers crossed that for Bonnie this will a long way off, and at a current age of 9, this will mean she continues to live a great quality of life to a normal lifespan!
You can see from the pictures what a happy girl Bonnie is both with her long curly coat and super smart new haircut. Bonnie’s owners are over the moon with her achievement and wanted us to add how grateful they are for all the care we’ve given her.
