Vet Recommendations In Newcastle

[the cat lady]

Hi All

I was hoping to get some recommendations for an excellent vet in the Newcastle area.

My little dog has seemingly one ear infection after another (at present recurring every 3 weeks). We adopted our dog 6 months ago and his ears have been a problem from day one. He's 6 years old.

I am hoping to find a vet who will look for answers to the problem, rather than one who just hands out the antibiotics without searching for the reason why this is constantly happening.

Your recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[perygrine]

Hi cat lady,

After the experiences I have had trying to find out what was wrong with my boy's pads, I would happily recommend Phillip Adams at Brunker Road Vet Centre in Adamstown.

MacDuff was slowly going off his food, becoming depressed, and the skin on his pads started to slowly peel off and then the pads themselves started to ulcerate. After trying several vets over an almost 6 month period, who gave me a range of answers from "he's not depressed - he's just eating less because of the cold weather", "he's not running around as much as he is overweight" (which he was most definitely not - I try and keep my dogs on the leaner side) to "his pads are just wearing off as he is walking on concrete" I was lucky enough to see Phillip who straight away told me this was not normal and needed to be investigated.

Phillip has now been seeing MacDuff for going on 9 months , and I am really happy with how MacDuff progressed and is now pretty much stable. After Phillip recommended blood tests, biopsy samples of pad tissue in case it was Lupus or similar and an elimiation diet, it was determined to be a hyper-sensitivty reaction to something (most likely a food) and we are now in the trial and error process of working out exactly what it is he is allergic to.

Sorry for the ramble, but just wanted to show the extent to which Phillip was willing to listen to me about how I knew MacDuff was not himself, and then was willing to look for an answer and long term solution, not just a quick fix. Hope everything works out for your dog and his ear problems! :)

Edited for spelling boo-boos

Edited July 8, 2013 by perygrine

[the cat lady]

Hi cat lady,

After the experiences I have had trying to find out what was wrong with my boy's pads, I would happily recommend Phillip Adams at Brunker Road Vet Centre in Adamstown.

MacDuff was slowly going off his food, becoming depressed, and the skin on his pads started to slowly peel off and then the pads themselves started to ulcerate. After trying several vets over an almost 6 month period, who gave me a range of answers from "he's not depressed - he's just eating less because of the cold weather", "he's not running around as much as he is overweight" (which he was most definitely not - I try and keep my dogs on the leaner side) to "his pads are just wearing off as he is walking on concrete" I was lucky enough to see Phillip who straight away told me this was not normal and needed to be investigated.

Phillip has now been seeing MacDuff for going on 9 months , and I am really happy with how MacDuff progressed and is now pretty much stable. After Phillip recommended blood tests, biopsy samples of pad tissue in case it was Lupus or similar and an elimiation diet, it was determined to be a hyper-sensitivty reaction to something (most likely a food) and we are now in the trial and error process of working out exactly what it is he is allergic to.

Sorry for the ramble, but just wanted to show the extent to which Phillip was willing to listen to me about how I knew MacDuff was not himself, and then was willing to look for an answer and long term solution, not just a quick fix. Hope everything works out for your dog and his ear problems! :)

Edited for spelling boo-boos

Thanks for that perygrine. I had forgotten about Phillip Adams, we have used him before (about 15 years ago) when we first moved into the area. He was very kind to our old dog way back then. Unfortunately at that time we had no alternative than to PTS, but he was very kind and understanding. That was before the new clinic, and I think there was only l other vet at that time. Thanks

[mixeduppup]

Jasmin Klocker and Peter Fortunaso at Williams river vet clinic in Clarence Town are FANTASTIC!

[Everythings Shiny]

Mikaela at Lambton Greencross or Brunker Road vets :)

[benshiva]

Marshall at West Cessnock!

[Jumabaar]

If you don't find answers perhaps a veterinary dermatologist would be the way to go? Ear infections can often be related to allergies which Derms are good at dealing with.

Although from what the other posters have described you may have good vets who will really work through the problem anyway

Edited July 8, 2013 by Jumabaar

[the cat lady]

Thanks to all those who replied with your recommendations.

I will look into a few of these clinics.

Jumabaar, thanks for the tip about the allergies, he is prone to allergies and was scratching and biting himself as a result. I thought we mostly had it under control, he only scratches occasionally now and nearly all his bald patches are growing hair again. Looks like the allergies are not as controlled as I thought.

We are using antibiotic drops in his ears now to try to clear up yet another infection, but his ears are so sore he can't stand us putting the drops in, he has to be muzzled. They are very swolllen and the opening is very narrow and I wonder just how effective the drops are, and if they are in fact getting to the source of the infection.

[Rappie]

They sound like the kind of ears that I would treat with some systemic medication first, the continue with appropriate topical treatment. If he has not had any investigation and work up previously then that is certainly warranted for a recurrent infection.