Expert Veterinary Care

At Bribie Island Veterinary Clinic our team are well qualified to deal with a complete range of ailments from illnesses & injuries to emergencies. We will also advise on a wide range of preventative care such as parasite control and disease prevention. We recommend that pets have a thorough physical examination at least once a year. - Puppy & Kitten Health Checks We love meeting your new little family members and their health check includes advice on how to keep them happy and healthy. - Senior Care Looking after our senior patients is a very important in our practice to ensure that your pet can maintain a healthy life & enjoy their golden years. We recommend routine blood tests and a urinalysis at least once a year from the age of 7 years. This will help with the early detection and intervention of any health issues that may arise.

At Bribie Vets we use the most effective vaccines available to give your pets the best possible protection. This also means that we can reduce the frequency of vaccinations for some canine diseases to every 3 years. It is however very important that the highly contagious kennel cough vaccines are given annually. Your pet will receive a full health check at the time of vaccination and we can address any concerns or issues that you may have. We also recommend that adult cats are vaccinated annually. - Puppies Your new puppy will need to be vaccinated against several diseases from an early age. Ideally they should receive their 1st puppy vaccination at 6-8 weeks, a second vaccination at 10-12 weeks and their final puppy vaccination at 16 weeks. Vaccinations will need to be repeated annually for life to ensure the best protection against infection. A reminder system is set up in order to help you remember when your pet is due. - Kittens Kittens will also need to be vaccinated from an early age, ideally at 8 weeks, 12 weeks and their final vaccine at 16 weeks. Vaccinations need to be given annually for life to ensure ongoing protection against infection

We stock a full range of flea, tick, intestinal worm and heartworm preventative treatments. Intestinal worming is recommended more frequently in puppies and kittens, then every 3 months for adult dogs and cats. Our staff are happy to help you decide which product/s will be best for you and your pet. - Fleas Fleas can be very difficult to eradicate especially in SE Qld where the environmental conditions are perfect for fleas to reproduce. Flea eggs can lie dormant in the soil for up to 2 years until conditions are perfect for them to hatch. Often you need to treat the pet, house & environment in order to get rid of them. Prevention is definitely better than cure! - Paralysis Ticks Paralysis ticks are deadly to our pets and are carried by wildlife such as possums, birds & bandicoots. This is a terrible disease as it is expensive to treat and the outcome for the pets are unpredictable. The good news is that there are excellent preventatives available so we are seeing fewer cases of tick paralysis. Flea and paralysis tick prevention options include monthly or 3 monthly chews for dogs, 6 monthly spot-on for dogs and cats as well as once a year injections for dogs. - Heartworm Heartworm, an endemic disease in Queensland, is transmitted by mosquitos and can be fatal in dogs. We can perform a 10 minute in- house blood test for the disease if their prevention has lapsed and/or you are worried about your pet’s possible exposure to the disease. Fortunately we can protect your pets with an annual heartworm injection or with monthly preventative treatments.

Bribie Island Veterinary Clinic offers a range of surgical procedures ranging from routine desexings to more complicated soft tissue surgeries as well as orthopaedic surgery. All patients admitted to hospital for surgery have an individualised anaesthetic and pain management plan. Although the risk of anaesthesia is extremely low, it does increase with age & the development of other health problems. We are careful to examine each patient before surgery to ensure that they receive the best anaesthetic regime for their individual needs. For additional safety each patient receives intravenous fluids throughout the procedure to help support their kidneys and heart as blood pressure reduces during anaesthesia. They are closely monitored by a dedicated nurse with specialised equipment. We do offer and recommend pre-anaesthetic blood tests to all our patients. This helps identify any abnormalities or changes in the internal organs that may not be visible externally with a physical exam, and enables us treat accordingly . Pain relief is a very important part of all surgeries, and is provided routinely pre-operatively, intra-operatively & post operatively . Not only does it reduce stress levels for the patient, it enables a much smoother anaesthetic, & helps with your pet’s post surgical recovery.

Dental disease is one of the more common problems we see in dogs and cats, especially in middle-aged to older animals. Often as owners, you don’t get to have a good look at all of your pet’s teeth so sometimes the only sign that there are dental problems is when you notice a smelly breath, known as halitosis. By the time they have stopped eating due to teeth issues, their teeth are usually really bad! Dental disease can have a huge impact on your pet’s health as it allows bacteria to enter the bloodstream via inflamed gums, known as gingivitis. The bacteria can then spread to internal organs resulting in heart, kidney and liver infections. There is a high correlation of dental disease and renal disease in cats especially. It is important to prevent dental disease where possible and treat gingivitis early as it progresses. We use an ultrasonic de-scaler, similar to those used by human dentists and hygienists to clean our patients teeth. We also do routine dental X-rays on your pet’s teeth which enables us to assess the roots below the gum line. Keep an eye out for our dental months that usually run for one month once a year!

Desexing helps prevent unplanned pregnancies as well as serious diseases such as pyometra, prostatic disease as well as testicular and anal gland tumours. At Bribie Island Veterinary Clinic we recommend desexing smaller breed male and female dogs at 6 months of age before females have had their first season. For very large breeds we often recommend delaying desexing to between 12-18 months of age. This is due to the potential effects of possible delayed ‘growth plate’ closure. We are happy to discuss this with you in a health check. Pets can have a tendency to gain weight after desexing, this can be easily avoided by adjusting the amount of food offered. All our desexing procedures are performed under anaesthetic. They all receive intravenous fluids throughout the procedure to help support their blood pressure during the surgery. They are monitored by a nurse at all times, right up until after surgery when they are recovering in their beds. Each patient receives strong pre-operative, inter-operative and post-operative pain relief.

At Bribie Vets we use a modern digital X-Ray system to get high quality X-Rays of our patients when needed. X-Rays are useful to evaluate bones and joints, chests and abdomens, & are often used together with ultrasonography. Ultrasonography is also used as an effective diagnostic tool to examine the internal organs of our patients. We have a top of the range ultrasound machine, but also have a travelling sonographer if we require a more detailed ultrasound exam.

Bribie Island Veterinary Clinic provides onsite laboratory services including haematology, biochemistry, electrolytes, coagulation and urine analyzers. This allows us to run blood, urine and faecal tests rapidly so that we can diagnose and treat your pets as quickly as possible. It enables us to choose the best treatment possible and helps with the monitoring process. We use in-clinic microscopy for parasite screens, fine-needle aspirate lump checks, skin cytology and ear swabs. Our veterinarians may also send samples to external laboratories or expert pathologists for particular tests with results returned in 1-3 days.

Microchipping provides the ability for your pet to be identified and reunited with you should they go missing. By law dogs and cats are required to have a microchip. A microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and is injected under the skin by your veterinarian. The chip contains a unique identification number linked to your pets registered details that can be traced by those registered to operate a microchip scanner i.e. veterinary clinics, RSPCA and local council animal services. Your details connected to the microchip remain private, they are not provided to the public.

We understand how difficult and heartbreaking it is saying goodbye to your furry family member. When the time comes our veterinarians can take you through the process in the kindest and most gentle possible way. We will place an intravenous catheter/cannula with an extension set into your pet’s leg, so that you may remain with your pet and hold him/her for the procedure. Aftercare options including cremation services can be discussed with our clinic staff.