Thetis Heights Veterinary Clinic
113-2355 Millstream Road V9B 3R5 Victoria, BC, Canada

Sometime during the early morning hours of December 8th, Laura, a 7 year old female giant anteater at Zoo Miami whose birthday happens to fall on the same day, ...gave birth to what is believed to be a male baby. Unfortunately, this happened to be one of the coldest nights of the year in Miami and the newborn was found abandoned in the corner of its holding area, weak and cold. Upon discovery, it was immediately transported to the zoo hospital where the animal health team placed it into intensive care. Though there was significant doubt that the newborn would survive, it slowly started to become more responsive after being heated up and receiving fluids. Zoo keepers were able to collect natural milk from the mom which was supplemented with a formula substitute and was initially administered directly into the infant’s stomach through a tube that was carefully inserted through the mouth. Once the baby regained some strength over the first 48 hours, an attempt was made to reintroduce it to its mother. Though the mother initially allowed the baby to be placed on her back, she soon became intolerant of it and her behavior indicated that she was not going to care for it and that it would need to be returned to the hospital for hand-rearing. After being initially tube fed, the animal has become stronger and more active. It is now regularly accepting a bottle and drinking on its own. The staff continues work around the clock to feed the infant every 3 hours. At the time of this writing, it continues to gain strength and its distinct black and white coat is beginning to grow in. Zoo veterinarians are cautiously optimistic that the baby has overcome the most serious challenges of its first few days and are hoping that the improvements continue though there are still obstacles ahead as there would be for any infant in this situation. Giant anteaters are the largest of the four species of anteaters and can reach a length of 6-8 feet. They are found in Central and South America and are listed as vulnerable with their greatest threat being habitat loss. Commonly called an ant bear, they have a 2 foot long tongue that can lick up 150 ants and termites per minute. Though they have no teeth, they have powerful front claws which can be used to fend off many threats, including jaguars. Video: Ron Magill

Norm is in the house!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Maya the Jaguar learns to swim on BBC Two's Big Cats About The House! Are you looking forward to seeing Maya and Giles back on TV this week? Tune in on ...Wednesday 4th November at 4:15pm! #BBCTWO #TheBigCatSanctuary #BigCatsAboutTheHouse

https://www.cbc.ca//bri/bc-veterinarian-shortage-1.5765461 Veterinary shortage is at situation critical in British Columbia.

Elephants at the Oregon Zoo demolished a couple of pumpkins Friday morning during the 22nd annual Squishing of the Squash. https://bit.ly/2IXKYLj

Hello from the depths of 2020! It is now October, and we have been dealing with the pandemic and the associated social fallout for close to 7 months. We are (and I think I speak for the entire country) all mentally exhausted. We kept firm to our COVID protocols through the summer, when the numbers were very low, and now that we are seeing higher numbers, we remain committed to doing our part to slow the spread. Our staff are required to wear masks in the clinic when they a...re within 6 feet of another staff member (in reality, they wear masks 90% of the time). We are all wearing gloves as well, and our cleaning protocols are more stringent. Our patient intake form is a huge help in the process, and we appreciate your patience at having to fill one out on every visit. I am working on an online version of the intake form that might make it easier for everyone, with fewer questions for preventive care or followup examinations and more specific for bird and reptile patients. Stay tuned! We are still asking clients to remain outside of the practice while we bring in their pets for examination. On the rare occasion that a client needs to come in, they must wear a mask. The doctor comes outside to speak with the client after the examination. We are a small veterinary practice. If one of us comes down with COVID, the entire clinic will be shut for 2 weeks. Dr Rolfe wants all of you to recognize that he's getting to be an old geezer, and may not end up with a mild case. ;) The more people that come into the office, the higher chance we have of COVID hitting us. We are very strongly committed to keeping our wonderful staff safe, and by doing so, keeping our clients safe and our families safe. I know that this situation isn't ideal. I know that the stress of COVID is causing some tempers to be easily triggered. I just hope that if we can explain what we are doing and why we are doing it that it might be a little less frustrating for everyone. Take care everyone! Be kind, be calm, be safe. Dr Bonnie Henry

3 chihuahua puppies!

BBC News - Stumble, the one-legged duck given wheelchair https://www.bbc.co.uk/n/uk-england-nottinghamshire-54393232

Okay, if this doesn't put a smile on your face, there's something wrong with you :-).

This is a good overview of when a tooth may need extraction. Dr Rolfe calls it "show and tell" after a dental cleaning and xrays. And it's why we have broken our procedures into the cleaning portion and the extraction portion. You never know what you will find on the xrays!

In these difficult times, sometimes all you want to see is a video of a dinosaur reading a bedtime story to some puppies. Relax and enjoy!

good dogs! https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/dogs-can-smell-covid-19-in/

Speargrass season! Hello friends! I just wanted to send out a PSA about everyone's favourite plant, speargrass. We are starting to see a lot of it these days, and it can cause pain for your pet and expense for you. Speargrass works like a porcupine quill, where it will freely move in one direction but not the other direction. If it is just motoring along the surface of the fur, it's just a messy inconvenience. But if it gets between the pads of the foot, in the ear, or i...n the nose, it can be extremely painful and difficult to remove. The speargrass seeds just keep moving through the body, they can travel under the skin from the toes up the leg, deeper into the inner ear or up into the sinuses. We are able to help here to surgically remove the toe and ear seeds, and nose ones if they aren't very deep, but we don't have the equipment to go far up the nose, so those cases we, unfortunately, have to refer to an emergency hospital. What can you do to avoid any of these scenarios? Ideally, keep your pet out of speargrass patches. This is not always practical or possible, so if they have been out in an affected area, check between their toes and in their ears. Comb through the fur after that to remove any others. The speargrass seeds can even hide under the fur of a short-haired pet. It's not a bad idea to be on the lookout for ticks at the same time :) If your pet starts sneezing violently it may save you time to just head to the emergency clinic (unless you can see the speargrass easily in the nose yourself, but beware that by the time you get to our clinic it may well have worked its way deeper) Take care of yourselves and your furry family! Dr Rolfe and the staff of the Thetis Heights Veterinary Clinic

Dr Rolfe's daughter just finished a web comic short story that's in a contest. It's kind of dark, but if you could like, subscribe and rate, it would be awesome and helpful for her! https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/sisyphus/list

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