St Arnaud Veterinary Clinic

04/06/2026

Is your pet trying to tell you something? 🐾

Animals can't use words, but their behaviour often gives us clear signals that something's not quite right. Here are some common things to keep an eye out for:

🚨 Sudden changes in eating or drinking habits
🚨 Lethargy or reluctance to move
🚨 Vomiting or diarrhoea lasting more than 24 hours
🚨 Limping or difficulty getting up
🚨 Coughing, sneezing, or laboured breathing
🚨 Straining to urinate, or blood in urine
🚨 Unexplained weight loss or gain
🚨 Pawing at their face, ears, or eyes

These aren't always emergencies, but they're always worth a call to us. Early attention usually means simpler treatment and a faster recovery — which is better for your pet and your peace of mind.

If something feels off, don't wait and wonder. Give us a call and we'll help you figure out the next step.

📞 5495 1244

02/06/2026

Is your dog slow to get up in the morning? Stiff after a rest? A little less keen to go for that walk? ❄️

With winter setting in, we're seeing a lot of dogs (and cats, and horses) really starting to feel it in their joints. The cold makes arthritis symptoms noticeably worse, and what many owners put down to "just getting old" is often pain that we can actually do something about.

Arthritis is one of the most common conditions we see, especially in working dogs, larger breeds, and older pets, but it affects small dogs and cats too. The stiffness, the slow starts, the reluctance to jump up — that's pain. And pain we can manage.

The good news? There are more treatment and management options than most people realise. With the right assessment and plan, we regularly get dogs moving better than they have in months.

If your dog or cat (or horse) is showing any of these signs, it's worth a call:

✅ Slow or stiff getting up, especially after rest
✅ Limping or favouring one leg
✅ Less interest in walks or play
✅ Difficulty with stairs or jumping into the car
✅ Noticeable change in behaviour or mood

Come in for an arthritis assessment and we'll walk you through the options. A management plan could make a real difference to their quality of life this winter.

📞 Call us on 5495 1244 to book.

18/03/2026

We are excited with the changes over the last few months. We have had some new vets join and they are settling in great. We also have some new equipment. We have upgraded to a new x-ray system giving us much better imaging capabilities. It's a long way from when we arrived at the clinic just over 5 years ago and they were still using film and dipping it a developing tank in a dark room.
We also have a portable x-ray system so we can now take x-rays on farm and get instant results in paddock.

10/03/2026

Tomorrow we are heading to Hopetoun. If you are in the area or on the way and have an animal that needs a vet visit at your home, call the clinic to book it in. Call 54951244

18/02/2026

We have some big and exciting updates coming soon we are excited to share and will be posting them soon, but unfortunately, we need to address some poor behavior first.

Firstly, abuse of any of our team is not tolerated. We have always had incidents over the past five years but enough is enough. Abusive or antisocial behavior will result in refusal of all services ongoing. All staff deserve to feel safe and not threatened in their place of work. We even had someone scream at a staff member that they should k*ll themselves because we couldn't immediately pull a vet out of surgery to drive 60km to look for a possibly injured kangaroo that hopped away. This is not ok.

Secondly, we have introduced a cancellation policy. When you book an appointment or procedure, we allocate time for a vet and nurses to be available to tend to your pet. Last minute cancellations or no shows means time wasted that could be used to help an animal in need, but because we aren't told or told too late, we can't use this time. We had one day where we had 7 no shows, so it meant during the day when the whole team was here, there was plenty of availability to see patients, but as we didn't know, our head vet ended up working very late seeing all the sick animals that needed to be seen by herself with no nurses at night. If the appointments let us know they weren't coming, we could have seen them during the day. The policy is aimed to discourage people from wasting our teams time.

Please see our policy here

Cancellations made less than 24 hours but over 2 hours before the scheduled appointment will result in a charge of 50% of the consultation fee.

28/12/2025

A bit of an update, we have some new vets joining the team next year. We are very excited as this will help us expand the number of cases we can see. We are also planing to significantly expand our large animal and mobile services.

One of the vets will be relocating and is needing accomodation for her and her husband. They are a very lovely and respectful couple. If anyone has any, or knows of any upcoming properties in or around St Arnaud for rent, please get in touch, we would be very greatful.

23/12/2025

We have a vet on call over Christmas. If you have an emergency or need urgent vet care, call us anytime over Christmas or boxing day. We will be operating on a triage basis and seeing the most urgent things first so may not be able to assist everyone, but we will try.

A big thing to watch out for is dogs or even cats eating things they shouldn't. Things toxic or dangerous like chocolate, sultanas, grapes, Christmas pudding, alcohol, toys and meat netting/string.

Do not wait for your pet to get sick before calling us.

If you contact us straight away, we can usually make your pet vomit and remove the poison or foreign object before it’s absorbed/ moves down the digestion tract – often preventing any harm.
If you wait until a toxin is digested, treatment becomes more difficult, more expensive, and sometimes impossible. In those cases, we can only try to manage the symptoms, and sadly, some toxins have no antidote and can cause permanent organ damage.

Time matters – every minute counts.
If you know or suspect your dog has eaten something dangerous, call us immediately. Acting fast can save your pet’s life.
📞03 5495 1244

22/11/2025

IMPORTANT SNAKE BITE INFORMATION!!!

Snake bite season is here, and we have already had to treat a number of snake bites at the clinic. Unfortunately, some people who don't live in town have to travel a long way to get to the clinic. We have lost quite a few pets already this season enroute to the clinic. Dogs which are bitten only have a 20% survival rate without treatment. The problem with snake bites is the progression is unpredictable. Depending on whether they are bitten in the fat, muscle or in very unlucky situations, the vein, the body processes the venom at different speeds. Some dogs have died within minutes of being bitten. Some seem fine for a while, sometimes even several hours but start showing symptoms and rapidly deteriorate.

One example, a Jack Russel killed a snake, the owners thought he was fine. They still brought him to the clinic to be tested. He was on the table, standing fine, not showing any symptoms. While we were setting up to take blood for testing, he stopped breathing and collapsed. We had to intubate and preform cpr. Fortunately, he survived. It was literally a change in a few seconds.

Time is critical when treating snakebites. If treated before symptoms start showing, the treatment is straightforward, and pets usually can go home almost immediately. If symptoms progress, they need more treatments and sometimes even hospitalization / intensive care for several days.
The two major things snakebites can do is they cause a coagulopathy where your pet cannot clot and end up bleeding internally. The venom also binds to muscle receptors causing paralysis that starts in the back legs and moves up to the lungs, so the earlier treatment the better.

Symptoms to watch out for:
Vomiting
Weakness in the back legs
Sudden lethargy
Pale gums
Blood in urine

If you see your dog with a snake, it's best to assume they have been bitten. Do not try looking for the bite. They are tiny and with fur, 90% of the time we never find them. Do not wait for symptoms to show, call us and let us know so we can be ready when you arrive (Dogs have arrived collapsed that we have been able to resuscitate because we are prepared). We can test for snakebite and treat before symptoms show. Even if you don't want the vet to assess your pet or do the test because you are confident they haven't been bitten, if you come down and just stay at the clinic for a while, at least you will be nearby if symptoms start showing.

08/10/2025

Next Thursday the 16/10/2025, being the 3rd Thursday of the month, we are heading north to Sea Lake, stopping in at Donald, Watchem, Birchip and Wycheproof. If you are in these areas and have any pets/horses/animals that need a veterinary visit, please call to book them in today

The St Arnaud Veterinary Clinic provides veterinary services for all animals. From pets to farm and large animals, we can help you in clinic or even come to your house/property.

05/10/2025

This Thursday we are heading to Jeparit, Rainbow, Hopetoun Beulah and Brim. Give us a call to book in a home visit for your pet/ large animals