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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Referral Animal Skin Hospital

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New Zealand
Palmerston North
Referral Animal Skin Hospital

Boarded Veterinary Dermatology Specialist Skin, Ear & Allergy Specialists for NZ's Dogs, Cats and Horses

Specialists in diagnosing and treating allergies, ear disease and other dermatological conditions in animals. Providing intradermal allergy testing and allergen specific immunotherapy.

16/04/2025

Acarus Siro is a storage mite that is commonly found in pet dry foods. These microscope mites are harmless unless your pet is allergic to them, in which case they cause your pet to feel itchy.

Acarus Siro is one of the allergens we test for on our intradermal allergy test panel. Our specialist will often include this allergen when formulating immunotherapy for patients because complete avoidance isn't possible.

In our next post, we'll share some practical tips on how to reduce your pets exposure to storage mites.

13/04/2025

Storage mites are commonly found in dry foods like pasta, rice, and flour. They are also found in dry pet foods, and just like people, our pets can be allergic to them.

This week, we take a look at storage mites and have some practical solutions to minimise your pets exposure to them.

04/04/2025

Here are some terms you'll commonly hear us use in the clinic;

Lichenification: Thickened skin that happens because of repeated inflammation. Think of an elephants skin, thick and leathery. This is often seen with hyperpigmentation.

Crusting: Crust that can vary in colour. This is often seen with infection.

Erythema: Reddening of the skin. This can sometimes happen because of excitement when they come for a clinic visit, but it is often the first sign of inflammation.

Epidermal collarette: A distinctive ring lesion that is a sign of infection.

Alopecia: Hair loss. This can be due to the disease processes itself or caused by self trauma from itching.

Excoriation: A self-inflicted lesion due to itching.

Hyperpigmentation: Black or darker skin. This again occurs because of repetitive inflammation.

02/04/2025

Animals with atopic dermatitis can vary severity but in all cases the skin first experiences inflammation.
This inflammation combined with a skin barrier that doesn't work as it should, means patients are prone to developing secondary infection.

Itch associated with infection on top of itching caused by atopic dermatitis, means pets can often damage their skin through itching.

Each time the skin becomes inflamed and infected, it becomes a bit thicker and can change colour and become darker.

Some of these changes can be reversed but the more the skin is exposed to inflammation and infection, the harder it comes to reverse these changes.

30/03/2025

In the early stages of atopic dermatitis (allergic skin disease), the skin looks completely normal, but you might be noticing your pet itch.

Remember itching includes licking, chewing, nibbling, head shaking, or head rubbing.

It is only once the disease progresses and secondary infections are present that we see changes to the skin.

29/03/2025

As our pets send more time inside and we keep our houses nice and warm, fleas don't have an off season.
It's also important to make sure all pets in the household are on flea prevention

24/03/2025

You don't need to see a large number of fleas. All it takes is one bite.
Fleas are the most common cause of itching in dogs and cats, but the good news is they are easy to prevent.

Get ready to learn all about fleas over the next week!

19/03/2025

🐾 VetsOne Hastings ~ Wednesday 2nd April 🐾

We have a couple of appointments available for our next trip over to Hastings.

Get in touch today to secure your spot
📧: [email protected]
📞 0272005357

12/03/2025

We can never completely get rid of dust mites, but we can do some things to help minimise exposure for allergic pets.

Immunotherapy is the only treatment option available that works by decreasing an animals sensitivity to allergens, which means less flare ups and medications over time.

07/03/2025

This is a house duste mite, specifically D.farinae, and these guys live side by side with us.

Dust mites feed on shed human skin, so they are found in the highest numbers in beds and couches. These mites are well known for causing allergies in people, but they are also one of the 54 allergens we test for on an intradermal allergy test.

While we can decrease our pets' exposure to these mites by not having our pets on the bed or couch, we can not completely remove the mites from an indoor environment. This is why we always include dust mites in the immunotherapy of pets that have tested positive to them.

Stay tuned for some tips on how to reduce dust mites exposure.

04/03/2025

Just like in people, dust mites can cause allergies in our pets.

House dust mites are one of the 54 allergens we test for on our intradermal allergy test, and we commonly see positive reactions.

25/02/2025

We've talked about how we need to biopsy to correctly diagnose immune-mediated disease, but what does that mean?

A biopsy is when we take a small piece of your pets skin using a biopsy bunch. Where we take this sample from depends on where your pet has clinical signs, and in most cases we take more than one sample.

A biopsy is done under sedation and local anaesthesia or if the area is sensitive like noses, feet and ears we might need to use general anaesthesia and local anaesthesia.
The biopsy sites will be stitched closed and the samples of tissue sent to a veterinary laboratory for testing (histopathology).

Have you got any questions about biopsies?

20/02/2025

Immune-mediated diseases occur when the pets' immune system begins to attack cells that it shouldn't. These diseases can happen for a variety of reasons, but in many cases, the trigger cannot be identified.

Controlling the symptoms of these diseases often requires medications that suppress the immune system. This is why it's very important to know which disease we are treating. To do that, we need to take biopsies and send them a laboratory for histopathology.

Immune-mediated diseases can vary in how they look, but they commonly affect; the nose, paw pads, nail beds, inside of the ear flap (pinna) or the ear tips, and where haired skin meets non-haired skin (Mucocutaneous juctions).

Symptoms can be mild to serve, with signs developing over time or very quickly. Most cases will need life-long medications to keep these signs under control.

17/02/2025

It's not just allergies that bring patients to see us. Some patients are affected by diseases that happen when the immune system attacks itself. These cases can look like allergies, but they require very different work up and management.

13/02/2025

Happy valentines day 💓

10/02/2025

Here's a hint, the 5 minute contact time doesn't have to be spent standing in the bath. Here's some ways to make the contact time fly by!

🛁 Weekly ear flush - waiting for the shampoo contact time is a great time for a weekly ear flush. Combining preventing maintenance tasks makes long-term management much easier.
🛁 Training time - a little training session complete with
tasty treats will make 5 minutes feel like nothing.
🛁 Games - anyone for a game of fetch?
🛁 A short wander - A short walk and your contact time will be done before you know it.

Remember that you don't have to bathe in the bath. A bucket and sponge outside, a hose, or a hose connected to the indoor tap for warm water (Check out Bunnings) are all options

02/02/2025

This time in the tub is important 🛁

The contact time, or time we ask you to leave the shampoo on, makes sure that the antimicrobial ingredients in the shampoo can achieve their peak effectiveness.

We know bath time can be a battle, so stay tuned this week for some tips to make it easier and to learn why it's such an important part of successful skin disease management.

28/01/2025

When we see pets that have struggled with ear infections for a long time or if we suspect there might be a mass, we'll recommend a CT scan.

A CT scan allows us to see any changes to bones in the middle ear or the middle ear compartment. A CT is the only way we can assess these changes. When there is extensive damage present, we are unable to manage these medically and surgery is often the best course of action.

The first photo shows a normal CT, we'd be thrilled to see this! The second photo shows an abnormal CT. Note the difference between the left and right side on the second photo.

Can you spot the difference?

Address

2 Batchelar Road/Building 7
Palmerston North
4472

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+64272005357

Website

https://rashvets.com/

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