What are the opening hours?

Monday 08:00 - 15:00 Tuesday 08:00 - 15:00 Wednesday 08:00 - 15:00 Thursday 08:00 - 15:00 Friday 08:00 - 15:00 Saturday 09:00 - 22:30

http://www.wilowparkanimalhospital.co.za/

Willow Park Small Animal Hospital, Bush Road 551, Willow Glen, Pretoria (2025)

17/11/2025

Meet the team who make it all happen here at Willow Park!

Behind every great experience at our practice is a team of kind, passionate individuals.

This week, we’re sharing a little about each of us - our stories, our smiles and why we love what we do.

Get ready to meet the crew!

Small Animal Specialist Physician

Dr Heidi Schroeder is a Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialist (Small Animal Specialist Physician) with a special interest in Small Animal Dermatology. She qualified in 1988 as a veterinarian and obtained her specialist degree (MMedVet(Med)) in 1994 during which time she was a senior lecturer at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty. Dr Heidi left Onderstepoort in 1996 to start the Willow Park Small Animal Medicine Specialist Hospital together with Dr Martin, her brother.

Dr Heidi has many years of experience and has attended to many medical and skin cases over the years. She especially loves attending to any dog or cat with a skin problem. Dr Heidi has written many dermatological articles, has delivered many talks and webinars and most recently lectured dermatology to the 4th year veterinary students at Onderstepoort as a part time lecturer.

She regularly attends congresses and webinars to keep up to date with the latest developments and was awarded sponsorships by the World Association of Veterinary Dermatology in 2016 and 2020 to attend their international congresses.

Dr Heidi is married to Dr Guido Schroeder, a cat and dog nutritionist. Together they have two sons and 2 cats.

In her free time Dr Heidi loves spending time with her family, cooking, photography, gardening, birding and doing crossfit.

12/11/2025

🐾 “The Tale of the Tail-End Trouble” - Why A**l Glands Matter

Ever noticed your dog scooting across the floor like it’s auditioning for a moonwalk? Or your cat suddenly licking its rear end with suspicious intensity? These odd little behaviours might be more than just quirky. They could be signs of a**l gland issues.

💡 What Are A**l Glands?

A**l glands (or a**l sacs) are two small scent glands located just inside the re**um of dogs and cats. They produce a pungent, oily secretion used for marking territory (like a kind of smelly signature in the animal kingdom).

🚨 Why They Can Become a Problem

In a healthy pet, these glands empty naturally during bowel movements. But when they don’t, the fluid builds up, leading to:

• Discomfort and scooting
• Licking or biting around the tail
• Swelling or abscesses
• Foul odour (yes, that mystery stink!)

Some pets, especially small dog breeds and overweight animals are more prone to impaction or infection.

🧼 The Importance of Regular Expression

Routine a**l gland checks and expressions (done by a vet or trained professional) can:

• Prevent painful blockages and infections
• Reduce the risk of abscesses
• Keep your pet comfortable and odour-free
• Spot early signs of trouble before it escalates

For pets with chronic issues, regular expression might be part of their lifelong care plan.

🐶🐱 Cats Too?

Yes! While less common, cats can also suffer from impacted a**l glands. If your feline friend is suddenly irritable, licking excessively, or showing signs of discomfort near the tail, it’s worth a vet visit.

🌟 Bottom Line?

A**l glands may be tiny, but they pack a punch when neglected. If your pet’s rear-end antics seem more dramatic than usual, let’s check it out for you … before a little odour turns into a big problem!

07/11/2025

🐕 And that’s a wrap on this week’s tail-wagging doggy-delights until next time, keep sniffing out the joy!

🐶Dogs tilt their heads to improve hearing: That adorable head tilt isn’t just cute, it helps them better locate the source of a sound.

🐶They’re masters of empathy: Dogs often approach crying humans, even strangers, offering comfort through touch or presence.

🐶They have a sense of fairness: Dogs may refuse to perform a task if they see another dog getting a better reward for the same effort.

🐶Dogs can count beats: Some dogs trained in musical rhythm can tap paws or bark in time with a metronome or music.

🐶Dogs can detect pregnancy: Changes in hormones and body chemistry allow some dogs to sense pregnancy before it’s visible.

🐶The world’s oldest dog lived to 31: Bobi, a Portuguese ‘Rafeiro do Alentejo’, holds the record for canine longevity, living a full 31 years.

06/11/2025

Did you know your “Snuggle Bug’s” brain is a sensory superhub?

Hearing, dreaming, seeing, and even smelling in their sleep!

🐾Hearing: Dogs can hear much higher frequencies than humans and have 18 muscles to control their ears.

😴Dreaming: Just like humans, dogs dream. You may see them twitch or hear soft barks while they are sleeping.

👁️ See in colour: Dogs can see in colour, but their vision is similar to that of a colour-blind human, seeing primarily in shades of gray, blue, and yellow.

🐶 Can smell emotions: Dogs can smell changes in your scent when you are feeling nervous or fearful, which helps them pick up on your emotions.

🧠 Scent Memory Masters: Dogs can remember specific smells for years. This helps them recognize people, places, and even emotional states.

👅 Taste: Dogs have fewer taste buds than humans (about 1,700 vs. our 9,000), but they can still distinguish sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
They’re especially sensitive to meat and fat flavours.

🤲 Touch: Their skin, especially around the face and paws, is highly sensitive. Whiskers (vibrissae) detect subtle air movements and help them navigate in the dark.

05/11/2025

🐾 Unleashed Again: More fur-tastic facts about man’s best friend!

Dogs can “catch” yawns from humans: Just like people, dogs are susceptible to contagious yawning, especially when it’s someone they’re bonded with.

Some dogs are ambidextrous: While most show a paw preference (left or right), a few switch paws depending on the task, like canine multitaskers!

Dogs can hear 4 times farther than humans: They pick up high-frequency sounds and distant noises we’d never notice, like a mouse rustling in the grass.

They have built-in GPS: Dogs often find their way home over long distances, possibly using scent trails and magnetic orientation.

The fastest dog breed?: The Greyhound can reach speeds of up to 72 km/h - making it the Formula 1 racer of the dog world.

Dogs can sense earthquakes: Anecdotal reports suggest dogs often act anxious or restless before seismic activity, possibly due to vibrations or changes in air pressure.

Some dogs blush: While not visible like in humans, dogs’ ears may redden slightly when they’re excited or embarrassed.

04/11/2025

🐶 From Bark to Remarkable: More Canine Curiosities!

Dogs have a “third eyelid”: Called the nictitating membrane, it helps protect and moisten the eye, especially useful for active or working dogs.

Some breeds don’t bark much: The Basenji is known as the “barkless dog.” Instead of barking, it makes a unique yodel-like sound called a barroo.

Dogs understand fairness: Studies show dogs can feel slighted if they see another dog getting a treat for the same task they performed without reward.

They can detect storms and earthquakes: Thanks to their acute hearing and sensitivity to atmospheric changes, dogs often react before humans sense anything.

Dogs curl up to protect their organs: That cozy sleeping position is instinctive, dating back to their wild ancestors who needed to shield vital areas while resting.

03/11/2025

For the next few days, we’re sniffing out fascinating facts about our four-legged friends.

Those tail-wagging, treat-loving, heart-healing bundles of joy we call dogs.

From their super senses to their quirky habits, get ready to fall in love with dogs all over again… one fun fact at a time!

So, here we go with a “Did you know”?

- Dogs primarily sweat through their paw pads and cool down by panting. Merocrine sweat glands located on the bottom of a dog's paws release moisture, which can be observed as wet paw prints on warm days.
This helps with minor cooling and also helps with traction on slippery surfaces.

- Dogs have the intelligence of a two-year-old and can understand about 150-200 words and gestures. They combine their understanding of specific words with their keen interpretation of human gestures, tone of voice, and emotional states to communicate with people.
While they do not grasp human language in the same way we do, their ability to combine these cues is the foundation of their ability to follow commands and form a deep bond with their owners.

- A dog's nose is up to 100,000 times more sensitive than a human’s nose, and they can even detect certain diseases like cancer and diabetes.

- A dog's nose is highly sensitive due to its large number of olfactory receptors (up to 300 million) and a greater portion of the brain dedicated to processing smells (around 40 times more than humans).
This allows them to detect odours at concentrations up to 100 million times lower than humans, with certain breeds like Bloodhounds being up to 100 million times more sensitive.

Additionally, their noses have specialized structures that separate breathing and smelling, and can detect heat, making them more efficient and powerful than a human's.

31/10/2025

Today marks the end of our feline fact fiesta.
The cats have spoken and they're demanding more naps and fewer articles. So, without "furr"ther-a-do ...

🐾 Curious Cat Chronicles: Did You Know?

- Cats can make over 100 different sounds, including chirps, trills, and even chatters, far more than dogs, who manage about 10.

- A group of cats is called a “clowder”, while a group of kittens is a “kindle.” Now that’s poetic.

- Cats don’t have a sweet tooth. Unlike dogs (and us), they lack the taste receptors for sweetness. So no cupcakes for kitty!

- They can jump up to six times their body length in a single leap, thanks to their powerful back legs.

- Whiskers aren’t just cute, they’re high-tech sensors. They help cats measure gaps and detect changes in air currents, making them expert navigators in the dark.

- The technical term for a hairball is a “bezoar.” Sounds like something out of a wizarding world, doesn’t it?

- Cats’ brains are about 90% similar to humans.

No wonder they’re such clever and adorable little enigmas!

30/10/2025

The cat’s out of the bag - again!

Welcome back as we unravel more quirky facts about our feline friends.”

Today, we will find out why do cats have a flap on their belly.

Cats often have a flap of loose skin on their belly. This is quite normal and does not mean that the cat is fat as is often assumed.

This flap is called the primordial pouch.

Experts believe that the loose skin found on a cats’ belly serves different purposes.

Firstly, it provides extra protection during cat fights for the vital (and vulnerable) organs.

Secondly, this pouch allows cats to be more flexible and able to extend their bodies further when running and jumping.

And lastly, it is also theorised that these bellies provide some extra room after consuming a large meal which is especially important for wild cats who may not know when they’ll eat again.

We do know that the primordial pouch is found on most domestic cats and wild cat species.

It is not caused or affected by spaying or neutering.

29/10/2025

In our continuing series of curious cat facts, we’re diving into the mystery of those black spots on lips, noses, and gums usually found on ginger cats.

“Ever noticed your ginger cat’s mouth looks like it’s been sprinkled with pepper? Don’t worry, they’re not brewing potions, it’s just feline freckle flair!

The black spots are a genetic condition called Lentigo. It is characterised by dark, freckle-like spots that are either black or brown, and either flat or slightly raised.

The spots have clearly defined edges and vary between 1 and 10 mm in size. The skin around them is the normal colour.

If the cat only has a few spots, the condition is called lentigo simplex. If there are many, it is called lentiginosis profusa (multiple lentigines syndrome).

The spots are the result of the pigment-producing cells called melanocytes having more melanin than the surrounding skin.

No one knows why some cats have a genetic predisposition for lentigo while other cats of the same colour do not.

Lentigo is linked to the genes that give cats their ginger colour, therefore “redhead” cats are more prone to these spots.

They are normal and benign.

28/10/2025

🐾 Calling all cat lovers!

We’re about to unleash a flurry of feline facts right here.
Short, quirky, and fascinating facts and information about our favorite whiskered companions.

We’ve got something for every meow-enthusiast.

📅 New posts dropping every few days, so watch this space and get ready to pounce on some purr-fect content!

Today, we start with:

Why do Siamese and Siamese cross cats often have “crossed eyes” / squint-eyes?

Siamese cats and Siamese crosses are the cat breeds who most commonly have squint-eyes. The squint-eyes developed naturally to compensate for a genetic flaw in their eye structure.

Although the cat's eyes are not permanently squint, traditional Siamese cats must cross their eyes to see straight. Cats' eyes point forward, like human eyes.

Each eye has one spot that sees the same thing as the other eye. Nerves communicate the image to the brain, which puts the two together as one clear image.

Human retinas rest at the back of the eye straight on, so we look straight ahead to see.

With Siamese cats, the left retina tilts in toward the right and the right retina tilts left. If the cat looked straight forward, it would see two different images. Siamese cats have compensated by crossing their eyes to place the retinas in line and to see more clearly.

Sometimes a Siamese cat’s eyes seem to move back and forth, which is another genetic trait called nystagmus. Unless the cat is acting dizzy or off-balance, this is normal.

24/10/2025

Gereelde ontwurming is nie net ’n gesondheidsmaatreël nie, dit is ’n daad van liefde.

🐾 Ontwurming: ’n Sleutel tot gesonde troeteldiere

Wurms is stil vyande wat dikwels ongemerk bly totdat dit ernstige skade aanrig. Hul voed op jou troeteldier se voedingstowwe, wat kan lei tot gewigsverlies, diarree, lusteloosheid en selfs orgaanskade.

🐶 Algemene wurms en hul gevolge

Haakwurms:

Heg aan die dermwand en suig bloed. Kan bloedarmoede en selfs vrektes veroorsaak, veral by jong diere.

Lintwurms:

Word dikwels deur vlooie oorgedra. Kan jeuk rondom die a**s veroorsaak en is sigbaar as wit segmentjies in ontlasting.

Rondewurms (Spoelwurms):

Kom algemeen voor by jong diere. Kan braking, opgeblase mae en swak groei veroorsaak.

Spirocerca Lupi:

Is ’n wurm wat in die slukderm van honde leef en kan lei tot sluklas, braking, gewigsverlies en selfs kanker.

Besmetting vind plaas deur die inname van wurms en besmette kewers wat in voëlmis voorkom, onder andere.

Beheer sluit in:

- Gereelde ontwurming met spesifieke middels
- Voorkoming van toegang tot karkasse en kewers.
- Vroeë diagnose via radiografie of endoskopie indien simptome
voorkom.

📅 Ontwurming: Hoe Gereeld?

Klein hondjies en katjies:
Op 3, 6 weke en dan maandeliks tot 6 maande.

Volwasse troeteldiere:
Elke 6 maande, of meer gereeld indien hulle buite speel, met ander diere in kontak kom, of in hoë reënvalgebiede woon.

✅ Wenke vir Eienaars
- Gebruik ’n betroubare ontwurmingsmiddel soos aanbeveel deur
jou veearts.
- Hou ’n kalender van ontwurmingsdatums.
- Vermy kontak met onbekende diere en hou buite-areas skoon.

Jou troeteldier verdien ’n lewe vry van parasiete.

Maak ‘n afspraak vandag by ons vir ’n ontwurmingsplan wat werk!

Willow Park Small Animal Hospital

17/11/2025

12/11/2025

07/11/2025

06/11/2025

05/11/2025

04/11/2025

03/11/2025

31/10/2025

30/10/2025

29/10/2025

28/10/2025

24/10/2025

Address

Opening Hours

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Monday	08:00 - 15:00
Tuesday	08:00 - 15:00
Wednesday	08:00 - 15:00
Thursday	08:00 - 15:00
Friday	08:00 - 15:00
Saturday	09:00 - 22:30