Category: Pet Care

The vestibular system controls balance and prevents an animal from falling over. It does this by holding and constantly adjusting the position of the eyes, head and body in relation to gravity. When there is disease affecting this system, though it is seldom life threatening, the symptoms caused can be particularly distressing for a pet […]

Bali a high risk location for pets The life expectancy of pets living in Bali is significantly shorter than for pets living in Australia, USA or Europe. Even if we exclude the large population of stray animals and those loosely ‘owned’ by locals, and take as our sample group only those pets with responsible owners, […]

At Sunset Vet we often get kind locals and expatriates enquiring about how they can arrange the mass sterilisation of street dogs in a certain area, particularly on beaches. This is because beaches are a common place for people to dump unwanted dogs (particularly female puppies), and also because dogs can congregate there to feed […]

Heatstroke sounds fairly innocuous but is a fatal condition in dogs, as they cannot lose body heat by sweating as we humans do. Body temperature may be increased because of an infection (fever), but it may also increase because of hot and/or humid conditions outside. An increased body temperature caused by environmental conditions is commonly […]

Certain breeds of dog are prone to swallowing objects that they shouldn’t. In veterinary terms we call such objects foreign bodies. There are 2 main risks when a dog swallows a ‘foreign body’; if it is a sharp one such as a large fragment of bone or a nail then there is the risk of […]

Road traffic accidents are one of the most common reasons pets are brought to Sunset Vet. In fact these injuries are far more common in Bali than in pet populations of Australia, USA, Europe etc because of a number of reasons. Firstly the amount of traffic on the road in Bali, and the tendency of […]

  In a previous Bali Advertiser article we discussed how pet owners can be best prepared for a natural or manmade disaster (see ‘Disaster Preparedness for your Pets’ in the online archive). In part 2 of this theme we discuss how pet owners can optimize their preparedness for common veterinary emergencies by keeping a dedicated […]

Mangy street dogs – they are everywhere in Bali sadly. Skin disease is one of the most common presentations for dogs brought to Sunset Vet, accounting for nearly 30% of all our caseload. What is most sad is that this skin disease is so easily treated and yet some poor street dogs (and owned dogs […]

Although we rarely see cases of rabies at Sunset Vet, it is such a danger to human health that all residents and visitors to Bali should be aware of the risk. Rabies is a fatal viral disease that can affect all mammals, and has become endemic in the dog populations of many parts of Indonesia. […]

The possibly imminent eruption of Mount Agung in Karangasem regency has created thousands of refugees and it is remarkable how Bali’s residents have all pulled together in solidarity for locals affected by this geological event. In addition to the humanitarian effort, Bali’s main animal welfare groups have been working flat out to rescue and feed […]