Hi Just in reply re NZ - there are very few veterinary Cardiologists available.
When investigating the possibility of a heart clinic organised by our local breed club I found that in the South Island there is a Vet who has specialised equipment - Dave Marshal in Christchurch . Although he is not specifically qualified as a Cardiologist he is regarded as a the nearest thing to a specialist we have. It takes approx 8 hours of solid driving to get to Christchurch from Invercargill. Very recently there was an Eye Clinic organised in Dunedin (a three hour trip) with leading Eye Specialist Craig Irvine who lives in the North Island. We took 13 dogs which was a major undertaking. All were cleared, with one having lipidiosis. One other of the 30 cavaliers taken also had lipidosis, the rest were clear. As regards Semen - Jeanie is quite right - the repo specialist is great BUT he lives three hours beyond Christchurch travelling north. So unless we can organise a trip for him to our southern region, it again involves a great deal of organisation, three days off work to drive there and back on what you would consider country roads, not the motorways/highways you are used to in the states and a great deal of money for each take = $500 NZ. AND to make all the population figures relevant VBG The whole population of NZ does not equal that of Sydney environs. Also of note is the eye Specialist Jeanie is referring too Bruce Robertson - is an ex New Zealander. So we have to cope with the Specialists who are like hen's teeth and the 'brain drain' of them to bigger and brighter careers in overseas countries. However we do try our hardest to breed selectively for good hearts, eyes and general well being and I think the overall health records of our dogs speaks for itself. Dianne Tyssen Prestonville Cavaliers Invercargill New Zealand [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.prestonville.com Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 11:02:21 +1100 From: JEANIE MONTFORD <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Cardiologists in Aust. & NZ Ann, Yes indeed those places are major "cities" not towns in fact. But our entire population is only 20 million and specialist vets are rare birds here in many areas. You have 270 million (?) in the same area as us. Not everyone lives within easy reach of the big cities and the Sydney club has tried quite a few times over the years to get specialist to "come to a show" or do clinics but with the limited number available sometime they just can't do it. Even the vet we have do our heart clinic is not a "board certified cardiologist" such as you call them in the States. He is a specialist in internal medicine who has a particular interest in hearts. Our eye specialist has degrees in vet ophthalmology and has lectured in the States. I am sure Dianne can speak for NZ and there certainly are some specialist available there but people like her live at the bottom end of the South Island of NZ - its an 8 hour drive to Christchurch if a specialist comes from the North Island - to get up to the north you have to fly (imagine trying to get 15 dogs on a plane!) or go on the car ferry - so expensive that its not practical. Especially if you work and cant take time off. I believe they have a wonderful repro specialist who is a whiz with frozen semen in the north of the south island but if you want to do something like that you have to plan well ahead for when he will be in the area. Its not just a matter of nipping to the vet to "do" chilled or frozen semen" Here, to take and freeze semen from one of my dogs - it costs about $A400. Jeanie ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author.
