Aspley news

Aspley News

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Aspley news and North Brisbane News facebook page for their recent feature! First Class was beyond excited to see it!

Aspley News and North Brisbane News featured us this week! They wanted to share our services with the pet parents of Brisbane, how cool! It features a list of the different pet sitting options we have available. Below is a snippet of what they had to say!

Pet ownership entails a lot of responsibility as another living creature depends on you for love and care. What do you do when other responsibilities and commitments get in the way and threaten to take time away from your beloved pet? Times like these call for First Class Pet Sitting, a Brisbane premium pet care sitting service.

First Class Pet Sitting has helped many paw-rents since 2012. This quality and convenient service was established by Kylie, a former veterinary nurse, dog trainer, animal rescue volunteer and teacher. She works alongside a team of dedicated, knowledgeable and passionate staff.

“It is part of our pet sitter’s daily duties to send pictures of your pets via either mobile phone or email so you remain in the loop each day you’re away,” Kylie said in explaining what makes First Class Pet Sitting different from other services. “We follow your detailed instructions and treat your pets as if they were our own.”

Click here for the full article, we know you want to!

Sniff us out on facebook!

09/12/2019

Santa Paws Is Coming To Town – Safe Christmas with Pets

Santa Paws Is Coming To Town – Safe Christmas with Pets

Christmas is just around the corner and that means that you will have lots of fun things around the house! Things like tinsel, presents, baubles, yummy foods and of course lots of friends and family! Sometimes this can be stressful and tempting for our pets at home!

Here are some tips to help keep your furbabies safe and happy!

Keep the Decorations Safe!
Some of these decorations look just like toys and well that means play time! Candy Cane anyone? What about that sparkly tinsel and lights? They make great things to try and chew on and that could mean choking, ingestion or even electrocution! If you want your tree in one piece and your pet out of the vet ensure you place them at a safe height, the higher the better, otherwise fence of the area so your pet can’t reach.

Wrapping Gifts
We all know how hard this can be with the helping paw from a furry friend. Whilst wrapping gifts with them is always a ball of laughs, it can be risky too. Keep an eye on your pretty ribbons and wrappings as they can cause some tummy troubles if ingested.

Did someone say PARTY?!
It’s handy to take your dog for a walk before your guests arrive. This helps take some of the excitement and edge of them before they welcome your guests with a hi five and lick to the cheek! Make sure too that your Christmas food is safe and secure. Don’t forget to make sure your decorations are out of reach and time out zone is set up.

Time Out
Make sure you have a safe and quiet place your pet can retreat too if they have had enough attention, love and pats from your party guests. Even the best of party animals need some time out.

OO those puppy dog eyes!
Don’t do it, don’t give in to the look of ‘but if you loved me you would share your juicy delicious ham with me’. Christmas food is potentially fatal for our pets and the look is just not worth the repercussions. Foods that are dangerous include

pork or other fatty meat
cooked bones
chocolate
avocado
alcohol
coffee
pudding
fruit cake
lollies
macadamia nuts.

Keep cam eye on the sneaky and crafty pets who love to plot ways of stealing bits when you aren’t looking.

Symptoms they have managed to get into something they shouldn’t have can include

vomiting
diarrhoea
panting
breathing issues
twitching.

If you see any of these signs take your pet directly to the closest vet for treatment. Read more about risky festive food here.

Santa Paws!
Make sure your pet is also visited by Santa! Buy them a new toy or even go on a treasure hunt. For a treasure hunt, hide some yummy treats around the yard for them to sniff out! Cook some doggy treats or even take them to their favorite park or beach! Why not get a photos with Santa?!

Sniff out our pet sitting services here or if you are about to get married why not have your pet there too, wag your tail this way

05/07/201905/07/2019

Doggy Day Care Adventures

Doggy Day Care Adventures

We are beyond EXCITED to now offer Doggy Day Care on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane starting from the 15th July!

Our adventure is fun in the sun for your pooch.

We will collect them from home, take them to a park to run and play and then finish off the fun at the beach/lake for a cool down and swim! Total time is 4hrs! Transport is in our comfy air conditioned van (Gold Coast) ensuring your pooch can have a nap and recharge before the next adventure! Once your baby has spent the day running, playing, swimming and making new friends we drop them home exhausted and happy!

We limit our groups to 4 dogs per Pack Leader.

The First Class Experience
– We pick up and drop off from your home
– At least 2hrs of exercise at the park and the beach/lake
– Supervised by an experienced dog handler
– Photos from the day
– Small groups

Pooches must be vaccinated, on Flea/tick preventative, social with other dogs, desexed and have basic commands and come with their own collar.

OPENING SPECIAL
$44.00 PER DOG
$33 FOR THE SECOND DOG FROM THE SAME FAMILY

Email info@firstclasspetservices.com.au or our Doggy Day Care Page for more information or to book!

Sniff us out on Facebook!

27/03/2019

3 Things NOT To Feed Your Pet This Easter

We all know Easter is a time for chocolate, but chocolate can be extremely harmful to our furry friends along with other components of Easter. Here is our list of 3 Things NOT To Feed Your Pet This Easter, some may even surprise you, and the signs and symptoms to match.

Chocolate

As delicious as chocolate is, we need to be mindful that it contains Theobromine and caffeine. Both of these ingredients are toxic to pets. The highest concentrations of these are in dark and unsweetened bitter chocolate. The best way to keep your pets safe this Easter is to simply keep your chocolate goodies out of reach and preferably in a high cupboard or the fridge. If your pet has eaten any amount of chocolate it is recommended that you contact your vet immediately. It is likely that they will want to get your pet to vomit to ensure they do not digest anymore chocolate.

Signs and symptoms

Hyperactivity
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Seizures
Elevated heart rates

Save this calculator link just in case you need it.
https://www.vets-now.com/dog-chocolate-toxicity-calculator/

Here is a quick reference to a pets weight and the amount of chocolate required to make them ill and require veterinary treatment immediately.

	5kg Dog	10kg Dog	20kg Dog
Cooking Chocolate	14g	28g	56g
Dark Chocolate	42g	85g	168g
Milk Chocolate	100g	200g	400g
White Chocolate	22kg	44kg	88kg

Basket Fillers

Sometimes we stuff our Easter goodies with bits and pieces to make it look pretty. This means things like the plastic eggs, figurines, Easter toys, and plastic grass/ribbon, can be a problem to your pet. If they end up eating them they can get an obstruction in their stomach or intestines causing major issues. A lot of the time these types of items need to be removed surgically. If you think that your pet has eaten something they shouldn’t have always contact your vet ASAP, especially if you seen the following signs

Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Weight loss
Loss of appetite
Weakness
Pain in the abdomen
Bloating
Dehydration

Hot Cross Buns

An all-time favourite at Easter is the hot cross buns! But these can come at a price for your pet! Did you know that grapes and therefore sultanas and raisins are toxic to dogs? They contain an unknown toxin that causes Kidney failure in dogs. It is rare and a substantial amount of grapes, raisins and sultanas are needed for poisoning but it can happen.

Signs and Symptoms include

Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Weakness
Loss of appetite
Increased drinking
Abdominal pain

Don’t forget to book your pets Easter holiday with their favourite sitter! Book now HERE

17/03/201916/04/2019

Pets and Storm Phobia

As owners of fur-babies we know how distressing it can be for Pets and Storm Phobia. Sometimes it is a bad combination indeed. Have you ever wondered why your pet has a fear of storms, what to do during a storm and how to help weaken their response?

Why do pets fret in storms?
Some dogs are more prone to storm phobias then others, studies show that dogs that have some sort of separation anxiety are likely to have a storm phobia. So what is a phobia? they are the exaggerated irrational response to something, this is regardless of whether or not they actually caused harm to the individual. Dogs and cats have a greater sense of hearing and smell which can be why they can detect changes in weather long before we can.

What are the triggers?
Triggers can be varying from pet to pet, but could be as simple as the rustle of leaves being blown around the neighbourhood. Or the a change in barometric pressure, lightening or even small rain showers.

Symptoms
Some pets may show the following signs

Panting
Pacing
Hyper-salivation
Trembling/shaking
Urination
Defecation
Diarrhoea
Vomiting
Freezing/immobility
Vocalisation
Escape behaviours
Pupil Dilation

How do you help treat it?

During the storm:

You can provide a safe environment for them. If they try to escape then placing them inside secured either in a room or safe location can help to prevent them from getting lost or worse hit by a car. If you are home some pets find comfort in being touched such as often some of them do, they will seek you to sit on your lap. They are comforted by a hug as there are some pressure points that will help to calm some babies. If this sounds like your dog does it might be worth trying a thunder jacket. (for more information on the jacket click here) Some pets have a safe area at home, if they are happy there let them be and provide some comfort through words or light calm pats if required.
Close all the windows and curtains so that the lightening flashes are less for your pet.
Move your pet to a quiet unaffected area if possible.
Essential oils used in calming collars/sprays/diffuses for your pet these are Adaptil for dogs (click here) or Feliway for cats (click here)
Medications provided by your vet.

After the storm:

There are a few things you can try to do to attempt to keep your pet happy. These things could include:

Desensitisation: to do this it is exposing your pet to what they are afraid of at a very low level so that they are not scared. You can play a storm audio file at a low volume during an activity that they like, playing/eating once they are comfortable you can increase the volume little by little. This is for those that are worried about the sound only, it is hard to help those with pressure changes.
Counter-conditioning: is the act of providing a positive with their negative. So playing a storm audio file and playing with them or feeding them treats. This is where distraction is key, getting your pet to focus on something other than the storm.
Relaxation: This is a technique that takes time and repetition. The idea is to settle and relax on their bed and once this is completed, add scary sounds. Giving calm commands such as lie down, settle and a treat can help to reinforce this calm behaviour.
Medications: Medications can work well, some however either require long term use or to be given an hour before the storm. Both of these forms of medications require a vet prescription.

For More Information on Storms

There is a great PDF of storms and pets available from the RSPCA click the link at the bottom of the RSPCA’s website here

Want to head back to our home page click here.

27/02/2019

Summer Lovin’ – Heat Stroke In Pets

SUMMER LOVIN’ – Heat Stroke In Pets

Heat stroke is a very big danger in our area where our summer is a beautiful as our beaches and heat exhaustion can happen very quickly!
Did you know that dogs and cats don’t actually sweat, they loose heat from panting. As you can imagine there is only so much panting you can do before you can’t cool yourself down anymore.

Summer lovin’ had me a blast,
Summer lovin’ happened so fast,
Met a dog crazy for me
Met a owner cute as can be

Uh well-a well-a well-a huh!

Tell me more, tell me more
Did you get in the car?
Tell me more, tell me more
Like did you go very far?

She swam by me, she got a stick
He ran by me, got me to play fetch
I saved her life, she nearly drowned
He showed off, splashing around
Summer sun, something’s begun
But ah, oh, those summer nights

Well-a, well-a, well-a, uh!
Tell me more, tell me more
Was it too hot for you?
Tell me more, tell me more
Like what did your owner do?

Took her to the vet she was dry in the lips,
She was admitted, placed on some drips,
We made it there just in time,
The nurses stayed with her the entire time,
Summer flings can be such big things
but, uh oh, those summer nights

Tell me more, tell me more
What was it that got you?
Tell me more, tell me more
Was heat stroke? What did they do?

The vets got friendly holding my paw,
That was nice I was scared when I walked in the door,
They were sweet, I was feeling better
The nurses gave my owner a letter
Summer heat, boy and girl meet
But, Uh oh, those summer nights

Tell me more, tell me more
What did the letter say?
Tell me more, tell me more
It was the risks of heat stroke on a hot summers day!

It turned colder, that’s when it was clear
Dad told me we’d be careful next year
Then we made our summer vow
Wonder what we will do now
Summer dreams ripped at the seams
But, oh those summer nights.

Heat stroke is a real risk.

Here are some helpful hints on how to keep your babies cool this summer
– Always have a shaded cool area for your pet to rest in
– Always have water available – place ice cubes in it if needed
– Have air-conditioning on if possible – at home and in the car
– Don’t exercise in the heat of the day
– Never leave your pet in the car
– If your pet is travelling on the back of a ute be aware of the potential to burn their pads

Signs of heat stroke include:
– Panting
– Dry gums and lips
– Vomiting
– Bright red tongue and gums
– Drooling
– Weakness
– Tremors
– Seizures
– Coma
– Little to no urine production

If your pet is suffering any signs of heat stroke seek veterinary treatment immediately.

For more information Click here to visit the RSPCA’s website for heat stroke.

To arrange a beach visit or adventure to keep cool this summer Click here

31/12/201804/01/2019

Happy New Year!

The team at First Class Pet Services would like to wish you all a very happy New Year! May 2019 bring with it plenty of purrs, lots of licks, wonderful woofs and fetch you plenty of smiles.

Thank you for all your suppawt during 2018, we adore sharing your lives and the love of your fur-babies!

If you aren’t already, make sure you sniff us out on our Facebook. Keep up with the latest news and of course the cutest fur-babies!

Heading away in 2019 and need the purfect holiday or pet sitter for your baby, ask us for a quote!