30/11/2011 by admin.

Oh my, we are all SO so happy this morning.  Monday’s ‘escapee’ was captured, safely, by his owners last night.  Obviously the excitement of 48 hours of ‘going native’ in the undergrowth behind our car park had worn a bit thin by the time a) the rain had come down, b) it had dropped cold and c) there was no waiter-service-nice-food!!  Needless to say, the (much relieved) owner has now purchased a good quality, sturdy, wire basket.  We like a story with a happy ending.

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29/11/2011 by admin.

Unfortunately one of our client’s cats escaped from its basket on the way to our surgery yesterday.  The owner is obviously very worried and wants to find her cat again.  It was a young male castrated black and white domestic shorthaired with a black spot on its chin.  It is ID chipped but hasn’t got a collar on.  It escaped in our car park so is in the centre of Belper.  If anyone sees a cat matching this description please let us know or bring it in for us to scan.  The owner will be very grateful.

 Just something to think about – is your cat basket safe and secure and suitable for your cat or could the same thing happen to you? (we hope not)

 Lets all keep our fingers crossed for a good outcome!

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16/11/2011 by admin.

It’s amazing what you read: apparently the average Veterinary Surgery employs the equivalent of 6 full time vets and each vet should have 85 rabbits registered to them.

This is surprising for two reasons, 1) because we didn’t realise just how small we are and 2) because we don’t keep checks on how many of each sort of animal we have registered …… perhaps we should?

On the first point, we don’t care We know that whatever the ‘experts’ say our smallness is part of our charm. We have time to talk to our clients, to know about what is going on in their lives not just what is going on with their animal’s health, we can have a sense of being part of the community AND WE LOVE IT.

On the second point, do you as our clients care how many of what sort of animals come to us? Obviously you want us to know enough about your animal to be able to treat it to a high standard and so the fact that we see that type of animal frequently is important but is it enough if our expertise is gained through seeing one poor animal who seems to get everything which is going? What good is it to our familiarity with a particular species if all of them are healthy and never come to the surgery?

As usual the ‘experts’ measurement of ’success’ seems simplistic to us.
We think we have achieved success because we earn enough to pay the bills ( we are not profit driven like some larger surgeries) and because we have very few animals who get stressed when they have to come and see us. Happy clients and animals and happy staff, we all win from that.

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02/11/2011 by admin.

Now is the time of year when our pets start getting scared by fireworks. It starts with Nov 5th and continues through to New Year on an intermittent basis and that is a long time.

According to research 80% of pet owners say their animals are adversely affected by fireworks so here are a few tips which are cheap and easy but may help your pets have a happier time when there are whizz-bang-flashes around.

1) Close the curtains so that bright lights outside are made less obvious. Put the room light on as well. Anything to reduce contrast between bright and dark moments will be helpful.
2) Put some ‘noise’ on in the room, if the telly is normally on then use that but perhaps have the volume slightly higher than normal; or you could put on music which is familiar to your pet. Again the aim is to reduce contrast between when the firework goes off and when there is a lull.
3) If your pet is of a type which can be distracted by food then try to feed them at that time, for example give the dog a favourite chew which will keep him busy and contented for a while. If not easily distracted by food then try some other distraction such as giving a cat a catnip mouse to play with, or covering a bird so it thinks it is time to sleep ( this will also act as another layer of light/noise muffling)
4) Do not make an especial fuss of them. Changing their amount of interaction with you may make them think that what is going on must be scary because you are acting oddly too. They may interpret changes in your behaviour as fear on your part so it is important that you project calm and confidence …. and stay relaxed even when your pet is quaking.

Of course your pet needs to be inside with you for these strategies to work! So don’t forget to move outdoor small furries into the house and get cats and dogs in well before it goes dark.

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