This week has been rather a sad one …. we have said goodbye to two elderly feline ‘ladies’, both well into their ‘teens and both, um, shall we say, just ever so slightly ‘notorious’.  These two cats had been coming to us for many years for routine visits, clocking up nearly 31 years between them (usually involving several staff and large gauntlets!).  Of course we are always very sorry when ANY of our clients have to make ‘THAT’ decision, but just occasionally we do get the, how shall I put it, ’stronger characters’ along the way who stick in our minds.

So, RIP Fluffy (AKA ‘The Duchess’) and Abie.  Gone but never forgotten.

This morning we had a call from a very distressed owner regarding their treasured pet hamster, which appeared almost lifeless.  We told them to come straight down and we’d see them immediately, fearing the worst.  On arrival and examination, the hamster felt VERY cold to the touch, but WAS breathing and had no other signs of injury or illness.  Katherine was suspicious that it was in a state of hibernation, although technically hamsters generally don’t hibernate.  Upon consulting the ‘in-depth-small-furry-mammal-manual’, APPARENTLY, if the temperature drops below 4 degrees centigrade, then this can happen.

SO, we fired up the trusty incubator, and lo and behold, within an hour the hamster was happily stuffing its pouches, with a whole bowl of food!!  VERY much alive.  The hamster was then reunited with a very relieved owner during this afternoon.

Another happy ending!

Just a quick update on dear Tilly.  We hear that she and her new ’stepbrother’ are getting on MARVELLOUSLY.  Also she can now negotiate stairs.  Apparently whilst she’s descending, Bobby creeps up behind and bops one on ‘er, she continues down, then waits at the bottom and gives him a good wallop when he’s landed.  All’s fair etc etc …  AAaaaaaaah.

It is with mixed feelings that I’m writing this news snippet ….

At the end of last week, we found a lovely new home for ‘Our Tilly’, who (as you may well be aware) has been living an ‘upstairs-only’ existence with us for well over a year.  We always knew that if she threatened to try and negotiate the stairs, we would have to find somewhere else for her, but her choices would be limited owing to her ’special needs’, ie ‘wobblyness’.  To cut a long story short, one of our longstanding clients recently lost one of their old cats, and did mention that they would be looking to take on another at some point.  As their situation ticked all the boxes for our Tilly’s ‘wish-list’ in a new home, we waved farewell to her on Thursday.  After the initial ‘getting to know you’ hiccups with their other cat, we now know that she has made herself very much at home, without pushing the other cat’s nose out.

Life in the office just isn’t quite the same without her, but we are all really happy that she’s now got 24/7 TLC for the rest of her days.  (And … we will still get to see her for her regular nail ‘manicure’ …. oh what fun, she just LOVES her claws being clipped … NOT).

Anyway, we like to look upon this as a happy ever after story!

Yeah, yeah, OK, so the title is a BIT of a tenuous link BUT …… we (the M&T staff) were generally chatting about ‘Things Christmassy’ this morning, and someone mentioned the knotty problem of trying to wrap up presents whilst being attacked by a hyper kitten or pup, who thinks the glittery ribbons etc are fair game for playing with, and worse, eating!  Love it or hate it (wrapping up presents), please please do be careful with assorted string/ribbons and other such matter for tying round parcels, as if eaten by your pet, this could potentially cause a major problem, resulting in emergency veterinary treatment, sometimes even an exploratory operation!

Also, whilst we are on the subject of Christmas, please make sure you dispose of your turkey carcase carefully, so that no prying noses/paws can retrieve it out of the kitchen bin.  If your pet does get hold of any bones, potentially this can cause a blockage, or damage to the throat, etc.  Better safe than sorry eh? ….

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.

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!

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.

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.

Less than one year to retirement!

Roger and I will be retiring at the end of Sept 2012 and we can’t wait We will miss the fun and laughter with our clients and their pets but are happy we will be leaving them in good hands. Katherine Reynolds, who you will all know, is going to take over as boss ably  supported by all our lovely staff but especially Dom who is taking on a lot more responsibility.

Roger has now stopped consulting completely, unless of course an emergency comes in and there is no-one else available. He is even handing over his acupuncture patients to Katherine and acupuncture is the area which fascinates him most at the moment, I do wish I wasn’t so afraid of needles!

During this final year we will be progressively handing things over to Katherine and Dom and supporting Katherine in her wish to carry on Marshall and Till with the same principles and attitudes of which we have always been so proud. To indicate her commitment to ‘the old ways’ she will be retaining the name Marshall and Till for the business and we are delighted for her to do so.