You can get the latest news by visiting our Facebook page. You can browse and share photos, read comments from other pet owners and find out what our staff have been up to.
Spring 2020 newsletter
Wishing you all a very happy start to the new decade! Also, thank you so much for your incredibly generous givings of chocolates, cakes, cards and letter which turned our staff kitchen into an Aladdin's cave of goodies over the Christmas season. Your support is hugely appreciated by the team with your comments of thanks on social media and cards a great morale boost.
In January we welcomed back our Head Nurse, Emma, from maternity leave. She is quickly getting us in check again with her wonderful organisational skills and eye for detail. Holly, who covered Emma's maternity leave, is remaining on with the team to help with an increasing caseload. Our dogs and cats are frequently in the limelight, so a few notes on rabbit health in this newsletter! We recommend that rabbits are vaccinated against two deadly infectious diseases - myxomatosis and rabbit viral haemorrhagic disease (referred to as RHD or VHD). There is now a new strain of RHD in the UK, RHD-2, and we sadly saw a number of cases last year. Please speak to one of our team for information on these vaccines. In addition, as the weather warms up, we strongly recommend all rabbits are checked twice a day for any signs of flystrike. Flies are very attracted to rabbits if they have soiled bottoms - here they lay their eggs which rapidly hatch out into maggots. Flystrike can appear very suddenly and is a true rabbit emergency.
Winter 2019 newsletter
In September we welcomed Scottish vet Abigail to our team who recently graduated from the University of Glasgow. Having always lived in Glasgow she was keen to move near London to explore a new area and family connections. Abi enjoys all aspects of small animal practice and has a particular passion for dogs - her family have two German pointers back at home and Abi hopes to get her own dog when she is more settled into the area. In her spare time, Abi enjoys playing hockey, tennis and going hillwalking.
Bradley has been busy around the practice – we are pleased to say his raspberry pi's ('little computer boxes' to the non-IT savvy among us) are a success, meaning no more big computer terminals, a little more space on our shelves and lower energy consumption. Bradley enjoys nothing more than to move wires around and has put some new trunking around the walls and sorted the tangle of wires under the reception desk. He also had a light bulb fitting session to brighten up the dull days (never a dull day at Dacre House but it was getting a bit dismal as the days grow shorter). Bradley finally came round to Liz's idea of painting a bit of green around the place, a lovely calming colour around our surgery and kennel areas.
Head nurse, Emma, is enjoying maternity leave but can still be spotted in the clinic from time to time keeping on top of her admin - we captured a delightful moment on camera when Finley and Joel met one another whilst mums were at work. Meanwhile we are hugely grateful to Helen who is working hard with the nursing team to keep things in order until Emma’s return to work in the new year.
Finally, huge congratulations to our long-standing receptionist Bev who became a Grandma back in September when her daughter Maria gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Leilani.
Autumn 2019 newsletter
During the busy summer months we have been blessed with some fantastic locum staff, assisting our team and enabling us to operate at full capacity whilst covering staff holidays. You may have met Matt who has returned to the area after working in Devon for over 10 years and Ben, who was a regular with us during his training a few years ago. In addition, Diego (who is now working with Vets Now, our out-of-hours service) has returned to help.
Our latest exciting investment is a new operating table to assist Jane in her echocardiography (using ultrasound to assess the heart) - please do speak to Jane or one of the team if you are interested in this service.
Look out for our seasonal advice on fireworks in the waiting area and on our Facebook page. We stock Yucalm, Pet Remedy, Feliway and Adaptil which can all be bought over the counter without prescription - do speak to any of our staff for advice. We particularly recommend thundershirts, making dens and using desensitising CDs as excellent preventative measures for minimising stress in pets during this season. Where these options are insufficient our vets can also discuss available prescription medications.
Finally, the computer enthusiasts among you may be interested to know that Bradley is working on replacing a number of our computer terminals with Raspberry Pi's, improving our digital security as well as saving space and electricity!
Summer 2019 newsletter
It has been a busy few months here, with the arrival of two babies and some staff changes. Firstly, congratulations to our Head Nurse, Emma, whose son Finley was born mid-March. Emma is doing well and enjoying motherhood (though can't resist popping in to check on the team)!
Bradley and Liz welcomed baby Joel to their family at the end of March and are adjusting to life with a newborn again. Joshua is very excited to be a big brother and is proving to be a very useful helper.
We bid farewell to Diego at the beginning of March; though sad to see him go we wish him all the best in his further training and employment in night work with Vets Now. Vets Now support us with our out-of-hours service so you may well still see him in an emergency.
As one Spaniard left, we welcomed another - Dr Israel Crespin joined the team on a part-time basis for evening consulting sessions. Israel qualified in Cordoba, Spain in 2002 and has been working in the UK as a government vet for the past 15 years. As well as his passion for working with animals, Israel has an interest in 3D animation applied to veterinary science. As a qualified computer programmer in visual effects and animation he has been developing anatomical models which are used for training and prosthetics.
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Thank you for what you did for Sasha, you actually cared for her it wasn't just a job to you.
"Thank you in a really big way!" Great news about Poppy, just wanted to say thank you so much for all your help, care and advice when she was so ill. Regards...
"Many thanks go to you today, you've been so kind in every way." To the vet who looked after Sooty - A BIG THANK YOU...
We wanted to thank you all for your help, advice and kindness that you have shown Abby and ourselves over these past, nearly 15, years...thank you again for always being there for her and us.
