Here’s a thing about those of us who ended up working with animals, we were the kids who were fascinated with them, who had loads of questions and wanted to know why and what and how of every trip to the vet.

We love when everyone in the family takes an interest in their pets. Kids (and adults, of course) are welcome to have a listen with the stethoscope, see the X-rays, have a chat about what we’re doing and why. Remember, there are no silly questions!

From the ‘Junior Vet Clinic’ in the waiting room to encouraging older children to get involved with looking after the household pet, we are a family friendly practice.

“Cats are connoisseurs of comfort.” ― James Herriot

Cats are, well, different. Whether you’re a self confessed ‘cat person’ or your household plays host to dogs and cats (and whatever else!), you’ll know that cats are special. They like things their way, they don’t like to be manhandled or stressed and they certainly don’t want to be hassled by silly dogs.

We know this, in fact we embrace it. Because cats are different, we treat them differently.

We are working towards accreditation as a Cat Friendly Clinic. This is a detailed set of criteria dealing with how we look after our feline patients and the facilities we provide for them.

For example, cats have their own special hospital ward if they need to stay with us. But perhaps even more importantly, we try to make your cat’s time with us as stress free as possible with the way we approach and handle them.

If you’ve ever had your pet at the vet and they’ve been frightened and anxious, you know how stressful that is for everyone.

Here’s a secret, it’s not very nice for us vets or vet nurses either. We do our job because we love animals, and we want them to be happy, and happy to see us.

We try to make everybody’s experience better by running a ‘Fear Free’ practice. It’s at the heart of everything we do, from our body language as we approach your pet, to spacing out appointments to make sure that the waiting room’s not too busy, to using special relaxing pheromone diffusers in our consultation rooms to help your pet feel comfortable.

We especially like arranging relaxed, treat-filled ‘welcome visits’ for your pet where they can have a positive experience and get used to the sights, sounds and smells of the practice without anybody sticking a needle in them!