Covid-19 Practice Update

The ongoing situation regarding COVID-19 is impacting all of us and in this time of uncertainty we wanted to reassure you that providing a referral service for veterinary surgeons, and care for clients and their pets remains our top priority.

At the moment we are still open for business but as you would expect we have put in place a number of steps to ensure that we reduce the risk of virus transmission. The health and wellbeing of our patients, staff and the wider community is paramount.

We have set up an online video consultation service that is working well. We can use different platforms but our preference is Zoom. This allows us to initially assess pets with skin and ear problems and decide whether a visit to the clinic is essential. Often we are able to help by giving advice and / or prescribing treatment without a visit. Please contact reception if this is something that you would like to make use of. 

If you are attending for an appointment we would ask that you remain in your car and call us when you arrive. We would then call you and have a consultation over the phone and then we will ask you to bring your pet to the front door of the practice. We will take your pet inside for examination and then call you when we are finished so you can collect your pet and we can discuss our findings. We understand there may be some pets that are anxious about this and we will attempt to find a way around this wherever possible. We would ask that if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or are in self-isolation that you do not attend the practice in person. 
​We currently encourage card payment rather than cash to help prevent cross infection. 

Thank you for your support over the coming days and weeks. We will keep in touch with you should the situation change further. Please keep an eye on our website or follow us on Facebook for the latest updates.

How to take a cytology sample from your pet

Cytology is the simple technique of taking samples from the skin and examining them under the microscope which is very useful for confirming the presence of different types of skin infections. This is something we do a lot in the clinic as anyone who has visited our practice will know.

The current situation where we are unable to directly examine your pet in the consulting room means that we cannot take samples ourselves. During the video (or telephone) consultation we may decide that it would be helpful to have samples from your pet's skin and / or ears for cytology and we will need to ask you to do this.

We will send you a small kit through the post and ask you to take the samples for us. We have prepared these instructional videos to help you with this.  

Please give us a call if you have any questions about either of these techniques.