I was walking into Hinckley town centre last week intending to watch one of the football internationals at a local hostelry when my phone beeped indicating I had received a message. Such is the situation with modern technology that no matter where yo...
As most of our clients will be all too aware The Fairfield surgical unit has been having a major refurbishment. No doubt many will also be familiar with the concept that whenever you have builders involved they are inevitably "behind schedule and ove...
The most common cause of hindlimb lameness in the adult canine patient is now attributable to "cruciate" disease. The anterior cruciate ligament provides the knee with stability particularly from twisting. As a result of a genetic predisposition or d...
Now that Spring has finally sprung and my small pond is filled with frog spawn (almost 4 weeks later than last year) our feline friends are renegotiating their territories. Sadly, youngsters like Tigger,at only 12 months of age, are new to this conce...
Whippets are designed with only one thing in mind. Their sleek build and long limbs ensure that they can travel at speeds most dogs can only dream about. Sadly those aerodynamic features come at a price. For if they encounter an unanticipated obstacl...
Pets with broken bones are amongst the most complex and expensive cases which we treat at Fairfield. Despite the variety of injuries that occur, bones tend to break along very similar patterns dependent on their inherent weakspots. The...
It is an unfortunate consequence of working as a veterinary surgeon that a significant portion of my professional time is spent delivering bad news. It has been postulated by some, that this accounts for my miserable countenance although a "design" f...
Just as I was settling down for a spot of lunch a couple of months ago the phone rang. It was one of my nursing team urging me to return to the practice ASAP. A cat had been involved in a road traffic accident and was in a bad way. It will ...
At this time of the year we receive lots of enquiries regarding what appears to be orphaned or abandoned young birds. In most instances these fledglings are usually not abandoned and "rescuing" them can do more harm than good. Their parents are usual...
Kobi was just over 3 months old when he was presented to me at Fairfield. He had previously been taken to another veterinary practice when his owner became concerned about the way his leg looked peculiar. Kobi had been scheduled for further investiga...
Last Spring whilst on a short break to the Isle of Skye and walking close to the Cuillin mountains I attempted to relive my youth by clambering up a rockface. The result of which I fell 20 foot and plunged into the sea Loch below. Fortunately, the on...
Most clients will have heard of the painful disease known as hip dysplasia that is well recognised in certain larger breed dogs such as German Shepherds and Labradors. This often debilitating hereditary disease results in an abnormal development of t...
The domestic dog species shows more size variation than any other land mammal on the planet. This fact is no better illustrated than my recent experience with "Porcha" a 7 year old Chihuahua from Coventry who was presented at Fairfield with a severe ...
How much pain is considered acceptable? As veterinary surgeons we are taught that with regard to our patients we should "Do them no harm". Yet the very act of any surgery causes some degree of discomfort: if that surgery is perceived to provide an ov...
The only lucky thing about "Tex" Barnes of Park View, Sharnford is the fact that he has a very dedicated owner. Having only graced this world for 10 months he has managed to break a hind leg (which healed successfully), succumb to a heavy lice infest...
Sadly the "credit crunch" has no effect on the incidence of disease or trauma. Consequently, at Fairfield there is no decrease in the number of patients who require our assistance in restoring them to good health. In these troubled times the disease ...
With the advent of better and better technology vets and doctors alike are able to more easily diagnose conditions that may have been missed in the past.One of the most useful - but also most expensive - modern diagnostic tools is the MRI (magnetic r...
It always seems to surprise people how common "arthritis" is in the canine population particularly young dogs. Osteoarthritis is accepted as a "wear and tear" process in humans that culminates in a stiff and painful condition after 50 or possibly 60 ...
Many clients are astonished when they realise that their pet has exactly the same disease that occurs in humans. Given that as mammals we are all produced from a very similar "blue print" then it is not that suprising that we share very similar desig...
Greyhounds are the olympic athletes of the canine world. Unlike so many pedigree breeds where the principal selection criteria for breeding has been how a dog may look, greyhounds have been selected on their ability to function. That requirement to p...
