Once in a while a patient comes along with such horrific injuries that I am left shaking my head in disbelief as to how they have survived. Monty, a 2 year old Springer Spaniel, was one such dog who was involved in a road traffic accident. This resul...
Two young hedgehogs around 10 weeks old were recently brought to Fairfield. They had both been caught up in gardener's netting which had cut through their skin and muscles as they had struggled to break free. Sadly, my head nurse was only able to sav...
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...
When Joan and John Ward took their dog "Holly" to enjoy a lovely stroll around Bosworth Water Park recently they never anticipated the potential hazards. Whilst her owners were distracted by an angler who was reeling in a lively c...
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 ...
"What goes up must come down" is a concept with which we are all too familiar since that apple first dropped on Sir Isaac's head. However, at Fairfield we have had the rare pleasure of proving the opposite theory with a patient called "Harry". To des...
It was when I was at University that I first realised how short sighted I had become. The lecturer and his blackboard were but a distant blur. Realising that some assistance with my visual capabilities were a prerequisite for success in graduating as...
It is often the case that when a feline patient is presented to our surgery with traumatic injuries that we are required to guess at how these injuries were sustained. Given their often clandestine and nocturnal activities the list of options is usua...
When "Chukkie" overcame a serious spinal injury over a year ago we had hoped that his luck might change. Instead, in recent weeks he began to develop increasingly difficult problems with constipation. As a result of his original injury to his spine a...
Hedgehogs are one of only a few British animals which truly hibernate over the winter. Unable to sustain their bulk with sufficient insects over the cold winter period they must resort to the dangerous metabolic feat of prolonged periods of unconscio...
When "Salt" was brought into the surgery after he had been missing for 5 days I knew fairly early on during the consultation that there was something seriously wrong. I was immediately alerted to that fact when his owner commented that despite being ...
I am glad to say that over the years I have been working as a veterinary surgeon I have rarely come across genuine cases of animal cruelty. Most instances where pets suffer are generally due to ignorance, misguidance and unfortunate circumstances. Th...
Spring is in the air and that fact has become all the more apparent by the increasing number of fledglings which are being brought to our surgery. In a large number of cases these are young birds which have fallen victim to that remarkably efficient ...
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 ...
It was obvious when "Chukkie" was first presented at the Fairfield Veterinary Centre that he had experienced an episode of trauma but it was only a few days later that the full extent of his injuries became clear. Failure of his injured tail to impro...
I have often been rewarded over the years for my magical powers of healing, usually with the " Scottish water of life" for it's own medicinal properties. All too often the healing process for which I have been wrongly associated has largely been the ...
When I first started working as a veterinary surgeon at the age of 21, after 5 years at University, I quickly became accustomed to the fact that most of my clients were older than me. I always felt a little reassured that at least I had more experien...
On a nice Monday morning out, nobody expects to bump into a pair of bad tempered dogs. Neither did Charlie, an 8 year old cat, when he was walking along a street and crossed paths with two unattended big dogs who immediately attacked him. Charlie was...
There have been few innovations in veterinary medicine in the last few years that are likely to have the practical value of the latest antibiotic for cats and dogs. Pets and owners alike are bound to be breathing a large sigh of relief when they disc...
