Smudge is a young cat who came to see us when he hurt one of his back legs. His owners had noticed that he was limping at home and when we felt Smudge’s leg we suspected it might be broken as his bones didn’t feel very stable. We x-rayed his leg and we could see that he had broken 3 bones in his lower leg. We sent his x-rays off to a specialist orthopaedic surgeon who thought that we needed to put pins into Smudge’s broken bones to support them enough to heal.

Click here to see what happened next

Throughout April we are offering the following very special offers:

Microchipping your pet is now just £10 and includes lifelong registration!

Virral Haemorrhagic Disease of Rabbits (VHD) vaccination and health check now just £10!

More about VHD in rabbits…..

We have a new vet! Charlotte (Charli) Maxey joins us from Monday 5th March.

Charli graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2011, and after spending some time in a small animal practice in Cambridgeshire will be joining Hollybank at the beginning of March. She enjoys all aspects of her work but has particular interests in surgery and wound management. In her spare time Charli is a keen skier and snowboarder. She also enjoys baking, especially her favourite carrot cake.

15% off all cat & dog neutering in March

At Hollybank Vets we recommend neutering all pets that you do not wish to breed from. The routine procedures are normally very quick without any complications, especially if performed at a young age. Even though we consider these procedures ‘routine’, we use sterile disposable gloves, gowns and drapes for every patient – unlike many other vets.

Females of any species are spayed.  The ovaries and uterus are removed in this procedure. This means that not only will they no longer have seasons and or able to get pregnant, they are also protected against a number of diseases that can affect the reproductive tract including ovarian and uterine cancers and pyometra. Pyometra is a life-threatening infection of the uterus most frequently seen in bitches and commonly occurs following a season, especially in older pets. The only treatment is spaying and this often has to be undertaken on very sick animals.

At Hollybank vets we recommend spaying PRIOR to the first season in accordance with current evidence and advice from experts. It is not necessary to let your pet have a season first and actually spaying before their first season has been proven to hugely reduce their chances of mammary tumours (breast cancer) – by approximately 25 times! We therefore recommend spaying female dogs at 5-6 months of age. At this age pets recover from the surgery and anaesthetic very quickly and usually bounce home as if nothing had happened!

Males are castrated.  In this process the testicles are removed.  This means that they can no longer reproduce and also some of the unwanted behaviours such as mounting, marking territory and being very excitable can be either be reduced or stopped. We recommend castration from 5- 6 months of age. The procedure can be done later but often those undesirable behaviours can become learnt if they are left for too long – and then even castration won’t stop them!  The health benefits for male dogs include eliminating the risk of testicular cancer and reducing the frequency of prostate disease.

Cats can be spayed or castrated from 4 months of age in accordance with current guidelines.  We recommend keeping entire cats indoors until this has been done as female cats can get pregnant from a very young age and male cats can roam far before neutering.

We can spay and castrate other species too – including rabbits, ferrets and guinea pigs.  Rabbits, especially females can often be aggressive to other rabbits and humans when they are in season – neutered rabbits are often much friendlier.

If you would like to discuss neutering your pet further then do contact us at the surgery any time. Some people can be apprehensive about the procedures but generally recovery is very quick and actually keeping your pet rested for 5 days until we see them back is the hardest part!

Chloe first came in to see us on 13^th December as she had been vomiting for a couple of days.  Click here to read her story on our pet care pages!

Our wonderful receptionist Penny is training to become a pet bereavement counsellor.

“Having worked as a veterinary receptionist over the past few years I have come across many owners that have sadly lost their pets and need to talk about their grief in order to come to terms with their loss. There are a few organisations that help with this process but often they are accessible only by phone or email, it is hard to find an option that allows you to talk face to face with someone. In light of this I made enquiries into becoming a pet bereavement counsellor. I hope to be able to offer our clients the time and understanding that they may need to accept their pet’s passing. My aim is to help them to remember the happy times that they shared with a much loved friend.”

If you would like to find out more or speak to Penny, please contact her at reception.

Find out what happened when Tigger was rushed to Hollybank having been hit by a car in November this year. We are pleased to say she has made a complete recovery!

Richard and the staff of Hollybank would like to wish all our wonderful clients and patients a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our surgery hours are slightly altered over the bank holidays but as always we are available to deal with emergencies and a member of staff will be present in the hospital throughout the entire festive period.

Sat 24th Dec 9am-12pm                        Sat 31st Dec 9am-12pm

Sun 25th EMERGENCIES ONLY                 Sun 1st Jan EMERGENCIES ONLY

Mon 26th EMERGENCIES ONLY                 Mon 2nd Jan EMERGENCIES ONLY

  Tues 27th EMERGENCIES ONLY                          Tues 3rd Jan 9am-7.30pm

Visit our pet care pages to read about “Mac”, a very hungry Labrador with a taste for cycling gloves! Our team at Hollybank operated to remove two pairs of gloves from Mac’s stomach! He is now on the road to recovery!

On Monday 10th October we were visited by the local Cub Scouts who are working towards their Animal Carer badges. The cubs listened to a slide show presentation before having a tour of the hospital and trying their hand at bandaging and dressing as Veterinary Surgeons ready for theatre.