Greenbelt Veterinary Services

04/11/2025

Happy Birthday Emma!!🎉🎉

03/18/2025

Heifers do the craziest things!

This gal was playing with a carabiner clip on a gate and managed to get her tongue stuck and cut open. One of the risks of tongue injury is the impact it can have on an animals ability to eat which can lead to dysphagia and weight loss.

With a little sedation, Dr. Kiri did a great job suturing it back together! This primary closure of the wound will help speed up healing and maintain usage. The tongue also has a lot of vascularization (blood flow) which generally allows for quick healing. She will be monitored for weight loss and her ability to eat during the healing period. She has also been started on antibiotics to minimize infection risk and anti-inflammatories for pain and inflammation control.

03/14/2025

Happy Birthday Dr. Phil!🎉

03/03/2025

Since 1987, March has been declared Women’s History Month. And though history is about what has happened in the past, we also need to look to the future. To celebrate, this month AABP is tapping into some of its women members who are making their own history. We asked AABP members to recognize women members they admire, and why.

Dr. Beverly Chard (lovingly known as Bev by all) has been working with Greenbelt Veterinary Services (a large animal practice mainly servicing dairy farms) in Chilliwack, British Columbia, since she graduated from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan in 2017, says colleague Dr. Kiri Stephenson. “She was offered partnership early in her career and has been a partner with Greenbelt now for a few years,” Stephenson says. “She takes on her role as a veterinarian and practice owner so well and is a great mentor to veterinary students and new graduates that come through the practice. She always has a positive attitude when teaching and mentoring and has great patience even when mentees feel overwhelmed with cases. She can always be trusted to answer the phone, even late at night or early in the morning to provide support to new grads at the clinic.”

In recent years, Chard regularly speaks to the first-year class at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine with regard to her experiences as a female large animal practitioner and clinic owner. “She has great tips and tricks for working in a physically demanding job while being a small human being!

She promotes evidence-based and up-to-date reproductive and medicine practices at our clinic and is always happy to have a friendly but useful debate about practical and progressive protocols.”

02/26/2025

02/04/2025

Brrrr it’s cold out there!🐄❄️

Just a friendly reminder to keep your calves warm during the cold weather.

Newborn calves have a thermoneutral zone of 10-26°C until the time they are 1 month old. The thermoneutral zone is the temperature range that animals can be ‘comfortable’ at without having to use energy to keep warm or cool (panting).

Calf jackets/blankets until a month of age during winter months can help to decrease the energy they need to use to stay warm. Increased bedding (especially straw) in pens or hutches will allow calves to ‘nest’ to stay warm as well.

When temperatures reach below 10°C, the amount of milk fed to calves should be increased by 25-50%. This can be added in as a third feeding. By increasing their calorie intake you will counteract the added energy calves need to use to maintain their body temperature and improve their average daily gains over winter. Some milk replacers also have instructions to feed an increased concentration to offer more calories per feeding

01/21/2025

Happy Belated Birthday Dr. Christina!

12/24/2024

Merry Christmas from the Greenbelt team!

Thank you to all our clients for a wonderful 2024. As always, we will have a veterinarian on call for any emergencies during the holiday season.

11/26/2024

Water remains as important for your horse in cold weather as it is in the summer. As a matter of fact, decreased water consumption in the winter is thought to be the primary inducing factor for impaction colic — although there are other predisposing factors such as poor hay quality, lack of exercise, internal parasites and dental problems.

Impaction colic is essentially constipation and most often includes the accumulation of hard, dry f***l material in the colon. The usual signs of impending impaction colic are depression, a decreased appetite, and decreased production and dryness of manure.

Studies demonstrate that you can increase your horse's winter water consumption if you provide access to heated water, but ONLY if that is the only source of water available. As always, if you have any questions about preventing colic in your horse, your equine veterinarian remains your best source of information!

11/18/2024

Happy Birthday Dr. Jason! He’s actually 47 but we’ll let him shave off a year🎉

11/12/2024

Thank you to everyone who took time out of their sunny day last week to join us for our producer meeting. It was a great day learning about setting up reproductive success, transition cow monitoring and coccidiosis management. Thank you to Dr. Stephen LeBlanc for making the trip out from Guelph. An additional thank you to Solvet for sponsoring and helping us put on such a great event.

If you’d like a copy of the slide shows, please email our office or talk to your herd veterinarian!

10/14/2024

Reminder our office is closed today for Thanksgiving.

We have a veterinarian on call for any emergencies. Please call 604-792-1501

09/02/2024

Our office is closed today for Labour Day!

We have a veterinarian available for any emergencies. We will be back open tomorrow morning at 7am. We hope everyone has a great day!

08/20/2024

Graphic Images!

This jersey heifer lacerated her cornea (eye) during her heat. Enucleation, or removal of the eye, is a way to rapidly remove the pain caused by ocular trauma. The eye was blocked with lidocaine and surgically removed by our vet student Megan, along with Dr. Kiri assisting. The heifer will be put on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for a few days to treat the pain from surgery and minimize risk of infection.

08/09/2024

Happy Birthday to Dr. John and our bookkeeper Lynne! We hope you both had wonderful days🎉

08/02/2024

Reminder! Our office will be closed Monday for B.C. Day. We are open today until 5 if you need any supplies.

We will have a veterinarian on call for any emergencies over the weekend.

07/26/2024

Welcome to the team Emma!

If you’ve been in to the office during the last week you may have noticed a new friendly face behind the counter. We are excited to introduce everyone to our new receptionist Emma.

Emma was born & raised in Langley, B.C. and just made the move to Chilliwack this summer with her partner, Hudson, and her two Ragdoll cats, Rue & Peony! She’s always wanted a farm from a young age, despite growing up in the city, so she’s very excited to be part of the Greenbelt team and hopefully one day see some animals! Outside work, Emma’s interests include playing slopitch, soccer, being outdoors and spending time with family & friends.

07/15/2024

Warning! Abnormal calf photos!

This calf was deceased on arrival at 22 days premature. One of the birth defects is synopththalmia, a form of cyclopia, where there are parts of two eyes that are fused and present in a single orbit in the middle of the forehead. It was also missing the nose (arrhinia) and the mandibles were curved. These defects have been found in lambs where the ewe has grazed on corn lily (veratrum californicum) early in gestation. In this case, we’re unsure of the cause and assuming a sporadic congenital defect.