Bute & Cowal Vets

10/09/2025

Are you a small or mixed vet looking for a relaxed way of life with beautiful scenery and a great team?

Bute & Cowal Vets are on the lookout for two experienced vets (who have completed their VetGDP) to join our award-winning, independent, and family-run mixed practice on the stunning west coast of Scotland.

Dunoon practice – Small animal or mixed vet role with a varied caseload, including the chance to work with wildlife. Full-time preferred, but part-time and flexible working happily considered.

Rothesay practice (Isle of Bute) – Primarily small animal with some equine, plus the flexibility to support the Dunoon team occasionally.

We really value our team’s work-life balance, and with both our clinics closing at 5 pm (Dunoon) or 5.30pm (Rothesay) during the week and no routine consultations on the weekends, you’ll have plenty of free time to enjoy this beautiful part of Scotland.

Are you a small or mixed vet looking for a relaxed way of life with beautiful scenery and a great team?

Bute & Cowal Vets are on the lookout for two experienced vets (who have completed their VetGDP) to join our award-winning, independent, and family-run mixed practice on the stunning west coast of Scotland.

“The team could not be more welcoming, friendly, and supportive, and I have been particularly helped by the flexibility I have been offered. To top it all off, Dunoon is a wonderful place to live with real community spirit, not to mention the beautiful coast and mountains." Kate MRCVS

Dunoon practice – Small animal or mixed vet role with a varied caseload, including the chance to work with wildlife. Full-time preferred, but part-time and flexible working happily considered.

Rothesay practice (Isle of Bute) – Primarily small animal with some equine, plus the flexibility to support the Dunoon team occasionally.

We really value our team’s work-life balance, and with both our clinics closing at 5 pm during the week and no routine consultations on the weekends, you’ll have plenty of free time to enjoy this beautiful part of Scotland.

· Salary of £45,000 - £60,000 plus 50% of OOH's call-out fees
· Holidays increase with length of service
· CPD encouraged and certificates supported
· Possibility of a directorship/buying into the practice

If you'd like to find out more about us, feel free to give us a call for an informal chat —we’d love to hear from you! And if this sounds like the role you’ve been looking for, don’t hesitate to apply!​

23/08/2025

10 K done and dusted!

22/08/2025

At the grand old age of 75, Duncan has dusted off his running shoes (actually he had to get new ones!) and for the first time in several years is running the Bute Highland Games 10k Road Race this weekend!

Starting gun goes at 3pm Saturday at the stadium, and he'll be running to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK . Please cheer him on, and if you feel able, donate on his JustGiving page

Help Duncan MacIntyre raise money to support PROSTATE CANCER UK

03/08/2025

If you have a routine appointment with us tomorrow and would prefer to postpone, please let us know as soon as possible. Contacting us via PetsApp or email [email protected] helps keep phone lines open for urgent and emergency calls.

In addition to this, surface dressing is taking place on the B836 Glenlean Road, so if you are coming to Dunoon from Colintraive/Glendaruel/Tighnabruaich areas, you may need to allow for a longer journey time

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for high winds across much of Scotland for on Monday.

Areas affected are:

• Highlands & Eilean Siar (Highland, Na h-Eileanan Siar)
• Central, Tayside & Fife (Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Falkirk, Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling)
• Grampian (Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray)
• SW Scotland, Lothian Borders, East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian Council, Scottish Borders, West Lothian)
• Strathclyde (Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire)

The amber warning is in force between 10am until 10pm on Monday, 4 August. Further yellow warnings are also in place.

There is a high risk of disruption and travel conditions may be hazardous. Extra caution should be taken by all road users. Plan ahead and avoid unnecessary travel. Consider delaying travel until conditions improve. If you are travelling on the roads, prepare yourself and your vehicle for the conditions

• Make sure your mobile phone is charged and plan your journey, including an alternative route
• Have plenty of fuel, warm clothing, food, and water in case you’re delayed
• Do not ignore road closure signs – they are there for your safety
• Congestion caused by vehicles may restrict emergency services and recovery vehicles from providing essential assistance
• Listen to media broadcasts, including radio, for updates
• Follow your local authority for the latest updates in your area via Facebook, X, or their website
• Other information can be found on the Met Office and Ready Scotland websites.
• For public transport information visit: https://orlo.uk/6La3o
• Follow Traffic Scotland on X for up-to-date travel information.

Those in amber alert areas may experience power outages. For advice, visit Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks on X for up to date advice.

The full Met Office warning can be accessed via this link: https://orlo.uk/U5Q5A

02/08/2025

It's a few months until Halloween, Bonfire night and New Year... But it's time to start thinking about your pets noise phobia NOW.

Countdown is on...

🎶Noise Desensitisation: Taking the nervousness out of the noise🎶

Noise anxiety: 50% of dogs react fearfully to some noise.

Statistically more bites happen around thunderstorms and fireworks, likely because of anxiety levels are our attempts to comfort frantic dogs.

Furthermore, if your pet has developed a new phobia as it ages, considering chronic pain and treating this can be essential to their holistic care of anxiety and phobias.

This can make firework season a very stressful time of year for both you and your pet!

➡️Noise phobias can be managed a number of ways but one very useful method is desensitisation and counter conditioning.

➡️Through repetition of quiet noise ( that are scary in louder levels), the pet learns to ignore the stimulus and the level of stimulation can be increased until higher levels of the stimulus are ignored.

➡️This is something that is best taken slowly with dedication, commitment and persistence and only using positive training techniques. If you start now you may make a positive difference to bonfire night and new year fireworks.

29/07/2025

Have you watched the BBC documentary that came out yesterday all about dogs rescued from overseas?

It is eye-opening and at times distressing, but a very fair summary of the state of the import sector at the moment. If you are considering adding a dog from abroad to your family, I highly recommend you watch it.

We are a nation of animal lovers and the desire to adopt a pet in need is strong, and very admirable, but we do need to be sensible about how we go about it.

Which isn't always easy when social media and selling pages are full of desperate stories and cute pictures and when transporters will offer a dog to anyone who asks, often conveniently dropping them off (after long journeys in crowded vans) right to your door.

But this lack of oversight and any sort of due diligence by some, not all, organisations is causing huge issues and heartbreak for owners, animals and the responsible charities trying to deal with the fallout.

It isn't that UK based rescues make it too hard to adopt, it is that many of the overseas ones make it far too easy.

That is not to say that overseas adoptions cannot be successful. Many dogs settle well into pet and family life, but many do not and we have to respect the fact that generations of living independent lives mean they are often happier where they are, being watched over by humans but not sharing the sofa!

In fact, many of the most experienced charities now make population management and care in-country the focus of their work, with rehoming being a much smaller part, and only for those dogs who they have fully assessed and know will thrive in a new place.

I have linked below some excellent resources, pages, and articles for you to read if you are researching overseas rescue but the most important things to look for are;

* A dog imported under Balai Regulations, not just on a pet passport. You can find this out by asking the organisation and you will receive extensive importation paperwork, not just a pet passport and health test results.

Importing via Balai is the legal route for pets being rescued and shows the organisation is committed to obeying the law and doing things properly. If they cut this corner, I would be concerned about what other procedures they may not be following.

• The dog must have been in a foster home for at least a few weeks, ideally a couple of months, before they are put up for adoption and you must be able to meet them more than once before they come home with you.

This allows the dog to properly decompress and settle with an experienced carer, and be fully assessed to ensure their perfect family can be found for them.

* They must have tested negative for Brucella Canis using the APHA blood tests before travelling, and you should be informed that this test needs repeating 3 months later. (Ideally they would be be safe quarantine overseas for this time but I appreciate this is often not practical, so most are done after 3 months here).

* The organisation must offer full, judgement-free, rescue back-up in case the dog isn't suitable for you.

Watch the program here; https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002gkhx

Advice for importers from the Association of Dogs & Cats Homes, I would always look for membership of this association from any rescue you are considering using; https://adch.org.uk/importation/

Advice from Woodgreen Pets Charity;https://woodgreen.org.uk/pet-advice/dog/rehoming-dogs-from-abroad/

My advice on the subject; https://www.catthevet.com/thinking-of-rescuing-a-dog-from-abroad/

A detailed chat I had with the parasitologist Ian Wright about what testing you should expect any dog to have and why; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcbKxGANabA&t=6s

An example of a fantastically successful Dogs Trust Worldwide initiative to manage a stray dog population humanely and with minimal rehoming; https://dogstrust.ba/en/achievements-and-statistics

And finally, follow Barnaby and Bluebell for some more detailed dives into some of the darker corners of this industry.

26/07/2025

16/07/2025

Small white curly haired dog has been found. Many thanks to those who have assisted and including David Reid and family who managed to find and capture Selkie. LOST! Small white curly-haired dog. Last seen Kerrycroy area. If seen please phone 01700503017 Thank you

10/07/2025

This summer, please don't drop food in the countryside or feed farm animals if you’re out walking. Kitchen scraps, even veggie ones, can carry devastating animal diseases such as and https://www.gov.scot/publications/african-swine-fever/

06/03/2025

Update: Now removed. Thank you!

Could the owner of this car kindly arrange for its removal from our Dunoon surgery carpark before 5pm Friday 7th March.

It has been here since Sunday 23rd February, taking up parking space needed by people bringing sick animals to the surgery.