Animal Rehabilitation Centre

16/05/2024

This has been the saddest of weeks as we had to say goodbye to a dear friend. We are proud to have helped care for Bob and humbled by Mick's words below.
In memory of Search Dog Bob, still on the hill.

'Being the owner of a dog is one of the great pleasures in life. Losing that dog can be devastating, especially so with a working dog like mine where a strong bond has formed over the many years of working closely together.

Bob, my Border Collie, was not only a family pet but also a talented and successful search dog with the Oldham Mountain Rescue Team. Bob and I began our training as a Mountain Rescue Search Dog team in 2008 and qualified in January 2011 after a gruelling three day assessment in the Lake District. What followed was 11 years of callouts, all hours of the day, in some pretty horrendous weather conditions and during which time Bob made 4 operational finds before a well earned retirement in 2022.

During 2018 Bob picked up a nasty injury on a call out and after a Facebook post by the Oldham team, Rhona, a local vet and animal rehabilitation specialist offered her assistance with his recovery, free of charge. Ever since that initial contact Rhona and the Donaldsons team have gone on to inoculate, care for, patch up and rehabilitate all of the Oldham, Woodhead and Holme Valley mountain rescue search dogs, also free of charge. It therefore goes without saying that the care and professionalism shown to me and my family this week by Rhona and the team was second to none. After 16 years the time had come for that most difficult call that all owners dread having to make and we let Bob go. I can’t thank Rhona and the Team enough.

Mountain Rescue teams are voluntary organisations and being a dog handler in one is additional commitment over and above regular MR training and duties. Mountain Rescue search dogs are owned and paid for by the handlers. There are many hours of training locally and nationally, including travel and long weekends away from home that add up to considerable cost in both time and money. Without the support from organisations like Donaldsons the costs would be even greater.

From all the handlers you support, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.'

Bob & Mick Nield MBE

11/03/2024

Crufts always creates strong emotions among viewers not to mention human and canine competitors alike, and there are always talking points and controversies.
Debate is good, and shining a spotlight on contentious issues raises awareness at the very least. We also should recognise that the existence of such a huge platform to celebrate dogs and the unique interactions between dogs and humans is a tremendously powerful thing, and be reminded of all the many ways that dogs and humans can excel together.
Just to step into the ring in Crufts is the pinnacle of many dreams and of a huge amount of hard work. We applaud the dedication and hard work that goes into reaching that moment.
Here are Maverick and Zest enjoying themselves on one of the World’s biggest stages (with their humans Nicola and Cath of course!)
Bravo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch7s1_dVvNQ&t=1311s

09/02/2024

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=122129196266048423&id=61551452690879

Veterinarians crafted miniature snow shoes for a small mockingbird with deformed feet, recently rescued by the California Wildlife Center. The customized shoes aided in realigning its feet, restoring them to a normal bird's foot shape. Within a week, the bird's feet were successfully corrected, allowing it to walk independently.

Read The Full Story: https://techtrackit.com/a-tiny-triumph-how-miniature-snow-shoes-saved-a-mockingbirds-feet

Credit:📷 California Wildlife Center

07/02/2024

Thank you to everyone out there who has kept looking and posting.
V***n has been found safe ♥️

27/12/2023

What do you and your pet wish for in 2024?
To get back on their paws after illness or injury?
To stay comfortable and independently mobile for as long as possible?
Or just maybe, like Zest here, to absolutely nail it at the World Championships?
We are here at ARC to help make your wishes for your pet’s mobility and happiness in 2024 come true.
Here’s wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year, no matter how many legs you have!

07/12/2023

10/10/2023

Massive congratulations to Winterfellin Gotta Dash avec Elstoto (aka Ringo!)
We first met Ringo 18 months ago after a very nasty accident while he was competing. His very concerned owner was extremely anxious to make sure he got the best treatment possible and could have a happy, healthy pet dog life.
Ringo however had other ideas, and with dedication from his owner at home and careful treatment, we pronounced him fit to return to the sport he loves.
Ringo smashed records a few days ago when he won the Sporting Whippet Club Laguna trophy 2023 for the third consecutive year. He has been the top scoring veteran of 2021, 2022 and now 2023 and will retire as champion.
We are super proud to have helped him get back to his best and are looking forward to keeping him in trim, retired or not…. He isn’t a sitting down type of a guy and his family are going to make sure he stays as fit and flexible as possible to be active and happy!

26/08/2023

At ARC we like to keep busy learning and to be involved with as many Continued Professional Development opportunities as we can.
This week we have been absolutely delighted to host two incredible speakers to talk about working with working dogs and had an amazing turnout from our parent practice Donaldson’s Vets and neighbours Hird & Partners too.
Nicola Wildman from Wild Paws Agility and Kat Janzcur from k9 Behaviour Consultancy gave excellent presentations and demonstrations and provided an awful lot of good of thought. We are very grateful to them for this fantastic opportunity.

24/08/2023

We were delighted to have some very special visitors indeed to Birchencliffe recently- here are Ace, Abbie, Izzy, Neve and Willow together with their handlers.
These incredible dogs are all search and rescue dogs from our local Woodhead and Holme Valley Mountain Rescue teams and Donaldson’s Vets sponsors their veterinary care to help make sure they can continue to do their amazing work.
They popped in to collect donations made by the lovely members of the public who visited them at our Donaldson’s Vets stand at our local shows. The total raised was well over £500- thank you all!

11/11/2022

We’re hiring.

Donaldson's Vet's ARC has an opportunity for a RVN who shares our passion for getting pets back on their paws and moving.

Experience in rehabilitation and sports medicine ideal, but training will be provided for the right team member. Enthusiasm and interest in our very rewarding field and are more important.

This position combines an important role in our referral rehab and sports medicine clinic with some general practice work, bringing the successful candidate the best of both worlds in an independent practice with excellent facilities and fantastic surroundings.

You will participate in inpatient care including complex orthopaedic and neurological cases and have significant responsibility in delivering hydrotherapy and physiotherapy treatment sessions with veterinary direction and support in an incredibly fulfilling discipline.

For more details visit: https://donaldsonsvets.co.uk/animal-rehabilitation-nurse-rvn/

Please send Amy your CV and a brief covering letter to: [email protected] by 25th November 2022

19/10/2022

We were just blown away by the amazing gifts we received from our buddy Chalky! His lovely dad Gary brought them in to celebrate Chalky’s 15th birthday a few days ago. We’re glad to hear he’s feeling better and wish him a very happy birthday indeed!

07/09/2022

Why not snap up a ticket or two with these amazing prizes on offer?

20/07/2022

We are very glad Ace is recovered and raring to go again!

13/06/2022

If you’re around in Calderdale tomorrow, why not look out for this amazing duo who are riding The length of Britain for two amazing charities?
Bravo Kate and Marilyn!

A horse ride from John O Groats to Lands End, raising funds for VetLife and Pets As Therapy. Kate an

21/05/2022

Did you know that through our parent Practice, Donaldsons Vets, we support our local Oldham and Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Teams by providing free veterinary care to our sponsored Search and Rescue Dogs?
We are extremely proud to help make sure these amazing dogs and their handlers can continue to be in action 365 days a year, not just assisting with on-mountain rescues but supporting our whole community with missing and vulnerable person searches.
It takes countless hours to train and qualify a search dog before they even move into active service, where they can be called upon at any hour of the day and night in every weather and circumstance imaginable. The volunteers who provide this service unpaid commit a huge proportion of their lives to this cause and it’s an honour for us to be able to help in the way we do best.

04/01/2022

Everyone meet Ziggy!
Unfortunately, he’s not disclosing exact details of how he badly injured his front leg and the nerves which control it, leaving him barely able to use it.
However he has been working hard at his rehab both at ARC and at home and he’s making good progress. We hope to have him back to fitness soon, although we’re not sure trees are on the menu just yet 😉

16/11/2021

Everyone meet Poppy 🐶 Poppy sustained a severe injury to her shoulder, and once the wounds had healed she came to visit us at ARC for ongoing rehab. She is star patient, and is making excellent progress 🥳

06/10/2021

Who would like to help us welcome Alice to the ARC Hall of Fame?
The ARC team have seen an increase in requests to see amputee patients recently, and we are very glad to help.
We’d really like to raise awareness that most pet dogs and cats certainly can have long, happy and comfortable lives on three legs, but many of them need help in the early stages developing the strength and control to move well and reduce the impact on the rest of their bodies, especially if they have other illnesses or injuries! The right amount of the right kind of exercise is really important to set them up for long term active mobility. We are here to help and guide this process.

21/09/2021

Meet Harry, one of our rehabilitation patients. He throughly enjoys his hydrotherapy and acupuncture sessions 🥰🐶

11/09/2021

The Donaldson's Vets team have been out at Pen*stone show today. A few special faces from ARC made an appearance, as well as Izzy one of the trainee Oldham Mountain Rescue Team dogs. Grace, one of our rehabilitation nurses, also enjoyed using the dressing up box with her own dogs 🥰🐶

28/08/2021

We were privileged to meet Ace this week for the first time.
This little pup has a hugely important job to learn and we are very proud to be able to offer our support to him and his fellow Search dogs.

27/08/2021

Meet the lovely Lunar 🥰 She throughly enjoys her sessions in the underwater treadmill, and has won the hearts of our team 🐶

26/08/2021

The challenge is COMPLETE! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿2🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Bob, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in October 2020, along with Lowri, Will, family and friends have SMASHED the second Motor On Cymru Challenge and we could not be prouder!!

🏔 From the base of Snowdon in Wales to Edinburgh Castle in Scotland 🏰
322.65 miles ✅
27 hours 54 minutes 55 seconds ✅

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!! 👏

Thank you to everyone who has shown support either in person on route or from a distance in messages and phone calls… 💚

This challenge shows that determination is strong from Bob and his family to not let his terminal diagnosis take over their lives and together we will help raise as much awareness and funds to fight Motor Neurone Disease!
Although the just giving page from the first challenge has been closed, to enable us to hand over the monies, we are still determined as ever to raise awareness and funds for the Foundation to help find the cure for MND, so please, if you can here is our page;
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/motoron 💚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

20/07/2021

19/07/2021

The ARC team would like to share some very exciting news with you all- meet Jill, our new rehab vet!
Jill joins ARC as a very experienced veterinary surgeon who has been practising acupuncture for many years and has now completed her Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner training.
A local lass from Saddleworth, she has lived and worked in the area for years whilst enjoying hill walking, riding and cycling in our beautiful Pennine hills.
Jill also loves yoga, skiing and travel and is looking forward very much to new challenges and being able to focus on using her rehab skills to benefit as many patients as possible.
Welcome, Jill!

16/07/2021

Unfortunately, this is the post we’ve been trying so hard to avoid having to bring you.
Sadly due to team members having to self isolate as a result of a Covid contact despite our very best efforts, we are unable to see most of our lovely patients as scheduled next week.
Those of you with appointments will be contacted by our team to find a new slot. We have cancelled holiday plans to make that possible for as many patients as we can with only the shortest possible delay, and are truly sorry for the inconvenience caused.
Our receptionists, nurses and vets are working incredibly hard in very difficult circumstances and we really appreciate your patience and understanding. We will have your much loved companions back on their paws and moving again as soon as we can!

24/06/2021

It's lovely to see Reuben enjoying himself on his holidays 🐶🐶

21/03/2021

Meet one of our latest Hall-Of-Fame members, Abi!
Little Abi was desperately unlucky to suffer a broken tibia (shin bone) right at her hock joint when she was just a few months old and growing rapidly.
This is a really difficult time to deal with such a nasty break, especially when she should have been refining her movement skills and developing strength to match her growing body.
Luckily, she was referred to ARC to help her catch up and get the best possible outcome.
Abi was signed off this week, and headed home to train up for her next objective- a sponsored walk!
Good luck Abi, we know you’ll smash it 😎