South West Veterinary Nurse Services

15/03/2025

Meet Tigi! This handsome chap has unfortunately been diagnosed with kidney disease and had a concurrent infection requiring urgent medication to help stabilise his blood pressure and fight the infection. Tigi did not concur that he needed tablets, and anyone who has tried to give a cat a tablet, knows how tricky this can be!
Hiding it in food was not an option as he was eating very little due to his illness, and his lovely caregivers were not used to giving tablets. Fortunately I was able to give Tigi his tablets directly with minimal stress and then help to show his caregivers the best techniques for doing so, as his medication will be lifelong.

Cats are more prone to kidney problems than most other mammals, partly due to the fact that they do not have as many kidney cells (nephrons) and siamese cats are genetically more prone.

I hope you continue to feel better Tigi 🐾❤️

09/03/2025

Our lovely local pub is holding a fund raiser for the sweetheart animal sanctuary on Saturday 26th April 10am-12pm. Pop along and join in the fun to support the amazing work they do

10/02/2025

Next Tuesday (18th February) I will be giving a talk on pet first aid at the Women's Guild meeting in St Giles on the Heath. Non members are also welcome (small fee payable) profits are being donated to a local animal sanctuary. Please contact Trish for more information if you would like to come along.

08/02/2025

Walking nicely on a lead and having a reliable recall are some of the most popular training requests. These concepts do not always come naturally to our dogs and positive, patient and kind training is a great way to help them understand what our human expectations are

21/12/2024

Some very useful information from Penny!

20/12/2024

Wishing all of you and my wonderful clients and their furry families a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New year! 2024 has been an amazing year, and I am so grateful for your support and trust in using my services. It means the world to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Looking forward to seeing you again soon 🐾❤️

07/12/2024

Still lots of beautiful hens needing homes! Please contact this amazing charity if you can give some girls the retirement they deserve ❤️🐔

URGENT 1500 hens without homes 😭

1500 hens for next weeks rehome (Saturday 14th December) are without a home!

Time is running out for these girls please visit our website www.freshstartforhens.co.uk

Collection points available:

Aberystwyth
Ammanford
Atherstone
Basingstoke
Bedford
Biggin Hill
Brighton 15th
Callington
Coventry
Doncaster
Goodwick
Harrogate
Haverfordwest
Hitchin
Holsworthy
Horsham 15th
Huntingdon
Lingfield
Llanfyllin
Llanidloes
Milton Keynes
North Walsham 15th
Pencader
Penkridge
Peterborough
Shrewsbury
Solihull
Sturminster Newton
Taunton
Whitland
Worthing 15th

Please share our post - we need your help!

06/12/2024

🌪🌬🌧 With the savage weather that is forecaste for the weekend, there will most likely be much more indoor time for your dogs 🐶 however, this doesn't mean they have to miss out on exercise opportunities in other ways!

* Engage their natural foraging instincts. This provides mental stimulation and encourages focus. For example - grab a cardboard box or 2, fill it with leaves (before they all blow away!) You could add in a toilet roll tube, balls of paper, toys, straw - anything safe that you have handy, and let them have a good root around. You can get as creative as you like!

* Let them use their nose skills. This uses energy by engaging the respiratory muscles through sniffing, provides mental stimulation, strengthens their sense of smell and improves concentration - try not feeding them from their bowl, instead, scatter feed, use snuffle mats, lickimats, hide their food in toys etc. Wet food can also be stuffed in food toys and frozen to last longer.

* Problem solving - provides even more mental stimulation and helps focus. This could be as simple as hiding a treat or toy under a towel/box/paper cup etc, and let the figure out how to get to it. Start easy/show them first if they are new to this to avoid causing frustration. Again, you can get so creative with this!

*Training - maybe use the opportunity to spend a bit of time working on the training you keep meaning to do, but haven't found time for 😉 this could be anything from recall, loose lead walking, impulse control, leave/trade, stay etc - keep it fun!!

And after all that fun, use the time for extra snuggles and attention. They will love it! 🥰

So stay safe and get creative with your pups and pets 🐾 Feel free to post your own indoor enrichment ideas 💡

21/11/2024

Hope you're all staying safe and warm! Thank you for your understanding in the cancellation of some services today due to the adverse weather conditions 🥶🌨☃️❄️

17/11/2024

This gorgeous fluffy pup is Audrey! During our training walks we are working on loose lead walking, polite greetings, and building her confidence around little humans. It is lovely to see her make so much progress week on week. She loves getting as wet and muddy as possible 💕🐾

09/11/2024

02/11/2024

This afternoon was spent volunteering at our local village animal sanctuary during their hen rehoming day! The sweetheart sanctuary are a collection point for the charity fresh start for hens. Today these 130 beautiful girls (1500 in total) were saved from slaughter to enjoy retirement with new families. Hubby was also roped in to help with some heavy lifting. 1000's of hens across the country are in need of homes throughout the year. Please get in touch with this wonderful charity if you are able to offer future hens a happy retirement. They have brilliant characters and make wonderful pets 💕🐔

20/10/2024

It was a pleasure and joy to be back with these fantastic pups and their furry and feathered friends last week, along with some of my much loved regulars 🥰🐾

29/09/2024

This brilliant post box topper was made by some very talented ladies in our village. I'm sure many of you can relate!

21/09/2024

Molly achieved a big step yesterday! Taking a treat from her gaurdian outside. This may not sound like a huge achievement, however, it was the first time she has ever been relaxed enough outside to do so.
Molly is a rescue from Romania. She has not had the best start in life, and because of this, finds the world a very scary place. She is now living a fabulous life with her human, who is working very hard to help her. This has included working with positive reinforcement on loose lead walking, careful and gradual socialisation, encouraging lots of dopamine releasing sniffing and increasing enrichment.
It is so important to look holistically at the whole picture of a dogs life and to ensure that all of their needs are fulfilled in the best way possible.
Well done Molly and Molly's gaurdian! A great first step 🥰👏🐾

08/09/2024

Had the very sad news that one of my lovely clients pups, our much loved local village pub dog Dexter has crossed the rainbow bridge. He was loved and adored by his dedicated owners and by everyone that knew him. It was a privilege to know him and he will be very missed 💔🐾🌈

03/09/2024

Why is it important to let your dog have a good sniff?

Sniffing is how our dogs assess and learn about their environment. They have over 200 million scent receptors which they use for this.

The benefits of sniffing:
* Enrichment and mental stimulation- 20 minutes of sniffing is as tiring as an hours walk! It exercises their brains and helps them stay healthy.

*Stress relief and mood boosting - sniffing releases feel good chemicals (dopamine) in dogs. This helps them feel relaxed and can relieve stress.

*Learning and communication- dogs can tell a lot about each other and their environment through sniffing. It helps them communicate and can diffuse situations.

You can improve your dogs sniffing enrichment by:
* Slowing down your walk. Try and avoid dragging them off to reach a destination.

* Allow them to sniff for longer. Give them time to read their "p*e mails"

* Visit new places and take new routes.

* Play scent based games at home. Try hiding different smelling treats and toys for them to find.

* If your dog has reduced mobility or is on restricted exercise, bring the outdoors inside! Collect bits and pieces from outside and place in cardboard boxes or hide in toys etc for your dogs to explore

Have a happy sniffari!

11/08/2024

This is the gorgeous Dusty! She was very happy and relaxed for her at home pedicure (nail clip) this morning. Dusty is in her senior years now, and a change in her mobility has caused some of her nails to overgrow. Having them trimmed regularly will help to keep her comfortable 💕🐾