South West Veterinary Nurse Services

11/06/2025

Many thanks Lizzy Loo for taking the time to write such a lovely review of my services 🥰🙏It is very much appreciated to read such kind and lovely words. Caring for your animals was an absolute pleasure and I look forward to seeing them again!

18/05/2025

What an absolutely epic week! As well as enjoying the wonderful weather with many regulars, I've had the honour and privilege to care for some amazing and very well loved animals while their care givers have been away. Some I have seen previously and some new faces to adore. Including some beautiful chickens who required medication and removing the odd tick! The warm weather has meant a huge surge in ticks. They are nasty parasites which can spread disease, so it is important to remove them and if appropriate, give preventative treatments.
Thank you for entrusting me with their care. It means the world 💗

05/05/2025

Meet Marley! This gorgeous boy is a young cockerpoo who gets very excited and easily distracted when out and about. Here he is with one of his lovely, dedicated caregivers in his last session, working on some exercises in a less distracting environment to help with focus, building confidence, loose lead walking, and starting a solid foundation for recall. Keeping training fun and positive is a great way to keep you both motivated and strengthen the bond you have with your dog!

18/04/2025

Training your dog to stay calm and focused in the presence of distractions is extremely useful to help them navigate day to day life, especially when your village has an extremely friendly and bold feline!

Successfully navigating distractions also helps to build their confidence and reduce anxiety in potentially stressful situations. Their ability to focus on you improves and means they are less likely to engage in unwanted behaviours.

This is all possible using positive reward and practice makes perfect!

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 💡