The Tiny Vet

16/02/2025

Hope you all had a lovely weekend 😁 Next week is half term and I've kept my diary really light. My last available appointment has now been taken, but I'll be around for advice on the phone and emergencies. As always, if I'm unable to get to you quickly enough or your pet needs immediate hospitalisation, I will refer you to the wonderful team at Nurture Vet Hospital in Wells.
Lucy ###

13/02/2025

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:eu:6ac0ea10-7e52-46ae-89a3-9ac0c7696b91

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease 2.... your questions answered! (hopefully)

Further to my previous post, here is a PDF of the text that was displayed in the pictures.

Lucy ###

13/02/2025

🚨🚨New Highly Virulent Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease 2 🐰🐰

Single dose vaccination appointments are now available 🥳🥳🥳

For those of you waiting to get your rabbits vaccinated, please get in touch. This offer is available to all rabbit keepers within my catchment area. If you are not registered to The Tiny Vet and would like a home visit for this vaccine, please be courteous and speak to your own vet first.

£67 including visit fee for one rabbit;
£127.30 for two bunnies.

I have put some information together in the accompanying pictures which will answer most of everyone's questions about the virus, why we are concerned and why we are offering the vaccine. If its too small to read then you can use the alt text feature. I will also try to share it as a document link too.

Comment below or send me a message if you have further questions (the kind person who proof read this for me has already asked: can it be given at the same time as the triple vacc? answer: no, we recommend giving them two weeks apart).

Feel free to share, even if you're not local as this is intended to be educational/informative more than advertising my services!

Lucy ###

11/02/2025

✨ Here is my "Check Tiger's mouth" appointment from this morning 🤗🐢

✨ Tiger the Horsfields tortoise had a full health check and beak trim; you can see the difference between the first and last photos.

✨ This isn't my neatest beak trimming work 🫣 as despite being named after a tank, Tiger was incredibly shy and keep ducking into his shell despite our best efforts to hold his head still! I was reluctant to use my Dremel bur in this scenario so I got my favourite sharp little clippers out instead.

✨ The middle picture shows Tiger sulking in his shell when I was half way through the job, poor chap.

✨ The beauty of being a home visit vet is that I was able to take my time doing Tiger's procedure, without worrying that I was keeping my next patient waiting.

✨ Tiger's tortoise-friend Panzer, another Horsfields, also had a health check and a routine faecal test was carried out. We also reviewed their diet, housing and lighting which was all spot on!

✨ Please get in touch if you'd like to discuss routine health checks or poorly pet appointments for your tortoises 😊

11/02/2025

Ooooh, lovely little mention from the wonderful folk who make the best intensive care units 😍
(Ok, so they are just mentioning my mention, but I'll take it 😂)

What a wonderful post we've been tagged in over on LinkedIn. 💙 Thank you for sharing and we wish the very best to your patient.

11/02/2025

Check Tiger's mouth to be precise!
😱
I will report back later...

Have a good day everyone
Lucy ###

10/02/2025

Checking diary for tomorrow morning...

First appointment of the day:

"Tiger"
..

09/02/2025

✨🌛 What is everyone else doing this evening? I'm just sitting here learning how to do a caesarean in a python, y' know, just in case!

09/02/2025

Very informative post from The Guinea Pig Guru! If you have any further questions about spaying your sows or would like to discuss guinea pig neutering in general then please get in touch with me for a little chat 🤗

This is a procedure that I routinely carry out so do let me know if you are looking for an exotic vet to neuter your piggies ♥️♥️

Spaying female guinea pigs.

By the time female guinea pigs reach 18 months old they can develop ovarian cysts, these occur in approximately 75% of sows (that’s 3 in every 4 ladies). Most of these cysts are called rete cysts (around 80% in some studies) which are not hormonally active, meaning they cannot be treated with hormonal therapy. Cysts can be uncomfortable and are likely to cause some reduction in life quality. Therefore treatment for cysts in guinea pigs is often surgical removal. This is therefore one of the big reasons we are beginning to advocate for preventative spaying in younger guinea pigs. This is a much easier surgery and less risk to the piggie when they are younger. It will not only prevent ovarian cysts but also can help reduce the chances of uterine cancers, infections and other changes.

In most cases for preventative spaying, guinea pigs have one or two surgical incisions on the one or both sides of their body. The ovaries can be reached by these small incisions a little easier than a midline incision (near the bellybutton). Although it is also veterinarian preference and in some cases when cysts are already present the midline approaches are preferred. Surgery is usually less than an hour.

Ideally ladies should be spayed as young as possible (around 4-6months of age), but this can be performed at any age. The older the sow often the more likely cyst are already present.

If you are interested in spaying your ladies preventatively then we would advise finding a piggie savvy or exotics vet who is happy to do this surgery. Not all vets are yet familiar with the surgery. Be mindful that it can take a week or so for them to fully bounce back. It’s also important that we do not consider this in piggies with any signs of illness. Some mainstream pet shop bred piggies also have concurrent underlying respiratory issues so they should always be checked fully by a vet before any decision regarding aneasthesia is decided.

Some literature regarding the stats here:
https://www.vetexotic.theclinics.com/article/S1094-9194(13)00085-6/fulltext

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30502791/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1040638716665429

06/02/2025

🦊🤗♥️

05/02/2025

Snowdrop and Snowflake, two 6 month old bonded sister lion-lops had their routine spay procedures today. Can you tell who is who???? 🐰🐰
If you have two young, same s*x, unneutered but bonded rabbits, now is the time to get them neutered before spring fever hormones kick right in! ✂️✂️
Snowdrop and Snowflake also had an ear and teeth examination during their visit and there are a few things we need to monitor in these buns. Being lops they both have very narrow slit shape ear canals so are prone to ear disease. At the moment they have no issues with discharge, but their human is on the case and those floppy ears will be regularly checked 🤗
These two tiny heroes are back home in a snuggly warm bed of hay where they will have an extremely close eye kept on then for the next 24 to 48 hours. They have pain relief to take for the next week and all being well they will be back to normal in no time at all.
Please do get in touch if you have any questions about getting your rabbits, or other small mammals, neutered.
Lucy ###

01/02/2025

I can't believe it's February at last 😂
One of my favourite new things for January (and going forwards) was providing relief veterinary services for the amazing Secret World Wildlife Rescue.
Last month it was my privilege to deliver treatment to a range of native wild species at the rescue, the smallest of which was a little house mouse 🐁 and the largest were the foxes 🦊
I can't wait for my next shift 😍
Please show your support for the incredible work Secret World does by liking and following their page.
I can't tell you which of the featured animals were "my" patients, but some of them have had their stories shared on the socials; it's great to see them doing so well and returning back to the wild where they belong 💚💚

We have recently had several foxes staying at our centre, over the next few days we will be telling their stories.

🦊Fox Number 1🦊
This morning we showed you this fox with a bad case of mange and a wound to her rump. We are pleased to say that whilst in our care she responded well to treatment with the wounds healing and fur regrowing.

Our wildlife carers noted her lovely character, being a little cheeky and very quickly devouring any food placed in her pen.

Pleased with her progress, this fox was released back into the garden she was rescued in earlier this week. 🐾

26/01/2025

Sunday breakfast for the pets! 🐌🐹🐹
They eat better than I do 😂

24/01/2025

SPARE ICE PACKS!
I have 9 ice packs that came with some medical supplies (to keep them chilled in transit) which I don't need. Would anybody like them? They are taking up too much space here (I am a Tiny Vet after all) and I can't bring myself to throw them away!
Thank you 🙏

23/01/2025

I'm always grateful for some assistance on my home visits! Future Farmer🚜 and general Superstar⭐, Violet, was my helper this morning for what turned out to be four guinea pig health checks! What a treat 😍
Violet, if you ever find a farming career is not for you after all, then you'll be a fabulous vet 🩺
(Violet's grownup gave me permission to take and post these photos)

21/01/2025

✨✨Sparkly left & right dinosaurs with The Tiny Vet initials can only mean one thing!🦖🦖

Today was a radiography day ☢️🩻 where I put on my peripatetic hat to collaborate with my friends at and carry out some investigations, including XRay, in a poorly rabbit 🐇🐇🤒🤒

20/01/2025

Bit behind on admin following a busy weekend... So I've got the office assistants checking emails for me 🤩💻
Productivity unfortunately seems to be inversely proportional to the amount of "help" I'm getting 😂😂 📉

20/01/2025

🐰🐰More Bunny Spam 😍😍

🐇Pretty little Orla (pictured) and her wifebun April (not pictured) both had their health checks and vaccinations this weekend in the comfort of their own home 💚🏠

🐇Please get in touch if you would like a stress-free home visit appointment for your buns, or if you'd like to discuss any aspects of preventative healthcare and vaccination in rabbits 💉

✔️