The Metta Pet Clinic

18/09/2024

🤣🤣🤣

16/09/2024

Acupuncture is such hard work 😂😍 Mr B snoozing through his treatment

11/09/2024

23 years. We'll never forget that day, such sorrow and so much courage. I read this book recently and highly recommend it. It is the story of Roselle, an amazing guide dog and her human, Michael. I'll keep my copy at the clinic in case anyone would like to borrow it.

03/09/2024

Lovely to see this gorgeous man today!

30/08/2024

Free zoom from The The Ralph Site

28/08/2024

💔 Jeff 💔 what an absolute legendary joy gr***de. I've been lucky enough to know this gorgeous boy almost all of his life and just the thought of him brings a smile to my face. This year he faced an impossible diagnosis with such courage, as did his humans. Rest well darling dog, sat hi to Matty for me.

19/08/2024

I'll just leave this joy gr***de here! Receiving videos like this of my patients living their best life is a wonderful part of my job which I never take for granted. Thank you to Mr S pawrents for sending this to me 🤩

13/08/2024

I'm Denmark bound next week for a week of further training- so if you need any prescriptions sorting, shout! Lorraine will be holding the fort while I'm away.

13/08/2024

What a total treat to see Mr S today. I first got to meet this handsome chap in April and at nearly 14 years of age he's been struggling with pancreatitis and tummy issues for several years. His human had noticed he was having less and less cheerful days, almost permanent upset tummy and he would sing the song of his people during the night.

Our aims were to reduce/stop the diarrhoea and vomiting, stop the nighttime singing, get some weight back on him and improve his joi de vie.

However he is a very sensitive soul so we took a gently gently approach, which initially involved analgesia and some supportive herbs in tissan form!

His response to even these small changes was good- his appetite and cheerfulness improved.

Over the next few months we adjusted his diet to a less processed, complete cooked food and added in some more supportive herbs.

There's been a few bumps in the road along the way but now he is a changed man. Applaud worthy poo's, weight gain, zoomies, shiny eyes and coat.

Happy dog, happy human, happy vet.

Well done Mr S!

08/08/2024

Sometimes the acupuncturist becomes the patient 😆😆😆 I've been taking part in a clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of using acupuncture to help some of the symptoms of long covid. Luckily I'm a responder! I'll be interested to see the results when they publish.

If anyone knows anyone experiencing long covid, the Marsden in Sutton is still taking people on the study until October- worth a go!

04/08/2024

Some more wisdom from Hannah

22/07/2024

Great post!

17/07/2024

Happy birthday Henry 🥳🥳🥳🥳

🥳🎊😘🎉🐾💕It’s my gorgeous boys birthday today..Henry is 12 today..love him so much, such a special boy 🎊🥳🐾🎉

14/07/2024

Excellent as always

08/07/2024

Back from a few lovely days blowing the cobwebs away in Cornwall and normal service is resumed with my co-worker Maya 😍

02/07/2024

Lorraine Eason is guiding the Metta ship for a few days while we celebrate the end of GCSEs for my bonus son Harry in Cornwall. Back next week 🐾

30/06/2024

Mrs L taking a nap making full use of a pillow to help her slightly tight neck muscles- animals often intuitively know how to get comfy if given the props to do so!

30/06/2024

Part two!

SILVER PAWS SERIES
Part Two

It’s easy to under appreciate how aging increases our vulnerability.

Whether it’s because the aging individual feels more physically weak / fragile.
Perhaps it’s sensory change like failing eyesight or worsening hearing.
Perhaps it’s the development of various bodily pains. Or the recognition/ awareness of cognitive decline - maybe our ability to rationalise or puzzle solve is lessening or our memory capacity reducing.

Aging increases fragility: physical and emotional.

That’s worth being mindful of as we live alongside and hopefully support, older friends and family.

24/06/2024

Been looking forward to the start of this series 😍

SILVER PAWS SERIES
Part One

“Growing Old[er] is mandatory, growing up is optional”. Carroll Bryant

In some more medical circles, it has become popular to discuss the “success” of an aging individual.
I m not sure I m on board with terms like “successful ager” as to me it somehow implies failure by the individual who isn’t.

As our pets age we can consider three categories:
- limited / mild physical (including sensory) and cognitive change

- increasing physical OR cognitive change

- increasing physical AND cognitive change

Over this series we ll consider what these may look like in our pets, predominantly dogs and cats.

“Age is but a number” as reportedly said by Joan Collins.

When are our pets considered to be “aged” or “senior” or even “geriatric” (as someone who was labelled a “geriatric mother” when I was pregnant at 40, don’t get me started on the impact of age labels!) ?

This is complicated and something we ll explore more in the series.
As an overly simplistic “rule of thumb” we often consider cats over the age of 10 to be “senior” (affected in part by breed) and dogs, well, in the main, the larger they are, the earlier they are aged/ senior. So a small breed dog like a Jack Russell terrier might not be considered senior until they are 12 or over, however a large breed dog such as Labrador may be considered aged from 8 years. A giant breed (over 45kg as an adult) perhaps from 5 or 6 years of age.

To be honest it’s complicated and we see that in humans too.
I prefer to look at the individual in front of me. To consider their health, their physical comfort or limitations (including sensory changes /abilities) and their cognitive and emotional states as well.

As we age, even from juvenile years into adulthood, our bodies change.
The older we get, the more likely physical including sensory changes away from the “norm” become, alongside cognitive and emotional change too.
It can be for the individual’s “better” and it can be a limitation or even potential source of suffering to that individual.

So first things first, health matters.

This is why regular check ups can be so valuable (whether with vets and/ or physios and/or other trained paraprofessionals)

This “tool kit” produced by BSAVA is a good starting point.
We ll be discussing all sorts of resources within the series.

Feel free to share your interests for information in the comments 😊

https://www.bsavalibrary.com/docserver/fulltext/bsava-petsavers-ageing-canines_booklet.pdf?expires=1716096262&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=E06A3D40AD8ED91FBD48AC2C08632165

21/06/2024

Another birthday to celebrate! Happy birthday Teddy 🥳🥳🥳

19/06/2024

Delighted to meet Ms C this afternoon. She gets easily overwhelmed so we gave her plenty of time to get her confidence- within an hour she'd gone from totally freezing on the walk into the clinic, to hiding in a corner, to exploring the room, to enjoying some hands on body work. Such courage! Looking forward to supporting her and her guardian 🤩

19/06/2024

What a treat to see Miss D today and sign her off for now. She came to see me through the chronic pain clinic however the joy of treating patients holistically means we can help improve other chronic issues such as skin disease too. I am one very satisfied vet- well done Miss D and your super dedicated humans!

17/06/2024

Monday wisdom from Canine Arthritis Management

Emotional support comes with minimal risk of worsening the condition. It’s likely to be very cost-effective, and it will build the owner/caregiver-dog bond.

Just do it!

Providing emotional support can greatly enhance the well-being of dogs suffering from chronic pain and strengthen the unique connection you share with your dog.

13/06/2024

The legend that is Bess! Happy 15th birthday sweetheart ❤️❤️❤️❤️ What a total joy gr***de you are!