Vet Nurse Services

We cater for all your pet care needs from our purpose built surgery in Bridport. Below are some of the services which you may find useful to help keep your pets happy and healthy.

Genetic Testing for Dogs – Breeding Healthier Pets

For many years vets have taken x-rays of hips and elbows to enable assessment and scoring of these joints under the BVA/KC scheme.  The scheme was set up because so many individual dogs were born with painful & disabling joint problems. The scoring allows us to advise Owners whether or not a dog’s joint conformation is better or worse than average and therefore whether or not it is wise to breed from this individual.  Similarly an eye examination scheme is also available.

In recent years the advance in the science of genetics has allowed the development of gene testing.  Many gene tests for pet animals are now available commercially.  This means that some genetic problems of some breeds can be identified by blood tests.  And more and more gene tests are becoming available all the time; there are already thousands.  Each test is very specific for a single defective gene.  Sometimes the gene tests can replace the BVA eye examination but usually they provide additional information about an individuals risk of carrying problem genes.

We can offer Optigen (An American company) tests cheaper than can be obtained by direct contact with Optigen, by batching up test samples.  This means the results come back slightly slower but at a considerable cost saving to you.  If you are considering breeding from your pet, please get some advice from our nursing team who will be able to recommend the appropriate tests for your pet’s breed and take the blood samples required. Anne Willson is our main point of contact for further advice- she works on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Microchipping

We recommend microchipping your pet, whether he/she is a dog, cat, rabbit or reptile. It became law from 6 April 2016 that you must microchip your dog, by 8 weeks of age. When you purchase a pup after this date, they should already be chipped & registered to the breeder. You should be given information by the breeder to be able to change the ownership details to you. We are unable to do this for you, but our receptionists can provide help and give you the correct contact telephone number for the microchip company concerned.

We have different types of microchip available:-

  1. Standard microchip
  2. Mini microchip – the needle & chip is half the size of the standard needle. This chip is for small-breed dogs, cats, rabbits & reptiles.

Nurse Clinics

Our nurse clinics offer a wide variety of services:

  • Post-operative checks and stitch removal

  • Weight checks & obesity advice (free)

  • Dental checks

  • Tick removal

  • Flea advice & treatments given

  • Worm advice & treatments given

  • Geriatric pet clinics

  • Diabetic pet checks & blood sugar monitoring

  • Dry-eye testing (free)

  • Blood pressure measurement

  • Blood sampling

  • Bandage/dressing changes

  • 6 month adolescent puppy checks

  • Rabbit teeth clipping (incisors)

  • Dog, cat, rabbit and rodent nail clipping

  • Emptying anal glands

  • De-matting cats with fur matts

Puppy Parties : these are not running due to Covid

The main purpose of these puppy parties is to socialise your puppy with other puppies of a similar age. They run on weekday mornings by one of our Registered Veterinary Nurses & last for about an hour. Puppies must have had their 1st or 2nd vaccination, but not yet explored the big wide world.

All aspects of owning a puppy are discussed & the puppies are allowed to play together, in a relaxed environment at the practice. There are 2 parties in total:-

Week 1: Basic training – attention, sit, down,  handling & ‘how to perform a nose to tail check’, body scores, neutering, Pet Health Plans – see PHP, worming & flea treatment (with use of the consult room to aid confidence), socialization & habituation.

Week 2: Recall using consult room and waiting room, handling, dental care and teeth cleaning, swapping pups over to see if another person can get them to perform sit etc and handle them plus talk regarding fleas, ticks & worms with gory examples! We also include a weight check.

At both sessions we talk about bite inhibition, toilet training and general puppy-hood behaviour as well as advice on feeding and exercise.

Please express your interest by asking a receptionist to add your name to the list & a Vet Nurse will be in touch with you.

There is a small charge of £5 per class.

We also occasionally invite a guest speaker to give an evening presentation on specific topics to puppy owners.

FIND OUT ABOUT OUR PET HEALTH PLAN

For further information about any of our pet care services, please contact our friendly reception team by telephone on 01308 456 771.