With the completion of our refurbishment and extension in 1997 we now have modern, hygienic premises where we can give our patients the best of care. Most of the rooms are now air-conditioned, which is appreciated by staff, clients and animals alike. We have included a few photos for you to give an idea of what the surgery is like! The reception area is manned throughout the day; this is where we welcome clients, make appointments, dispense drugs and so on. We carry a small display of training aids, food and educational toys which we believe are useful.

There are three consulting rooms, allowing us to examine and treat pets without haste and with complete confidentiality. All are equipped with the most useful diagnostic tools and drugs. The third consulting room is well away from the other rooms, and is ideal for nurse consultations, or when it is time to say goodbye to a much-loved pet (see further information).

The non-public areas are rarely seen by clients; the central area is our "prep room", with the kennels, x-ray and operating theatre leading off from it. The design allows nurses to monitor all in-patients at the same time, and especially to keep an eye on animals recovering from operations or serious illness. The prep area is where all animals are anaesthetised and prepared for operations; in addition non-sterile operations such as dental work and stitching wounds are done here.

This is also where we do ECG tracings (to check for heart problems) and where we take blood samples. We have invested heavily in new orthopaedic and diagnostic equipment which is often used to good effect.

The operating theatre is designed to be aseptic, and is supplied with piped gases for anaesthetics and a sterile "two-way" cupboard to allow autoclaved instruments to be passed into the room without people having to enter the theatre. Only sterile operations, such as spaying, orthopaedic and soft tissue procedures are done here.

The x-ray room is equipped with its own anaesthetic machine, lead-lined table and automatic film processor; we can develop an x-ray in 3 minutes! For safety reasons the room is lined with lead, and operators in the room whilst an x-ray is being taken have to wear lead gowns.

Our isolation ward is, as you might expect, well away from the main kennel area. Here we keep animals with suspect infectious disease, animals which are very nervous and prefer total quiet, or occasionally very noisy animals which are disturbing everyone else in the main kennel area! 

Most of our laboratory investigations are handled by outside labs; we believe that they give excellent results, offer a vast range of diagnostic services and give value for money; however we do have the facilities to perform the most urgent tests "in-house", and our centrifuge, microscope, refractometer and blood tests are used to good effect.