Out of hours: after 19:00 and on Sundays, call 01632 960 445 and the recorded message will give you the number for Aldreth Veterinary Hospital, who hold our emergency cover. Do not email an emergency.

Registering

Joining the practice takes about ten minutes.

Telephone reception, or call in between 08:30 and 18:30 on a weekday. We take new clients within roughly eight miles of the surgery — the limit exists so that we can still visit at home when it matters.

What to have with you

The animal's details

Name, date of birth or best guess, breed, and the microchip number if you have it on paper. We can read the chip here if you do not.

Your previous practice

The name and town is enough. We request the clinical history ourselves, in writing, and it usually arrives within three working days. You do not need to ask for it.

Vaccination card

If you have it. If it has lapsed, bring it anyway — the dates decide whether a course restarts or a single dose will do.

Current medication

The actual boxes, not a photograph. Doses and strengths matter, and the label tells us more than the name of the drug does.

The first appointment

We book thirty minutes for a first visit, charged at the standard consultation fee. Most of it is a proper physical examination — weight, teeth, heart, chest, abdomen, joints, skin and eyes — and a conversation about what normal looks like for this particular animal, so that next time we have something to compare against.

  1. Before

    Bring them hungryCats and dogs take treats better on an empty stomach, and a hungry patient is an easier patient. This does not apply to rabbits, who should eat normally right up to the appointment, including before surgery.

  2. Arriving

    Cats stay in the carrierUntil we are in the room with the door shut. There is a separate bench away from the dogs, and a towel over the carrier helps more than anything else we can offer.

  3. In the room

    Nervous dogs are examined on the floorNot on the table, and not restrained more than necessary. If a visit is genuinely frightening for your animal, tell us when you book and we will plan the appointment differently.

  4. After

    You get it in writingA summary of what we found, what we advised, and the cost of anything proposed, by email that evening.

Home visits

Available on weekday afternoons within eight miles, at £78 plus the consultation fee. They are the right answer for a cat who cannot be moved, for end-of-life care, and for very little else — a home is a worse place to examine an animal than a consulting room, and we will say so honestly if we think a visit is not in the animal's interest.

Which animals we see

Dogs, cats and rabbits

Everything, including surgery and dentistry. Rabbits are a real interest here rather than an afterthought, and are seen in the quiet room away from the dogs.

Guinea pigs, rats, ferrets

Routine care, health checks, neutering and most illness. Anything needing specialist imaging goes to Aldreth with our notes.

Birds and reptiles

We do not see them. Trying would be worse for the animal than a twenty-minute drive to somebody who does it every day — reception will give you the number.

Farm animals and horses

No. We are a small-animal practice only, and have been since the second vet joined.