A big shout out to Hamish, Paige and Emma who are currently at the London Vet Show. Hot on the heels of the Investors in People Awards on Wednesday night, the three headed to ExCeL first thing on Thursday morning for the two-day veterinary congress. A highlight on the professional development calendar, this year, London Vet Show has an incredible 29 dedicated training areas delivering a huge diversity of sessions on the latest in veterinary thinking from world-class speakers in their field. We look forward to hearing all about congress next week, and finding out what golden nuggets of clinical knowledge and practical skill we can implement here at 387 Vets & The West Midlands Cat Clinic to keep driving our standards of care forwards.
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As existing holders of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons General Practice Accreditation, this year we decided to apply for two additional RCVS Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) Awards. These awards offer practices the opportunity to demonstrate that they excel in one or more specialist area. After much evidence upload onto an RCVS assessment platform and an assessor site visit, we are delighted to share with you that we have been deemed ‘Outstanding’ in RCVS’s ‘Client Service’ and ‘Team & Professional Responsibility’ Awards.
For additional PSS Awards, assessors score practices in their chosen award against a framework of evidence requirements, with each evidence statement carrying a weighting of marks. For ‘Client Service’, assessment reviews a practice’s investment in all elements of the pet owner experience. The ‘Team and Professional Responsibility’ award covers assessment across a wider topic remit which includes clinical governance, infection control, medicine management, health and safety, team wellbeing, sustainability, professional development opportunity and training outcomes.
To achieve ‘Good,’ a practice must gain over 60% of available additional award marks in all modules of a specific award. This rises to 80% to achieve ‘Outstanding.’ Click here for more information about RCVS PSS Awards.
The RCVS’s Practice Standards Scheme is a voluntary initiative designed to promote and maintain the highest standards of veterinary care. Accredited practices give pet owners the reassurance that they meet RCVS’s stringent standards. And if a practice has additional RCVS PSS awards, you now know in these areas they truly excel.
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
It’s Halloween tomorrow! This means it’s very nearly fireworks time with many official events planned for this and next weekend.
Fireworks displays can be a terrifying time for pets with unpredictable loud bangs and flashes. Here are a few tips to help our pets feel less anxious on the night:
Walk dogs early and time evening toilet trips carefully to avoid getting caught out. Before fireworks start, bring your dog into a room in the house which acts as a place of safety for them. Somewhere calm and nowhere too busy. Their bed should be there as a safe, familiar resting place and also provides comforting smells. Bring their toys and a chew or some treats for distraction. Make sure windows and curtains are closed to muffle sound and light and pop the tv or some music on too. Stay with your dog for reassuring company. You can offer them a toy to see if they will engage in play but don’t force them. Keep calm and avoid reacting to the fireworks as dogs can pick up on owner anxiety. It’s important to be patient if your dog exhibits unwanted behaviours such as whining or pacing. Telling them off will only add to their distress.
Cats:
Keep cats in on fireworks evening, make sure cat flaps are locked shut and that you have a couple of clean litter trays positioned by the cat flap or in their normal toileting area. Cats are very good at taking themselves off to hide when frightened so make sure they have open access to potential hiding spots like under the bed, behind the sofa or even in cupboards or under the duvet! Leave them be rather than trying to coax them out. They will come back out when they are ready.
Small furries:
If housing outdoors, can you bring your pets’ hutch into the garage or a outside shed to act as a natural barrier? Nowhere too warm though as this can be detrimental to their health when you return the hutch outside. Consider putting carpeting or blankets over the hutch, with a gap to see out, to muffle sound and light. Make sure bedding is extra deep so that your small furries can burrow down and hide. Providing distraction toys is also a great idea.
Please do give us a ring on 01922 411755 if in need of any further advice on minimising pet stress at this time.
Wishing you and your pets a safe bonfire and fireworks night
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
With Halloween at the end of this month (and, dare we say it, shops getting ready for Christmas!), chocolates are currently on sale in even more abundance! If you are buying in for trick or treating, please be sure to keep chocolatey treats well away from inquisitive canines. Milk and dark chocolates are made with cocoa solids which contain theobromine, a substance toxic to dogs. And the darker the chocolate, the higher the concentration of theobromine. The severity of chocolate poisoning depends on how much chocolate your dog has eaten, how big your dog is and the concentration of cocoa solids.
We strongly advise contacting your vet for advice if you know your dog has eaten chocolate. It’s really helpful if you have the wrapper with the ingredients list to hand. Here are Rolo and Mars who were in to see us recently for this very reason. We were able to act quickly and make them sick to prevent the toxins from taking effect. Even though they are fabulously named, no chocolate-eating allowed!
Use our poisons checker on our 387 Vets’ Advice 24/7 page for guidance on chocolate poisoning and a whole range of other toxins too.
And don’t forget, registered clients can use our VidiVet service to touch base with a vet for free. Great for concerns out of hours if you are unsure whether your pet needs to be seen as an emergency.
We wish all pets a happy, healthy chocolate-free Halloween!
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
We are super excited to announce that 387 Veterinary Centre is now an accredited Dog Friendly Clinic! The scheme, run by The Dogs Trust and British Veterinary Behaviour Association, was set up to help vet practices better care for the emotional and behavioural needs of dogs on vet visits. It encourages practices to work on minimising canine stress and maximising canine wellbeing, not just in the waiting room but also in consults rooms and other clinical areas.
Our team have carried out lots of training around recognition and management of canine stress and anxiety. And we’ve introduced lots of new initiatives in practice too. These include mats your canine can rest on in the waiting room; towels you can borrow if your dog has been caught in a downpour on the way in; a canine retail area full of carefully selected toys and accessories for behavioural and emotional enrichment; dog water bowls set at a variety of heights; lots of treats jars; and the use of Lickimats® in consultations to reduce canine anxiety and reinforce positive experience. Check out these gorgeous pups who are loving the Lickimat® experience!
There are lots of things owners can do too to help make vet visits successful, from bringing puppies in to socialisation and habituation appointments, to avoiding your dog having too many sensory experiences on the way to a vet appointment which can make them over-excited or feel overwhelmed. Ask us for a copy of our handout ‘Reducing canine stress on visits to the vets’ when you are next in!
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
