While we all hope that our pets are going to be healthy and live a long and happy life. Unfortunately some of our four legged friends develop conditions that require long term medication, often life- long. Diseases such as diabetes, hypothyroidism and epilepsy can develop in young to middle aged dogs and with appropriate medication can live a normal life, while some diseases, such as arthritis or heart disease (which often develop in later life), can be effectively managed to give your pet a good quality of life.

Here at St Boniface we are extremely proud to offer our own out of hours service 24/7 with owners able to phone and talk straight to the vet on duty.

This is becoming increasingly rare these days and is now not uncommon for practices to use a separate vet service to run out of hours cover for them. Frequently vets now use a call handling service to manage incoming calls, we continue to handle the calls ourselves allowing you to chat straight to the duty vet.

Kennel cough is something we’re all aware of and have heard of, but we rarely hear of canine infectious tracheobronchitis – its true title.

Infectious tracheobronchitis (ITB) has potentially three causative agents – most commonly Bordetella Bronchiseptica, followed by canine parainfluenza and canine corona virus.  Interestingly whooping cough in people is caused by a Bordatella bacteria, although a different type, helping us to draw comparisons.

Nearly 3 weeks ago we saw the symptoms that we had all been dreading here at the surgery. Alabama Rot is a disease that is fatal in 90% cases.

Making the decision to say goodbye to your pet and what to expect...

One of the most difficult and feared times we face as a pet owner is having our much loved pet put to sleep.  Knowing whether you are making the right decision and what to expect troubles many owners.

We have put together a downloadable leaflet that covers this subject, including:-

Poppy is a 9-year-old cheeky, energetic and adventurous Labrador.  She has always been at her happiest charging around on outdoor adventures, including big mountain climbs.  However, her owners noticed that while she was still keen to run like crazy, she was suffering afterwards because she had been overdoing it, with noticeable limping.   Her ability to cope with her usual exercise was thus starting to reduce.   

DID you know that St Boniface Vets offer appointments that are 50 per cent longer than the standard veterinary practice?

Vets at St Boniface pride themselves on taking time to care; Ben Dart, Lead Small Animal Vet said 'we feel by adding extra time to a standard consult we can offer a more thorough history taking and a more in depth clinical exam, to take the time for you and your pet to be assessed in a non rushed, calm environment.'    

It is amazing what happens in just 15 minutes - here’s a snapshot…

Mya is a super bouncy, full of beans, springer spaniel that lives life at a thousand miles per hour.

This New Year sees us trying to help out our arthritic and uncomfortable older, limping and creaky companions.

We would like to share with you our arthritis campaign, running between January and March.  As part of this, we would like to offer a FREE arthritis check; including running through a structured questionnaire that’s been revolutionary in investigating arthritis through a standard approach, but also a general catch up to explore how your creaky friends have slowed or changed over the last few months or years.