Donview Veterinary Centre News

Exciting development at Donview!

We have just upgraded our kennels and cattery units! (Demonstrated here by Alfie, one of our receptionists dogs.)

What does it mean for your pet? A more comfortable stay – sound and heat insulated kennels giving them a larger more comfortable/private space. More room for us to examine and treat in this area reducing stress for your pets because they don’t have to be moved into our prep area; especially important for cats who don’t have to leave the cattery.

Glass doors – so easier to visualise and monitor your pet, better for infection control and treatment instructions can be written on the door again allowing easier monitoring as there is no need for clipboards to hang on the door! 2 of the cat kennels are double size which was the last box we needed to tick to gain GOLD cat friendly practice status (we have a separate hospitalization room for cats – part of our aim to reduce their stress when in the practice).

Final finishing touches will be flooring, storage units and electrical sockets/drip/pump stands to go above the cat kennels. We have donated our original cat kennels to the new arc animal sanctuary.+2

We are pleased to announce that we have started working with Richard Coe MA VetMB CertSAS DipECVS MRCVS – RCVS and European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery.

Richard and his team will now be able to perform referral level specialist surgery at Donview!

This is excellent news as it means our patients now have access to a specialist surgeon at the practice and it allows the care of these cases to be managed in house.

We have just invested in a new videoscope to upgrade our previous endoscope. Endoscopy is used to take a look inside the gullet, stomach, intestines, lungs and colon and to take samples. Our previous endoscope has served us well and it was time to invest in an up to date video scope. It was used for the first time today for a dog that has had diarrhoea and vomiting for a number of weeks, we were able to take a look at her stomach and take a biopsy which will get sent to the lab and hopefully give us a diagnosis! The vets were really happy with the image quality and it will serve the practice well. In addition to this we also have an equine endoscope for horse work.

We are excited to be able to announce the launch of OurVet.Shop.

A home delivery service for medications and food.

Initially we will be able to deliver flea, tick and worm treatments whilst we trial the system. Orders can be made via the link in your reminder text or email or via the OurVet.Shop page on our website.

Later we will be able to deliver other medications and foods. There will be no delivery charge for members of our healthy pets club.

Those who aren’t members will be able to make the most of a launch offer of free delivery for orders over £30. Otherwise delivery charges are around £3-£5.

Please visit click below to visit our COVID page for up to date information on our services during this time.

We are currently able to offer the following services:

1) We are seeing emergency cases in the practice

2) We are undertaking phone consultations (The RCVS have temporarily changed our prescribing rules so that we can make diagnoses and prescribe medications without seeing an animal during the COVID crisis). If the vet feels it is critical that we see your animal then an appointment will be booked, otherwise advice will be given and/or medications dispensed.

3) We hope to have a telemedicine service very soon – the technology is at its final stages of development.

4) Wormer and parasite medications are available to order by phone

5) Puppy and Kitten vaccinations are restarting after 13th April, for boosters we have a 3 month gap before they need to be done.

We are also organising a delivery service for urgent medications. Any medications and food ordered and not collected will be delivered over the next few days. Going forward we may have to prioritise medications over food deliveries depending on the volume and the staff we have.

Please note, our call volume is at four times our normal level at the moment. Please do bear with us and we will answer your call but it may take longer to get through to us. Due to the high call volume we are finding it difficult to monitor emails and facebook messages so please call us if you need to get in touch.

It might take us a day or two to get this system in place and functioning smoothly, but we are committed to being available when you need us 24 hours a day!

To all our wonderful Clients, 

Our thoughts are with you, your families and love ones as we all try to navigate these difficult times. We have so appreciated your support and co-operation as we have introduced social distancing measures at the practice to protect our team and you, our clients. 

Following guidance from the British Veterinary Association and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons; our governing body. We have now been instructed to not undertake routine appointments. This is a) to ensure we can still have staff available to care for your pets when they are unwell b) to reduce the spread of coronavirus by reducing the number of clients coming in and c) to ensure we have vets to focus on food production (farm work). Routine appointments are things such as vaccinations, neuterings and appointments that are not essential to ensure the health and welfare of your pet. Vaccinations can generally go overdue by 3 months; please call us for guidance, but we would appreciate advice calls such as this in a few weeks once things are a bit quieter for us.

In line with government guidance we have now put in place strict social distancing measures at our practice to keep you and our teams safe, secure the best care for your pets and help reduce the transmission of the coronavirus. 

Following the guidance, we will not be allowing any clients to enter our practice premises. This policy has been advised to be followed by all vets. This decision has not been taken lightly, but we feel it is an essential and now required step to safeguard our team so that continuity of service to you is maintained. This measure will also reduce risk to our clients, especially the vulnerable and those in higher risk categories. You can still collect medications, and these will be brought out to you. Please call us when you arrive at the practice. Bear with us as our phones are very busy at the moment. We have already started a telephone consultation service and are hoping to launch a full Telemedicine service soon. Please bear in mind the following additional measures we have taken.

– We will ask you to keep 2 meters between you and any of our team members or any other clients 
– We may start to talk to you and examine your pet outside first. 
– We may decide to only bring your pet in the consult room and ask you to wait outside. We will call you during or at the end of the examination. 
– We will ask you to pay by card only and we may even ask you to pay over the phone prior to your visit. 
– If you are ill or self-isolating, you should not visit the practice. Call us so we can find the best solution for your pet. 

We would ask for your patience, your co-operation and help as we try to make these measures work. With your help we can be here for you and your pets as and when you need us through this pandemic.

Great news…we’ve just found out the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital Aberdeen are able to make use of a ventilator and a critical care monitoring system we asked if we could donate!