The working day
begins at 8am when the vet who will be doing the
operations arrives. The first job of the morning is
to check all of the in-patients with the help of the
nurse. These are animals that are hospitalised with
us overnight for treatment or monitoring. The vet
and nurse discuss how they have been overnight, if
they have eaten, passed any faeces or had any
sickness etc. A treatment plan is made for the
upcoming day, this includes all the medications they
are to have throughout the day and what time they
are to be examined during the day.
Day patients usually arrive between 8.10 and 8.30am,
these are animals booked in to have procedures with
us that day and may range from routine procedures,
such as neutering, to more complex orthopaedic or
abdominal surgery, to blood work and other tests.
The vet or the nurse will admit the day patients. As
soon as the animals are admitted the vet listens to
each animal’s heart and reads the history to
familiarise themselves with the case.
We offer a pre-anaesthetic blood sample to all
clients who have brought in an animal to have an
anaesthetic, this is useful as it reduces the risk
involved with anaesthesia by giving us some
information about the liver and kidneys and we can
decide if the animal will be able to cope with an
anaesthetic, as these are the organs that will break
down the anaesthetic drugs. A blood sample will be
taken soon after the animal is admitted and an
intravenous catheter will be placed. The catheter is
placed to give intravenous access in the case of an
emergency while under general anaesthesia and also,
if fluids are to be given, they will be given
through this.
If an animal is to have a general anaesthetic they
will be given a combination of drugs to make them go
to sleep. Firstly a pre-med is given which makes
them quite sleepy and then 20minutes later a drug is
given to make them become fully asleep. When they
are asleep a tube is placed in the windpipe so that
and oxygen and anaesthetic gases can be gently piped
in to the lungs to keep them asleep.
Sometimes animals are admitted during the day from
consultations when further treatment is necessary.
For example, the consulting vet may see an animal
that has sickness and diarrhoea and has become quite
dehydrated. In this case the animal will be
admitted, for intravenous fluid therapy, which means
fluids will run directly into the vein to re-hydrate
the animal and drugs may be given into this catheter
at the same time to make the animal feel better.
Emergencies may come in at anytime throughout the
day and any vet will see to these animals and
stabilise them with the help of the nursing team.
Sometimes these emergencies will need surgery, which
will be carried out without delay if necessary.
The operating vet will usually be finished by mid
afternoon. They then begin consulting between 3pm
and 5pm. Most of this time is spent discharging the
in-patients from the day. Any spare time is spent
phoning clients regarding lab results and checking
drugs that people have ordered as repeat
prescriptions.
There will always be a vet consulting during the
day. This vet will see all sorts of varied cases
from boosters to more complicated cases that will
require further tests or surgery and they will also
see animals that will sadly need to be put to sleep.
It is a very varied job and you never know what will
come through the door next.
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