Vets need a bedside manner as good as the doctor's!

Whether you're a cat or dog lover, a family pet can be, for some people, the heart and soul of a household. So what happens when your nearest and dearest furry friend is a little under the weather? Well the Westmeath Examiner paid a visit to Mullingar Pet Hospital to talk to pet owners about how much their animals mean to them, and how worried they get when their pet is unwell.The first patient of the day is a seven-month-old Jack Russell called Kimmy from Clonmore who visits Mullingar Pet Hospital for the first time with her owner Helen. She is due to be spayed, something Kimmy seems to take in her stride as she continues to wag her tail.However her owner Helen doesn't seem as relaxed: “She's my first dog and she's a devil, but you get very attached very quick,” says Helen.Kimmy gets a full health check, she is weighed, gets her temperature taken, her heart checked, even her colour assessed to make sure she is ready for today's operation.It's confirmed that she received her vaccination in July, so she is ready for her operation which will take place at lunchtime. Kimmy will be able to return home later that evening, in the same day.A typical day at Mullingar Pet Hospital starts off at 9am sharp with patient consultations. This is where the vet checks the vital signs of animals brought in for examination, carrying out tests on the heart and the bloods etc. so that everything is ready for 11 a.m., when surgery starts.Head Vet David Fagan explains the type of work carried out on a daily basis.“Our routine work would be spays and neuters, we do a lot of orthopaedic work here as well,” says David, “Anything from cruciate ligaments on the bigger dogs, to bone fractures - pinning and wiring of bones and that. So those are the bigger jobs.“We also do a lot dental work here as well because dental hygiene in your pet is also extremely important as a build up of plaque can lead to bad breath as well as other problems.”Vaccination is also important, and David explains why it is so necessary to ensure you have your pets vaccinated@“Owners really need to have their pets vaccinated against diseases such as Parvo and Kennel Cough, which are the two main ones. We carry out vaccinations here as well.”The second of David's patients is Winston who has a heart murmur.Owned by Lorraine Rooney from Moyvore, Winston who is eleven years old, was rescued from the Dog Pound eight years ago.Today he is due for his annual checkup and booster vaccination, but at the door of Mullingar Pet Hospital, Winston does a double take. When finally Lorraine manages to get him inside the doors with the help of the staff, she tells them that Winston has had a lot of problems lately, including a stroke. He seems also unable to get rid of a persistent cough, and Lorraine wants to find out why.“He was shaky, and his heart was going really fast, he wasn't himself for a couple of hours,” explains Lorraine.On heart tablets for a bad ticker, the vet concludes that Winston's heart condition is the reason for the cough.“It doesn't sound like there is any fluid there,” concludes veterinary surgeon Claire Vaughan.“The cause of the cough is basically because he's had a bad heart for a while now.“It's a bit bigger than it probably should be and it pushes on the airways then and that's where he's got the cough from.“It's not a big problem: it's more of a nuisance for Winston,” she explains.So as long as Winston continues to eat well and go for his daily walks, the news looks good she assures Lorraine.Next on the sick list is a little dog called Ben who was off-form and sleepy in himself when his owner, Lorraine Evans from Ballynacargy, decided to bring him to Mullingar Pet Hospital for a closer look. While nothing presented itself to the vets immediately - such as diarrhoea or vomiting - they decided to cover all bases.“I've had Ben for the past five years, and as he is our only pet, so I was quite worried when I noticed Ben sleeping a lot and off-form. He was standing hunched up in himself,” explains Lorraine.Ben was given an injection for his tummy to settle it, an anti-inflamatory in case he hurt his back, plus an antibiotic because his temperature was a little bit high. On further examination, it turns out that Ben's back seems to be the problem and so he is put on anti-inflamatory medication for a few days, and Lorraine is told to rest him for the next week. He will return to the Pet Hospital next week to see how he is recovering from his back injury.Next on the list are three cats all from the one litter, who have come into the Pet Hospital to be spayed.“Their parents strayed into me and next thing they started having kittens, so I thought I better nip it in the bud before anymore come along,” said Edwina Gorman from Clonard.Edwina also has five dogs, and one called Beno – the youngest, a Chihuahua, who came along with Edwina for the visit. It is clear that she has more than her hands full!“I'm a big animal lover but I'm also an animal groomer, so I'm kept going. I even have an indoor cat called Ernie!“These are my family, I have hens and baby chicks, so it's a full time job, I'm kept going all day till late at night!”Three hours later, the three cats are all recovering well after their operation.David, who carried out the operation, explains the importance of getting your cat or dog spayed: “They have found that if you spay your cat or dog under a year, it reduces the chance of cancer in your pet,” said David.The next visit is a post-op check of Luna, a dog who has a luxating patella, or in layman's terms a moving kneecap.She had to have surgery to fix this, carried out by David, and has now returned to Mullingar Pet Hospital for a course of injections. The Vet is happy with how she is looking and has estimated the injury is healing well, so all looks good.Owner Ivanka Ramo, who is originally from Spain but living in Mullingar for the past eight years is happy with how Luna is recovering.“I was worried in the beginning about Luna having to have an operation. She fell and she was sleeping a lot afterwards, so we brought her in and David told me they had to do the operation, so I was a little bit worried but she's in good health now thankfully.”At the end of a long day, it's clear that the vets need to have as good as “bedside manner” as their counterparts in human medicine must have, as they are dealing not just with sick animals, but anxious owners as well.And it's also clear that pets mean much more to their owners than just a walking companion, in the case of dogs; or a mousecatcher, in the case of cats. They are often a very real friend.