Vets with a difference

Look no collar!

We castrate and spay kittens from 12 to 14 weeks of age though we do neuter them earlier if required.

We don’t use skin stitches or Elizabethan collars. Why? – because if there are no stitches to pull out then they cant be pulled out, and because a comfy wound will be left alone. When we do need a collar we have soft paper ones which allow them to sleep and eat in comfort.

Another unusual Jaffa feature is ‘castrate while you wait’ – and ‘spey with no delay’! If we know in advance you can wait while we do the surgery, so that your kitten can fall asleep in your arms, be taken through for the operation, and returned to you to wake up in your company in the snug.

A huge part of the Jaffa’s philosophy

The snug is our comfortable, quiet, home-from-home’ lounge area which is now used primarily for sad moments. 

Previously, when the premises were open-house, it was a place where clients could wait whilst we performed procedures, especially when decisions had to be made and agreed. An example would be dentals, where we would show you the x-rays and tooth pathology - helping you understand they whys and wherefores of our advice.

Please see our snippets section for the reasons behind our decision to restrict client access to Jaffas.

Do you struggle to get to the surgery

We are happy to do home visits providing we can avoid the rush-hour, though the cost of time spent in traffic is professional time which we have to charge for.

Some cats are best treated at home whilst others are best coming in. Please be aware that we will not have the full range of diagnostic equipment with us, and that poorly cats are usually best seen at the surgery.

If you have poor mobility just phone and we’ll try and sort something out – we may be able to pick your cat up and bring it in for treatment.

Do we over-vaccinate our pets?

Vaccinations are important, but cats don’t need vaccinating against every disease every year. With feline enteritis (parvovirus) protection lasts a minimum of 3 years according to the book, but in trials all were still protected after 7 years. And Feline Leukemia infection is pretty much exclusive to young cats.

We don't believe in ‘starting vaccinations again’ and ‘vaccination amnesties’ – there’s no science to back this up the need for this.

Much more important in our book is a thorough health check focused on your cat’s life-stage and the associated problems. We then recommend vaccines according to need.

In the veterinary world big things are afoot!

The ‘corporates’ are rapidly taking over my profession. Big food conglomerates, venture capitalists and investment companies are buying up vet practices en masse, as well as the veterinary laboratories, pet crematoria, and even referral hospitals. Some are even developing their own insurance plans – so they end up owning and controlling the whole supply chain! To me it’s very scary that one company can have such a vested interest in every aspect of your pet’s care.

A big headache with cats is getting them to take their medication.

We are the experts! We have carefully researched every option for every drug we prescribe and we use a number of specialised pharmacies offering novel product presentations to help achieve this. An example is a ‘transdermal’ treatment for hyperthyroid cats – you simply wipe a paste onto their ears rather than having to force a tablet down a reluctant throat!

For challenging cases that are not responding to conventional drugs we frequently have alternative treatments including up-and-coming drugs that may be widely used worldwide but which are neither readily available nor widely used in the UK. These are prescribed under what is called the ‘veterinary cascade’. We don’t always have the answer – but we usually have different things we can try when all else has failed.