Why you should consider the Station House Vets Wellness Plan

The Station House Vets Wellness Plan is a great convenient way to ensure your pets are covered for all their ongoing preventative healthcare.

Annual health checks, vaccinations and boosters, treatment against flea and wormers are all important to keep your pet in good health.

The Wellness Plan enables you to spread the cost of treatment in regular fixed instalments throughout the year, allowing you to budget for your pet’s essential preventative healthcare.

Tailored flea and worming programmes are important for your pets and also help reduce environmental contamination.

So, it’s good for your pet, good for your pocket and it’s good for the environment!

Our Plans have changed a little for 2025.  Our Dog Wellness Plans have been restructured so we now offer a NEW! Puppy plan which your puppy can go on for the first 12 months from sign up. Adult dogs now go on to a weight related plan (Small, Medium, Large and Xtra Large) making it even more tailored to your pet.

Neutering your pet has many benefits to their health, and so the Wellness Plans also offer you 10% off neutering.

And of course, diet is of great importance. Like us, our pets really are what they eat. For cats and dogs on the Wellness Plan you get 10% off the full biology-based nutritious range of Hill’s food. For rabbits it’s the Veterinary Recommended Burgess Excel range of products we offer 10% off.

Other updates to the 2025 plans include:

Dogs – in addition to surgical neutering we now also offer 10% off chemical neutering (Suprelorin) giving you options to suit you and your pet.

Cats – As cats age monitoring their blood pressure is of great importance. Therefore, we have added free blood pressure monitoring on to the Wellness Plan for cats over the age of 9.

To view the full details of the Station House Vets Wellness Plans for your dogs, cats and rabbits visit https://stationhousevets.com/wellness-plan/ and click on Wellness Plans. You can also sign up online via this link.

Note : we recommend you take out pet insurance alongside our Wellness Plans

Importance of microchips in helping reunite pets with their owners

We often hear stories in the media of missing pets who are reunited weeks, months and years later.  Helena, our nurse, has her own story to tell too.

Nora the black cat from York who was missing for 4 years: https://yorkmix.com/missing-for-4-years-but-now-nora-has-returned-home/;

Shadow from York, reunited after 10 years missing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-64311790

and Toby from Nuneaton missing for 11 years: https://www.cats.org.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/cat-presumed-dead-found-five-miles-from-home-11-years-later

And countless others, including from our own experience of cats being brought in as strays, sometimes injured where it is even more important to be able to contact owners. Sadly sometimes it is to contact an owner to inform them that their cat has sadly passed away and been brought in by a kind member of the public. Councils too scan for microchips of deceased cats they find.

Nurse Helena’s own cat Meg went missing for over a year and she had assumed the worst. Then a combination of social media and her microchip meant she was reunited. She had been living less than a mile away at Burnby Hall Gardens where she was watched over by various people, most of whom assumed she had a house she went back to daily! Someone eventually posted her on the local facebook page which led to Meg being taken to her to the local vets who scanned her and called Helena with the good news. …

Helena has since (with tears!) rehomed Meg to a home where she will be the only cat as it became apparent she didn’t like living with other cats. Helena gets regular updates with photos and Meg is living a much better life than a stray. Her microchip definitely helped her find that second ‘forever’ home.

There is now less than two months before it becomes law to have your cat microchipped!

From 10th June all adult cats over 20 weeks old need to be microchipped and the details entered onto a database. All kittens must be microchipped by the time they are 20 weeks old. You risk a fine if this is not done from this date. If your cat is already microchipped now is a good time to check the details are up to date with the database holding the details.

A microchip is the size of a grain of rice, and is implanted under the skin between the shoulder blades. The microchip will not change your cat’s behaviour, nor will your cat be aware of it. It is only used for confirming or contacting an owner.

Details of you (owner) and your cat are held on a secure database that is only accessible to rescue agencies and veterinary practices – so there is no risk of your contact details being made public. In the case of a lost cat, a special scanner which is held by vets, councils and rescue agencies can be used to scan for a microchip (much like a handheld scanner at the supermarket for your groceries), and provides the unique 15 digit number which can be searched on the database to match owner and pet details.

We can microchip a kitten when they are with us for neutering but it can be done in a vet or nurse consultation. The benefit of doing it at neutering is that the cat is under anaesthetic and not aware (it is a slightly bigger needle than that used for vaccination).

Here at Station House Vets we are offering a special price of £10 until 10th June to microchip your cat. We will also register the chip for you with Identibase. You will receive confirmation by email and an invitation to create an account so you can check and update details in the future, should you or your cat move home!

It is heart-breaking to have a poorly, injured or deceased cat rushed in to us by a concerned passer-by and have no way of contacting the owner.

So, law aside, please get your cats micro chipped for peace of mind and to be contactable if an emergency occurs or they go missing. Many cats each year are reunited with their owners thanks to their microchip – some many miles away from home!

(The law does not apply to feral cats or any others considered ‘free living with little or no human interaction’ (gov.uk) so please don’t worry if you feed or otherwise care for ferals.)

Call us now on 01653 618303 to book in for your cat or kitten microchipping before 10th June and take advantage of our £10 special offer price promotion.

Veterinary practices structures and pricing

Strangles is one of the most common diseases diagnosed in horses worldwide, with over 600 outbreaks estimated to occur throughout the UK every year. Strangles can affect any age, sex or breed of horse and is feared among the equine community due to its because of its debilitating effects and its potential economic impact on equestrian businesses.

Strangles is a disease caused by a bacteria called Streptococcus equi that can be easily spread directly via horse to horse contact and indirectly through contaminated equipment, handler clothing and boots etc.

Whilst strangles is not spread through the air (airborne), the bacteria can spread when a horse with strangles coughs or snorts.

Watch a video on how strangles is contracted and how a horse can be come a carrier 

Clinical signs

• High temperature, above 38.5°C
• Lethargy/dull and depressed
• Reluctance to eat/drink, difficulty swallowing and/or a lowered head and neck
• A cough (although not always present or as common)
• Thick and discoloured nasal discharge
• Swelling of the glands under the jaw (lymph nodes), in the space between the head and neck, or on the head or neck which may lead to the formation of abscesses

The abscesses which cause the lymph nodes to swell can burst, discharging highly infectious, thick, creamy-yellow pus. In some cases the glands swell so much they restrict the airway, hence the name strangles.

Some horses may only show mild signs such as a mild fever, other forms of nasal discharge, a slight loss of appetite or even no signs at all. This is called ‘atypical strangles’. Horses with atypical strangles may go unnoticed but they can still shed the infection to others. If you do notice your horse is showing mild signs it is always sensible to isolate them as a precaution and contact us for advice.

It normally takes 3-14 days after the horse has been in contact with the strangles bacteria for signs to develop (incubation period). However, there have been times where it has taken up to 28 days.

Steps to follow if you suspect strangles

• Isolate the horse that is showing signs of strangles and any other horses that have had direct contact with that horse. Also isolate those which have/may have had indirect contact with the horse
• Call us for advice and to examine the horse showing signs. Your vet is likely to take samples that will be sent off to the lab to diagnose whether the horse has strangles or not
• Contact owners of the affected horse and owners of all other horses on the yard to explain the situation and what procedures must be followed to help prevent the spread
• The yard should be on ‘lock down’- no horses moving on or off the yard to help prevent the spread of disease
• Keep a very close eye on all other horses on the yard for any sign of strangles. It is vital to check their temperatures at least twice a day as any rise in temperature could be an early sign of strangles. Keep us informed of any suspected new cases.
• Spread the word, not the disease. It’s important to let people know, such as your farrier and neighbouring equine property, that you have a suspected or confirmed case of strangles. Strangles can have an unjustified and unhelpful stigma associated with it which may cause people to keep an outbreak to themselves. This can increase the risk of spread.

Vaccination

Vaccination options are available – the new Strangvac is the one we use.

The purpose of vaccination is to aim to reduce clinical signs and prevent the spread of disease. It can offer individual horse immunity and also possibly  herd immunity.

Vaccination can form part of a biosecurity toolkit (watch the video below on more biosecurity measures) – alongside good hygiene, testing protocols and temperature checking.

Let’s break down the stigma surrounding strangles, help prevent the spread and do the responsible thing by speaking out!

Watch a video on biosecurity measures that should be implemented during an outbreak

Further reading : 

Click on the images to open the documents for further reading

March is laminitis month

What is laminitis?

Laminitis is an extremely painful condition that can affect any horse, pony, donkey or their hybrids (this booklet will concentrate on horses and ponies). It is very serious and
you should contact your vet immediately if you suspect your animal may have it.

Laminitis occurs when the finger-like projections of the lamellar layer, which support the pedal bone of the foot within the hoof capsule, become weakened by losing their
normal shape. This results in instability of the pedal bone within the foot, potential inflammation and signs of pain and lameness.

In severe cases, the weakened lamellae may no longer be able to keep the pedal bone in its normal position, causing it to separate from the hoof wall and rotate or drop
towards the sole of the foot, thus crushing the sensitive layers underneath.

Find out more

World Horse Welfare and BOVA have put together a very informative document which details what laminitis is, how it develops, when to call the vet, reducing the risk of laminitis – and much more.

You can read the full document here: Equine laminitis BOVA and WHW

If you’re concerned and would like one of our equine vets to visit you – either for prevention or management, give the team a call.

Tel: 01653 618303