County Vets

27/05/2026

😅 No 2 days are ever the same at County Vets! 😅

This morning called for some emergency surgery on a calf, that had managed to chew off and swallow part of the stomach tube used to give them milk during the first few hours of live if they aren’t sucking well! 🚨

The farmer brought the calf to the surgery, and he was put under a General Anaesthetic, and our vet Michael surgically opened into his stomach, and removed the piece of tube! 🥳

As you can see the calf recovered well, and he is away home to be with his Mum and continue feeding from her 🤞

It doesn’t matter the species, we treat them all equally and want to give them the best chance in life! 💪

26/05/2026

‼️ 🥵 Heat Stroke in Dogs 🥵 ‼️

Amidst this “Heat Wave” we are having, we want to remind everyone to NOT walk their dog on extremely hot days! ☀️

We have already seen dogs come in with Heat Stroke, which is life threatening, from running around excessively ☠️

We advise you too:
👉 Take your dog out for their walk first thing in the morning and last thing at night
👉 Keep your dog inside, in a cool room with the blinds closed
👉 Don’t allow your dog to lie for excessive periods of time in the sun

No dog has ever died from missing a walk, but dogs have died from one walk in the heat! 🚨

25/05/2026

23/05/2026

👩‍⚕️🌟 Veterinary Nurse Awareness Month 🌟👩‍⚕️

The month of May is “Veterinary Nurse Awareness Month”, and we would like to thank the amazing work our Nurses & Animal Care Assistants do at County Vets 👏

These fantastic group of girls work between our Maybole & Ayr surgery, and we genuinely wouldn’t be able to function without them! 💪

A few of their vital roles include:
👉 Monitoring all our anaesthetics
👉 Caring for our sick inpatients
👉 Carrying out nurse consultations
👉 Helping us on farm with geldings, blood sampling & TB testing
👉 Processing & running all our blood samples
👉 Processing all our faecal worm egg counts
👉 Stocking up our clinic and doing the orders

Sandra, Eve, Naomi, Sophie, Georgia & Shona are often not seen by our clients, because they are so busy working behind the scenes, but they are so important to our team, and the care for your pets 🥰

The vets & reception staff would be lost without them, and we appreciate their hard work so much ❤️

22/05/2026

🐂 Fertility Testing Bulls 🐂

It’s the time of year where the bulls will be heading back out with the cows on many farms for the next breeding season to start 🐮

Non-fertile or sub-fertile bulls can cause huge issues when they don’t leave cows in calf, so be sure to get them fertility tested before going out to not fall in this trap 💪

Ideally, bulls should be tested 4-6 weeks before turnout to allow time to find alternatives if needed 😬

Below is an example of a sample collected from a bull this week, diluted down, to check the morphology of the s***m ⬇️

Call the surgery to arrange your fertility testing for your farm 📞

19/05/2026

Recently we are seeing an increased number of cases of dogs with “Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis” 🩸💩

The symptoms include those below ⬇️

The exact cause is often unknown and research continues into this but it is thought it could be due to either a bacterial infection, stress, allergic reactions to food, toxin ingestion, parasites, stress or anxiety 😦

If you dog is showing any of these signs, be sure to call us for an appointment as some cases need intense hospitalisation, intravenous fluids & supportive care ❤️‍🩹

14/05/2026

👏 £345 Raised For Islay Dog Rescue 👏

We would like to thank all our staff for baking homemade dog treats for us to sell in both clinics to raise money for the Islay Dog-Rescue! 🐶

We also extend so much thanks to you, our wonderful clients, for purchasing them and helping us raise this fantastic amount 🥰

Islay Dog Rescue is a non-profit volunteer organisation operated from a small-holding near Cumnock, on the South-West Coast of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

They re-home dogs to adopters who have been turned down or experienced difficulty re-homing with other rescue organisations, and do a fantastic job 🌟

12/05/2026

🚨 EMERGENCY OUT OF HOURS 🚨

We would like to remind all registered clients that we do all of our own out of hours cover from our Maybole surgery, 24 hours, 365 days a year 🕰️

We think it’s vital for you to see a familiar face, with access to all your pets clinical history when needed in an emergency ‼️

We are also happy to give advice over the phone for any situations you are unsure are an emergency or not 📞

10/05/2026

We are hiring…. Please share 🥰

🤝 A rare opportunity has arisen where we are looking for a new vet to join our team🤝

We are ‘County Vets’, an independent, truly mixed practice, in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
When we say ‘Mixed’ practice we mean exactly that! We cover many species from cats & dogs, cows, sheep, horses, donkeys, the odd pig, alpacas and we work closely with a Local Farm Park where we can be found treating anything from a lemur to a camel! 🐪

Although that list of different species sounds exhaustive, one thing our current vets love, is that they can focus their day to day work on the species they most find interesting to further expand their knowledge. We have a great spread of vets with different interests… Some who love scanning cows, to those who would rather do some equine work.

The practice was set up in 2012 by the owner, and also vet, Emma, who has built the practice up to 12 vets, 5 nurses, 1 VCA & 6 receptionists.

We have 2 surgeries, one in Maybole and one in Ayr. The diary is structured so each vet gets allocated small animal surgeries, consulting, large animal time & emergency cover.
We do all of our own out of hours from our Maybole surgery. This at the moment is a 1 in 8 first on call, 1 in 8 second on call. During the week on call is shared evenly between 8. We have accommodation at the practice for staying in when on call if you don’t live nearby. We work a 4 day week, so one day per week you have all to yourself to explore the gorgeous Ayrshire countryside. We provide £1500 funded CPD per year.

We are looking for a full time vet with minimum 3 years experience to join us, who is keen to be a real team player as we are a very close knit team, who all work to help each other out. There is always someone on the end of the phone or in the practice for advice.

Both practices are fully equipped with digital X-ray, ultrasound, 2 operating rooms, 3 consulting rooms & in house lab. Our Maybole surgery has a large animal room with horse stocks. We have a portable X-ray machine, fertility testing equipment, 2 endoscopes, equine dental kit, we do all our own foal plasma transfusions & IgG testing & much more.

Our staff retention levels are high, with 4 of our vets working with us since graduation, and 5 for 5+ more years.

Here is what some of our current vets have to say about working at County Vets:

👉 I have been working at County Vets for 5 years since I graduated. I love coming to work & being a vet everyday, and I am very thankful to work here. The team are all so supportive, and it is a great environment to work in. I especially enjoy farm work, and our farmers are very friendly and welcoming, and I have been able to expand my farm knowledge through the flexibility the practice has for this. Our prices are reasonable, allowing for work-up of cases, which our clients appreciate.

👉 "Since joining County Vets, I feel I have found community, both within the practice team and in the wider one we serve."

🌟 If working for a friendly, flexible, independent mixed practice is what you’re looking for then this is for you. All of our vets, nurses or reception staff would be more than happy to welcome you to spend a day with us to get a feel for our practice!

Head over to our page ‘County Vets’, to see what our clients think also! 🥰

For any questions or to send your CV, please contact [email protected] 📧

10/05/2026

💧 Intravenous Fluids 💧

All of our small animal surgeries on cats, dogs & rabbits, when undergoing a procedure under general anaesthetic, receive intravenous fluids as standard included 🫶

There are so many benefits to animals being on a ‘drip’ during their procedure:
👉 It helps maintain blood pressure
👉 It supports their vital organs like kidneys & liver when processing the anaesthetic
👉 It maintains their hydration and electrolyte levels
👉 It helps with a faster recovery from anaesthetic
👉 It helps maintain body temperature when they are pre-warmed
👉 It gives us a constant “life line” for admitting emergency medications should they be needed

So next time you book a procedure for your pet… whether it be a routine neutering, dental, lump removal, or any other surgery under general anaesthetic… be sure to know we will provide every patient with intravenous fluids at no extra cost 🥰

05/05/2026

******Owner Found*********

This lovely boy has been handed in to the Ayr surgery, unfortunately his microchip details are not up to date if you know his family please get in contact 01290 880110