McGonnell & Gillatt Equine Veterinary Practice

18/10/2025

Owners have been reminded of the need to be vigilant and take action after a “significant” increase in strangles cases. Read more below

02/10/2025

We couldn’t do the veterinary part of our job without our heroes in the office 😍
On Veterinary Receptionist Appreciation Day, let’s say the biggest of thank yous to the lovely ladies who help us all so much: Fiona, Ali W, Cressida, Ali M and Carol - we are so lucky to have such an awesome team 🤩

🩵Veterinary Receptionist Appreciation Day🩵

How important is that phone call to your vets?

“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”
Margaret Cousins

➡️We think it's hard to put into words the gratitude we feel towards our Veterinary Reception Team. Their work is exemplary and utterly important to the smooth running of a practice.

➡️These individuals are invaluable and integral members of our team.

They are often:

✅ Your first point of contact
✅ Your reassurance
✅ A sympathetic ear
✅ Excellent at triage of patients
✅ A pacifier in emotive confrontations
✅ An expert multitasker
‼️ And so much more

We are eternally grateful to Veterinary Receptionists across the country who help the practice run successfully - the role is challenging and the requirements and versatility of the job vast.

Please show your appreciation today for your reception team, they deserve it!

11/09/2025

ACORN DANGER‼️
Please be vigilant about oak trees on/near your grazing at this time of year. Sadly, we know of two horse who we believe to have died of acorn poisoning in the past few days. Everything has fruited well this year, and the oak trees are no exception- they are fully laden with acorns, and there is also a school of thought that they may be extra tasty to horses this year, due to the drought.

The horses affected had pretty non-specific signs to begin with - dull, reduced appetite, nothing in particular to explain the high heart rate that the vets found. Diarrhoea, and particularly the bloody diarrhoea which is more typical were later appearing (once already in hospital) which may indicate that these horses didn’t eat very many acorns, and yet sadly still could not be saved.

Steps to take:
If possible, move horses from fields with oak trees
Fence off areas where acorns are falling
Sweep/vacuum up fallen acorns
Supply plenty of forage so horses don’t go scavenging

BE AWARE that clinical signs are subtle - if your horse is at all off colour, and may have had access to acorns (however few) please call us as a matter of urgency. If we suspect acorn poisoning, the sooner the horse is hospitalised and on fluid therapy, the greater the chance the horse will survive.

09/09/2025

You’ve got to love client innovation- how about this idea? Cheap Amazon children’s potties for raised poles?!!
Gold star to Julie 🤩

19/06/2025

Please help, complete the survey and you could win an Equine First Aid Kit

This is a quick survey about Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) and how it can impact your horse. The questions below relate to EHV which is a separate respiratory virus to the more commonly known Equine Influenza Virus (flu).

19/05/2025

A fellow vet locally is missing member of his family. Please share far and wide 🤞

Hello lovely followers, this is a friend’s dog and is very out of character of her to go missing. Please keep your eyes peeled and share this picture far and wide. 😢

06/03/2025

Strangles Vaccine Offer

Book and pay for your horse's 1st Strangles vaccination in March, and get their 2nd vaccination 4 weeks later free!

This offer ends 31st March.

24/02/2025

The FEI have introduced a new requirement for the recording of Equine Influenza vaccinations for all horses competing under FEI rules.

n accordance with FEI Veterinary Regulations, all equine influenza (flu) vaccination details must now be recorded on the FEI HorseApp, in addition to being recorded in the horse’s passport. The app's new vaccination module allows treating vets to register equine influenza vaccination details on the FEI HorseApp for all FEI-registered horses.

This module has been developed to uphold the FEI’s high standard of biosecurity measures and horse health requirements. It will also help FEI vets to more quickly carry out the 'examination on arrival' process at FEI events, allowing for quick and efficient access to vaccination records.

You can help make this process easier by telling us when you book your vaccine that you have an FEI passport.

If you are the Athlete, Owner, Groom or trainer please could you enter the historical vaccinations prior to the vet attending to administer the next one. It will save a lot of time.

See link below to find out how to enter historical data

https://howto.fei.org/content/20/304/en/how-to-register-historical-vaccination-details-on-the-fei-horseapp.html

11/02/2025

Did you miss our client evening last week?

Would you like to know what is the latest best practice for worm control.

Email the practice on [email protected] and we will send you our What's New in Worming pdf

www.whatsyourwormrisk.com
https://canterforhorses.org.uk/guidelines/

05/02/2025

It was a full house at last night's client evening supported by . Our vets Ellen Harris, Clare Mangan and Chloe Fairston delivered a very informative talk on the latest best practice in worming. They were joined by Mark Baker from Zoetis to take questions from the floor before an excellent light supper supplied by
The evening was rounded off with a Pub quiz.

Thank you to the team behind the scenes for making everything happen but most of all thank you to all that came along and supported the evening.

We look forward to seeing you at the next one.

04/02/2025

Update
We are back on - thank you for your patience

Wednesday 5th Feb - Power Cut

We will have reduced cover at the office between 08.30 and 12 noon due to a scheduled power cut for essential works to be carried out on the local electricity supply.

WE would be grateful if calls could be limited to emergency or essential calls only during this period.

Thank You

07/01/2025

You are invited to a Client Evening on Tues 4th Feb at 7.15pm, Chieveley Village Hall.

Whats New in Worming
Drinks & Nibbles
Horsey Pub Quiz

RSVP to [email protected]