Vets for Pets Llantrisant

26/06/2025

🐰This week marks Rabbit Awareness week 2025. 🐰
The theme for this year is Happy Hoppy Homes, focusing on the importance of proper housing for rabbits.
We see lots of rabbits here at Vets For Pets Llantrisant and are passionate about the importance of great husbandry and gold standard care 🐰
Rabbits are the UKs 3rd popular pet but are often one of the most neglected.

Just like cats and dogs they require vaccinations, neutering, parasite prevention, dental care and a good quality diet.
We’re all for keeping your rabbit in tip top shape and offer a Complete Care Plan which gives you everything you need to protect your rabbit and keep costs down.
We’re happy to book your rabbit in for a health check with one of our team for a chat about their general health and offer advice. 🐰

25/06/2025

🐾 ♥️ Introducing Dr Sandra Regada ♥️ 🐾

We’re happy to welcome Dr Sandra Regada to our practice as part of a visiting cardiology service.

Sandra offers in-house referrals for advanced cardiac investigations, including echocardiography, blood pressure assessment, and arrhythmia workups (ECG and Holter monitoring). This allows us to deliver specialist-level care for pets with heart disease, without the need for clients to travel elsewhere.

Dr Sandra Regada has over 12 years of experience in small animal practice, most of which focused on cardiology. She completed a rotating internship at North Downs Specialist Referrals and a dedicated cardiology internship at the University of Cambridge. Sandra holds an advanced cardiology certificate from the European School for Advanced Veterinary Studies (ESAVS) and has spent several years providing referral cardiology services across South Wales.

She has a special interest in complex heart failure management, congenital heart disease, and feline cardiomyopathies. Passionate about supporting her colleagues and improving patient care, Sandra brings expert knowledge and compassionate dedication to every case she sees.

Some of you will have already met Sandra and will be aware of her expertise, care and compassion. She is a welcome asset to our fantastic team. 🐾

20/06/2025

‼️ XL Bully final neutering deadline is fast approaching - June 30th 2025‼️

Please call us to get your XL’s booked in for neutering, if you miss the deadline they are no longer exempt and the police have reason for seizure.

Monday 30th June is the deadline for submitting your proof of neutering form from a vet, please don't leave it to the last minute!

Thank you 🐾

20/06/2025

❗️ Missed appointments ❗️

There have been 27 missed appointments at the practice in the last 4 weeks.

We are a busy practice and it is so important you cancel your appointment if you are unable to attend so we can make the appointments available for other clients. 🥲

We understand that sometimes life gets in the way but going forward we would really appreciate it if you could cancel appointments/procedures if you are unable to attend.

Thank you for your cooperation with this. 🐾

19/06/2025

Nominate us or any of our team in the Petplan Veterinary Awards!

🐕 Practice of the Year
🐈 Vet of the Year
🐇 Vet Nurse of the Year
🦜 Practice Manager of the Year
🐁 Support Staff of the Year

More info and nominations here:

The Petplan Vet Awards are in their 26th year, recognising and celebrating teams and individuals within the vet sector who inspire their clients and colleagues with their commitment and passion.

19/06/2025

♥️ 🐾 A post to appreciate our vets 🐾 ♥️

A big thank you to the people who are the frontiers to this practice - our vets Louie, Abbi, Lily & Gabi.

Being a vet surgeon can be a rewarding career but it also presents with several challenges. These include the emotional toll of dealing with sick and injured animals, long and unpredictable hours, compassion fatigue, dealing with euthanasias/grief and burnout.

The pressure every vet is under is immense such as the pressure to make the right decision under stressful situations such as financial constraint.

Our vets are the ones we follow & look to for leadership and direction. Please be kind to our vets - you don’t know what they have been through in a previous appointment 💔

Thank you to our Vets💙

19/06/2025

🌡️ 🌞 HOT WEATHER WARNINGS FOR PET OWNERS 🌞 🌡️

Warning signs:
🌞 Heavy panting
🌞 Difficulty breathing
🌞 Excessive drooling
🌞 Lethargy, drowsy, uncoordinated
🌞 Collapsed
🌞 Vomitting
🌞 Red gums

❗️ See a dog in a car displaying any signs of heatstroke? Call 999 ❗️

Emergency First Aid for dogs:
🐾 Move pet to shaded/cool area
🐾 immediately pour cool or cold water over the body until breathing settles. Any water is best as long as it’s cooler than the dogs body temperature.
🐾 Offer cool water to drink

‼️ DO NOT PLACE WET TOWELS OVER DOG. THIS TRAPS HEAT‼️

Final step - call us on 01443 228315 & select the emergency option 📞

At risk dogs include old dogs, young dogs, thick coated dogs, and flat faced breeds 🐶

Stay safe out there!

📸 - VetsNow

16/06/2025

🌞 Hot weather & our pets 🌞

With the weather starting to heat up, it’s important to ensure our pets aren’t suffering from heatstroke or other heat related illnesses.

Follow these tips - prevention is always the way! 🌞

Call us immediately if you believe your pet is suffering from any signs of heatstroke - it’s better safe than sorry! 😔

16/06/2025

Our Veterinary Care Assistant (VCA) - Meg 💙

Hello, I’m Megan. I am a VCA working at Vets for Pets Llantrisant and have been here since September 2023.

I am currently doing my veterinary care assistant training at Abbeydale college and I hope to start my nursing soon!

What is a VCA? 🐾
My day to day jobs include preparing consult rooms for the day by making sure all fridges and drawers are stocked. I clean down prep area, kennels & theatre. l set up theatre for surgeries, I help with holding the animals as well as giving them lots of attention throughout the day. I also take the patients out for walks and feed them.

I’ve recently began assisting the nurses with x-rays, which I thoroughly enjoy!

My favourite animals to work with are dogs, especially cockapoos! 🐶

13/06/2025

📣 Calling all Primary Schools 📣

We have visited a few local primary schools over the past few years, to educate the younger generations on the world of veterinary (and we even brought some special guests…) 🐶 🐱 🐰

It was a brilliant experience & we are keen to start this up again from September 2025 onwards. If you are interested in this for your school, please contact us directly via [email protected] or [email protected]

UPDATE: please only schools within 20 minutes of the practice (Talbot Green).

Thank you & we look forward to hearing from you soon! 🐾

12/06/2025

🐱 ISFM SILVER PRACTICE 🐱

Did you know at Vets4Pets Llantrisant, we are an ISFM Silver Clinic!

But, what does this mean? 👀

The ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic scheme means that accredited clinics have reached a higher standard of cat care in that they:

🐱 Understand the needs of cats and have made vet visits more cat-friendly.
🐱 Understand how to approach and handle cats gently and with care.
🐱 Have good knowledge and equipment to manage the care of cats.

We have worked very hard to adapt our practice to suit the very specific needs of cats. These include, separate dog & cat waiting areas, a cat tree in the reception area, separate cat and dog hospitalisation wards, the use of hideouts & phermone sprays and so much more!

We have a NO scruffing policy implemented within our practice. Keep an eye out for future social media posts that explain why scruffing cats in this modern day and age is a poor standard of care/welfare. ❌

We handle each and every cat based on what they are comfortable with & ensure that they are coming into a calm environment 🐱

For more information, please visit : icatcare.org

🐱 🐱 🐱 🐱 🐱

09/06/2025

🐾 Meet Willow 🐾

This friendly girl had her first vaccination with us today. She didn’t feel a thing (thanks to a plate of tasty chicken as a distraction) 😍

How gorgeous is she!? 🐾

25/02/2024

When Kelly from our Colton store's Pets Grooming salon discovered a lump on the tail of nine-year-old Rufus she suspected something wasn't right, so alerted his owners Les and Andrea so they could get it checked out. They brought him to Vets for Pets Leeds Colton where it was confirmed he had a cancerous tumour which needed surgery.

Les, who adopted Rufus from Dogs Trust in Leeds as a puppy, said: “Rufus is such a big part of our life; we’re absolutely besotted with him. We probably wouldn’t have noticed the lump if not at the groomers as the tail isn’t somewhere you would usually stroke and feel. Kelly loves Rufus and really looks after him, so we want to say a big thanks for spotting it. Who'd have known what would have happened if she hadn’t noticed.”

Rufus had to have his tail removed, but is now making a good recovery. He's been visiting Kelly for a groom every six weeks for the last three years. She said: “You get to know everything about a dog as you groom them. I’ve discovered similar things before on other dogs so I mentioned it to the owners so they could get it checked out. Dogs are my life and you do worry; I’m so pleased they caught it. Now he’s got a fully docked tail like a little bunny rabbit. It’s lovely and suits him – when he gets washed he wiggles his bum.”

21/02/2024

Arthur's owner Louise says he "looked like a brand-new tortoise" after having his beak filed at Sutton in Ashfield Vets4Pets.

Louise adopted the four-year-old Horsefield Tortoise from a family member in October. Although she has had other pets, Arthur is her first tortoise, so she has been doing some research on how to best care for him.

Louise said: "I noticed Arthur's beak was unusually long, so I brought him in to Vets for Pets; I bring all my pets there. When he came out, I thought 'you beautiful boy, look at you – you look so handsome!"

Vet Steph, who looked after Arthur, says that tortoise beaks continuously grow and normally grind down themselves while they're eating. She said: "Arthur needed a little help as his jaw isn't perfectly aligned; his lower jaw is further out than his top jaw, so I filed it around half a centimetre. He was really good; a real cutie."

18/02/2024

Owner Claire says she couldn't be more grateful to Vets4Pets Hamilton after their quick diagnosis saved the sight of six-year-old Alba.

Claire knew there was something terribly wrong with her miniature dachshund cross when she called her in from the back garden last summer and Alba ran headfirst into a closed patio door. She rushed her to the vets, where investigations led the team to diagnose her with uveitis – an eye condition which causes inflammation of the middle layer of the eye.

Claire said: "It all happened so suddenly; Alba must have heard my voice and guessed where to go. It was quite scary seeing how bad she was. We couldn't be more grateful for the team in Hamilton spotting the uveitis as quickly as they did, otherwise Alba would have gone blind within a matter of days. Their knowledge saved Alba's sight. I still can't believe it happened. It's taken months of treatments, but it's such a relief to have our girl back to being her funny, bossy self."

Vet Neil, one of the team who treated Alba, said: "Alba's pupil was really narrow and wouldn't respond to light properly, which can be a sign of uveitis. Once we had ruled out other conditions, we were able to get her to an eye specialist for ongoing treatment. She's now doing really well."

16/02/2024

Ducky's owner Antonia was in a state of panic when she saw a fox had dug its way into the field where she keeps him – killing two of her other ducks and chickens.

Antonia was about to move her brood into their pen for the evening when she saw what had happened and noticed that Ducky had severe bite wounds under his wing. She rushed him to Vets4Pets Vets Milton Keynes for emergency surgery – and after having his wound stitched up the one-year-old duck is now making a good recovery.

Antonia said: "I was so worried. You don’t often hear of ducks recovering from fox attacks, but there is something about Ducky and the way he was so brave. I'm sure he was protecting a lady duck, as he's a bit of a romantic. It's the first time we've gone to Vets for Pets, and the team were amazing; they've done an incredible job."

Vet Becca, who treated Ducky, said: "He's a really lucky duck, as it was quite a big wound. When he first came in, he was understandably subdued and quiet but when he came back for his stitches to be taken out, he wanted to explore and tuck his head into everyone’s shoulders."

07/02/2024

Well done to the team at Vets4Pets Guildford who've been awarded a silver level certificate for being a rabbit-friendly clinic.

After head veterinary nurse Ella noticed that more customers were bringing in rabbits the practice took a series of steps to give them as stress-free an experience as possible. Ella, who also fosters rescue dogs in her spare time, said: "There was a long list of things that we needed to prove that we did from making sure the rabbits are kept separate from other animals and not booked in at the same time as barking dogs, to providing heated kennels for those who need to stay in, and using special equipment made especially for rabbits."

Practice manager Kevin said: "All of our vets have plenty of experience with rabbits we have some real rabbit geeks here, so it was a big thing to us. There are so many good people in this world and I'm so proud to be around them."

28/01/2024

Beautiful Bear was born deaf, so he's learned to follow his owner Lisa's visual commands.

Lisa, who shops at our Tamworth store – "it's my second home!" – got two-year-old Bear as a kitten and suspected he was deaf when he didn't respond to her voice. She had it confirmed by her vet soon after. She said: "He was very scatty, and scared of people he didn’t recognise. He wasn’t bothered by loud noises like my other cat Emily and when I came home from work he wouldn’t hear the door open.

"He's doing really well though. I try to do some sign language with him – I point at him and do a solid hand sign at him to stop. He picks up on vibrations and scents too. He meows, making a really loud chirping sound which I’ve never heard a cat do before, and he’s always rubbing his head against my legs and following me everywhere. I was advised not to let him out because he wouldn’t hear cars or other dangers, so he comes outside with me every morning to have a sniff around the garden and always comes straight back in." Bear and Lisa's other cat Emily are on Instagram as

27/01/2024

Ten-year-old Dutch rabbit Alfie has been visiting vet Kate at Vets4pets Wolverhampton for dental treatment for the last eight years – and she says he's such a loveable character that he's become "part of the family".

He's one of the oldest rabbits treated by Kate and the team, and she says his longevity is down to the care and love he gets from his owner Tracy and her family. Kate said: "Alfie is famous in this practice – everyone knows him. We and his family are dedicated to making sure her little old man is happy. The beautiful thing about being a vet or vet nurse is you build these relationships with the owners and their pets – they become your surrogate pets."

Tracy's been keeping rabbits all her life, and says that having space and routine is key. She said: "Alfie is an old man now and has a routine. He goes into a hutch at night and is let out in the morning. He's out all day and has his favourite spots in the house. We clean him out every day and give him a lot of attention. When he was younger he would follow us around; if I was clearing a cupboard out he would be in the cupboard to help. Now he's old and wants to be warm and watch instead. I can't thank Kate and the practice enough. Kate's been fantastic with him."

26/01/2024

Eight-year-old Winnie the Schnauzer cross is running around like a puppy again thanks to laser treatment and physiotherapy after two successful knee operations at Vets for Pets Basildon.

Worried owner Tracy brought Winnie in to the practice after she collapsed on a walk last year – and the team discovered the cruciate ligament in a knee had ruptured. She’s since had ops on two knees and is on a recovery plan led by vet physiotherapist Izzy.

Tracy said: "Winnie has had a tough year with 15 teeth removed, two cruciate ligament operations and two bouts of pancreatitis but thankfully she's hardy. She’s treated fabulously at the Basildon practice. Izzy is great with her – she totally relaxes in her hands and does little snores with her eyes open. Winnie has a new lease of life again and is running around like a puppy."

Izzy said: "When pets have surgery or injure themselves they move differently which causes them to be sore in other places. Winnie has laser therapy then a massage to help the healing process. Laser treatment is a specialist service that not enough people know about – it can help in so many ways after an operation.”

19/01/2024

The team at Vets4Pets Cramlington say greyhound Frank was "an absolute gentleman" when he came in for some dental work.

Seven-year-old Frank was brought in by owner Harriet to get rid of some plaque which had built up and to treat a gum inflammation. Veterinary nurse Vicki said: "Frank was a very good boy and left with clean, fresh and sparkly teeth. It's so very important to get your dog's teeth checked and we advise pets to have an annual dental check. Eighty per cent of dogs over the age of three have dental disease. Prevention is much better than cure and regular checks and routine cleaning keep your pet's mouth healthier for longer and can help to prevent extensive extractions later in life. We are always happy to offer advice on maintenance and dental care at home such as teeth brushing or dental supplements."

18/01/2024

Veterinary nurse Mel from Vets4Pets Bristol Longwell Green loves cats so much she's helped the practice make a number of improvements to give cats as stress-free an experience as possible when they're brought in.

Mel, who has an Advanced Certificate in Feline Behaviour for Veterinary Professionals, helped introduce facilities like a separate feline waiting area and cattery and the use of quiet clippers – and the practice now has a silver level certificate for being a cat-friendly clinic. She said: "I love dogs but I'm really a cat person. Cats can be misunderstood which can lead to them having quite a stressful life, so if we can make things easier for them and help people understand what cats need then everyone will be happier.

"As animal lovers there's always more to learn and understand about what makes them happy. Enrichment at the home is important for a happy cat – and as cats are naturally solitary animals if you live in a multi-cat household it's important to understand what they need. The rule is to have a resource per cat, plus one spare. So if you have two cats you should have three feeding stations, three litter trays and three scratch posts spread around the house so they have the opportunity to move around to wherever they want to go. Scratching is as natural a thing for cats to do as going out hunting is, so if they're unable to go out it's about providing the chance for them to behave as naturally as possible."

07/01/2024

Four-year-old Sebastian the Jack Russell is back to his usual boisterous self after being treated at Vets4Pets Abingdon for a condition that was causing the knee caps on his back legs to dislocate when he walked.

The condition, known as medial patellar luxation, would cause him to hop or skip when exercising. It's quite common in terriers and small dog breeds, but Sebastian's case was quite severe and he was given surgery by orthopaedic surgeon Joe to deepen the groove his patella runs in on his right hind leg, and also to move and reattach his patellar tendon.

Sebastian is owned by practice vet Hannah who said: "After the operation he just wanted to get back to normal straight away but he couldn't ... and that's where we struggled. He wanted to be out and about, charging around and playing with his toys but he needed to rest." Hannah had to give him medication for six weeks to give his knees time to heal. She said: "He's absolutely fine now – he's fully recovered and running around like a lunatic again!"

05/01/2024

When 11-year-old lurcher Jess was brought into Vets for Pets Leeds Birstall 24/7 Small Animal Hospital on Christmas Eve feeling very poorly with pyometra – a life-threatening uterus infection – the team knew they had to act fast; so vet Emily and nurses JD and Hannah headed straight in to perform emergency surgery on her in the early hours of Christmas morning.

The operation went so well that by lunchtime nurse Krishna was able to call her owner Beth to say she was well enough to come home to recuperate – and Beth made the hour-long drive from her home in Keighley so she could bring Jess home before the family sat down for their Christmas dinner. Beth said: "It was a stressful start to Christmas, as we were worried about Jess because of her age and because she's never had anything wrong with her before. We're so grateful for everything – it was so nice of them to come in on Christmas Day to operate on her, to look after her so well and to get her home on top form. The vets were fantastic from start to finish. Jess is recovering nicely – you can see the happiness is back in her!"

Krishna said: "Our night team always do an amazing job, and performing serious surgery like that at that time of night and on Christmas Day of all days is just brilliant. Jess did amazingly well to bounce back so quickly, and it was amazing being able to call her owners to say that she could come home to spend Christmas with them. It's the sort of call we all love to make, but doing it on Christmas Day was extra nice."