Key takeaways:
This article looks at how improvements in training, equipment and emergency care have helped vets treat pets over the years.
Senior Vet Sarah Ambler highlights significant changes in pet ownership trends, including a rise in emergency cases involving flat-faced breeds such as French bulldogs and pugs.
Alongside stories of lifesaving treatment, the team also shares memorable moments with unusual patients, demonstrating the vital role the clinic continues to play in supporting local pets and their owners when the minutes matter.
As Vets Now celebrates its 25th anniversary, the team at our Stoke clinic have been reflecting on how pet ownership, emergency care and the types of emergencies they see have changed over the past quarter of a century.
From car accidents and devastating fires to some rather more unusual cases, the team has cared for thousands of pets and their owners over the years - and collected plenty of memorable stories along the way.
One of the biggest shifts has been the rise in complex and distressing cases involving flat-faced, brachycephalic dogs, reflecting the growing popularity of breeds such as French bulldogs, pugs and bulldogs.
Senior vet Sarah Ambler says the growing number of these breeds needing urgent care has been one of the most noticeable changes during her time working in emergency vet care.
“They often present as real emergencies with the dog desperately struggling to breathe,” said Sarah. “French bulldogs frequently get stressed away from their owners and they can experience separation anxiety which makes them even more difficult to treat.
“We try to sedate them and give oxygen, but a lot have aspiration pneumonia and when it’s really severe the success rate can be less than 50/50.
“I came into the profession to save animals and make them better, so that’s always tough.”
Today, Sarah and her team have access to advanced equipment and advanced training, helping them provide emergency care for pets when they need it most.
But things looked very different when Sarah first joined Vest Now 21 years ago.
“At the time Emergency and Critical Care (ECC) wasn’t recognised as a specialist area, so we were basically a GP vet doing what we could with the knowledge we had,” said Sarah, who had worked as a mixed practice vet for 17 years before joining Vets Now.
“We didn’t have all the high-tech equipment we have now, so there were no blood tests or different monitoring. It was all just down to your clinical skills.”
The Stoke clinic was initially based at the PDSA before moving to Lime Tree Vets, and those early overnight shifts could be very different too. Sarah recalls nights when there wasn't a single call after midnight.
Today, pet owners in the area are much more accustomed to being able to access veterinary care and advice when their daytime practice is closed.
“I don’t know why but a lot of people in Stoke seem to need us after walking their dogs at 4am,” said Sarah. “They are out early, notice there’s a problem and immediately call us to help.
“People are used to things being available 24/7 these days, including a vet, and that never used to be the case.”
Of course, it is the patients who have left some of the strongest memories over the years.
Happy endings, like two dogs who were nursed back to health after suffering smoke inhalation in a house fire, are among the many success stories that have stayed with the team over the years.
And, while dogs and cats make up most of the pets treated at the clinic, the team has cared for all sorts of animals over the years, from birds and reptiles to some more unusual patients.
One poorly skunk made a particularly lasting, and pungent, impression.
“It had kidney failure and the owner assured us it was tame and didn’t smell,” said Sarah.
“We gave medication and put it on a drip before I went home for the night. When I came back in, it was obviously feeling better and didn’t like being with us, and the whole building stank. We had to open all the windows and fumigate the place!”
From changes in the pets we own to huge advances in emergency veterinary care, a lot has changed over the past 25 years. Along the way, there have been thousands of pets, plenty of memorable moments and more than a few surprises.
But one thing hasn’t changed: being there for pets and their owners when minutes matter.
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