COVID Catch-Up Offer

Whilst we know that some aspects of an animal's vaccine protection does last longer than 12 months, it is well documented that other parts need to be repeat every 12-15 months. 

In dogs it is important that the DISTEMPER, HEPATITIS and PARVOVIRUS (DHP) is repeated every 3 years, and LEPTOSPIROSIS is needed to be done every 12-15m.  With some animals now being nearly 12m overdue, this means that it could be 4 years since their last DHP  jab, and 2 years since their last LEPTO jab!  A similar occurrence could emerge with cats and CAT FLU, ENTERITIS and LEUKAEMIA jabs taking on a similar pattern.

What we don't want to happen is the overall immunity of these dogs and cats to be compromised individually.  It is also a worry that if the generalised vaccination level amongst the pets drops (so called "herd-immunity"), then localised outbreaks are more likely to occur, which puts additional risks to unvaccinated animals, as well as the young, elderly and infirm.

The timing of this is a problem.  We have ended up with a perfect storm of:

• Catching up with a nearly a years worth of vaccines suddenly needing to be done quite urgently.
• Continuing to keep up with the normal vaccines that would be due at this time anyway.
• The fact that rather than the vaccine work-load being spread evenly throughout the year, we are going to find ongoing vaccinations are going to be "bunched" in the summer months.
• We are still quite short staffed - there is a recruitment crisis in the profession and we are still effectively a full time vet down.
• Like many industries, we have also been effected with child-care issues, self-isolation and the "ping-demic".
• The summer months are often our busiest times anyway as animals are often sicker at this time of year.
• We are also struggling to make sure that all the staff can fit their holiday in, meaning we often have more people off than we would prefer.
• Very flatteringly, a lot of clients want to register with us! Whilst this is lovely, this has also put pressure on our appointment system.

All of this means that we have found it very hard to be able to continue to offer both vaccination appointments AND "sick pet" appointments throughout the day.

We have introduced these "COVID Catch-Up" clinics to try and ease the backlog of vaccination appointments.  This means that:

• We can try and ensure that we are keeping the dogs and cats of Rugby healthy and protected.
• We can utilise our lovely vet Savi, who has come out of retirement to help us during these challenging times.
• We can (hopefully) free up some more "sick-pet" appointments with the other vets during the day, meaning we can offer clients more "same-day" appointments and see urgent cases in a more timely fashion.
• We can take advantage of the fact that many owners do not have concurrent concerns with their animals, and so we can utilise shorter appointment times.
• We can offer a discount to the cost of these appointments to reflect the fact that less veterinary time is required.

We are still offering the normal priced "standard" appointments where you are welcome to discuss any concerns that you may have with your pet.  These can still be booked with reception as normal.