Reception & Over the counter services
The front office, reception & waiting room areas are designed for an easy flow of patients & their owners in & out of the clinic. This is also where many of our large animal clients seek advice for farm matters.
The reception has all the over the counter products such as worming & heartworm medications, flea and tick control products, premium pet foods & various other pet merchandise.
The waiting room area has recently been renovated to include several notice board areas for client information. The clinic also has a large front lawn area for larger patients to wait their turn once they have booked in for consultation.
Consultation facilities
There are 3 fully equipped consultation rooms with interconnecting drug & computer access.
These are the work areas of the clinic where all medical cases are reviewed & surgical patients are admitted.
Radiology facilities
The clinic has its own radiology facility including digital X-Ray unit, fibreoptic video endoscope & ultrasound. The digital x-ray processor means that radiographs are ready to be viewed within minutes of exposure. Radiographs are stored on the computer as high resolution .jpg files, which can be stored onto a DVD or even emailed if you would like a copy of the x-rays.
Similarly the ultrasound machine can save images as .jpg files which can also be easily distributed. The fibreoptic endoscope has its own monitor & procedures are recorded so as they can be played back to the owner to help understand their animals diagnosed condition.
The benefit of digital diagnostic imaging is that images can be viewed on any computer monitor. The clinic has a 30" radiology quality monitor to help identify even the smallest of bone chips and fractures.
Dental Unit
The clinic boasts an ultrasonic descaler & polisher.
The unit allows removal of dental tartar & polishing of the tooth surface. Dental work is performed under a general anaesthetic by our trained staff.
Laboratory
The Clinic has its own laboratory. In house pathology is available with blood & other samples analysed for haematology, biochemistry, parasites & histology. There are microscopes & centrifuges as well as a diagnostic staining area to assist the veterinary staff assess your pet's illnesses. See the MVVS Wellness Screening Programme webpage (under "services") for more information about our laboratory services for small animals.
Surgical Theatre
The surgery is fitted with an isoflurane inhalation anaesthetic machine as well as a top-of-the-line anaesthetic monitoring machine (measures oxygen saturation, heart rate, ECG, blood pressure, and CO2 output to name a few) for patient monitoring during even the most basic of procedures. The surgical table features a multi functional electrically operated platform that has controlled heating to maximise patient care.
The intensive management of unconscious patients provides owners with confidence while their animal's lives are in our hands.
Hospitals
The clinic has separate cat & dog hospitals that are air-conditioned & provide for convalescence after surgery or an illness. Both hospitals are air-conditioned separately to the ducted air-conditioning of the clinic, to further cater for patient's specific requirements.
There is also a recovery ward where animals regain consciousness after any general anaesthetic. The ward is located in the middle of the treatment area, which allows close monitoring during this period.
There is also a large yard with 15 exercise tie up stations for hospitalised dogs. All dogs that are kept in the hospital for more than 6 hours have at least one period of outside exercise.
Equine facilities
The clinic has an area specifically designed for equine treatments. There is a crush & yard area that allows the vets to provide ultrasound, radiological or advanced lameness examinations.
Mid North Coast Equine Reproduction Centre
The Mid North Coast Equine Reproduction Centre has been developed to cater for the expansion in the demand for equine reproductive services in recent years.
The aim of the centre is to offer the full reproductive service along with agistment of mares. The management of the artificial insemination process requires daily rectal scans and in some circumstances 6 hourly examinations. The equine centre allows this to happen without troubling the mare's owners to suit the insemination program.
The management of “problem breeders” is similar to artificial insemination, needing regular veterinary assessment during the oestrus cycle so as to diagnose & treat infertility. Having these mares at the centre allows the vets to perform a range of diagnostic procedures & correct many previously undiagnosed causes of infertility.
The Equine facility allows owners to deliver a mare for insemination or natural service & pick her up pregnant with all the veterinary management completed. The benefit from a veterinary point of view is that it will allow complete management of service, limiting communication or transport problems. Preparation of a mare for insemination is not cheap & if the semen is not delivered on time then the chances of conception are reduced. It really all depends on communication & organisation between all parties. The large distances involved & the numbers of people make this difficult.
The “Fertility Farm” is situated on Andrew’s home property on the outskirts of Kempsey. It is on approximately 10 acres & is made up of 3 large paddocks & a yard facility where agisted mares & foals are yarded daily & fed individually. This allows daily monitoring of behaviour, development & reproductive behaviour.
The yards were specifically designed for this purpose & are situated around a crush & work area that features a foal yard for safer handling of "wet" mares & their foals.
The facility minimises the risks of handling mares & foals with easy access & safe design. It also allows the vets to handle the stock for ultrasound examinations multiples times day if necessary.
The facility is the first of its kind on the Mid North Coast & has already been met with considerable interest among local equine enthusiasts.
Preparation for Natural Service
With seasonal conditions limiting the number of mares that studs can accommodate each year, there will be a considerable advantage in being able to “walk up” mares for natural service. The idea is that a mare is prepared at the Centre with regular follicle scans until the optimum time for service when she can be transported to the stallion & served. She can then either be taken straight home or returned to the centre for confirmation of pregnancy by ultrasound. The mare may need only to be on a stud for an hour or so allowing stallion owners to preserve feed for their own stock. “I guess its not exactly equine romance at its best, but from an owners point of view it’s cost effective & practical” says Andrew.
Artificial Insemination
The preparation of mares for artificial insemination is the main aim of the centre. Artificial Insemination is becoming very popular for many reasons. The ability to join a mare to a stallion without traveling long distances to be naturally served is a huge advantage. It minimises the stress to a mare in long distance transport, and the expense to the owner. Artificial insemination also reduces the risk of injury to mare & stallion. The major advantage of artificial insemination is the large choice of bloodlines that is now available to equine breeders.
Previously one of the big disadvantages of artificial insemination was the need for the mare to have daily veterinary inspections. This led to either expensive vet invoices or the owner having to transport the mare back & forth to the vet’s daily. Now the mare & the vet are together from day of arrival to confirmed conception.
To prepare a mare for insemination with chilled or frozen semen it is essential to accurately predict the time that a mare will ovulate (release her fertile egg). In the case of insemination with frozen semen this may mean predicting the hour in which she will ovulate so as to increase chances of conception. This is done by repeatedly ultrasounding the mares reproductive tract & measuring the changes.
Reproductive services are not limited to the females. The centre also offers chilled semen collection. This is a service that only a few stallion owners will receive bookings for, but it will allow local studs to expand their operations. If the demand arises there will be frozen semen collection & handling in future seasons.
For any statistics and information on any of the equine reproductive services, please contact the veterinary staff directly.