Apex Vets - Latest News...

Here are our opening times over the festive period:

Please remember our 24 hours per day emergency vet service from our surgery right here in Denny. We are on call right through the Christmas period, as through the rest of the year. If you have an emergency or need urgent advice, please telephone the normal surgery number and you will be directed to the on call mobile, where you can speak to a vet directly.

Normal opening hours are resumed from 3rd January.

This Friday is Children In Need day. To Celebrate, we will donate 25% of all shop sales made on Friday 18th November directly to Pudsey!

Please come along and help us raise money for Pudsey and his worldwide cause to help needy children.

We wish a very warm welcome to Corrie, who joined the practice team on the 3rd October this year. She replaces Gillian who has moved to pastures new (we wish her the very best of luck in her new career). Corrie has injected her own style of enthusiasm and humour into the surgery and we are very pleased to welcome her as a colleague. Many of you will have met her already, but for those who haven't, please do say hello next time you are popping in by the surgery.

Vaccinations are important to protect your pet against potentially life-threatening diseases. We send reminders when vaccination boosters are due. However, we recognise that with today’s hectic lifestyle these can be missed or mislaid.

If you have a mature* dog or cat whose vaccination has lapsed, or who hasn't been vaccinated, a 2 dose primary vaccination course is required to get full protection. Our vaccination amnesty campaign is designed to help you get your pet back on track with these important vaccinations. Throughout the month of September, we are offering the 2 dose primary vaccination course for the price of one single booster – so you get the second injection free!

For dogs, this means that the primary course costs just £30.00 and for cats, the primary course costs £24.98 for a 'flu and enteritis course or £37.79 for a 'flu, enteritis and feline leukaemia course.

Just contact the surgery to make an appointment and mention 'Vaccination Amnesty' when you call!

*The vaccination amnesty is open to dogs or cats over 12 months old, who have missed an annual booster, are overdue a booster, or who have never had a booster in their life. Payment in full is required at the first appointment.

We are delighted to announce our first annual open day and family fun day!  The event will run from 12:00 noon to 4:00pm on Saturday 6th August 2011 right here at the surgery. 

What’s Happening On The Day?

Our surgery building will be fully open all day for tours and there is 10% off everything in the shop all day!  We will host a treasure hunt for kids to help guide them around the building (with prizes for all completed entries, and we will have various medical exhibits set up for your interest.  

We will have a snack van on site for the day, and we will be giving all members of the public a voucher for a free sausage roll from the van!  There will also be free tea and coffee on tap for everyone throughout the day.  

To keep the kids entertained, there will be free animal based face painting for all throughout the event.  We will also have a free bouncy castle on site all day (for under 17’s) and face painting which is also free all day.

Outdoor participants include our own charity tombola stand, raising funds for our 2 nominated charities Cats Protection (The Marion Hunter Cat Adoption Centre, based at Fishcross) and the Dogs Trust.  Both of these 2 charities will also have their own stand on site and be offering advice throughout the day.  

We will have Top Dog, dog training school based in Stirling, who be hosting a mini dog show throughout the day.  The classes are 'Waggiest tail' and 'fastest sit'.  Why not enter your dog!

Bow Wow Scotland dog groomers (soon to be opening up next door to us) will put on grooming demonstrations at regular intervals.  

Green Dog Walkers will also have a stand and will be promoting responsible dog walking and particularly picking up dog mess in a poo bag and depositing it at one of the many dog poo bins around Denny and Dunipace.  

The Artists Studio, Denny will be attendance to man their new mobile gallery within the surgery reception area, and talk about pet portraits and their art work in general. 

We hope to see you here on Saturday 6th!

2011 is the chinese year of the rabbit.  To celebrate, Apex Vets are supporting National Rabbit Awareness Week.

We will offer a FREE health check and examination for any pet rabbit during Rabbit Awareness Week.

Rabbits make very rewarding pets and are now the third most popular pet in Britain with a population of around 1 million.  They live indoors as house pets, and outdoors in hutches.  Pet Rabbits can be prone to a number of diseases including Myxomatosis, Viral Haemorrhagic Disease (both of which can be fatal), Fly Strike, fleas, mites, E. Cunniculi.  All of these are preventable.  The awareness week therefore is to raise the profile of the pet rabbit and to educate owners about the preventable nature of illness in the rabbit.

See http://www.rabbitawarenessweek.co.uk/  for more info.

We are offering FREE health checks and examinations for any pet rabbit during Rabbit Awareness week.  No voucher is required, Rabbit owners should simply contact the surgery to make an appointment.

As pet owners, we all treat our beloved pet as a family member.  Rightly so, we want to be sure that they are receiving the highest standard of care and excellent medical treatment should they need to visit the vet. 

But how can we be sure?

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is the governing body of all vets in the UK.  The Practice Standards Scheme is a voluntary initiative, run by the Royal College, to accredit veterinary practices in the UK. Through setting rigorous standards and carrying out regular spot and planned inspections, the Scheme aims to promote and maintain the highest standards of veterinary care.

To become accredited, practices volunteer for rigorous inspection every four years and will have met a range of minimum standards including hygiene, 24-hour emergency cover, staff training, certain types of equipment and cost estimation procedures.

Practices are also subject to spot-checks between inspections

Apex Vets has become accredited as a small animal “general Practice”.  This level of accreditation goes over and above core standards, and is the highest level available to a general practice (without becoming a veterinary hospital). 

Doug Paterson (one of the vets) says “we are delighted with our accreditation to the higher “general practice” level.  We set very high standards in our surgery, both personally and professionally, and see the RCVS accreditation as a way to show this dedication to our clients and patients.  We are very open at our surgery, and are very happy for clients to tour the surgery, and visit the very operating theatres and kennels that their pet may be staying in.  That way, they can experience the high level of cleanliness and equipment for themselves.”

Glenn Hodgson (one of the vets) added “raising the standard of veterinary care is a day to day challenge which we all thrive on at Apex Vets and have done since we opened in September 2010.  We have a very strong team with us who help every step of the way.  Trudi the practice nurse leads nursing clinics on topics ranging from geriatric pets, to weight watchers for pets.  She also oversees a rigorous hygiene and cleaning schedule, meaning that we are always immensely proud to show our clients round our surgery to experience the high level clinical environment for themselves.”

We are proud to announce the registration of our 500^th Client at Apex Vets! Apex vets opened on the 17^th September 2010. The surgery has been embraced by the locals of Denny, Dunipace and the surrounding area. Our clients now come from as far afield as the centre of Glasgow! The people of Denny and Dunipace have been extremely supportive during our first 6 months of trading, and are always asking us how the surgery is doing. We would like to extend warm thanks to all of our clients for their continued support. We feel very settled in Denny now, and look forward to what the years ahead have to bring us!

Michelle Thompson and Holly arrived at our surgery around 1pm on Friday 18^th March. We had counted our client list just the night before, so had a suspicion about what might be about to happen. Through the door came Holly, a beautiful St Bernard dog. She greeted us all with a wagging tail and a smile! Trudi, the veterinary nurse, was on the desk at the time and took Holly’s details. Later that day after I had verified the numbers we were delighted to phone Michelle (holly’s owner/mum) to tell her the good news! We learned that Michelle and Holly had recently moved to Denny, and were really pleased to be welcomed to the town by this celebration.

Michelle and Holly came down to the surgery on Winchester Avenue this afternoon and we presented Michelle with a beautiful bunch of flowers courtesy of local florist Forever Flowers on Stirling Street (one of the shops due to be relocated during the redevelopment of the Denny Town Centre). We had to find Holly a gift, so we allowed her to choose. Michelle told me that Holly particularly likes toys which involve food (!) so I picked her a “Kong” interactive toy which should keep her amused for hours. Below is a photograph of myself, Michelle and Holly standing in the surgery car park soaking up the spring sunshine.

Our special discount makes the prices look like this:

• 14Kg bag of ProPlan premium dry dog food for only £30.66 (was £45.76) = 33% off RRP!
• 1.5Kg bag of ProPlan premium dry cat food for just £7.89 (was £11.78) = 33% off RRP!

Our helpful fully trained staff can assist you in calculating your pets’ nutritional requirements; we will calculate for you how much ProPlan you should feed your pet to keep them in optimum condition and will also provide you with free measuring cups specially designed for the food.

Remember that ProPlan only uses the highest quality ingredients (e.g. chicken breast) and never mechanically reclaimed meat and bone meal that is sometimes fed in generic brands of wet food. 

The food ingredients, vitamins and minerals provided by PRO PLAN® are scientifically selected for their ability to help support your pets’ immune, digestive and skin & coat systems.