ChesterGates Veterinary Specialists

We're back with another 'Meet the team' Monday ✨ This week we are meeting the amazing Steph! 💚 Steph has been a part of the Chestergates family for nearly 5 years now and is a very valued member of the team. Steph began her journey in the animal industry in college where she studied Animal Management, taking a particular interest in microbiology, and working on farms and in pet shops to further her experience. In 2019, Steph completed a degree in Animal Behaviour, and Human Psychology at the University of Chester, where she majored in subjects such as parasitology, human biological psychology, and animal anatomy and physiology. Steph joined the Chestergates team in December 2019 as the Lab and Pharmacy Technician. Her role involves pharmaceutical and general stock maintenance, as well as processing in-house and external lab samples. Steph enjoys the role of running various diagnostic tests each day for lots of wonderful cats and dogs. This role has allowed Steph to further her knowledge, and attain her C-SQP qualification in 2024 💊 Outside of work, Steph loves to read and spend time with her dog called Daphne, and Bearded Dragon called Apollo 🦎 Click the link to learn more, and keep an eye out for next week's team member! 👀 https://lnkd.in/edYfaU75

Happy Halloween! We hope you and your pets have a spook-tacular day! Make sure to show us your pets getting in the Halloween spirit in the comments below. 🎃👇

We would love everyone to meet this handsome boy, Benito! 💚 Benito was referred to our internal medicine specialist Andrea for vomiting and diarrhoea. Investigations revealed a mass in the duodenum (first part of the intestine), which was causing compression. While the mass initially appeared suspicious for a tumour, a fine needle aspirate suggested a diagnosis of feline gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia (FGESF). This is a rare inflammatory condition that can lead to mass-like lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. Benito began treatment with a combination of prednisolone (an immunosuppressive medication) and a hydrolyzed protein diet. At the first recheck which was a month later, it was appreciated an excellent response! His clinical signs improved significantly, and the mass decreased significantly in size!! Three months after diagnosis, Benito has continued doing very well. His owners report that he has returned to his normal self and has experienced no further clinical signs. Well done Benito! 💚

Its a new week, which means we're meeting another member of our team ✨ Everyone meet Nikita, our amazing accounts administrator 💚 Nikita has worked at Chestergates since 2023! She moved to the UK from South Africa straight from high school and started her career in hospitality. She soon realised that was not the role for her. Nikita ventured into an admin role within an accounting firm where she found her love for numbers! 🔢 She currently works as the accounts administrator here which involves managing all the clients accounts. Nikita said: "I enjoy the challenge of answering client queries about their accounts and helping out where I can. I aspire to further my education in the finance/accounts and building my future around my love for numbers". In her spare time (which is rare!), she loves spending time with her 2 gorgeous little boys and her family 💚 Click the link below to meet more of our team!⬇ https://lnkd.in/e_YNxA5g

Yesterday was National Black Cat Awareness Day! 🐈⬛ We are celebrating all our black feline friends - they're most famous for being Halloween symbols, but cats can be associated with good luck, love, and even money! Make sure to show us how your black cats are spending their day in the comments below. 🐱👇

Recently our Internal Medicine Specialist Andrea completed a two week externship at Penn Vet | Ryan Veterinary Hospital in Philadelphia!💚 Whilst he was there, he was under the guidance of Dr. Paolo Silvestrini and assisted with various minimally invasive procedures, including: o Laser ablation of ectopic ureters o Embolization of prostatic tumors o Tracheal stenting o Cystoscopy with fluoroscopic study o Subcutaneous vascular access port (SVAP) placement o Treatment of nasopharyngeal stenosis He also gained valuable experience in interventional radiology and veterinary medicine. Here at Chestergates we offer a range of advanced interventional radiology procedures, including: o Cystoscopy with fluoroscopic study to assess anatomical and functional problems of the lower urinary tract (e.g., uroliths, ectopic ureters, neoplasia) o Laser ablation o Urethral stenting for obstructions caused by urethral or prostatic tumors o Embolization of prostatic tumors o Tracheal stenting o Swallow studies to assess esophageal dysfunction To learn more about what our internal medics have to offer or to refer a case to us, visit our website by clicking below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eyYQizDM

Meet Arthur 😍 Arthur presented to MINight VET Chester/Wirral as an emergency for decompensation of heart failure secondary to degenerative mitral valve disease. Arthur was then seen by Liz Bode, one of our Specialists in Cardiology, who refined his treatment plan. Arthur was discharged from our care the following day and, although he does require life long medication, you can see that he is still enjoying the finer things in life and his walkies! Having MiNight Vet and Chestergates Veterinary Specialists on the same site means that dogs like Arthur benefit from the expertise not only of our emergency clinicians but then of our Specialists who can offer the very latest in clinical care for a wide variety of conditions. Appointments with our cardiology team are available to book online here: https://lnkd.in/etGA6wYD or for urgent/ emergency cases please call 01244 853823. #cvsgroup #cvsreferrals #veterinarycardiology #veterinarymedicine #veterinarysurgeon

Last Thursday we had our practice meeting whilst also celebrating Halloween & Menopause Awareness day! 🎃 We painted & decorated pumpkin tea-light holders and also had the option to take part in a yoga session and a sound bath! 🔮 (as you can see our amazing nurse Jess looks very relaxed after the sound bath!) 💚

We would like to wish our amazing Junior Imager Michaela a huge congratulations on securing her internship at Lumbry Park Veterinary Specialists for Diagnostic Imaging! 🎉 We are all going to miss you immensely, but we know your going to go on to do incredible things 💚

Everyone meet the gorgeous Anya 😍 Anya is a 5-year-old Border Collie who presented to our orthopaedic team for assessment of a left hip dislocation. Anya had been doing agility 10 days previously when her left hip dislocated. It was subsequently replaced under general anaesthetic by her own vets and stayed ‘in-situ’ throughout this time. However, this little lady represented to our out-of-hours service provider MiNightVet late one evening as the owner became concerned that the hip had re-dislocated. X-rays performed by one of MiNightVets night vet, Alexandra who confirmed dislocation of the left hip. No concurrent injuries were noted. She was hospitalised on pain relief overnight before being referred to our head of surgery and orthopaedic surgeon, David Thomson. Without surgical management, recurrence rates of hip dislocations are reported in over 50% of dogs and thus surgical management was decided as the best course of action to increase the chance of Anya returning to her normal active lifestyle. A ‘toggle-rod stabilization’ procedure was performed which involved the implantation of a Tightrope system through the head and neck of the femur into the hip joint to secure the hip in place. This method of stabilising hip dislocations has a high success rate with minimal long-term complication noted (Keices et al., 2014) and is a popular surgical method adopted by our surgeons for this condition. No complications were experienced throughout the surgery or Anya’s stay and she continues to do well at home! 💚 References Kieces, N.R., Lotsikas, P.J., Shulz, K.S., Canapp, S.O. (2014) ‘Hip toggle stabilization using the TightRope system in 17 dogs: Technique and long-term outcome’, Veterinary Surgery, 43(5), pp. 515-522