All creatures great and small

“My first job as a junior vet was in Suffolk. That was real farming country and our patients were almost totally large animals. My next two jobs had a substantial large animals element, too,” Andrew explained.

“I moved to my current surgery in 1982. That had been a large animal practice since the 1930s and when I arrived, the split was about 80/20 between large and small animals.”

The decline in livestock farming has changed both the industry and the landscape. Drive across Oxfordshire now and, save for a few isolated pockets of cattle or sheep, you will see nothing but acre-upon-acre of arable cultivation.

The situation Andrew found in 1982 has been reversed. His patients are almost entirely domestic pets, with a scant handful of livestock.

“I really miss my herds of cows and flocks of sheep,” said Andrew, somewhat wistfully. “All I have now are some horses and a few beef cattle.”

In 1987, Andrew bought the practice and now runs it from two sites, the main surgery in Iffley Road, Oxford, and a branch surgery in Wheatley.

Assisted by three qualified vets, six nurses plus receptionists, Andrew caters for some 4,000 animal owners, which translates into many thousands of patients.

Any pet or animal owner will be quick to remind you that veterinary care does not come cheap, but the ethos of the Bartholomew practice is to keep fees affordable.

“Some of my clients may be on limited incomes,” Andrew explained. “Having a tumour removed from a pet will cost about £40-60, that is affordable. I can offer additional services such as blood tests, ultrasound, that kind of thing. But I will only do that if it is in the animal’s best interests. All of a sudden, a £50 bill could become £850. Very few clients carry pet insurance.”

The service is old-fashioned and very personal. Every owner can make an appointment to see his or her own vet and develop a relationship. New business comes from recommendation and word of mouth, there are neither expensive adverts nor a fancy website.

Vet training encompasses surgical techniques and all the Bartholomew vets operate on a five-day rota, with emergencies over the weekend. Typically, six to eight cases will be covered during a morning.

Such cases will generally be routine surgery — cuts, excision of lumps, dental treatment — but also setting broken bones. Vet surgeries vary on what they will or will not tackle and some will not use pins or plates. Andrew and his colleagues refer spinal orthopaedic cases to practices that specialise.

“We see maybe one or two cases a year of things like spinal tumours and you need to be dealing with this kind of thing regularly to maintain the expertise,” Andrew said.

Owners with busy working lives can be seen at late evening surgeries at both Oxford and Wheatley, and the practice is bucking a trend by continuing to provide its own out-of-hours cover to its clients. More and more vets are following the GPs’ lead by outsourcing after hours service to locum organisations. Locums will often see animals only at one centralised surgery, with no home visits. This can entail an owner driving some distance — those with transport problems or unable to lift a heavy animal into a car can face difficulties.

“But I have to stress that we can only offer this facility to our own clients. We simply don’t have the resources to offer a general service,” Andrew said.

Everything changes, not least the veterinary world. The Animal Welfare Act, dating back to 1911, was updated in 2006. So it is no surprise that the revisions include more stringent regulation by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons: the RCVS is the Government’s appointed regulator.

Andrew’s practice has been accredited by the RCVS for some years, using self-assessment. This year, the new rules have brought a physical audit — and a clean bill of health. Given Andrew’s uncompromising standards, this is no surprise either.

Part of the new government regime focuses on health and safety, but working with unpredictable animals can never be entirely risk-free. Of that, Andrew himself is living proof.

Some ten years ago, he was castrating a horse. He injected a general anaesthetic and, once that had taken effect, a local anaesthetic into the testes. The horse was calm.

“I started the operation, the next thing I remember is waking up in hospital” was his somewhat rueful memory.

And there he lay for three months while surgeons rebuilt his leg, shattered by the kicking horse, with plates and screws. Even now, his feet and ankles swell and wearing normal shoes can be tricky.

Nowadays, field operations on large animals are far less the norm they once were. Instead, surgery can be and often is undertaken at specialist centres, frequently part of a university. Facilities are better and if something should go wrong, equipment and staff are on hand to cope.

Which led on neatly to behind the scenes at a vet’s. The part the public sees is the tip of the iceberg, with a raft of fellow vets, other practices and centres of excellence available to give advice and specialist treatment.

While he outlined this network, as if on cue, Andrew’s phone rang. The call was from the owner of a labrador with a constant snuffle and a misshapen nose. The owner had recently moved from Warwickshire, where the dog had been investigated, complete with samples and a biopsy. Nothing had been found.

The condition persisted, so Andrew made arrangements with a specialist at Bristol University Veterinary School for a diagnosis. But when the owner arrived with the dog, the specialist was away sick. Concerned that the deputy might not have the requisite skills, the owner rang Andrew.

With one phone call, he established that the deputy was truly up to snuff; the second call was to reassure the anxious owner and recommend the procedures take place.

“Here, the welfare of the animal comes first. Of course we have to pay our way, but it is animals first — always.”

Andrew Bartholomew’s surgeries can be contacted on 01865 242600 (Oxford) or 01865 875155 (Wheatley)