July and August Update!

It feels like July and August has absolutely flown by, and what a couple of months it’s been!

We have recently hosted our first ever VIP Night at Westport Vets, where a select group of people were invited to have a tour of the new practice in Linlithgow and our latest “Hugo’s Hero” award was presented. It was a wonderful night, where laughs and tears were shared by everyone in attendance. 

We recently held a competition in Linlithgow that anyone and everyone could take part in - all you had to do was find the 7 life-like rescue dogs that were hiding in the windows of local businesses. The prizes up for grabs were VIP Vet Experience at Westport Vets, a Behind the Scenes tour of Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre in West Calder, a gift voucher to spend at Bright Star Toys, goodie bags, and of course, our life-like rescue dogs.We had so many entries for this, people of all ages handing in the forms, and overall, we have 13 winners of these wonderful prizes! 

One of our student vet nurses in South Queensferry, Cordelle competed at her first National Working and Pastoral Breed Society championship show with Kevin the corgi - and the team came first in Open Dog and then went on to win the Dog Challenge Certificate! It’s an absolutely amazing achievement and Team Westport couldn’t be prouder of all her hard work!

Linlithgow receptionist Hannah Reid completed her Silver Level Accredited Veterinary Receptionist Award for Companion Animals through the BVRA. At Westport Vets, we encourage our staff to continue their personal development with their knowledge and skills in the workplace - and a lot of hard work and time is spent both in work and outside of work to achieving these qualifications. At the same time that this was happening, she also completed her Level 2 certificate in Understanding Mental Health, First Aid and Mental Health Advocacy in the Workplace - another course that a lot of work was put into. Well done Hannah!

The Linlithgow branch took part in Linlithgow’s independence day at the end of August, which was a day to celebrate all of the amazing, diverse and independent shops and business that Linlithgow has to offer. In doing this, we had several goodie bags that clients could come in and get for their cats and dogs which had a variety of treats, toys and puzzles to keep our furry friends occupied and entertained.

We’re also now beyond thrilled to report that Westport Vets has been accredited as a Dog Friendly Clinic! The Dog Friendly Clinic scheme has been set up by Dogs Trust and The British Veterinary Behaviour Association to help vet clinics and owners make every dog’s veterinary experience the absolute best possible.

We also had our first open day at our new branch in Linlithgow on Saturday 12th - which featured splat the rat, guess the teddy bears birthday, parasite trail, the teddy bear hospital (where little ones could come along and have their cuddly friends treated by one of the nurses) and a soak the surgeon, which featured our very own Stuart McMorrow having sponges thrown at him. The staff had quite a lot of fun with that one! Vet Mair also baked a wonderful cake for us to guess the weight of which went to a lucky client. We also had charity and food stalls with which we managed to raise £500 for Dogs Trust.

Our insurance advisor and registered vet nurse, Wendy, also completed her Diploma in Companion Animal Behaviour Therapy (DipCABT) and passed with a distinction grade! A lot of hard work, dedication and time has gone into this qualification and we know that Wendy has given it her all. Everyone at Westport is very proud of Wendy!

Connor, one of the nurses at our South Queensferry branch, also graduated from SRUC Barony this month. He has been with Westport Vets for two years, carrying out his training to become a fully qualified Registered Veterinary Nurse. We all couldn’t be more proud of Connor for achieving this!