At The Mayhew Animal Home we are so proud to have a team of passionate and dedicated Veterinary Nurses, and this May we will be shining a spotlight on their amazing work for Veterinary Nurse Awareness Month.

Held annually, this awareness month pays special recognition to the Veterinary Nurse profession and helps to spread the importance of this vital and rewarding role. Our team of Vet Nurses play a key and varied part in helping the hundreds of neglected and abandoned animals that come through our doors every year, so we want to celebrate their significant contribution this month and share a little bit about what they do.

Currently we have seven Vet Nurses who work tirelessly alongside our four Vets in our Community Vet Clinic to provide veterinary care for all our in-house animals and preventative care for our out-reach patients from the local London community.

Our Nurses are an important part of our Vet Team as they make sure our animals receive the highest quality of care, and are responsible for the welfare, comfort and recovery of our animals who may have undergone surgery or are receiving medical treatment.

We only employ Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVNs) and nurses in training to become RVNs. A Vet Nurse has to work hard to become a registered RVN; they have to go through years of specialist training and have an obligation to keep their knowledge up-to-date with Continued Professional Development.

This year we built an extension for our Vet Clinic, which will help our Vet Nurses and Vets to help even more animals. Our new Clinic now has two operating theatres that will allow us to expand the training we provide for UK and overseas vets and offer more capacity for free and low cost vaccinations and microchipping. The extension will also allow us to expand our community animal welfare programmes and increase the number of cases we can deal with. Find out more about our Vet Clinic expansion here.

Our Vet Nurses really help to make a difference to the welfare of our animals that come into us daily. They not only provide round-the-clock care for our animals, but give medical treatment, carry out minor surgery, monitor during anaesthesia, prepare animals for surgery, take X-rays and carry out diagnostic tests and advise owners on the health and welfare of their pets. Our Vet Nurses also run weekly Vet Nurse Clinics, which provide general health examinations, weight checks and dietary advice, dental and nail clipping. Find out more about our Vet Nurse Clinics here.

Alongside their practical and medical roles, our Vet Nurses also play an emotional role, by providing a loving hand to help make the pet’s pain go away and giving reassurance to worried owners.

Our Vet Nurses have a crucial role alongside our Vets on Mayhew International’s overseas programmes. In countries where resources are limited, how the animal is looked after before and after surgery can be a question of life or death. They give animals care before, during and after surgery. They also work with Vet Assistants, Vet Technicians, and Dog Handlers showing them pre and post-operative care, good cleaning techniques and gentle restraining and handling, which is all vital for good animal welfare and for ensuring the survival of animals.

Being a Vet Nurse can be a challenging role involving a lot of hard work, however it is an extremely rewarding profession, which is such an important part of the overall Vet Team.

Our Head Vet Nurse Gillian Rich RVN, who has worked in our Community Vet Clinic for eleven and a half years, spoke about how proud she is to be a Vet Nurse this Veterinary Nurse Awareness Month.

Gillian said: “I decided to become a Veterinary Nurse because I really wanted to make a difference to the lives of animals and their owners. I remain passionate about this 20 years in to my career and I am so proud to work for The Mayhew.”

“We help people and their animals when they need us most. I love working with such a dedicated, hardworking team, and I look forward to coming into work every day, with no two days ever being the same. I am very proud to be a Registered Veterinary Nurse.”

This Vet Nurse Awareness Month we would love you to join us in celebrating our Vet Nurses’ outstanding work, and please consider a donation to help our Vet Nurses continue with their amazing work.

You can find out more about the services we offer at our Vet Clinic here.

Some photos by Rowan Williams.

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