New Vet with Special Interest in Surgery

Since the completion of our new purpose built clinic in October we have become busier than ever. In order to meet this demand and maintain the high standards of care we have set ourselves, we have increased to three vets.

Ray O’Mahony MVB MRCVS, qualified in Dublin in 1996. after a few years in Ireland , Ray moved to the UK to pursue his interest in equine medicine. During the last six years he has worked in a number of  equine  practices developing a special interest in surgery, lameness investigation and stud work  and as such will add much knowledge and experience to the team here.

Ray is also passionate about herbal medicine, especially its use in treatment of chronic long term conditions in horses. Many  of these conditions including skins conditions, digestive problems, copd, head shaking, laminitis   etc are very difficult to treat with conventional drugs so his experience may offer you a unique opportunity to get on top of that frustrating condition

Horse Surgery

Our service of full surgery for horses has had an overwhelming welcome. Only in the last weeks we did over 40 horses in our fully equipped surgical theatre. The first week of December our Equine Specialist Dr. Emiel Welling came over to perform special surgery on the airways of a couple of horses. Next to that we made the steps in keyhole surgery of the joints of horses. With him came Elbert who is highly qualified as an anaesthetist. 

Together with them we managed to get the level of our digital x-ray system even higher than it was.In December we implanted the 150th microchip in a Kerry animal!. A lot of people do realize the benefits of the microchip. The fact that it is only one injection under the skin together with the low price in our centre apparently convinced a lot of people.

Internship Student Exchange

Currently we have Jessica Koch in our team. She is an internship student from the University of Hannover. She hopes to learn everything she will need in the near future to be a vet herself. Our centre will give her all the opportunities she needs. From now on you will always come across students like Jessica at Kenmare Veterinary Centre. It is part of our education policy and it is always nice to get fresh blood and opinions in our team.

Animal Welfare

The first steps have been taken in the setting up of proper facilities to keep stray or abandoned animals for a longer period. Very generous private donations will enable KLAWS to realise this badly needed facility in the area. Of course we would like to ask anyone reading this to consider giving a donation to KLAWS (Kenmare and Locality Animal Welfare Society) to continue our work for all the animals without owners.

Grooming

We are now offering a full service for grooming, washing, etc for dogs and cats. One of the benefits is that on of our vets is always around to give a hand or look at something. For example dental and ear problems can be dealt with immediately. If needed a sedation can be given and monitored, yearly vaccinations and worming can be combined with grooming, etc. Just give us a call to enquire about possibilities.

150th Microchip

In December we implanted the 150th microchip in a Kerry animal!. A lot of people do realize the benefits of the microchip. The fact that it is only one injection under the skin together with the low price in our centre apparently convinced a lot of people.

Farrier Service

From January on we will offer a service together with farrier Aemon Harrington. From set locations we will offer the full mobile service from orthopedic examination, nerve blocks, scanning, digital X - rays and (orthopedic) shoeing. Call us for dates and appointments in your area.

Today's question

Dear reader,

I am really glad to be given the change to answer all kind of questions in this section of your beloved "Kenmare news". I must admit that today's question wasn't sent in but the question came up at a couple of visits I made. People seem to wonder why regular vaccination of pets is necessary as for so many years nobody seemed to bother.

We can vaccinate against all kind of viruses. This is very important as till now there are very limited ways of actually killing viruses. So if the body is attacked by a virus we won't have medication to kill the virus. The body will have to do it all on itself. What we can do is preparing the body for the attack.
Vaccination is actually facing the immune system of the animal with a threatening invader without making the animal really sick. The body will respond on the invader by making defense cells. Next time this invader will try to invade the body the immune system recognizes the invader and is able to kill it. If not vaccinated the body will not be prepared and the invader will take his change. It is often necessary to trigger the immune system more than once to create enough defenses.
In nature vaccination does also appear. While growing up the body will be faced with all kinds of invaders on which the immune system will react. The problem is that some viruses are so devastating that they will eventually kill the body their in. As this is not what we are waiting for is sensible to vaccinate against certain diseases.
Although most vaccine producers hold on to a slightly different system the following provide a rough guide:
Dogs: 6 weeks, 9 and 12 weeks age, after that once a year
Cat 10 and 14 weeks of age, after that once a year
Horses: 6 months, 7 months, half a year later and after that once (or twice) a year.
In relation to certain diseases, area, ages, competitions, etc another schedule might be applied.
A mistake a lot of people make is that it is not necessary to vaccinate an older animal. Especially older animals will have a less powerful immune system and will need the vaccinations even more!

Hopefully this will be enough information to answer the question

Questions can be send to Dr. Henk Offereins
Kenmare Veterinary Centre
Lissyclearig, Kenmare
joannahenk@eircom.net
087-7710360