Our Values Hold Value.

At Chalkland Vets, we pride ourselves on providing excellent, contextualised care for our patients, prioritising your pets’ health above everything else and providing a tailored care plan. We are a completely independent practice with four sites and will always make sure our values remain the same. We care for your pets like they’re our own. No exceptions.

There has been a lot of commentary surrounding the recent Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) investigation into veterinary prices and the pricing structure across the board. This has highlighted the need for complete transparency between veterinary practices and clients, and we are no different. However, whilst our pricing remains on our website, we wanted to address our reasoning behind it.

We have always maintained exceptionally high standards of care, which is reflected in not only the treatment itself, but the staffing used to achieve it.

It’s best understood by separating our patients into two categories, surgical patients (often just in for the day) and hospitalised patients (who are often treated for longer periods of time for medical reasons rather than surgical).

Surgical patients

Our surgical patients are treated as if they are our own pets. From the moment they place a paw in our practice, we have fully qualified, and registered veterinary nurses (RVNs) preparing them for surgery, monitoring anaesthetics and their recovery afterwards. At no point is your pet left unattended, in fact, they often have three nurses to one patient.

All patients have an intravenous catheter placed, meaning that we can safely and easily administer drugs. Each patient is provided with intravenous fluids to assist their blood pressure and cardiovascular system. This is best practice and means that your pet is receiving the most up-to-date and researched care, for the best possible outcome.

We recommend blood testing for every patient to ensure that the medications we choose are the safest for the patients.

We use multiparameter monitoring machines to assist our RVNs and Veterinary Surgeons with monitoring vital signs during anaesthetics. These monitor blood pressure, carbon dioxide levels in the blood and oxygen saturation, plus an Electro-cardiogram (ECG) helps us make sure the electrical activity within the heart is maintained normally.

We also have special equipment to monitor and assist with maintaining body temperature whilst they are in the operating theatre.

Hospitalised patients

Hospitalised patients will have their own designated veterinary surgeon, RVN and nursing assistant, meaning that they receive excellent care for the duration of their stay.

All cats are in their own separate ward so that they are kept away from dogs throughout their whole stay. This ensures stress levels are kept to a minimum.

Our dogs have their own walk-in sized kennels meaning that large breeds, or those that are anxious in small spaces, have somewhere to relax.

And our care doesn’t stop after the op – we use laser therapy to help speed up healing, so your pet is back to their normal selves faster.

Quality Care – comes first at Chalklands

When you lay out the experience our patients receive it should, hopefully, become bit clearer as to where your money goes. The high-quality equipment, the highly specialised building, with its needs for facilities like phone lines, water and electricity, not to mention heating to keep our patients warm when they’re at their most vulnerable.

Our highly trained, experienced, qualified and caring staff. Every member of staff we have in our building has your pet at the forefront of their mind. From the receptionist at the end of the phone, the one that greets you as you enter, the RVN responsible for ensuring your pet has the best experience possible and the Veterinary Surgeon who has trained for years to be able to identify any problems and treat them. The veterinary care assistants who help these patients by providing clean bedding, food, water and the occasional (ok frequent) cuddle.

Being in the veterinary industry, we care. We care so deeply, all the time, about your pets. We often skip lunches, we rarely have breaks, and we hardly ever make it home on time. The typical 9-5 is not role we signed up for, which is fine, it’s what we love.

Everyone at Chalkland is here to provide you and your pet with the highest quality care and service. As with anything, this service comes at a price, however, if you break it down like this, is it really a price you’re reluctant to pay?

This pie chart represents how little profit there is to be had within the veterinary world. Just 2%. Anyone who works in the veterinary industry doesn’t do so for the money. They do so because they care. At Chalkland, we are no different. We really do treat your animals as if they are our own.