What we do

Preventative health care is a huge part of veterinary care and pet ownership. Starting with puppy and kitten vaccination courses, we will advise on vaccines, worming, flea treatment and neutering to ensure your pet has the best start in life. We also offer a monthly preventative health plan to make this easier and more affordable by spreading the cost of prophylactic treatment.

As part of the health plan, we will arrange quarterly home delivery of your flea and worming treatment through our wholesaler.

With a combination of in-house blood tests, radiography, ultrasonography and CT technology, we are able to work up medical cases to the best of our ability. We also have a group of visiting ultrasonographers, internal medics, oncologists and cardiologists who can come to the practice as required, enabling us to further expand our services.

Vet Practice Support offers a mobile, multidisciplinary, advanced practitioner-led service to provide us with additional support on cases, while allowing the convenience of keeping your pet’s care here at Claro Hill so you do not have to travel elsewhere.

As we grow, we will continue to invest in the right people and the necessary equipment.

At Claro Hill we want to ensure that we offer an annual vaccination program that protects your pets and provides full immunity. After the initial vaccination course, many of the core vaccines are administered every third year, with only certain vaccinations given annually.

Our core vaccinations for dogs include Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, Leptospirosis (L4), Parainfluenza and Bordetella bronchiseptica (Kennel Cough)

Other vaccines available are:
Rabies -essential if you are travelling out of the UK.
Herpes virus – recommended for breeding dogs.

Our core vaccinations for cats protect against Calicivirus, Rhinotracheitis, Panleukopaemia and Feline Leukaemia Virus.

Our fully trained, experienced team of nurses are responsible for monitoring patients while under sedation or anaesthetic. They use the latest monitoring equipment to monitor heart rate and rhythm, respiratory rate and pattern, oxygen levels, temperature and blood pressure. Our nurses are passionate about making the anaesthetic journey and procedures as safe and as smooth as possible for your pets.

We are also extremely proud of our diagnostic facilities; from digital x-ray, to a modern ultrasound machine and a Siemens CT scanner. All of which allow us to diagnose problems quickly and whenever possible give you answers the same day. For more complex conditions, we utilise the expertise of external radiologists at VetOracle who will study the images and provide a written report.

CT working on radiation (x-ray) technology, takes very fine slices through the required body areas and allows 3D images to be computer generated. As a modality, CT is much more sensitive than radiography. CT is especially useful for assessing joints such as the elbows, checking for metastasis (cancerous spread) and assessing respiratory or gastrointestinal disease, amongst other things.

We are fortunate to be able to work in collaboration with Cancer Care for Pets, run by Neil Palmer BVSc, MSc (Clin Onc) MRCVS and Kirsty Chippendale Dip AVN RVN.

Cancer Care for Pets is based in Huddersfield and is a like-minded independent practice which offers a veterinary oncology referral service. Neil, Kirsty and team are there to help us with complex oncological cases and will be running monthly clinics with us here at Claro Hill.

They focus on patient-centred cancer care, honouring the bond between the patient and their owner, to create an individual treatment plan for the pet. After an initial consultation with Cancer Care for Pets, the tailor-made treatment plan can then be continued with us.

Neutering cats can be performed from 16 weeks to prevent unwanted litters, reduce roaming and reduce the chance of entire males fighting.

Spaying (ovariohysterectomy) and castration of dogs will be discussed on an individual basis, depending on the size and breed of your dog and their temperament. Your vet will also be able to advise on the most appropriate age for neutering.

For older patients, we promote senior health checks to ensure your pet has the best quality of life in their later years, to manage pain associated with arthritis and other age-related diseases. Picking up on signs early such as changes in thirst, appetite, demeanour and ability to exercise, can help to detect diseases which can be managed with medication, changes in diet and lifestyle changes. Just “getting old” is not a reason for your dog or cat to slow down. Our senior health checks include a full clinical examination, routine blood tests and urinalysis. These are available for dogs over 7 and cats over 10 years old.

Our in-house lab allows us to perform an array of tests with same day results, ideal to aid in the diagnosis of diseases, for routine monitoring of chronic illnesses and long-term medication use. We also have a regular courier to a highly respected, external laboratory (Idexx, Wetherby) and have the assistance of specialists there on hand.

At Claro Hill, we accept cases on an outpatient basis from other local practices that wish to come for CT imaging only. We would ask your vet to complete a request form specifying the body areas that need to be imaged and the timescale they would like the report back in. The patient will have blood tests prior to anaesthesia to ensure it is safe to proceed. We will then run the scans under sedation or anaesthesia to gain the images as requested. If required, contrast studies will be performed, followed by 4 hours of intravenous fluids. We will not discuss diagnosis or treatment plans with owners in order not to tread on anyone’s toes. The images will be transferred externally to a diagnostic imager and a comprehensive report will be sent back to the vet for ongoing management of the case.

We know saying goodbye is a difficult time for everyone and one of the toughest decisions you will ever have to make. Dogs and cats offer so much unconditional love, companionship and comfort, that it is not uncommon to have conflicting feelings about euthanasia and knowing when to let go.

As pet owners we are fortunate to be able to let them go and say goodbye in the most peaceful and dignified way, when illness, old age or injury affects their quality of life. If your pet’s pain and suffering can no longer be well managed or controlled, our staff will do their best to advise and guide you through the journey. Sometimes there are subtle changes and signs that can suggest that their quality of life is deteriorating. Although as an owner, you know your pet better than anyone, sometimes it requires someone impartial to help you make an informed decision.

We will be there for you to support you in your decision.

We believe that nutrition is an important part of a more holistic approach to patient care, from diets for puppies and kittens, to convalescence diets when your pet has been unwell. For that reason, we are pleased to announce that we are a Hills VIP Clinic, enabling us to give the best advice on Hills diets and getting discounts for customers across the Hills pet food range.

If one of our team recommends a Hills diet for your pet you can now order their range online, with home delivery available. Please click on the Hills4Me tab below and use our vet code 80001. You are, of course, still welcome to order it through us and collect in the practice.

We have two sterile operating theatres plus an additional treatment room for dentistry, endoscopy and those less clean procedures! We also have dental x-ray. We offer a variety of routine surgeries, soft tissue procedures and we can arrange for peripatetic surgeons to come and perform more complex orthopaedic operations, including Stuart Cooke BVetMed CertSAS MRCVS – RCVS recognised advanced practitioner in small animal surgery.

We are always on the look out for the latest veterinary technologies and treatments to help care for your pets even better. Along side that we know the importance of growing the skillset of our team and encourage further learning and qualifications. We are also not afraid to bring in the best external specialists when required.