Pioneering vets hope to be named top dogs

VET Katie Ford (left) and practice nurse Sophie Hoyle with Tilly

A VETS practice which pioneered a technique to cut stress and risky procedures for unwell pets has been nominated for a Pride in Oldham Award.

County's End Veterinary Practice in Lees has been nominated by Chronicle reader Janet Allen, from Springhead, who praised its caring service.

Earlier this summer the Chronicle reported how vets administered a technique called Alicam to Mrs Allen's pet dog, Tilly.

The dog, an 11-year-old flat-coat retriever, had suffered a number of problems and Mrs Allen said the vets' care and service was excellent.

She said: "In my experience, the vets went above and beyond what I had expected. They kept me updated on Tilly's procedures and looked after her day and night. They even spent two nights with her and called me late at night to update me."

Tilly suffered a series of problems including cancer of the jaw and sadly passed away recently.

Mrs Allen now has a new young dog, called Lilly Rose, which is also a flat-coat retriever .

Despite the sadness at the loss of her old pet, Mrs Allen wanted to highlight the vets' service by nominating them for a Pride in Oldham award.

Ian Wolstenholme, practice manager at County's End, said: "We're delighted to be nominated for a Pride in Oldham award.

"We really appreciate Mrs Allen's kind comments. It's great to get recognition for our care and support - to animals and their owners."

As the Chronicle reported in July, the Alicam technique uses a capsule containing light and camera technology to avoid anaesthesia, sedation or invasive procedures to diagnose intestinal illnesses in dogs.

Alicam ­- which stands for Ambulatory Light-based Imaging ­- simply requires the animal to swallow the capsule - then technology and nature does the rest.

The capsule travels through the animal's insides, giving 360-degree images of its intestines.

Once the capsule has passed through the animal, it is retrieved and images from the camera are analysed. Diagnosis comes within a few days days.

Tilly's results were analysed from more than 36,000 images and available six days later.

Staff who helped Tilly included senior vet Katie Ford and practice owner Joanna Bednarska.

They discovered Alicam after travelling to a veterinary conference in Florida this year. Alicam is currently only for use in dogs as the capsule is too large for cats at present.