The Small Pet Vet, Nottingham, owned by Dr Adele Wharton, is the first mobile vet service in the country to be awarded a silver-level rabbit-friendly award by the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund.
This award recognises the clinical skills of the vet and the facilities on offer for the care and treatment of rabbit patients.
Dr Wharton set up a mobile vet clinic in 2021 so that she could provide a convenient, flexible and stress-free service to her clients, and in 2023, she was able to expand into a Peugeot Boxer van in order to provide a more complete service. This means that rabbits are not doing car journeys to the vet practice because the vet practice comes to them! No sharing of a waiting room with barking dogs or being kennelled within earshot of them. The Small Pet Vet can offer the most common procedures such as health checks, vaccinations, and most common surgical procedures including neutering and dental work.
Dr. Wharton says that “I couldn’t do it without my RVN Nikkie Woolmer, who’s been with me from the start, and we are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded rabbit-friendly status in recognition of what we’re doing to try to make vet visits less stressful for our rabbit and rodent patients, and their owners. It’s the whole reason we started up, and it means so much to receive this validation of our work!”
Bristol-based Richard Saunders BSc (Hons) BVSc FRSB CBiol DZooMed (Mammalian) DipECZM(ZHM) FHEA MRCVS, who made this award in his role as Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund’s Specialist Vet Advisor, said, “I’m really pleased to be able to award Dr Wharton’s “The Small Pet Vet” the RWAF Silver award for rabbit friendly practice, especially as it is the first mobile clinic to obtain this. Travelling to the patient is not something many vets can easily do, but as well as the general advantages for the client, it’s especially valuable for prey species such as rabbits; in particular, removing the stress of travelling to the vet, seeing only small pets and avoiding the presence of dogs and cats. I hope that this service thrives and benefits owners and rabbits in her area.”
