In celebration of National Dog Day we announce the winner of our pet of the month competition, celebrate the incredible work of Fitzpatrick referrals and give you a collage of lovely local pets to go awwwwww over
Happy National Dog Day good people of Surrey & SW London! Tis a time to celebrate all things doggy and in honour of that we can't help but bark about the superb work of Fitzpatrick Referrals Oncology and Soft Tissue in Guildford as the lovely hospital staff are celebrating their first year anniversary. The trailblazing work of Professor Noel Fitzpatrick and the team of likeminded pioneers he's put together has been giving hope to local animals all year long that would otherwise have been consigned to a life of pain or even put down.
Professor Nick Bacon, the Clinical Director of the hospital is happy at what the clinic has achieved in its inaugural year.
“The first year has gone quickly and being able to help over 1000 patients has made it all the more special. We are continuing to move forward at Fitzpatrick Referrals Oncology and Soft Tissue to create new, safer and more effective ways to treat cancer in our pets. I am particularly pleased with how the cancer research programme is evolving to allow us to understand more about the condition in both animals and humans."
"Being part of the Guildford community is important to us as many of our patients are from the surrounding area, yet being easy to reach has also meant we have seen pets from as far afield as the Channel Islands and continental Europe. The whole team is looking forward to continuing efforts to put cancer on the back-foot and keep our pets happy and healthy."
Nick Bacon with patient Barney
And it's not just those running the clinic that are happy with its work. The parents of a recent patient Molly have nothing but good things to say about their experiences with the hospital.
“Fitzpatrick Referrals Oncology and Soft Tissue have been fantastic. We couldn’t wish for Molly to have been treated any better, we know she is in the best hands. We know we can leave her for treatment feeling 100% confident that she will be well looked after as well as well loved.”
An on-the-mend molly
A big congratulations from everyone at Essential Surrey & SW London to the Fitzpatrick Referrals team and the wonderful work they've done this year. Here's to many more!
And now on to the moment you've all been waiting for: our pet of the month. A new feature for our website, this is going to be a fun monthly celebration of pets from the local area. To enter all you've got to do is tweet us with a photo of your dog, cat, rabbit, turtle or Komodo dragon at @EssentialSurrey. At the end of the month the editors of all our magazines will judge the entrants and crown a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place pet for the month. Previous winners can't enter again but if you've entered and missed out on a podium finish you're welcome to try again in the months after.
Drum role please. In first place it's:
IZZY
Breed: Border Collie
Likes: Playing football, running through the fields ,watching TV (obviously Supervet is her fave programme!)
Dislikes: Rain, umbrellas and the Dyson Hoover
Human: Lisa
Izzy is not only a beautiful doggy (I'm pretty sure she's doing a Zoolanderesque Blue Steel pose in this photo) but she's also an incredible trooper having gone through a lot recently. You might recognise her from The Supervet's recent bionic series on Channel 4 (which if you haven't seen you should absolutely go back and watch on catch up because it is jaw dropping stuff).
Izzy suffered a broken leg after being hit by a car and unfortunately her initial surgery didn't go to plan. Without the intervention of Noel and his team she would have had to have her leg amputated or even worse, been put down. In a technological first that has huge ramifications for both the human and veterinary worlds of medicine Noel managed to successfully get new bone to grow around a 3D printed titanium scaffold that he injected with Izzy’s own stem cells. This is the largest amount of bone (4cm) to be successfully regrown where the mesh and stem cells would become an integrated permanent part of the skeleton.
What better winner of our inaugural pet of the month series than a local doggy celebrity that has helped the betterment of bionic medicine? Congratulations to Izzy and her human Lisa who first got Izzy when she was only 10 weeks old.
In second place:
SCOUT
Breed: King Charles Cavalier
Likes: Playing with my autistic son, meal times and treats
Dislikes: Our cat daisy
Human: Kelly
LOOK AT HIS LITTLE FACE! Kelly has only had Scout for 3 weeks, he's doing puppy training at the moment and can't wait to go out for his walks once he's had his second round of injections.
In third place
ERIS
Breed: Mixed Longhair
Likes: Terrorising her brother and new people
Dislikes: Water and the hoover
Human: James
Whilst this is a lovely looking kitty it is the awesome pose he's striking that has earned him 3rd place for the month. With the carpet behind him it looks like he is flying and the idea of a superhero cat makes us all at Essential Surrey & SW London inordinately happy.
And now for your daily dose of cute, here are some of the other wonderful entrants we received for August:
Honourable Mentions
Well that's all for this month folks. Please do get in touch on Twitter @EssentialSurrey for next month's competition or if you're old school you can enter your pet via email at surreyweb@sheengate.co.uk
Fancy another great piece on animals? Check out our interview with Noel Fitzpatrick where he talks about his campaign for One Medicine
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