Follow the progress of Louis the goat's broken leg - Part One

Part One

Louis the goat, who lives at Beale Park, was brought into Larkmead Vets at Cholsey to see Alun because he suffered a sudden and obvious issue with his front leg!

Louis’ keepers don’t know how he managed it but somehow he managed to break his front leg – a fracture through his radius and ulna, ouch!

Alun strapped the leg up to keep Louis comfortable and the next day he was taken to our Didcot practice for one of Larkmead's Orthopaedic Surgeons to assess the damage and find a way to allow it to heal. 

Izzie gets treated for congestive heart failure

This is Izzie.  She is a 3 year old Ragdoll Cross.  

She was a very poorly girl when she came in to see vet Sarah on Friday morning as she was struggling to breathe.  We were very concerned about her as her brother had died suddenly last year showing similar signs. 

We quickly found that Izzie was suffering from congestive heart failure (a build-up of fluid on her chest) and started treating her immediately.  She was put in an oxygen chamber and given diuretic medications into her blood stream to help remove the fluid from her chest.

We stabilised Izzy over the weekend and by Monday she was well enough to undergo an xray, ecg, blood pressure test and heart scan.

This is Izzxie's scan which shows the thickened wall of her heart.

Update on Lennon's Broken Toe

Lennon came in on Sunday to have his dressing replaced before his walking holiday in Lulworth Cove.

 Unfortunately we  don't think he will be doing much walking at the moment!

Lennon's Broken Toe

Didcot receptionist Imogen's dog Lennon has been very accident prone this year.

You may remember when he had a thorn in his eye.  Now he has broken his toe whilst walking in the park.


We took an X-ray which confirmed that the toe was broken.

We then placed a supportive dressing on his leg which he'll have to keep on for 2-4 weeks.


We'll keep you updated on his progress.

Meet Enoch "Nucky" Thompson

Mr. Enoch "Nucky" Thompson is a 2 year old Carolina corn snake with a timid nature. 

Nucky is fed once a week and his cage only needs cleaning every 2-3 weeks as long as his shedding is taken out straight away. 

He is handled most days for anywhere between 10 minutes and half an hour depending on how boisterous he is on that day! 

An interesting story about Nucky is that when he was younger and being fed, his owner accidentally dropped his food on his face. This  means that he is now sometimes scared of his food! 

Nucky has never bitten anyone and his owner states that she firmly believe she is more harmless than a hamster as well as being much cuter. 

Nurse Lou's Summer Comes into Larkmead Cholsey, Wallingford with a sore eye

Summer belongs to Lou one of our vet nurses at the Larkmead Cholsey/Wallingford branch. 

Her eye became very sore after she ran through some bushes whilst out on a walk. 

Lou brought her into Cholsey to see Vet Susie who put some fluorescein dye in her eye to look for any damage to the corneal surface. The dye stains up bright green if there is damage and you can see in the picture that Summer has quite a big corneal ulcer. 

Susie then used local anaesthetic to check Summer’s eye further to make sure no foreign body was in the eye. Nothing was found.

 Summer was put on eye drops to soothe and help heal her eye and also some pain relief tablets as corneal ulcers are very painful. She is feeling much better now.

Olive visited the practice last week to be spayed. Here is her story!

Olive is a 5-month old female tabby cat who belongs to Larkmead Didcot vet Emma. She visited the practice last week to be spayed. Here is Olive's story!

First of all she was given a pre-med injection which contained sedatives and pain relief to prepare her for her anaesthetic and to make her operation more comfortable.

She was then allowed to rest in her kennel for a short time while the injection took effect, before an intravenous injection of anaesthetic was used to induce anaesthesia. A rubber tube was then passed down her windpipe to deliver anaesthetic gas for the duration of her operation.

Olive was then microchipped so that if she ever goes missing Emma can be traced as her owner.

A patch of fur was then clipped from Olive's side, and she was moved to the operating theatre where her skin was cleaned in preparation for surgery.

While vet Sarah performed the delicate surgery through a small incision in Olive's side, nurse Sophie monitored the anaesthetic closely by taking readings such as heart rate and respiratory rate.

A short time after her operation, Olive was back on her feet and recovering well! She is seen here wearing a prescription flea collar which has been left long so that it can be adjusted as she grows.

Olive was fitted with a pet t-shirt for her recovery at home so that she could not lick or chew her stitches for the 10 days after surgery. She was a little bit sleepy for the first few days but soon bounced back!

We will bring you a photo of Olive fully recovered soon.