Veterinary surgeon - Catharine Dobbie

Catharine is a vet at the busy RSPCA Putney Animal Hospital.

It looks really busy out there, how many appointments can you get through a day?

It’s a walk-in clinic, so they’ll be about 70-80 pets seen in the hospital today – in the summer it can even be 100. You give them the best care you can, it’s important to make sure the animal is comfortable when they go home, but you also try to keep it moving.
 

What are most people here for?

It really varies. Like the kitten for a check-up following surgery to remove the eye, to the Saluki in for a kennel cough vaccination.  A lot of time people are here for one thing and end up with advice on other things too, like neutering and vaccinations.

We don’t support breeding, so we try and get everyone on the ‘early neutering scheme’, which means they get all their vaccinations and neutering even cheaper. If they’re breeding we don’t treat them.

 

You definitely have the knack for providing a lot of info to owners –in a short space of time.  Do you think that’s a key skill as an RSPCA vet?

Yes, you need people skills - it’s definitely a people job.

 

What other skills are handy?

Typing is a good skill to learn as a vet. To get the notes typed up quickly between appointments - I wish I’d learnt!

 

You’ve seen four overweight dogs just this morning, is this as common as it appears?

We run Furry fit club here as, yes, we are seeing a lot of obese dogs. It’s a slimming club for dogs where they get measured and photographed, and their owners receive diet advice for them.

You can tell owners time and time again not to overfeed their animals and they’ll still give them treats – they believe the pet is hungry. If they join the slimming club they’ll get a calorie chart which shows if you give your dog a slice of toast, for example, just how many calories that contains. So it helps them to measure.

 

Dogs on diets sounds rather humorous, but can there be serious consequences?

Yes of course, it can cause all sorts of problems , like the dog we saw earlier with a knee injury. If he doesn’t lose the extra weight he’s going to have serious problems with his mobility. He’s previously received surgery but weightloss is the single biggest thing that will help him.

 

You’re in surgery this afternoon, what procedures have you got lined up today?

We’ve got a dog in for neutering to start with. Neutering is a big part of our work as more owners take up our advice. Regular procedures also include caesareans, and other emergencies. And we’re lucky to have a great orthopaedic surgeon here who can do fracture repairs.

I’ve come here from a private practice. Here you’re a lot busier and you see a lot – you get to do a lot and learn quickly.