Pioneering and incredible work to help animals

Looking from the outside you wouldn’t know that there is pioneering work going on in this small rural practice.

But a chat with Practice Manager Donné Stam reveals that behind the doors of Heathfield Vets in Hailsham Road, they are carrying out pioneering and incredible work to help animals.

Stem cell therapy is one of the ways their vets are helping patients with arthritis who aren’t responding to other treatments. Vet Ian Killian is primarily involved in this procedure, where stem cells are harvested and sent to an external laboratory that has the expertise to store the stem cells so they don’t need to be reharvested.

Donné explains: “The stem cells are injected into the joints which usually results in some relief for the patient and then we repeat the process as necessary. It’s very exciting to be able to offer this treatment as stem cell usage is at the cutting edge of human medicine and not currently widely available in veterinary medicine.”

Heathfield Vets is also one of the few practices to offer orthopaedic surgery including cruciate surgery. Normally a vet would have to refer a patient to a specialist outside the practice – but with Heathfield Vets being able to carry out the operations in-house it means patients don’t have to travel and costs for the owners are kept down.  Patients also get treated by vets and nurses they already know – a much nicer patient experience all round.

“I think we are different in our approach. Our vets are super keen to learn and enhance their skills. As soon as something comes on to the market we assess it and decide how it would benefit our patients. That was the case with laser treatment to heal wounds back when that was new to market. The laser stimulates healing and reduces pain which is brilliant. Now we’ve got stem cell therapy available, and its use in treatments for arthritis is only the beginning,” says Donné.

At Heathfield Vets, the ultrasound machine isn’t just used for pregnancy cases but also cardiac work ups, eye scans and abdomen scans. Vet Gerald Stam is extremely experienced in interpreting scans and it’s not uncommon for a patient to be dropped off in the morning and for there to be a diagnosis that afternoon.

Gerald was also one of the students to complete the first UK-based course in Endoscopy and Endosurgery and he has gone on to obtain a postgraduate GP Certificate in Endoscopy and Endosurgery. Together with Philip Snyman, another of the vets, they are able to offer keyhole surgery for spaying, hernia repairs and other surgeries.  It is far less invasive than traditional surgery and the recovery time is much faster.  The endoscopy allows the team to use the diagnostic imaging and tools to perform surgeries that would previously have been major invasive surgeries in ways that allow the patient much better recovery time, sometimes avoiding surgery all together.

“With our highly trained vets, dedicated team of veterinary nurses and wonderful receptionists we firmly believe that we have something very unique to offer not just our patients, but also their owners,” Donné added.

Look out for advice articles coming up from Heathfield Vets on topics such as making it easier to get your cat to the vets (and anywhere else!), ticks, lung worm and pet travel post-Brexit.