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Latest news from the SMART Referral Centre. Links will take you to our Facebook page. 

SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals4 days ago
The beautiful Ariel continued her rehabilitation treatment with us this week, spending some dedicated time with our Physiotherapy team.
Ariel stayed with us as an inpatient this week and the team focused on her neuromotor gait training and therapeutic exercises to help strengthen her hindlimbs and improve her proprioceptive awareness and overall gait pattern.
Ariel has become somewhat of a celebrity in recent months, following her surgery at Small Animal Referral Hospital Langford Vets University of Bristol to remove her extra limbs, and all of the team at SMART have loved getting to know her and working with her and her fosterer to support her recovery.
She is such a strong little character and has already showed such resilience in her early life, we have no doubt she will continue to go from strength to strength with her rehabilitation. Go team Ariel!
#greenacres, #langfordvethospital, #foster, #rehabilitation, #team, #physiotherapy
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals6 days ago
This month's Pet of The Month for Cardiff is Buster!

Buster is a very handsome golden retriever who is almost 14 years old. He was first referred to the SMART Veterinary Clinic for severe Osteoarthritis which requires regular management to maintain his comfort and mobility. This means he regularly attends our inpatient days to improve his strength and maintain his progress.

Some of the common signs of Osteoarthritis include a deterioration in mobility such as lameness, difficulty getting up and a reluctance to jump, as well as weight gain and lethargy. When Buster first attended the clinic, he displayed a lot of these symptoms, so he was given a tailored exercise plan to work on at home and during his time at the clinic.
During his inpatient days at the Cardiff clinic Buster works hard to complete his proprioceptive track and sit to stands on a peanut ball. This helps to strengthen the muscles supporting his hindlimbs and the proprioceptive track helps with limb awareness in space. Some of the symptoms of proprioceptive deficits include scuffing of the paws, being off balance in their gait and stumbling when walking or going up the stairs. This happens when the sensory nerves are not firing as well as they should, and the connection is interrupted. Buster’s balance and coordination have greatly improved following his proprioceptive exercises, and he continues to strive in his ability to maintain his standing posture and gait.
He really enjoys the extra fuss he receives from all the Cardiff staff, especially Stacey one of our animal care assistants. His favourite part of treatment here is a combination of laser therapy, electro acupuncture, heat packs and soft tissue massage which he shares with a different cuddly toy each week!

Buster has been on an incredible weight loss journey and has lost almost 10kg since he started coming here. Buster’s owner and our in house nutritionist worked very hard in building a weight loss plan for Buster which included cutting down on extra treats and swapping chicken for turkey. Just these small changes in Buster’s diet made a huge impact to his weight and this wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of his owner.
A reduction in Buster’s weight has helped with a lot of his Osteoarthritis symptoms and improved his quality of life. The determination from both Buster and his owner has shone through during his time here and it’s aways a pleasure to see his happy face walk through the door with his various selection of favourite teddys. It’s great to see him so spritely and enjoy a play with all his cuddly toys at home!

Well done Buster you are a star, keep up the great work!
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals7 days ago
Congratulations to all the amazing partnerships we work with on an incredibly successful Crufts 2024! Some of the highlights include:

Martin & Selfie winning the small championship jumping round and the small championship ticket in the final, and with Shape winning the large championship jumping round.

Stephanie & Ske coming second in the medium championship agility round, fifth in the medium championship jumping round, winning the reserve medium championship ticket in the final, and winning the medium ABC jumping round.

Naarah & Banana coming second in the intermediate singles jumping round, fourth in the intermediate singles agility round, third in the intermediate championship agility round, and winning the intermediate championship jumping round .
Naarah & Lemon winning the large singles agility round, coming second in the large singles final, and winning the reserve large championship ticket in the final.

Tunde & Gertie coming third in the large singles agility round, and in the large singles final.

Lisa & Pip coming fourth in the large singles agility round

Liz & Winnie coming fifth in the medium championship agility round

Nicci & Elsa winning the Heelwork to Music Final on Thursday and coming 4th in the Freestyle final.

Finn & Kevin enjoying the show ring.

A special mention to Natasha & Pebbles as Pebbles retires at the age of 11, with 3 impressive clear rounds at her final Crufts appearance.

Well done everyone! #crufts2024 #team #partnership #agility #dogs #fun #sportsmedicine
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals1 week ago
On the 27th and 28th February SMART Clinic hosted international speaker Giliola Spattini DVM PhD DECBDI for a 2 day practical introduction to musculoskeletal ultrasound course. We had 14 delegates attend this event, who all got the opportunity to practice some hands on training with the ultrasound machines. This event was sponsored by QMS, who kindly provided additional machines for us to use. We have had great feedback from all involved and are excited to host future events. If you are interested in CPD provision from SMART please get in touch. #cpd #qmsvet #ultrasound #learning
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals2 weeks ago
We all had a ball celebrating our receptionist Noelle’s leap day wedding to Steve, congratulations from all of us at SMART! #leapyear #leapday #wedding #veterinaryreceptionist #team
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals
SMART Specialist Veterinary Referrals2 weeks ago
Happy International Women's Day from everyone at SMART! #IWD2024 #womeninveterinary #team