Pet clinic guarantees round-the-clock care
CATS and dogs of Cairns now have easy access to around-the-clock veterinary care after the opening of a new Anderson St clinic.
Experienced vet Dr Richard Page and his partner Becky Allison, a veterinary nurse, are not ones to shy away from a challenge but the Manunda business is undoubtedly their boldest venture yet.
The former site of real estate firm Elders has been transformed into all-hours clinic Emergency Vets 24/7, which opened for the first time on September 1.
UK expats turned Kanimbla residents, Dr Page and Ms Allison saw a gap in the market while undertaking temporary work in Cairns a few years ago.
“It seemed to be that getting hold of after-hours vets was really difficult here,” Dr Page said.
“It snowballed from someone saying, ‘you guys should just start it up, it would be great for Cairns’.”
With four vets and six nurses, the clinic will be open 24hours a day, 365 days of the year.
Dr Page said the clinic did not stock vaccinations, instead specialising in emergency services and after-hours pet care.
He said converting the building into a cutting-edge, modern veterinary business required some “serious modifications”.
The clinic mainly services common household pets such as cats and dogs – and certain exotic animals – but horses will not be treated.
Emergency Vets 24/7 does not do house calls, but arrangements have been made with some local pet taxi services.
Ms Allison said they were “excited and nervous” about opening their own Cairns clinic.
“We’ve invested a lot into this financially and emotionally,” she said.
“It’s not just us, we’ve got an obligation to our staff to make sure this is a success.
“And if it doesn’t work we feel as though it will throw the vet industry back in Cairns a long way – we don’t want to fail.”
While the business has only been open for days, she said numerous local pet owners had already taken advantage of the all-hours care.
Ms Allison said they were anticipating “many more” tick cases for the remainder of the peak tick season, which ends in the New Year, and she urged pet owners to take precautions.