Motorbiking cat celebrates vet birthday (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Motorbiking cat celebrates vet birthday

8:38am Friday 16th February 2007 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

Everyone from animals, children and even a cat on a motorbike have been helping a vet's surgery celebrate its first birthday.

Swindon's Drove Veterinary Hospital opened a surgery in the Taw Hill village centre a year ago and it has gone from strength to strength.

They celebrated the landmark with an open day - inviting pets and their owners along.

Joining them was a small group of youngsters from nearby St Francis Church of England Primary School who were captivated by animals like Biff the Florida king snake and Vous the ferret.

Anna Hall, the vet in charge of the surgery, was delighted to see everyone enjoying themselves.

"It's great to be celebrating our first birthday in Taw Hill, it's a well-established area with lots of young families and there are lots of pets too. They are usually dogs, cats and rabbits, but there are a number of more exotic animals too, such as snakes and lizards so we have be ready for those too.

"It's quite interesting when our exotic pets expert comes in with all sorts of animals in tow, particularly parrots because it really can get rather noisy in here with all the squawks going on."

advertisement Yesterday's celebrations were a far cry from when the surgery first opened when a cat owner came to give her pet a check-up.

"She came in to have her cat checked over and ended up leaving with a big bouquet of flowers. I think she must have thought she had walked into a florists or something," said Anna.

Also joining the celebrations was Drove Vet mascot Paul the Cat, who rode in on his chromed up Yamaha motorbike, as well as Cinders and Tango the cats.

Andrew Turkington, one of the partners at Drove Vets, said: "It's great to have everyone here for the celebrations, particularly the children who we often invite to our surgeries to have a look around.

"There is a lot of mis-information out there about pet care so by teaching the children they will pass it onto their parents, because the children are the pet owners and vets of the future."