As part of our series on vets in Dublin we interviewed South Dublin Vets about the service they can offer you and your pets. This sounds like a ‘Wagtastic’ vets – so if you don’t have a vet for your pets then it might be worth popping in to meet with them and seeing if it is a good match for you and your pets.
1. Tell us the name of your vets, where you are located and how potential customers can contact you.
The name of our practice is South Dublin Vets. We have one practice in Whitehall Road in Terenure and the other in the Old Dundrum shopping Centre in Dundrum.
Our website address is www.southdublinvets.ie
You can contact us by e mail through our website-our e-mail address is pets@southdublinvets.ie.
The telephone number for Terenure is 01 4555362
and for our Dundrum clinic is 01 2965876
Our phones are generally answered by the nurses who can help with any initial queries. If more detailed advice is needed, then one of the vets will call back as soon as they can.
2. Tell us about your facility and what services you offer?
Terenure is a hospital. We have kennelling for both dogs and cats. We have an operating theatre, two consulting rooms, digital radiography and endoscopy also. We also have full haematology and biochemistry blood machines.
Our Dundrum branch has two consulting rooms, an operating theatre, kennels for cats and dogs. We have a biochemistry blood machine here also.For more complex cases that need x-raying or monitoring during overnight hospitalisation, we will transfer them to Terenure.
3. Tell us about your amazing staff? Why will our pets LOVE them?
We pride ourselves on having the highest standard of staff. Mark Heffernan is the name of the principal Veterinary Surgeon and owner of the practice. There are many testimonials from the clients that will vouch for not only his excellent veterinary skills, but also his genuine love of the animals and how he will always go above and beyond to help a sick pet.
We have three other vets also. All of whom have a great affection for animals and love of the job.
The vets are supported by an incredible nursing staff. We have qualified nurses working in both branches, and they are very instrumental in the care plan instituted for the animals.
We also have an animal care assistant and a receptionist/ all round amazing person. We like the personal touch at South Dublin Vets , and it is important to us that a lot of our staff will remember the client and pet as soon as they walk in the door. We like to communicate with the clients in detail, and so will always ring them the day before and the day after any surgery.
4. What makes you different to other vets in your area?
What makes us different to other vets is the time we can give each of the patients in order to ascertain fully what the problem is. The diligence of our nursing staff in managing the care of the in- patients,is also second to none. We also pride ourselves on doing a lot of charity work and work very closely with Dogs in Distress and Cat’s Aid. We feel very strongly about the issue of stray animals and the large number of cats and dogs that are euthanised in Ireland each year. Through working with these charities, we know we are helping tackle these issues.
Your pets will love our staff because all our staff do genuinely love animals. The vet will be able to give you and your pet the time needed in a consult to acclimatise to unusual surroundings. We also have some pets of our own that you may see around the place, including Mark’s dog Mario and Alyson’s dog Evie. These two dogs act as a greeting committee to client and pet a like and are a lovely addition to working life for all the staff!
5. How do you make your clients tails wag like crazy?
We make our clients tails wag by paying them lots of attention as soon as they walk in the door. We also have several secret stashes of treats throughout the practices which always help! All our staff love coming out to the waiting room and really getting to know the pets. Trying to make each visit to the vets a positive experience is very important to us as it means they will want to come back and visit us again!
This is a hard question as there are so many aspects of the job that our staff love.
The one thing our staff LOVE about working with animals is that feeling of being presented with a very sick patient, and then seeing it come out the other side of an illness. Seeing their personalities come through as they start to feel better, and then seeing them reunited with their owners. That makes every late night, every missed lunch, all the hard work.. it makes it all worthwhile.
In summary, if you are looking for a veterinary practice that will treat you and your pet with great care,have excellent facilities available and will go that extra mile , then we are the practice for you!