Glenina Vets prides itself on working alongside with local people from Galway City. On many occasions we have committed ourselves in helping out to the best of our ability in individual cases of animal welfare and neglect.

One particular case occurred in February 2019. The clinic received a call from a local man who came across a stray injured dog on the busy dual carriageway. We advised the finder to bring the injured animal to the clinic and we would treat accordingly. Once they arrived we treated the dog for shock and some superficial wounds on the body and paw. We scanned her for a microchip but unfortunately she didn’t have one. We tried to source her home through social media but again with no luck!

And so this little lady was with us for five days to recover and to hopefully find her forever home.

After many days of care and treatment from the vets and nurses here at Glenina and with the aid of her kind finder we were able to re-home her. Lexi now has the dream forever home here in Galway City.

This is an example of how a good relationship between local community and services can have extensive positive outcomes.

The story of Lexi and the shared interest of her welfare is outlined below.

In July 2018 our vet Colm McGovern received an out of hours call from a distressed owner who noticed his beloved boxer Mack was a very sick dog. He was vomiting and his stomach was extremely swollen. The owner sent a video to Colm and it was agreed that urgent veterinary assistance was required.

When Mack arrived to the clinic he was assessed. On clinical examination he was diagnosed with Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus (GDV) where the stomach dilates because of food and gas and then twists. It is a rapidly progressive life-threatening condition of dogs.

Surgery was needed urgently. Due to the complexity of this procedure, our vet Joe – another member of the Glenina team – came in to assist Colm. The surgery took two hours and recovery for Mac was the next step.

With plenty of tender loving care and many follow up visits to the vets he was once again a happy dog!

However it happened to poor Mac again in January 2019. Colm again received the out of hours call from the owner at 1:30am in the morning. Urgent surgery was again required and vet Karl Darcy came to assist. As preparation was underway a farming client called to say he had a cow calving and needed a vet to call. Vet Eugene O’Malley stepped in and headed out to deliver the calf.

Due to the expansion of the practice and increased employment of vets and nurses over the years we can accommodate this amount of emergencies 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

Mac was put on intravenous fluids, underwent a general anaesthetic and the vets worked on him to return his stomach to normal position. He then had a gastropexy which means the stomach is sutured to the abdominal wall in order to prevent this condition from happening to him again.

Once Mac had recovered from the anaesthetic, was eating and in good form he went back to his delighted owner the next day.

Mac has been into us on numerous occasions for post op exams. We are delighted with his progress and even more delighted that he still wags his tail when he comes in to visit us.

We at Glenina Vets take pride in providing our expansive services to clients and look forward to continuing this in the future.