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Emergencies

Out of hours emergency- 24 hour cover provided

As an accredited members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, we are required to provide a 24 hour emergency service for our clients. The Royal College has recently re-affirmed the need for Vets to continue to do this. We’ve always taken this part of our service very seriously.

Since Jim & Juliet started Shetland Vets in 1985 , it has been quite a challenge to have a Vet available every day of the year, around the clock, especially considering Shetland’s geography and the unreliable mobile coverage! In fact, we started off with pagers, but now we use a specialist answering service to take messages and then contact the Vet on call. Our Nurses have also been very good at coming in to help with emergencies at very unsocial hours! Many people (and their animals) over the years have been very appreciative of the service, which we are happy to provide for clients of the Practice, and also for people visiting Shetland with their pets.

Out of hours emergency number is 01595 810456

Pet Owners 

Our telephone is answered at the office 9.00am – 5.30pm on weekdays and 9am – 3pm on Saturdays.   In case of emergency, you can contact the Vet out with surgery hours via our Answering Service – 01223 849 758.  The answering machine at the surgery also gives this number.  The person who answers takes full details and the vet on call will phone you back, usually within 5 to 10 minutes.  The vet will usually arrange to meet you at one of our surgeries, which may not be the surgery you normally attend. House visits are only carried out in exceptional circumstances, since we need all the drugs and equipment which are on hand at the surgery. The charge for seeing the vet out-of-hours in an emergency ranges from £78.75-£147.00 + VAT, depending on the time of day or night. A call-out to your home may cost more.

Crofters and Farmers

Visits to registered crofters are subsidised by the Scottish Office under the Highlands & Islands Veterinary Services Scheme. This covers farm animals and Shetland ponies, but not horses. Daytime flat rate is £27.50 + VAT, out of hours is £40.00 to £50.00 + VAT.

Horses

Emergency visits to horses are not subsidised, so our fees reflect the cost of the vet on call, travelling time and mileage, ferry fares etc. Out of hours visit fees to horses range from £50.00 to £191.00 + VAT, depending on the distance travelled and the time of day/night.