Welcome to our Potton Vet Practice

About Potton Vets

You’ll find our Potton vet practice in the Market Square in Potton, opposite the clock tower. We are a modern, well equipped veterinary centre with a highly professional team providing a friendly service for all our clients and their pets.

The very best professional care for you and your pets
  • All the latest modern equipment and treatments, for your peace of mind when there is a problem.
  • Expert health, wellbeing and behaviour advice and clinics, for keeping pets healthy in the first place.
  • Complimentary treatments – K-Laser, drug free treatment option.
  • We care about you as well as your pets
  • 24/7 Emergency service – when we are closed this is provided by a dedicated emergency clinic – to give you the best after-hours treatment peace of mind.

We cover a large area centred around Potton, Biggleswade, Sandy and Gamlingay.

Potton Vets’ history

 

Both Alan and René Shackleton worked in South Africa, Suffolk and finally Bedfordshire. We both feel passionately that we have a calling to keep pets healthy and provide the best possible treatment. The only way to do this is to keep up to date with new useful knowledge and get the best equipment to do our work properly. To do this we have both kept up our professional development by continually updating our knowledge and applying new useful techniques to make pets under our care lives happier and healthier.

Alan gained a further professional qualification – Certificate in Veterinary Radiology and is now holds the status of Advanced Practitioner in Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. We wanted to use our knowledge and drive to improve the standard of veterinary care by making the correct diagnosis early and giving the best treatment possible for the pets under our care. We have bought equipment and have become expert at using it to provide the best possible treatment options. We will customise treatments to what is best for the owner and patient.

We started a veterinary service that would deliver the very best in veterinary medicine and surgery for our patients, and the very best service for our clients, without being beyond peoples means.
We believe we have fostered a caring and friendly team who give a fantastic service to our clients and patients, and we are equipped to deal with routine and serious problems.

Development of the practice over the years

2005
2011
2013
2014
2016
2016
2018
We converted the Mayston’s shoe shop into a build for purpose veterinary clinic in 2005. Since we opened in 2005 we have not used antibiotics in routine surgeries (a testament to our exceptionally high hygiene standards).

We have also been able to perform fine-needle aspirates (collecting a small, painless sample from skin lumps usually) and are able to evaluate them on the day. This helps make accurate diagnoses and speeds up treatment of cancer which results in a better outcome.
We converted to digital radiography in 2011, allows us to manipulate the images, for more accurate diagnoses and better treatment.

We have been doing dental-specific digital radiography for many years now and are very experienced at treating more complicated dental problems.
Upgraded to an exceptional ultrasound machine in 2013, it has 4 different probes and gives us the ability to make more difficult diagnoses, which makes for better treatment for your pet.

2013 was also the year we started doing keyhole surgery (laparoscopic surgery) for spays, gastropexy and other abdominal procedures, we are now very experienced with these techniques. This significantly reduces pain and trauma and speeds up recovery.

We started improved surgical treatments for knee ligaments in dogs (more often big dogs) for cruciate repair in 2013. (MMP).
Provided a K-Laser in 2014 – this incredible treatment laser machine reduces pain, improves wound healing and is fantastic for treating arthritis in pets, it is a drug-free treatment.
In 2016 we invested in a bronchoscope (for looking in airways), gastroscope (for looking in the stomach and intestines), rhinoscope (for looking up the nasal passages) and an arthroscope (for looking in joints).
Alan gained a further professional qualification – Certificate in Veterinary Radiology and is now holds the status of Advanced Practitioner in Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. We wanted to use our knowledge and drive to improve the standard of veterinary care by making the correct diagnosis early and giving the best treatment possible for the pets under our care. We have bought equipment and have become experts at using it to provide the best possible treatment options. We will customise treatments to what is best for the owner and patient.
In 2018 we introduced our Home Visits service, complete with our own van. This allows us to visit clients' homes for consultations, vaccinations, minor procedures, and when the time comes, euthanasia.

Meet the team

Veterinary Surgeons

potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-alan-shackleton

Alan Shackleton

BVSc(Pret), CertVR, MRCVS

Advanced practitioner in Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging

potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-rene-shackleton

René Shackleton

BVSc(Pret), MRCVS
potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-carla-leao

Carla Leão

MRCVS

India Kaeda

MRCVS

Veterinary Nurses

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Vivienne Bateman

RVN

Hannah Trye

RVN
potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-molly-draper

Molly Draper

RVN
potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-beth-rutherford

Beth Rutherford

Student Nurse
potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-georgia-perry

Georgia Perry

Student Nurse
potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-gemma-lenton

Gemma Lenton

Veterinary Care Assistant

Reception Team

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Tracy Day

Practice Manager
potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-steph-albone

Steph Albone

Practice Administrator
potton-vets-meet-the-team-staff-alex-bell

Alex Bell

Receptionist