Our Clinic

RSPCA Bristol Clinic opened its doors in 1995, with the aim that no animal in Bristol would suffer through lack of veterinary care. Two decades later, Bristol has the largest branch Clinic in the country, with a 25-strong team of dedicated veterinary professionals treating thousands of animals every year. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, our Clinic provides the highest possible standard of care for every animal that passes through our doors, domestic or wild, owned or stray.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

The original ICU, which only had 4 cat cages, soon became inadequate for the number of critical patients finding their way to us. It was moved to a bigger space, but money was tight, and the facility was put together quickly and cheaply.

20 years on, the ICU is one of the most important and busiest areas of the Clinic, with approximately 500 animals relying on its lifesaving treatment each year. Any seriously ill or badly injured animal is cared for in ICU - cats hit by cars, dogs injured in fights, unstable diabetics, patients with kidney problems, respiratory difficulties – the list goes on.

Case Study: Tristan

 

Tristan’s life was saved thanks to the care he received in our ICU. The stray cat was hit by a car and suffered a horrific injury - his tongue was nearly severed, probably by his own teeth during the impact. Tristan lost a lot of blood and was close to death when he arrived at the Clinic.

 

Tristan’s recovery relied on the facilities provided within our ICU. After surgery to stich up his tongue he was weak and unable to eat. He needed an intravenous fluid drip and a feeding tube inserted straight into his throat to bypass his mouth. He was intensively nursed for several days, with regular feeds of a special diet through the tube providing the nutrition he needed until his mouth was fully recovered.

 

Tristan was never claimed, but was adopted by a lovely family, much to everybody’s delight – he had become a firm favourite!

 

Problems faced with our current facilities

Many lives have been saved in the existing ICU and while, thanks to you, we have some wonderful modern equipment, there are many problems resulting from its original poor layout and design.

• The facility is cramped and cluttered and needs a re-design to function efficiently and give the patients a calm, quiet environment.
• The floor & walls need replacing with modern hygienic surfaces to aid disease control.
• Lighting, temperature control, insulation from road noise and ventilation all needs improving.
• We need a dedicated area for the incubator, one of our most important pieces of life-saving equipment and we need a kennel big enough for a large dog. 

A refurbished ICU

The ICU is where the most vulnerable animals get nursed back to health. Many of them have nobody to care for them but us, and might otherwise face euthanasia. Our ICU ensures they have a chance at recovery and a new life.

2015 is the Clinic’s 20th Anniversary, and we hope to celebrate with a newly refurbished ICU – a redesigned, high-tech and efficient facility which would allow us to provide higher quality veterinary care to more needy animals – and save more lives.

We have already secured some funding but now we really need your help to raise the final £5,000 to make our birthday wish come true - to offer the best chance of survival for thousands more critically ill animals.

If just 500 people who read this article (equivalent to the number of animals that rely on the ICU each year) were to donate £10, we would reach this target instantly. Could you be one of our wonderful ICU 500 and help us save the lives of future generations of critically ill animals?

For more information, please visit our website or call us on 0117 3003968.

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