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Did you ever take a pet to a Veterinarian in one of the three towns - or did you have to go out of the area? Would like to hear any stories about vets in any of the three towns.

I can't recall any in Ardrossan, but I believe there was one near the Iron Bridge in Saltcoats, over the railway line from Ardrossan Road - I'm looking at the map and thinking Bute Terrace?

yep hughie you are absolutely correct it was and still is in the same loacation,it is now called the oaks (The Oaks Veterinary Centre
7 Bute Terrace
Saltcoats
Ayrshire
KA21 5BA )
the chap that was the vet there stayed in caladonia road just behind the surgery,when i bred the yorkies my vet was situated in the mayfield shops,and he was also the resident vet at ayr race course when the racing was on ,i had an occasion when one of my dogs who just had 4 pups took a disease called eclampsia an absolute killer if left unnatended and you have to act quick,well it was 1 am in the morning when she showed the first signs so i was on the phone right away and even though he stayed down by ayr he said ill be there as quick as i can,it was about 2am when he arrived and said yep its eclampsia all right ,he gave her a jag to calm her down, then 15 minutes later he gave her two calcium injections straight into her blood stream, he saved my dogs life that night, she was not able then to feed her pups so my wife and i had to do that, we fed them right up till they were 6 weeks old and we still have the little bottles that we used,it was hard feeding them every 4 hours, but was a truly wonderful experience, when that vet closed down we then transferred to the one at the iron bridge.
James Barr (Brvhrtjimmy)

Can't help with this topic, Hughie, I believe the vet we used was from Kilwinning, but, as James said, they were quick to oblige and made house calls.

I went to a vet in West Kilbride - a lovely man who had a real interest in small animals (all vets need to have a small animal surgery - it is a condition of their license) - my Siamese cat Max, chewed one of the glass baubles off the christmas tree on christmas eve -he spent christmas eve, day and boxing day with the vet just in case he had swallowed some of the glass and was bleeding internally. It was a miserable christmas without him - but I later saw pictures of him lying on the sofa in the vet's house on christmas day with a tummy full of turkey - the vet had taken him home to keep an eye on him. Lovely man.

Meg

I had no occasion to visit a vet in the Threetowns but the moment I read through this topic the name BOTCHERBY sprang to mind. This gentleman, I think, was a prominent Saltcoats vet in the 1960's.

I also met Gilbert Kennedy in the 1980's. He too was a Saltcoats Vet.

hi pt yes botcherby had the practice up at mayfield shops,it was him that came out at 2am in the morning,kennedy had the practice at the iron bridge which is now the oaks.
James Barr (Brvhrtjimmy)

When I was sixteen I did two stints of 'work experience' with G. J. Kennedy. Being allowed into the operating area was like walking into Diagon Alley for a schoolboy! Alsatians with glass in their feet ("volunteers to hold it please, while I insert the needle..."), putting down pensioners' four-legged companions , and the only hands-on permitted for the unqualified - stitching up after post-mortems.

Mr Kennedy had a strange sense of humour e.g. the sugar for tea breaks was kept in a jar labelled 'Bromide.' Stopped visiting vets pinching his sugar, he said.

I hope no one is reading this over meals: I will never forget as long as I live the smell which smacked me square on in the face the first day I went out to meet the knacker's van to help load in all the dead dogs etc. When that screen rolled up (that bright, sunny, WARM day) I was met by a hillock of dead cattle, horses and assorted large breed dogs and the flies were of Biblical proportions. I quickly became expert at tossing in the dead from a distance!

Then there were the farm visits...