Copyright dailyrecord
A Scone vet surgery is celebrating its fifth birthday this month – a milestone which coincides with the practice now caring for more than 5000 pets, sponsoring five local sports clubs and planning to double in size in the near future. Thrums Vets opened on Perth Road in 2020 and initially recruited a five-strong team, who all still work at the practice. The team has since doubled in size to 10 people, including three full time vets and it now plans to recruit further as the practice continues to attract new clients. In addition to Scone, Thrums Vets, which is Scotland’s largest independent veterinary practice, has three other branches across Angus and Perthshire, in Kirriemuir, Blairgowrie and Forfar, which serve pets, farm animals and equine. Two of the more unusual cases that the Scone team have recently dealt with involved a less than lucky black cat who broke a mirror and required an operation to remove glass from her back; and a cat handed in that was discovered hiding under a car bonnet, at the end of a 10-mile journey. The team attempted to trace the cat’s owner, but when this was unsuccessful, they put her into the care of Cats Protection. The Scone practice works closely with the charity and currently provides subsidised healthcare to several cats from its Perth rehoming centre each week. As part of its ongoing community engagement programme, the practice is also sponsoring several local sports teams and community initiatives including Blairgowrie and Rattray under 8s football team, Kirriemuir Netball team, Webster’s High School’s sports awards, Kirrie Thistle under 8s girls football team and Mia White from Strathmore Rugby Club. Gavin Durston, managing director at Thrums Vets, explained: “We initially expanded into Scone because an increasing number of clients were travelling to our Blairgowrie practice from the area, due to a major lack of independent practices that offered transparent pricing in and around Perth. “The five team members who we initially opened with are all still there and we’ve gone on to build a very experienced, reliable and highly respected group of people who have carried out well over 10,000 consultations since we launched. “Crucially, the vast majority of our clients come and see us without paying a consultation fee because they are on one of our Practice Plans, which offers a variety of benefits including unlimited consultations for a low monthly fee. “When this is combined with our ability to offer our own in-house out of hours and emergency service at our Kirriemuir and Blairgowrie branches, it’s made Scone hugely popular with local pet owners and we’re now looking forward to expanding further next year.” Earlier this year Thrums Vets became one of the first veterinary groups in the UK to be among the industry’s best employers after being included in the British Veterinary Association’s (BVA) prestigious Great Workplaces accreditation scheme. The initiative is designed by the national body for veterinary surgeons to recognise and reward the highest standards of positive workplace culture. “The in-depth assessment process is carried out by an experienced accreditor from a veterinary background, who worked with Thrums’ leadership team and employees to fully evaluate the practice.”
