Words by Annie Studholme
Vetlife Ashburton is a progressive 24-hour veterinary practice, providing gold-standard care for both production (dairy, sheep, beef, and deer) and companion (pets) animals across Mid Canterbury.
Vetlife Ashburton grew out of the Ashburton Vet Club, which was established in the early 1950s. It later changed to a contract practice, joining the Vetlife group, which includes a team of passionate pet and farm veterinarians based across the South Island with clinics serving Canterbury, MacKenzie, Otago, Tasman, and Marlborough.
Today, Vetlife Ashburton is part of the wider South Island-owned Comhla Vet, a wholly employee-owned group of veterinary businesses which employs more than 1,100 staff (vets, veterinary technicians, nurses, and support staff) in about 60 clinics, including the 29-clinic Vetlife group, VetSouth, West Coast Vets, Veterinary Clinic Morrinsville, the Vet Group, Selwyn-Rakaia Vets, and some in Australia.
Vetlife Ashburton has a highly experienced production animal team that caters to a large, progressive dairy client base, as well as covering sheep, cattle, and lifestyle blocks.
From overall farm animal health to seasonal planning, reproduction, feeding decisions, and individual cow care, the production animal team offers a variety of services for dairy farmers. It includes a team of specialist technicians that run the more seasonal side of the business, including de-budding, teat sealing, and body condition scoring.
“For us, it’s all about developing those personal relationships,” says Vetlife Ashburton head veterinarian Shannon Thomson-Laing. “All our dairy clients are assigned a primary vet so that they understand the farm systems, and we work closely with the client throughout the year. Everyone wants a different level of input from their vet; what they want varies hugely between clients. Our point of pride is creating those relationships and working with farmers, knowing what drives them and helping them achieve those targets on farm.”
She says they also specialise in interpreting the massive amounts of data from sources available on farm and identifying trends at both cow and herd level, especially around wearables, including collars, ear tags, and boluses. They work with CowSmart to harness the data, detect issues early, improve reproduction, and overall animal health.
In the sheep and beef space, in addition to having their own dedicated vet, Vetlife Ashburton also offers in-house parasite testing, parasite management, pregnancy scanning, and animal health plans.
While the production animal team is always moving, they also have a highly skilled and compassionate companion animal team, including specialised small animal veterinarians, experienced veterinary nurses and support staff, focused on maintaining that human animal bond and keeping your beloved pets healthy. It offers warm, personalised care to ensure your companions receive the attention they deserve and is committed to getting a good outcome for every animal, says Shannon.
The clinic is equipped for consultations, surgery, dental, and X-ray services. Each of the companion animal veterinarians has their individual areas of special interest, including internal medicine, orthopaedics, and dentistry, and through the greater Vetlife group, they also have access to specialist orthopaedic veterinarians in Timaru and Oxford, with post-op checks able to be done locally following procedures. When it’s outside of their expertise, they’re also happy to refer to outside specialists.
To make it easier for clients working full-time, Vetlife Ashburton runs a late-night clinic on Tuesdays until 7.30pm and is also open from 9am to midday on Saturdays. The rest of the week, they’re open 8am-5.30pm, with a large animal and small animal vet on call 24-7 for emergencies, which also cover the Methven and Dunsandel areas. They also offer a mobile vet nurse service that will visit your pet at home.
Additionally, Vetlife Ashburton runs puppy preschool twice a week and operates an on-site cattery for all your feline boarding requirements. It also stocks a wide range of products, ranging from all your farming essentials to your pet’s dietary requirements, and behavioural enrichment products.