Featured below are the main members of the clinic team:
From Left to Right: Margaret Bancroft, Sarah Middleton, Claire York & Caroline Pallister
Sarah Middleton MRCVS: Vet and Practice Partner
I graduated from The University of Liverpool not wanting to deal with anything smaller than a Shetland pony! After a very intensive year in mixed practice in rural Richmond I decided to hang up the wellies and keep the large animals as a hobby and focus on small animals.
I then spent three and a half years working on the North East coast in a small animal practice where I worked mainly at the branch surgery in Seaham. This enabled me to gain valuable experience of building relationships with clients and coping as the sole vet – sometimes a little scary, one instance being the Chihuahua presented with her eye hanging from the socket. I’m happy to say that all went well and everything was restored to its rightful place!
I particularly like cats and have completed my General Practitioner Certificate in Feline Practice in July 2008 having successfully passed the written exam and case report. Achieving this qualification was very interesting as I have gained important insights into feline medicine and behaviour.
Together with my partner Paul, we have 2 rescue cats – Merlin who I obtained as a stray in Richmond in 2003 and Marmalade who joined us in August 2007. I have a horse called Victor who I try to ride as often as I can – not easy when trying to run a practice. Chloe is an elderly Lhasa Apso we obtained in February 2007 as she was going to be put to sleep.
Probably the most important thing we are now doing apart from writing this, is finally after nearly 3 years of work and planning we are setting up our own cats only vet practice in Durham UK.
Paul Proctor MRCVS: Vet and Practice Managing Partner
I was born and brought up in Morpeth, Northumberland, where my parents still live. After doing A levels at King Edwards in Morpeth I went to Liverpool vet school and spent 5 years there learning all about animals, beer and Liverpool hopefully in that order.
I have always been interested in Cats and Horses and in fact actually joined the Feline Advisory Bureau in 1983 an early member.
I then entered mixed practice in Malton North Yorkshire, and Hexham Northumberland where I spent 4 and 3 years respectively. The work load was 60% small and 40% large, including doing all the Zoo work at Flamingo land as it was then in North Yorkshire. This was definitely different, from rasping Zebra’s teeth, sedating tigers for export to Romania and chasing an escaped Orang-Utan, it shouldn’t happen to a vet as Mr Herriot would say.
I then spent the next 3 years in mainly small animal practice including work in a specialist small animal hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne. However due to the senior partner of a small mixed practice having a severe car crash I was asked to run a country practice in Corbridge and one thing led to another and I started up a 1 1/2 man mainly large animal (cattle and Horses )practice with another vet which grew to become a 80% equine, 7 vets practice with full surgical facilities in Northumberland.
However after nearly 17 years here I was offered the chance to follow the second of my passions cats and be involved with Sarah setting up a cats only practice on the borders of Durham, Sunderland and Tyne and Wear at Fencehouses. Sarah and I always felt cats had a rough deal at traditional vets as most practices are canine orientated rather than feline specialists. Cats are so different we felt they really deserved their own cat specific vet practice providing a high standard of feline care in a cat friendly stress free environment. We started to imagine what it would be like with no barking dogs, no smells and every member of staff being a cat lover.
A cat that has to sit in a waiting room full of noisy dogs is likely to become very stressed, and this affects it in many ways. The cat is more difficult to examine, has increased heart rate and blood pressure and lab tests (eg blood sugar levels) are also commonly affected. It is also important to remember that the most stressful time for many cats is recovering from surgery or being hospitalised in the clinic for medical treatment. Sarah and I feel in this situation cats should be recovering in cat only wards free of strange smells and noise, and this too is essential to encouraging a more rapid recovery from illness. It also makes for a more stress-free time for the vets and owners, as remember if the cats are not stressed their humans are stress free too!
A wonderful example of this dream was reinforced when we went to have a look around the new small animal hospital in Liverpool during Feb 2009. We got to see the cat unit with a resident Siamese cat on its back and looking as relaxed as only cats can in his hospital cage. All was peace and quiet with no smells at all in the feline unit. However we then walked 20 yards down the corridor into the canine kennels and hospitalisation area and our senses were overwhelmed by barking dogs and the strong odour of dog faeces and urine, despite the standards of care and cleaning being very high. Cats and dogs inhabit 2 different worlds and we hope to recreate a stress free utopian cat environment at our new clinic ;-) for both cats and clients.
Marmalade relaxes on his cat sized computer and surf board…
The next few years after pulling out of my partnership were spent attending feline vet conferences all over the world including Prague and Edinburgh so I was up to date with all aspects of feline medicine and surgery. Sarah also obtained her certificate in feline general practice after 2 years of study, an exam and final dissertation. A property was finally found that gave us all we needed for the practice with great easy road access and parking opposite. Building work started at the beginning of February 2009 and we hope to finally open on 4th May 2009.
Paul will also carry on with his horse work. Doing some work from the clinic and he is also still working for his old practice at Bearl Equine as a locum vet.
Claire York RVN: Head Nurse
All my memories as a child are of my family pets, having grown up with cats and numerous other family pets, its not suprising that I wanted to work with animals.
I've always had cats, and got my first dog (Jack) in 2002, and Millie in 2005.
I am now owned by 3 cats (Boris, Mable & Zippy) and 2 west highland white terriers (Millie & Jack)
Zippy was the result of an 'accidental mating' between a siamese and a persian in 2001. I re homed Boris & Mable in 2008 when they were 10 weeks old and extremely feral, having lived outside with their mother and littermates and never had any human contact.
I decided to re home two feral kittens as the chance of them finding a home was unlikely as they were uncontrollable and not your “ideal” kitten, their first few weeks at home were challenging, they were reluctant to be handled which improved and eventually they were tame enough to handle, and infact now they are just like any other cat and you wouldn’t know they’d ever been feral.
I have a lot of experience hand rearing orphaned kittens, in my opinion it is one of the most satisfying experiences helping to rear orphaned animals then finding them a loving home
I was born and brought up in Whitley Bay, I then moved away to gain experience working in different veterinary environments. Having worked in a variety of veterinary practices, ranging from large referral practices to small suburban clinics all over the country, I decided to move back to my home - the north east!
The opportunity arose to work at SimplyCats, and there couldn’t be a more perfect job than working with cats every day.
Finally so everyone knows we do love dogs too (just not as much as cats), pictures of Claire's Westies
Caroline Pallister: Receptionist
Born and educated in Bishop Auckland I left school not knowing 'what I wanted to be when I grew up'! After drifting along in catering, factory work and exhibition & display graphic design I eventually found my vocation in animal care at a local dog and cat rescue centre.
Having always had pet cats at home whilst growing up (and garden snails in a seed propagator much to my mother's horror!) it seemed the perfect direction to take.
After five years, literally starting at the bottom up I worked my way into the reception area, adopting a total of three cats on the way, Sandy, otherwise known as Dubby (that’s the word 'chubby' in disguise), Katie and Maisey.
Being involved on a regular basis with a visiting vet made me realise that this was a new direction I could take.
The opportunity to work at SimplyCats arose and there was no turning back!! It’s also a new start for Sandy in a weight management programme!!
Caroline and her cats
Margaret Bancroft: Receptionist
After a fulfilling career in the Fire Service, the opportunity arose to work at SimplyCats. Fate is a wonderful thing and I have now swapped taking fire calls to taking cat calls which is such a pleasure for someone who adores the quirkiness that can only be attributed to our feline friends. Although in my infancy at the practice, I find my days surrounded by basketfuls of kittens which are an absolute delight.
I have two cats of my own, a Chocolate Pointed Siamese called Mouse and a beautifully marked tabby called Cobweb, hence the name who condescended to adopt us one day (as they do).
My other passion is horses and having owned my own for many years still love getting stuck into the mucking out and everything associated with these beautiful animals.
Still can’t believe my luck I’m working in such a lovely environment and I know I'm going to love it, after all 8 out of 10 cats can't be wrong!
The SimplyCats Team
