Remember: the advice on this page is given by experts. However, it is only meant to point you in the right direction. There is no substitute for taking your pet along to see a good Vet

Wayne Hockenhull, aged 38, is SOS's celebrity vet! Wayne has worked in many parts of the UK before moving to Spain two years ago with his wife and two small daughters to enjoy a better quality of life. Wayne used to appear on Channel 4's Big Breakfast in the Keith Chegwin animal spot. He enjoys helping local animal charities, and will put the spotlight on an animal topic each month in Wayne's World, as well as answering email enquiries. It should be a fascinating insight into the life of a Vet.

Wayne can be contacted on 652 302 985 or 662 627 028

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July's Story

Wayne provides work experience opportunity

Four young students from the Royal Veterinary College in London have just spent a couple of weeks volunteering at SOS. During the visit they got the chance of accompanying Wayne The Vet on his "rounds" where they helped him with blood tests, vaccinations and health checks.

Pictured from left to right are Will Hersey, Stephanie Pryor, Charlotte Rutter, Wayne and Sam Browne. The dog at their feet had been brought to the refuge by Wayne, having spent the last four years on a three foot chain. [Click photo to enlarge. Double click to return.]

The four saw an ad for SOS volunteers on the college noticeboard and thought it would be a great chance to work directly with animals in a very different environment, and even better, it all counted towards their extra mural studies too! Student Sam Browne said:"It's brilliant, it's so rewarding and I am definitely going to come back and we are going to tell our fellow students at college all about it."

Will Hersey said:"This has given us a great chance to see refuge work at close quarters and in difficult conditions. In the UK you think nothing of walking up to a dog to examine it at the vets and giving it big pats, but here you have to be so much more sensitive. You have little idea of the sort of life the dog has lived and it is easy to see how shy and scared they can be."

Fellow students Stephanie Pryor and Charlotte Rutter came in from picking up dog poo off the road post walk (someone has to do it!) to say how much they, too, were enjoying themselves and that they hoped to help raise awareness of SOS's work back at college.

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