Vets On Wheels Clinic – Malta

Organizational background

We are a mixed practice on the all-year-round-sunny island of Malta. Our clinic offers the only equine surgical facility on the island. We have recently expanded into the small animal practice.

We are situated centrally on the island: right on the race track! Our small animal department is brand new and is already earning a good reputation.

Organisation aims & mission

We aim to be the most advanced one-stop practice on the island for all domestic animals; big and small.

We never forget our ethics and we aim to educate the public on a daily basis. Most importantly, we aim to enjoy our job, every day, because it is our life.

We aim to give only the best care to our patients, with the use of the most advanced diagnostics and treatments. Since setting up in 2008 and later opening the clinic in 2011, we have improved the level of care for patients, especially horses, on the island.

We are proud to be at par with peers worldwide and we do not let ourselves be limited by the fact that we are a small island with limited resources. This has allowed us to set the pace for other local practitioners, made us think outside the box (many a time!), and has also attracted diplomates like Dr. Claire Robinson, who worked with us for two years before moving on to Saudi Arabia. She is still our main equine surgery consultant.

Education is one of our key values. We have launched a tv campaign this very week to educate the public: it’s a small island and we want people to get to know the practice, the vets, the level of work, and professionalism. We do our job with love and then we give some more.

Care is at the heart of everything we do. We provide a free service to the Island Sanctuary and carry out pro-bono neutering for RAR, a local NGO. Registered pet owners do not pay for euthanasia, because we all know what it is to lose a loved one, and how difficult the decision to part from that loved one is.

Ours is a small team of young and dynamic staff. We offer a manageable workload and pace of work. We do have the odd busy day, but these are sporadic. And I'd like to say ....

We are situated centrally on the island so one can live nearly anywhere on the island: by the sea, in the rural village, or in a busy town.

We have contacts with equine and small animal specialists who come to see patients here and we are open to doing more advanced work, where we can: the sky is the limit on an island that has water all around!!

For Equine Vets

In all honesty, we get very few callouts at night: sometimes even just one a week! Horse vets do attend the races at the weekend. We have a laid-back atmosphere but the work is still very professionally rewarding. Our clients appreciate and are thankful for the care we give to their horses since usually, they come to us when they’ve tried pretty much everything!

For Small Animal Vets

We are still growing in the small animal department and the equine vets are the ones usually on call. Small animal emergencies are sporadic out of hours, and we work as a team, so no one is ever overworked.

We are a small team so everyone has to be prepared to get stuck in, but there is usually plenty of time to do so. The ideal person must therefore enjoy all aspects of the job.

We Maltese are a noisy lot, and so they need to be open to cultural differences!