For a quarter of a century, Andrew Madeiros has been tending to the Island’s sick and injured pets.

Since he returned to Bermuda in 1990, the face of veterinary care has changed tremendously and Dr Madeiros has witnesses the improvements while at the helm of Ettrick Animal Hospital.

Over the years Dr Madeiros and his team have dealt with everything from chinchillas to rabbits and parrots to poodles.

“When I first started at Ettrick we really had no laboratory equipment,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“We literally had a centrifuge, a microscope and a few small test-blood strips.

“We could send blood away to the US but it would take a long time to get the results back, and we would get them by fax.

“In-house we were very limited in what we could do diagnostically and a lot came down to taking accurate histories and initial examinations.

“All our records were paper-based back then and we have gradually transitioned to a computer database. The old x-ray machine took ages to warm up and we did our own chemical development on-site.

“Back in the 1990s, fleas were a huge problem in Bermuda. It was so bad we had dipping baths for dogs, a bit like the ones you see being used for sheep on farms. The downside to this was there was always a strong smell of the dips.”

Dr Madeiros said owners these days were spending more money on their pets, which in turn has meant Bermuda’s pet population lives longer.

The influx of smaller breeds of dogs has brought fresh challenges to the vets, but the lion’s share of their work continues to be routine check-ups and pets hurt in road accidents.

Dr Madeiros said: “Back when I first started at Ettrick, we did very few surgeries back then, whereas today the expertise has grown and new technology has been introduced, which means we have the chance to save animals which would normally be put down.

“There has been a shift towards more exotic, smaller dog breeds recently but the emergency call-outs tend to be the same. They can involve anything from toad poisonings to Portuguese man-o-war stings.

“There’s no shortage of variety in the job of a vet, and the last 25 years I have spent working in Bermuda have always been a learning experience.”

Ettrick Animal Hospital will this month be marking 44 years since it first opened in the basement of the home of founders Tom and Caroline James.

The team will be holding an Open House on Saturday at the surgery on Middle Road, Warwick, to explain what goes on behind the treatment room door and how pricing is worked out.

Dr Madeiros said: “The aim is to offer some insight into the hospital and give our clients a greater idea of what goes on.

“We are also keen to explain to our clients why things cost what they do and how surgeries and treatments are priced.

“It’s about educating and informing as well as lifting the lid on how we work.”