The University of Liverpool will open its new 10 million state-of-the-art Small Animal Teaching Hospital this week, placing the University at the forefront of small animal veterinary care in the UK.

The hospital, based at Leahurst, Wirral, provides the most sophisticated therapies and treatments available to small animals in the UK. Its facilities include MRI and CT scanning, a keyhole surgery theatre, a radiotherapy unit and digital X-ray technology. The 86-room hospital, servicing the whole of Northern England and North Wales, can accommodate up to 72 in-patients. The facility is also used to train the 600 students on the Universitys Veterinary Science degree programme in their final years of study.

Patron of the Universitys Veterinary Development campaign which has funded the hospital, His Grace, the Duke of Westminster, said: The University of Liverpools academic expertise spans a wide range of specialisms which is why the institution is ideally placed to provide such a wide breadth of treatments to animals in this country. The Small Animal Teaching Hospital is a European Centre of Excellence in researching, treating and managing illness in small animals.

The launch will also mark the opening of Europes first Hills Pet Mobility Centre to enable a range of orthopaedic and musculoskeletal research projects that could lead to improved treatments for conditions such as arthritis in cats and dogs a condition which affects 20% of adult dogs and 50% of cats over 10 years of age.

Funded by Hills Pet Nutrition, the centre features innovative equipment including a gait analysis system, canine treadmill and kinematic motion capture technology which enables vets to study animal movement in a non-invasive manner. A patients movement is assessed on the treadmill and then evaluated using the gait analysis system so progressions in their mobility can be tracked whilst receiving treatment.

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Contact: Joanna Robotham
joanna.robotham@liv.ac.uk
44-015-179-42026
University of Liverpool
8-Jun-2007