This new walk-in veterinary clinic offers after-hours support for Canberra pets

Posted on 13 December, 2022

There’s nothing worse than a sick pet—especially when you can’t help them when they need it most.

But a new walk-in veterinary clinic has officially opened its doors, offering much-needed after-hours support for Canberra’s beloved pet community.

Founded by Dr. Bronwyn Orr and Dr. Ashlee Flesser, the Walk-In Clinic for Animals opened in November after they saw firsthand the pressures that GP and emergency veterinary clinics currently face.

Wanting to help the community and their colleagues, they decided to open a clinic in Belconnen—renting the space from another vet clinic—modelling it on low urgent care walk-in-centres for humans.

Dr. Bronwyn Orr.

“In the veterinary sector this is certainly a brand-new concept,” says Bronwyn.

“We hoped that we could help with that new sector and alleviate some of the pressure on after-hours clinics, but also just help pet owners get the care they need.”

Treating animals for vomiting, ear infections, UTI and other non-life-threatening conditions while working closely with the after-hours emergency hospital, both Bronwyn and Ashlee have worked in Canberra clinics for seven years—and after all of their experiences, they just genuinely want to help pet owners and the veterinary community.

“We’ve had a serendipitous pathway…We’re both originally North Queenslanders, we both studied at James Cook University, and we were just a couple of years apart doing that degree. Then we came to Canberra, and we’ve worked at a few different clinics,” says Bronwyn.

“It wasn’t until we really worked in emergency together that we started going, ‘hey maybe this is something we should look to, to get on top of the problem.’…it’s been really nice to give back to the community.”

Operating from 7 pm until 11 pm Monday to Sunday, the Walk-In-Clinic for Animals is just one of many things Bronwyn and Ashlee are doing to help local pets. During the day Bronwyn is the National President of the Australian Veterinary Association—advocating for vets, animals and trying to improve the industry—while Ashlee runs a palliative care veterinary business for end-of-life care.

Dr. Ashlee Flesser.

“We’re really hoping that if it’s [the Walk-In Clinic] successful and that if it works in the Canberra community, we’d love to expand it so that we can make it easier for patients,” says Bronwyn.

“Certainly, down the track, we’ll look at something on the southside because we do understand that travelling at 10 o’clock at night across town is not ideal.”

Caring for cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, and wildlife, Bronwyn knows that having an unwell pet can be incredibly stressful, scary, and sad—but her advice for those seeking help is to be patient, especially as the holiday period puts extra pressure on vets.

“The veterinary sector is under a huge amount of pressure at the moment because we have quite extensive staff shortages. But it takes at least five to seven years to train a vet so unfortunately, it’s not something that’s going to be alleviated,” she says.

“It’s been a very natural extension for us to hopefully try and fill this gap in the Canberra community.”