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Our Mission...

Fife Exotic Vets is the realisation of our life-long dream to find a place where we can not only treat your non-human family-members with the expert care they deserve, but to also be able to teach others to do the same. 

Why?...

With over one hundred years of experience in the Veterinary field between us, we've seen some things in our time. We want to be able to provide the safe space for pets, owners, vets and students that we didn't have.

Our Story

In 2017, Dr Bronwyn Koterwas joined the Exotics team led by Dr Kevin Eatwell at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Medicine. They quickly found themselves mutually understanding each other's thoughts and processes when managing clinical cases.

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Both of them felt a huge improvement in their quality of life knowing that they could trust one another to manage a large team of Vet students, Interns and Residents when the other wasn't there. Kevin and Bronwyn encouraged the nurses to use their full skill set to manage the medical cases, their social interactions with the owners and to trust their individual senses of leadership among the temporary staff. Learning from each other, Bronwyn, Kevin and the nurses integrated positive approaches to community building, authenticity, openness and inclusivity into the wider workforce. 

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The same year Bronwyn had first joined the practice, the newly founded Fife Zoo invited Kevin to be their vet. Knowing that Bronwyn and the nurses also had extensive experience in Zoo Medicine and shared beliefs concerning animal ethics, Kevin brought them along to help on visits and to see what Fife Zoo was working hard to build. A supportive friendship blossomed between the Director of Fife Zoo, Michael Knight, Bronwyn, Kevin and the nurses. They were impressed by the Zoo’s passion for animal welfare, sustainability and their perseverance in the face of setbacks.

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Fast forward to 2024, ​Michael offered to lease spare land at Fife Zoo and plans were begun for Kevin to set up and run a specialist exotics practice as an extension of and a new partner to the community at Fife Zoo. Both adjacent businesses working together to create a community with sustainability, conservation, welfare, ethics, accessibility, education, awareness and compassion at its heart.

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In November of 2024, with our families and friends volunteering to help Kevin get the new practice off the ground, we moved into our fully-fitted building made from recycled shipping containers, situated top left of the Fife Zoo carpark. 

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Now, Kevin, Bronwyn and the nurses have realised a place where animal welfare, compassion, sustainability, understanding and patience can come first. A place where both clients and their animals are welcomed and integrated into a caring community of like-minded people who provide support or one another and their pets.​ We’re working on generating enough profit to continue expanding our dream team.

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​Our profits go towards upgraded spaces and equipment so that we can improve the quality and the range of services that we are able to provide for our clients. As well as -obviously- paying our staff fairly and donating to welfare and conservation charities!

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Have a look at the graphs below that break down how we split our profits and our value to you...

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We value Transparency...

When you pay for a service at our Fife Exotic Vets, where does that money go?  

 

  • First we pay our super-star staff 

  • Then we purchase Medicine and Surgical Consumables so we can continue to do our work

  • Next, we pay our bills (eg. utilities, rent, insurance, bank loans, lease on equipment, etc)

  • Lastly, we pay our TAXES to HMRC 

 

With money left over we:

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  • Invest into Phase 2 of our build which will house more specialised equipment so that we can provide even better care to our patients (such as a CT unit and overnight stay facilities for students and pets)

  • Giving back to welfare and conservation charities

  • Giving back to our families who helped us get this practice off the ground

Total Earnings

CT Unit

Facilities for Overnight stay

Staff Salaries

Medication and Equipment

Bills

Profit

Taxes

Expanding our facilities for providing even better care

Community Building

Green Spaces, Nature Trails, Dog Park

Local Charities

Our families and our pets

40%

20%

20%

20%

You matter to us... 

You may not have really thought about it, but just by being here, you provide us with a great deal of fulfilment.

 

We love making animals feel better, and you could have animals that might need to feel better! We've just accidentally exchanged something that makes us both happy! Communities are built on positive exchanges, and building a community of like-minded people is all we've ever wanted to do. 

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Below are a few graphs of all the value exchanges that happen between us, you, your pet, our staff and the wider community.

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Eek! We love symbiosis!

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  • Bespoke, high quality healthcare and advice from a team of hand-selected experts with lifetimes of experience

  • A safe space to share your concerns

Our Value to you...

Our Relationship with our Clients (Owners of Exotic Animals)

Fife Exotic Vets

 Clients

  • Fullfillment and purpose doing what we love

  • Financial stability for our clinic and our families

Your Value to us...

Our Relationship with our Patients (Exotic Animals)

Fife Exotic Vets

Patients

  • Compassionate care from experts with lifetimes of experience

  • A safe and cozy space to get better

Our Value to Patients...

  • Fulfilment and purpose doing what we love

  • The privilege of watching pets and owners thrive together

  • The pleasure of building a life-long realationship based on mutual trust

  • Joy in seeing animals feel better

A Patient's Value to us...

Our Relationship with our Team

Fife Exotic Vets

Our Team

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  • A community of like minded professionals 

  • Fulfilment and Purpose 

  • A safe, caring and inclusive work environment

  • Financial Stability

  • Professional development

Our Value to our Team...

  • Skills and expertise 

  • Team stability, friendship and a happy work environment 

  • Comprehensive patient and client care

  • Fulfilment and purpose 

  • Fundamental to delivering comprehensive care

Our Team's Value to us...

Our Relationship with our wider Community
(Local Groups and Organisations)

Fife Exotic Vets

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  • A space for education

  • Collaboration and business development

  • Social Media coverage 

  • Access to our facilities

  • Bespoke, high quality healthcare and expert advice

  • A space for education

  • Collaboration and business development

  • Social Media coverage 

  • Access to other facilities

  • Friendship, support and a happy work environment 

  • Fulfilment and purpose

Our Community's Value to us...

Our Community

Our Value to our Community...

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Our Terms and Conditions of Business Fees All our Fees, food, consumables and medication are subject to VAT at the current rate. Our fee levels for all procedures are determined by the time spent on a case. Fees for drugs, materials and diets are based on our expenditure. You can request a detailed breakdown of our fees for every consultation, surgical procedure or transaction with us. Accounts are due for settlement at the end of the consultation, the discharge of your pet or upon collection of food and medication. Payment for external laboratory fees and private cremation fees must be paid before arrangements are made with the laboratory or crematorium. We are a cashless business with payments made using credit or debit card or online through our website. We are a paperless business. If it is not possible to make payment at the time of treatment (for example a house call or visit) payment is due on presentation of the invoice for work undertaken. These will be sent to you via email. Dispensed medication, food or supplies relating to the case need to be paid for prior to collection from our clinic. Estimates of Treatment Costs We will happily provide an estimate as to the costs of a course of treatment or surgery which will be recorded on your pet’s file and will be emailed to you. We aim to be as accurate as possible so you can budget for treatment. Please do not be upset if we ask you for a budget level. Our system is set up so we can input budget limits on every case admitted to our care. If we get close to this limit, we will contact you before proceeding further, if it is possible, without compromising patient care. Settlement terms We expect invoices to be paid at the time of service. Our margins are low to keep prices down and so we cannot sustain outstanding debts for services. If payment has not been received after 14 days, we reserve the right to add an additional administrative fee in respect of costs incurred. You will be notified 48 hours before the charge is applied. After due notice to you, the client, overdue accounts will be sent to our debt collectors and further charges will be levied in respect of costs incurred in collecting the debt. These costs include the production of reports, correspondence, court fees, attendance at court, phone calls, home visits and so forth. Any credit card payment not honoured will result in the account being restored to the original sum. Please discuss any difficulties you may have with payment for services before giving consent for procedures to be undertaken. Part payments can only be authorised by a director of the company based on your history with our clinic and agreed schedules must be adhered to. Pet Health Insurance We strongly support the principle of insuring your pet against unexpected illness or accidents, but we are unable to give specific advice about the choices that are out there. Please be aware it is your responsibility to settle your account with us directly and then reclaim the fees from your insurers. We do not charge for processing insurance claims, although we may do so if additional letters are required. If the insurers do not settle the claim that is a matter between you and the insurer and the debt remains your responsibility. Concerns and standards We hope that you will be happy with all aspects of our service. However, if you have concerns or feel we have not been clear about treatment, please discuss them at the time with our clinical team. If you require further explanation, then please submit your concerns via email to the directors. Ownership of records, radiographs, images and other records We may take photos and videos of patients in our care to be used for educational purposes or on our business social media accounts (Fife Exotic Vets). Patent data is anonymised, unless you are specifically asked if we can use your pet’s name or we utilise client photos. All records, images and other documents remain the property of Exotic Vets Ltd. These records by law are owned by the clinic. Copies will be forwarded directly to another veterinary surgeon at your request. Should you wish for images from x rays or scans please ask. We are happy for these to be provided to you. Hospitalisation We perform our own out of hours. If for any reason your pet remains with us overnight they will be checked by the on call vet team at appropriate intervals, but will not necessarily be continuously monitored overnight. Owners of inpatients will receive a routine update after rounds the following morning. Medication Written prescriptions are available from our clinic for a fee. You can obtain medications from the clinic, our online shop or from another veterinary surgeon or pharmacy (including online). We can only provide POM-V medication for patients under our care. We are required to assess your pet every six months for long term prescriptions or medications to be dispensed. Once medications have left our building we cannot refund the cost. This is due to strict regulations regarding temperature control set by our governing bodies. If we order in medication specifically for your pet, payment will be required even if it is not collected. A prescription for medication may not be appropriate if your pet is an inpatient or in need of urgent care. If you have medication at home we advise you to bring this in with you as it can avoid the need for extra medication to be dispensed. Out of Hours We provide an out of hours service for registered patients only. This requires us to have clinically assessed your pet during working hours to be registered on our system. Referring veterinary surgeons are also required to be approved and registered on our system prior to us accepting referrals out of hours. These measures are in place to ensure that we are able to provide the best care we can for our clients. Staff on call will have worked the day before and they will work the day after so please ensure disturbances to them are absolutely necessary. We use telemedicine to triage cases and any fees for emergency call outs are due in advance when they are booked on our system. It can take up to 90 minutes for our team to attend calls. Second opinions and Referrals Should you wish your pet receives an external second opinion or other specialist services which we are unable to provide, we are happy to facilitate this to the best of our ability. However, specialists in other disciplines are often unfamiliar with exotic animals and may not take them on as cases. We aim to collaborate with other specialists where possible to ensure the best outcome for your pet. Data Protection – GDPR We only use your personal information that you provide to us in accordance with our privacy policy.

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