The Social Hearted Vet

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The Social Hearted Vet

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I am Dr Lissi, founder of Cherished Pets, world’s first BCorp vet service.

30/10/2026

At last!

Massive thanks to all who supported me on my Churchill Fellowship journey xx

16/10/2026

Shout out to my dearest and very clever frjend, Prof Larissa Hjorth for supporting and understanding our work around pets, death and dying. We have such wonderful conversations and it’s a truly special connection.

Deeply honoured that Larissa has honoured in her book, “Mourning on Mobile Media” (The MIT Press) and today on in an episode on Life Matters “Why our animal relationships can be as important as human ones”. The other guest on this episode is the equally formidable Pauleen Bennett!

Have a listen! 🙏🐞

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/why-animals-can-be-as-important-as-human-relationships/107273896

Cherished Pets

03/10/2026

I’ve just published my piece on Substack to reflect on the Compassion and Empathy in One Health conference I’ve just attended - both to present about our HABCare model and to soak in the amazing content of this inaugural event.

Seemed special that this week marked one year since Dr Jane died and her quotes appeared in at least three of the presentations.

Hope lives on.
Dr Jane’s voice is strong.
Compassion and empathy is contagious.

Thankyou for doing what you do to create a kinder planet. 🙏

23/09/2026

It was so great last week to participate in the Vet Mums Who Own Autumn Retreat in beautiful Bristol, UK.

I had the opportunity to speak about veterinary social work, future models of veterinary care and B Corp certification.

What’s wonderful, and powerful, about this group, founded by the amazing Alison Lambert is the opportunity that independent vet business owners have to influence systems shift. And reality is that many of this group are working mums! The UK vet world is facing some real challenges.. it’s groups like this that will hold our profession’s purpose and values into a brighter future for our next generation of vets.

Thanks for having me Alison Lambert and co and see you in Melbourne at AVA 2027! I had a great time, had some really insightful conversations and made some new friends!

Also how cool is it to attend a conference with spa time and a fresh produce swap table!

19/08/2026

10 years ago when Cherished Pets Foundation was a baby charity I met the amazing Anna Ludvig (far right), Founder of Lucy's Project. Safe Families - Paws and All 🐾. It was at the time that my understanding of the link between pets and domestic family violence was growing.

Long story short: Anna and I became Founder friends and we have offered support to each other over the years. Founderhood can be a very lonely place at times and our challenges are often shared. We hold each other up!

Likewise, as Lucy's Project. Safe Families - Paws and All 🐾 and Cherished Pets Foundation developed so did our organisational friendship. Lucy’s Project does the advocacy and CPF provides services to supporting pets of people leaving DFV. So it was an absolute honour to participate in the LP roundtable events which have informed the “National Roadmap for Change to Prevent and End Family Violence against People and Animals” launched today at Parliament House, Canberra!

And there’s more: the amazing Monique Dam (centre) entered our world last year as CEO of Lucy’s Project and we both received Churchill Fellowships in closely related, synergistic but different projects. Monique’s report launches today and my report comes out next month. Thankyou to Winston Churchill Trust for supporting the work in the HAB field.

The relationships and connections here are real and effective. And today was a day to celebrate an almighty achievement.. to get this launch on the agenda at Parliament House.

Who knows where we will all be ten years from now. What I do know is that these collaborations are powerful towards the vision of embedding support for the Human-Animal Bond into human health and social service systems. We can only shift our systems through relationships and collaboration.

Follow us all to watch this space.
And visit Lucy’s Project to see the roadmap!

Thanks!

19/07/2026

Who else is obsessed with their dog’s schnoz? 💕
Or their silky ears? 🐶
Or that waggily tail? 🐕
Or those paws? 🐾

I’m in love with Billi’s nose especially when she sleeps and it sometimes twitches a little.

How much do we love our dogs!

(And cats too but this post is for the hounds)

22/06/2026

When your very own cherished cat needs an urgent dental ..

Well it’s been a rollercoaster.

Jaycee’s almost 21 years old.
She developed a swollen right cheek about two weeks ago.
She has hyperthyroidism and early renal disease.
She was still eating. Her normal purring affectionate self.

Doing nothing was not an option. With the issue most likely to be a tooth root abcess we needed to consider a general anaesthetic which is something that strikes fear in the heart of any human with a geriatric pet. 💕

Unresponsive to antibiotics I started to fear a tumour in her mouth. She was a bit cheeky and uncooperative to examine. Ie she wouldn’t let me have a proper look.

So today we took the plunge.
Our incredible dream team at Cherished Pets took my Jaycee into their care and supported me and my wobbles. Dr Beth, Dr George, Ebs, MJ and Sam.
Heartfelt thanks.

It went well.
She was in the queue after Nurse Georgi’s cat - sending love to Frank-n-kitten.

IV fluids for the day + GA + examination and the rotten tooth pretty much fell out, along with some of the gooey pus around it.

Tonight Jaycee is recovering well.
The next few days will be interesting to see how she rallies.
She has pain relief and antibiotics on board.
She’s a bit wonky and wobbly but has settled nicely now.

Loving an older pet is a rollercoaster.
We can do so much more these days to maintain quality of life.
It takes a great leap of faith to commit a 21 year old renal cat to a general anaesthetic and dental.
But this was a do or die scenario.

My team supported me so beautifully.

Feeling very grateful and I’ll keep you all posted on her recovery.

🙏🐞💕✨🐱

09/06/2026

This is Flora 💕

I have been her vet for almost 12 years.

Her humans started bringing her to me when was in its infancy with monthly pop up clinics at and home visits.

I remember her as a puppy like it was yesterday.. she was very wriggly back then.

Now she is an older, calmer girl and getting the top care she deserves with screening assessments and regular visits by our wonderful team at the clinic.

She reminds me of how far we have come at Cherished Pets.

A gracious, loved and healthy older girl.

We love Flora 🙏💕🥰🐞🐾

06/06/2026

Very special experience last week at the International Dementia Conference to view the film “Human Forever”, hear speak at the plenary and then meet him afterwards. I was also chuffed to see that the dementia village I visited in the Netherlands as part of my Churchill Fellowship features in the film too!

An incredible story. A remarkable young man. A must watch film.

They are on a national tour so check out their socials for film viewing times.

It’s screening at Lido Cinema Melbourne this coming Thursday 11th June.

💕🙏🐞✨

03/06/2026

Such a happy day yesterday with a visit to Foundation by the lovely Katie Belt (Social worker at ) and her two students, Abbie and Sammy.

They met with our HABCare team and together we spent time discussing the joys, highs, lows, challenges and opportunities of social work in the animal welfare and veterinary space.

The vet social work/HAB social support community is small but mighty and these connections matter so much to build understanding and resources in this emerging space.

We’ve known Katie for almost three years when she started at Lost Dogs Home and she is a star!

More of this please.. and thanks to our own Rachel and Georgi for hosting the visit 🙏

Address

Loanhead
EH25 9RG

Telephone

0439094379

Website

http://www.socialheartedvet.com/

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