Open day at Bow pets hospital to mark PDSA charity’s 100 years caring for animals

Animal lovers and budding vets can see behind the scenes when the PDSA’s pet hospital in Bow throws open its doors on Saturday as part of the charity’s centenary celebrations.

Vet Lucy Gardiner at the Bow Pets Hospital with doggie patient Toffee, a two-year-old ShihTzu. Picture: Mike Brooke - Credit: Mike Brooke

The pet hospital in Malmesbury Road is the closest centre to the original basement in Whitechapel where the charity was founded by Maria Dickin in 1918.

The open day runs 11am to 2pm with live music, tours, children’s activities, police horses—and of course a dog show.

Senior vet Ros Ford said: “It’s a chance for the public to learn more about our charity which has been treating animals every day for 100 years.”

The Bow pet hospital is one of five PDSA centres up and down the country simultaneously running a centenary fundraising cycle challenge, peddling 100 miles on exercise bikes. Veterinary manager Alison Case is pushing the peddles for the Bow centre and appealing for wellwishers to cycle a mile alongside her on an exercise bike or donate online.

One of the original PDSA clinics in Bow Common, 1920s. Picture source: PDSA - Credit: PDSA

The Bow centre together with the clinic in Ilford costs £1.7 million a year to run and gets no government funding.

Their vets see up to 250 animals a day and carry out 111,000 treatments a year, from major surgery and x-rays to routine vaccinations.