Client stories
Every animal that comes through our doors has a story. Here are some of the pets, people and moments that make Lort Smith what it is.
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- Volunteers
Martin
Martin has been a volunteer with Lort Smith since 2019. He started in the laundry, then moved into the Adoption Centre, alternating between the cattery and kennels each week.
Martin starts his shift by cleaning the cat enclosures, making sure the cats have fresh water and food, and a clean litter tray. He then gets the Adoption Centre ready for the day by sweeping and mopping the floors, and bringing over any animals from the hospital who are ready to be adopted. Our volunteers do this for cats, but also for other furry friends housed in the cattery, like rabbits, guinea pigs and ferrets!
"The other side of the role is giving the cats all the love and attention they deserve," explains Martin. "Socialising them and getting to know their individual personalities is my favourite part of the role."
A data analyst in his work life, Martin enjoys a change from desk-based work, and spending time with animals.
"It's great to be able to do something a bit more physical, and really I just want to help in any way that I can!" he says.
It's animals like Smoosh, who need a bit of extra love, that make it that bit more special when they are adopted out.
Martin
Smoosh
Like many of our volunteers, Martin finds adoptions the most rewarding part of volunteering. He remembers one particular cat, Smoosh, who came to Lort Smith after another shelter couldn't rehome him.
"Smoosh was this beautiful soul who I spent quite a bit of time with. He had a bit of a rough start to life and had to have his ears amputated due to cancer, and was deaf too," says Martin. Smoosh also tested positive for feline immunodeficiency virus while at the animal hospital, as he had been attacked multiple times over the years.
"He had all these health issues but his personality really showed through. He would always yowl at you like he was trying to have a conversation, it was endearing!" remembers Martin.
Smoosh was adopted into a home with two other cats, who welcomed him straight away, and now the three live together happily.
"It's animals like Smoosh, who need a bit of extra love, that make it that bit more special when they are adopted out," says Martin.
Martin has two cats himself, Finn and Fiona. They're a brother and sister duo Martin adopted a few years ago, and they both love a bit of attention!
When he's not volunteering with Lort Smith, Martin is continuing his studies in data analysis and data science, and is interested in psychology, exercise and nutrition.
We're so incredibly grateful for Martin and his passion for animals.
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- Volunteers
Lesley
Lesley began volunteering with Lort Smith in 2016, after moving down from Brisbane. Having volunteered with animal welfare organisations in Queensland, Lesley wanted to keep working with animals. We're very grateful she chose to do so with Lort Smith!
Lesley volunteers in the "engine room of Lort Smith", also known as our laundry! The role involves collecting, sorting and washing towels, blankets, surgical drapes and animal beds. Once they're clean, Lesley delivers fresh supplies throughout the hospital and Adoption Centre. She also collects and sorts any donated goods that have arrived that day.
"It's a bit of a production line! I often pair up with another volunteer and once you get into the work and have a chat, the time just flies past," says Lesley.
Lort Smith really gave me somewhere to go when I moved from Brisbane.
Lesley
Like many of our volunteers, Lesley finds volunteering with Lort Smith so special because of the connections and friendships she's made along the way.
"Lort Smith really gave me somewhere to go when I moved from Brisbane. It was a great way to meet likeminded people – staff and volunteers alike," Lesley explains.
"And then of course, there are the animals – knowing your work makes a difference to them is really fulfilling."
Lort Smith treats more than 25,000 animals every year, and we can only do so because of volunteers like Lesley, who donate their time to give back to the community.
The variety of volunteering roles at Lort Smith has always appealed to Lesley. She started in the laundry, branched out into the cattery, and now fosters animals too.
Lesley has a Maltese she adopted, and three cats of her own, two of whom were adopted from Lort Smith.
"One of my cats is blind – she was a foster I took on and just fell in love with. It's amazing how they adapt! She lives a very full life and navigates around the house without any issues at all."
Outside volunteering, Lesley enjoys long-distance running, and has recently switched from road to trail running. She loves yoga and spending time with her two sons.
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- Volunteers
Val
Val has volunteered with Lort Smith as a foster carer since 2012. As a foster carer, Val takes home animals who aren't quite ready to be adopted. Some stay with her for just a few weeks, while others stay long-term as they start new medication, grow stronger after an operation, or simply get a break from the busy shelter.
Val studied feline behaviour and psychology, and is particularly passionate about supporting fearful and under-socialised cats. She mostly takes on what are affectionately called "scaredy cats": cats who seem aggressive, but are often experiencing fear, anxiety and stress.
"It's so rewarding putting in the work and getting to see who they really are. It's incredible when you see the change in them, they go from hiding away in your cupboards to sleeping on the pillows with you!" says Val.
Val explains that some of her foster animals are too nervous even to come back to the shelter, and in a few cases they've stayed with Val until they're adopted. In these cases, potential adopters visit the cat at Val's home instead of at Lort Smith. Meeting the cats somewhere they're more comfortable and relaxed shows potential adopters their true personalities, and makes adoption more likely.
It's incredible when you see the change in them, they go from hiding away in your cupboards to sleeping on the pillows with you!
Val
Clicker training cats
Val takes great pride in keeping up to date with new training methods for cats, and has spent countless hours over the years at training courses and workshops. "Recently I attended a 'behavioural day' hosted in the US, but it was fortunately streamed online. Less fortunate was the time difference, which meant I was in the conference from midnight until 7.00am!"
Val's specialty is clicker training, a method that might be familiar to people with dogs. She's found it equally effective with cats, especially when paired with treats! While training her own cats and fosters, Val also takes the time to share her progress and wisdom with other Lort Smith volunteers and staff who might be less familiar with it.
Val has four cats of her own at home: Claude, Harry, Bart and Elliot. Bart and Elliot were both "foster fails", animals Val fostered from Lort Smith before realising they had already found a home with her.
"I first fostered Bart because he had some food allergies and the vets were trying to establish what those were. He was on an elimination diet when I brought him home, and we eventually discovered he is allergic to fish, of all things! But he just fit right in with my other cats and I couldn't let him go."
As well as her work with scaredy cats, Val finds one of the most rewarding parts of volunteering is looking after the pets of people in crisis, through Lort Smith's Emergency Welfare Assistance program. "I've cared for animals who just need a bit more love than usual, and I really feel like I'm giving someone a helping hand when they need it."
When she isn't volunteering with Lort Smith, Val runs a nail salon in the city, and loves to travel overseas to visit animal shelters and sanctuaries. She has visited animal shelters in Fiji, Bali and Thailand, and is looking forward to the day she can visit Creamy, the cat she sponsors at a sanctuary in Greece.
Val is an amazing volunteer who gives so much energy and love to all the animals she cares for. Thank you, Val.
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- Tails of Lort Smith
Sooki
Sophie adopted Sooki, an eight-year-old medium-haired tuxedo cat, from the RSPCA just last September. Little did she know Sooki was going to get herself into serious mischief less than a year later.
While on the phone, Sophie saw Sooki chewing on something. To her shock, she realised it was a piece of cotton thread, with the needle still attached! Sophie admits her own catlike reflexes simply weren't fast enough, and Sooki swallowed both the needle and thread before she could grab it.
Cotton thread, like dental floss, ribbon, fishing line and the like, is more dangerous than the needle itself. When cats or kittens swallow thread-like items, they can lead to a life-threatening condition called gastrointestinal obstruction, where the string-like object gets stuck somewhere along the intestinal tract.
They got the needle and thread out quickly and called me right away with an update.
Sophie
Quick action
Sophie rushed Sooki to her local vet, who took X-rays and referred her straight to Lort Smith for possible surgery. By the time Sophie arrived at Lort Smith, Sooki's X-rays had been emailed through, and she didn't have to wait long before Sooki was whisked away to be treated.
Sooki was sedated and had an endoscope procedure. An endoscope is a long, flexible tube with a lens at one end and a video camera at the other. With it, the vet was able to find the needle and thread, and slowly remove them using crocodile forceps. Watch the endoscope procedure.
Sophie was incredibly relieved Sooki didn't need major surgery, as an endoscope is much less invasive.
"Sooki had a hard time waking up so she was kept in overnight for round-the-clock observation," explains Sophie.
While still a little coughy and sneezy, Sooki has made a full recovery. And Sophie is being much more mindful of what mischief Sooki could get up to with things left out.
"I was really happy with my experience at Lort Smith. They got the needle and thread out quickly and called me right away with an update," says Sophie.
Sooki, leave the cross-stitch well alone and find yourself another hobby!
If your pet is injured or becomes unwell, please call us on 03 9328 3021.
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- Success Stories
Coco
No two days are ever the same at Lort Smith. Every day, animals come to us with a wide range of conditions, illnesses and injuries.
Some are horrific. Some are routine. And some need a specialist to perform an incredibly delicate and complex procedure to save the animal's life.
Five-year-old shih tzu cross Coco came to us with the latter.
Coco's previous carer had called out to her one day, but the normally friendly and responsive little dog wouldn't come.
She was found lying on the floor, panting heavily, with a large hump on her back. She hadn't touched her food or water, and her back legs were completely paralysed.
Knowing something was seriously wrong, her carer raced her to Lort Smith.
"Coco came in making a LOT of noise. It's always distressing to see a dog howling and crying in so much pain," says one of our vet nurses. "It really makes the adrenaline kick in. We just wanted to do everything in our power to stop her hurting."
We all let out a massive cheer when she started walking. We were so happy for her. It felt like a miracle.
Coco's vet nurse
The diagnosis
Our head veterinarian of inpatients, Dr Andrew, immediately ordered a CT scan of Coco's spine to see what could be causing the extreme pain and paralysis.
"The CT scan clearly demonstrated that this was a case of intervertebral disc disease," he says. "This is a condition where the discs that act like a cushion between the vertebrae degenerate over time, herniate into the spinal canal and compress on the spinal cord.
"Even though the disease would've progressed over time, the hernia would've been sudden and incredibly painful.
"Coco would have been happily playing one moment and in agony the next."
Coco needed spinal surgery immediately if she was ever going to walk again. And she would need a specialist orthopaedic surgeon to perform it.
But unable to afford the very high cost of the surgery, her carer made the difficult decision to surrender Coco into Lort Smith's care.
"Not all clients are able to afford that specialised level of care," Dr Andrew says. "So had we not been able to take her in and perform the surgery ourselves, the carer would have sadly had to euthanise Coco."
Sadly, this is all too common: carers who love their pets, but simply don't have the money for expensive surgeries.
Surgery and recovery
After giving Coco strong pain medication straight away, our veterinary team arranged for specialist orthopaedic surgeon Dr Adrian to come to Lort Smith to perform the procedure.
Dr Adrian has worked with Lort Smith in the past, and now consults for us when we have very technical and advanced surgeries to perform. Coco's was one of them.
Coco still couldn't eat or drink. Our nurses had to feed her by syringe every few hours to keep her strength up.
"She was on a lot of pain medication, but she was still so uncomfortable," says another vet nurse. "Her paralysis was affecting her bladder as well — she couldn't wee on her own. We had to express her bladder every few hours. She was just miserable."
After four days in our care, Coco had a hemilaminectomy, a surgery to remove part of the herniated disc and relieve the pressure on the spinal cord. The surgery went very well, but Coco wasn't out of the woods just yet.
"Spinal surgery is very invasive and not without risks," says Dr Andrew. "Even with surgery, there's still no guarantee that they'll walk normally ever again."
But this courageous little dog showed everyone she had a zest for life that couldn't be beaten.
"It was amazing… The next day, she was walking normally," Dr Andrew says. "To recover that quickly is rare. Some dogs can take weeks to walk properly after a spinal surgery. But Coco was walking normally the next day!"
"We all let out a massive cheer when she started walking," says the vet nurse who looked after Coco's recovery. "We were so happy for her. It felt like a miracle."
Lort Smith is committed to saving every life we can. But we need your support to keep making miracles happen.
Please donate and change the lives of animals like Coco today.
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- Tails of Lort Smith
Dr Brittany
When Dr Brittany moved to Melbourne from upstate New York, via Brisbane, for her veterinary degree, she found Lort Smith through our foster care program. She was in the second year of her degree and desperately missed fostering animals, which she'd loved doing in her previous home cities.
Shortly after, Dr Brittany started volunteering in our cattery and kennels, walking dogs and cleaning enclosures.
"I remember one day sitting in the kennels and hearing our Adoption Centre General Manager talking about a job advert. I immediately thought 'I need to go and introduce myself to this woman!' So I quickly jumped on that opportunity," laughs Dr Brittany.
Dr Brittany went on to work as an Animal Welfare Officer in our Adoption Centre for four years while she studied. She also worked in customer service and did some reception shifts. "I originally trained in nursing so I did a lot of my placement in nursing and got trained through that pathway."
I love that Lort Smith supports people from all circumstances and helps many who struggle to afford vet services.
Dr Brittany
Why Lort Smith
Lort Smith's values and mission are central to Dr Brittany's belief in the organisation. "Affordability of care is something that has always been really important to me. I love that Lort Smith supports people from all circumstances and helps many who struggle to afford vet services. I hate that for some people, euthanasia seems the only option because of cost. At Lort Smith, our mission is to help provide the care they need – I just think that's such an amazing quality in an organisation."
Dr Brittany was always going to come back to Lort Smith once she had her degree. "We see a huge range of cases and have full exposure to critical care, medical, surgical, diagnostics and exotics. And whatever your area of interest is, the senior vets will give you their full support. Our hospital has a really high standard of practice. We've got CT scans, same day x-rays – it has everything you can possibly need. And we're all really excited about the facilities we'll be working in when the new hospital opens in 2023."
She also values the support the organisation gives its teams. "We have clinicians who have been here for ten, 20, 30 years. You don't find that very often in small vet clinics, it shows it's a good place to work."
Dr Brittany admits our shelter was also a big drawcard. Her passion is shelter medicine, which has a home at our purpose-built Adoption Centre in Campbellfield, in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
"I also love inpatient care because I enjoy spending time with animals who have complex cases. With inpatient care you have time to work up cases and piece the puzzle together to determine the medical diagnosis. I get a lot of joy out of that!"
The future
When asked what the future of veterinary medicine looks like at Lort Smith, Dr Brittany says there will be lots of new opportunities, particularly with the opening of the new hospital. "The future looks really good, there will be more focus put into supported learning. For example, Dr Tom and Dr Jonathon are amazing teachers and great at walking you through things. Because of the new facilities we will be able to do even more for more animals. There will be a lot of growth and change in the future – it's exciting!"
"Louisa Lort Smith left a lovely legacy. It's pretty cool to have started something like this and have it grow into what it is today. Who knows what she would have expected when she founded it way back in 1936?! It was a very brave thing to do and it has changed veterinary care in this country."
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- Tails of Lort Smith
Christine
Lort Smith is fortunate to have highly passionate, experienced and knowledgeable people on staff, and Christine is no exception. As our Volunteer Engagement Manager, Christine has worked at Lort Smith for eight years and manages a team of 398 volunteers – almost double the number of staff we employ!
Christine holds qualifications and certifications in change management, process improvement, training and volunteer administration.
The role of Volunteer Engagement Manager is extensive, and keeping the program running like the well-oiled machine it is takes the highest calibre of talent.
I'm so proud to lead such an amazing group of people. They inspire me every day and I cannot speak more highly of the Lort Smith volunteers.
Christine
Christine's key responsibilities include:
- the strategic development of the program
- recruiting, onboarding and keeping volunteers
- continuous improvement of policies and procedures
- developing our volunteer management system
- volunteer support
- reward and recognition
- piloting programs
- evaluation and reporting.
Christine created Lort Smith's first Volunteer Advisory Committee, to give volunteers a way to be consulted about decisions that affect them.
"I'm so proud to lead such an amazing group of people. They inspire me every day and I cannot speak more highly of the Lort Smith volunteers," says Christine.
Why volunteers matter
Christine says Lort Smith is only able to rehome as many animals as we do because of our volunteers. "They offer invaluable support via foster care, as well as onsite in the cattery and kennels. The shelter animals receive so much TLC and enrichment from the vollies as they prepare for adoption."
"Our volunteers extend our reach and mission to the community. Lort Smith Pet Therapy teams are literally out there providing people, in a variety of facilities throughout Melbourne, with the benefit of the human-animal bond. Additionally, volunteering at Lort Smith gives those without pets at home the opportunity to experience the human-animal bond, which as we all now know, has countless physical and emotional health benefits."
Christine encourages anyone who is in a position to volunteer their time to do so. "Think about your passions and your interests and get involved. Volunteering is good for you! You'll connect with your community in a meaningful way, build relationships and learn new skills."
"Lort Smith was started by two amazing women [Louisa Lort Smith and Lady Frances Lyle] who volunteered their time. It makes me proud that Lort Smith was essentially started by volunteers. Volunteers have been an essential and important part of our history and will continue to be into the future," says Christine.
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- Tails of Lort Smith
Amanda
Amanda is Lort Smith's Business Transformation Manager. She is ably supported by her foster fail, Lenny, who comes to the office with her. Amanda holds a Masters of Strategic Foresight from Swinburne University. The purpose of this degree is to help people think about different possible futures, and use that to drive action in the present.
This niche and very important role was introduced to help Lort Smith prepare for the opening of Lort Smith Campbellfield. Amanda's work helps us move from being one organisation in one place to an organisation growing across multiple sites, and work out how those sites best work together.
"My main focus is Lort Smith Campbellfield, but I also provide additional support to other projects such as Beakon, our new Incident Management System, and supporting the Adoption Centre with evaluating software that will improve processes."
The whole purpose of opening Lort Smith Campbellfield is to make our services more accessible to a wider number of people.
Amanda
Preparing for Campbellfield
Before Campbellfield opened, Amanda explained that we were starting to change the way we work, so the move to a second site would be smooth. That meant lots of experimenting and troubleshooting.
"The whole purpose of opening Lort Smith Campbellfield is to make our services more accessible to a wider number of people," explains Amanda.
"We are splitting at the seams here in North Melbourne. We've been here for 85 years and we've done a lot of good from this site but as we become more built-up in this area, we are running out of room to help more people."
Campbellfield was chosen because many of our clients live in the north and north-west growth corridor, so it's easier for them to reach. It's a clinic where we can keep providing high-quality care to people of varying socio-economic status.
Our Adoption Centre was also moving to Campbellfield, which Amanda described as a really exciting time. "It's a wonderful move for the animals that we care for. The Adoption Centre will have modern, specially designed facilities so animals awaiting their new home will be more comfortable. These facilities include a 'catio' where cats can sit in the north-facing sun from a balcony, additional communal cat areas so they can be more social and playful, an expanded kennels area to make the dogs more comfortable."
As well as better accommodation, Lort Smith Campbellfield has an onsite dog park. It's a great way for us to connect with our community, as the dog park is open to everyone. It's fully fenced, with water, rubbish bins, poop bags and a dog wash. There's also a sensory garden, with lots of plants with different textures and smells, so dogs can have stimulating sniffing adventures.
The vet clinic at Lort Smith Campbellfield offers slightly different services to our North Melbourne hospital. Its opening hours are shorter, but it provides the same high-quality vet care, supporting the local community with their day-to-day veterinary needs.
"It's an exciting time for Lort Smith because it helps position our hospital as a referral centre and really refocus on community. It gives us a chance to reflect on who we've been for the last 85 years, and who we want to become for the next part of the journey," says Amanda.
On Louisa Lort Smith
When asked about Louisa Lort Smith, Amanda says, "I think animal advocacy is a really powerful thing and it takes very brave people to challenge norms, particularly at that point in time. For women to step into that role and really be a champion for change in how we understand and relate to animals – it's a real testament to her tenacity and vision that there is still an organisation continuing that work into the future."
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- Tails of Lort Smith
Nurse Sarra
The future of vet nursing is in safe hands thanks to people like Nurse Sarra!
Our veterinary team wears navy scrubs, but you may have spotted a few people in grey scrubs when visiting Lort Smith. These are our Melbourne Polytechnic nurses.
Lort Smith partners with Melbourne Polytechnic to provide clinical placements to students studying La Trobe University's Bachelor of Veterinary Nursing. This degree is the first of its kind in Australia. A number of suitably qualified and experienced Lort Smith staff are employed sessionally by Melbourne Polytechnic, acting as placement supervisors to help students while they're at Lort Smith. Nurse Sarra is one of them. She also acts as a clinical coach on the days she's employed by Lort Smith.
Nurse Sarra has worked at Lort Smith for almost seven years. She explains that approximately 80 Melbourne Polytechnic nurses come through our organisation each year.
"As part of their degree, students have a list of skills they need to be competent in before they graduate, such as placing an IV catheter and collecting bloods. Lort Smith helps the students to achieve this during the first two years of their course," says Nurse Sarra.
If it's not good enough for my pet then it's not good enough for someone else's.
Nurse Sarra
Learning by doing
Students shadow experienced vet nurses like Nurse Sarra, who help develop their skills while on placement, facilitate their shifts and are on hand to jump in if there are any issues or questions.
Nurse Sarra thinks the partnership between Lort Smith and Melbourne Polytechnic is valuable because "Nurses are not going to see what they see here, anywhere else. It gives them a really good overview of what the industry can be like. It shows them the different areas they might be interested in such as emergency, ICU, theatre and exotics. It gives them a great introduction to all the weird and crazy things they would only learn about in a text book."
She goes on to say that "Melbourne Polytechnic nurses are able to build and develop a broader range of skills at Lort Smith because nurses here are required to know a lot more, and do a lot more."
"In private practice, if an emergency comes in, you stabilise it and refer it. Whereas with here, the emergency gets thrown at you and you have to deal with it. It's very intense and very involved," says Nurse Sarra.
Nurse Sarra readily admits she has really high standards, and feels great knowing she's teaching future vet nurses to have the same.
"I've got this rule that I tell all our first-years… They must put their phones away and pay attention in class because I want them to be the best nurses they can be. If your pet went into hospital you would want the best nurse looking after them. My rule is, 'if it's not good enough for my pet then it's not good enough for someone else's,'" says Nurse Sarra.
Why Lort Smith
Nurse Sarra encourages vet nurses to work at Lort Smith, because your knowledge will grow exponentially!
"We've got a really good team here. They really care about each other and understand that we all need to work together to look after the animals. We all have that same common goal. It's the people and the cases that make you want to work at Lort Smith," says Nurse Sarra.
When asked about Louisa Lort Smith, Nurse Sarra says, "I admire what she did and the vision that she had. Back in 1936, a lot of people would have looked at her and thought she was crazy because obviously pets weren't treated like family like they are now. Even today, my family wonder why I'm saving animals when I could be a human nurse. So I imagine back in those times, it would have been worse than that!" laughs Nurse Sarra.
"I believe in what Lort Smith is and why it was created in the first place. I think it's pretty impressive that we've been able to stay around for 85 years being a not-for-profit organisation. What we stand for, the people that we help – that's quite a feat!"