The Stabler and Howlett Veterinary Surgeons building in Ooralea is an architecturally designed clinic and hospital allowing us to offer a comprehensive range of the best available veterinary medicinal and surgical services with state of the art equipment and facilities. We pride ourselves on our caring and compassion which we deliver to a gold standard to help people enjoy the full benefits of animal ownership.
Consultation Rooms
We have five consultation rooms across our three practices, two each at Ooralea and North Mackay and one at Mirani with practical layouts for our patients. Each room also has seating if clients need to wait and rooms with no natural light if darkened conditions are required.
- Vision VPM software
- DICOM access for discussing radiographs with owners
- Welch Allyn otoscopes
- Heine otoscopes and Finoff transilluminators
- iCare Tonovet tonometry
For more information on our consultation rooms and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Hospital
Our hospital, located at our Ooralea clinic, is well equipped to provide emergency and critical care for all pets, no matter what the cause, day or night.
- Dedicated large dog, small dog and cat wards with individual climate control and piped-oxygen
- Fluid pumps and syringe drivers for constant rate infusion and timed-medication administration (such as tick antiserum, snake antivenom and metronidazole)
- Isolation ward in separate building
- 24/7 emergency
For more information on our hospital and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Anaesthesia
All our vets are experienced anaesthetists supported by our team of highly trained veterinary nurses and we follow the strictest protocols as well as offering all our patients a pre-anaesthetic blood test. All pets are monitored carefully when under anaesthetic and both Ooralea and North Mackay are well equipped for this service.
- Mechanical ventilator
- Anaesthetic monitors at both full-time clinics including NIBP, Sp02 and capnography
For more information on our anaesthesia and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Radiography
Our digital radiography equipment take high quality, perfectly clear diagnostic x-rays, allowing us to make a more precise diagnosis and available to be viewed onscreen for faster interpretation. This can be done either out in the field or in clinic, including all our consultation rooms.
- Fully wireless fixed (small animal) and mobile (equine) units
- iM3 CR7 Dental radiography
- PennHIP Accredited
For more information on our radiography and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Ultrasound
The vets at SHVS are equipped to perform a comprehensive range of ultrasonography procedures using high quality equipment including colour doppler technology which shows and measures things such as blood flow direction and velocity. Ultrasounds are painless, non-invasive and produce images of soft tissue and organs which aids in a more accurate diagnosis of a pet’s internals without the need for surgery.
- Mindray M9 ultrasound with microconvex and linear probes
- Sonosite Turbo mare scanner
For more information on our ultrasound and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Surgical
The Stabler and Howlett Veterinary Surgeons surgical theatre in Ooralea is kitted out to an exceptional standard and our procedures are performed adhering to strict protocols with trained veterinary nurses in attendance at all times. Our sterility and cleanliness are also maintained to the highest level to ensure the safety of both pets and staff. We perform a range of surgeries including but not limited to stitch ups, removing obstructions/lump, desexing, cruciate ligament, orthopaedic (bone) and caesareans. Specialist surgeons also frequent our clinic and use our facilities multiple times throughout the year.
- Fully equipped theatre for soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery
- Two overhead surgical lights and in-theatre screen for radiographs
- Stryker CD3 surgical drill with sagittal saw and pin/wire collet attachments
- Aesculap Acculan 3Ti TPLO saw
- Locking kits for 2.7mm and 3.5mm implants
- Keeler 3.0 Loupes
- Valleylab Force electrocautery
- Surgical suction
For more information on our surgical and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Equine surgery
Before we undertake any equine surgery, all horses are required to be Hendra vaccinated. Our commitment to acquiring state of the art equipment and keeping up to date with the latest techniques ensure the best possible treatment for our patients. We perform a range of equine surgeries including abdominal, obstetrics and reproductive at our Ooralea hospital.
- Knockdown box and surgical table with overhead
For more information on our equine surgery and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Ophthalmology
Here at Stabler and Howlett, we use advanced methods and technologies to treat eye conditions in animals. Dr Tony Read, a registered specialist in Veterinary Ophthalmology, runs his own practice based in Adelaide, Veterinary Ophthalmic Referrals (VOR) and has a visiting service to Mackay with trips scheduled every two to four months.
- iCare Tonovet tonometer
- Keeler 3.0 Loupes
- Algebrush (for burr keratotomy procedure)
- Dedicated ophthalmic surgery kit
- Heine Finoff transilluminators
For more information on our ophthalmology and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Dental
We have a full suite of equipment for assessing, diagnosing and treating dental disease including dental radiography and equipment for probing, extraction, scaling and polishing. All our dental procedures are performed from our North Mackay facility.
- iM3 GS Deluxe Dental Unit
- iM3 CR7 Dental Radiography
- Dedicated dental surgery equipment
- Full range of dental probes and luxators
For more information on our dental and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Equine Dentistry
At Stabler and Howlett, we provide high-quality dental care to our equine patients as only registered veterinarians can legally sedate horses, perform extractions and perform dental work below the gum line. We use the best quality hand and power tools, and our mobile and fixed stocks ensure safety for horses and handlers alike. Our Ooralea surgery has the facilities and equipment to safely perform extractions, under general anaesthetic if need be.
- Mobile horse crush
- Powerfloat and hand floats
For more information on our equine dentistry and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Endoscopy (Storz equipment)
Stabler and Howlett are continually investing and upgrading its equipment to ensure the best possible patient care and all our endoscopies are performed under general anaesthetic for their comfort. This allows our qualified vets to insert the tubes into ear, nose and throat canals to retrieve samples and biopsies and video clear images without the need for invasive surgery.
- Rigid endoscope
- Video endoscope (small animal)
- Video gastroscope (equine)
- Video otoscope on order
For more information on our endoscopy and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Laboratory
We perform various in-house testing on samples from our comprehensive laboratory at the hospital in Ooralea. Testing with our own state of the art equipment removes the need to continually send samples away and results in the diagnosis and treatment of our patients quicker and more effectively. Accessing external lab facilities for more specialized and extensive testing and histopathology is also available if required.
- IDEXX Procyte, Catalyst and Sedivue
- Vetscan VSpro Coagulation Analyser
- I-stat portable blood gas analyser
- Olympus microscopes
- Centrifuge
For more information on our laboratory and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Beef breeding
Stabler and Howlett are well placed to ensure the success of your beef enterprise when it comes to breeding and fertility and have been working with local cattlemen and women for over 40 years. We offer a variety of services and understand the industry and how partnering with beef producers can increase the viability and success of beef enterprises, from small herd to stud production all the way to broad acre grazing.
- BCF easi-scan
- iSperm semen analyser
For more information on our beef breeding and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.
Mare breeding
The Howlett family and the rest of the Stabler and Howlett team pay great attention to the health and wellbeing of the mares and foals in our care during breeding season and are individually fed and housed in small, safe, clean paddocks. Apart from natural cover with the stallions standing on farm, our key reproductive service is insemination with either frozen or chilled semen. During the breeding season we have artificially inseminated camp draft, cutting, show jumping, dressage, western and trotting mares with semen from Australia, the USA and Europe.
- Dedicated off-site livery for mare management and breeding with frozen and chilled semen
- Sonosite Turbo mare scanner
For more information on our mare breeding and other available facilities, please contact your nearest Stabler & Howlett Veterinary Surgeons clinic today.