Marius small animal veterinary clinic in finals for four Quality Business Awards

The Marius Small Animal Veterinary Clinic is a finalist in four different award categories at the 2023 Tamworth Quality Business Awards (QBA), a total surpassed only by Oxley Community Transport Service's five finalist nods.

"It's very exciting. We've been nominated for a few categories before but we've never actually been finalists for so many," the clinic's founder Dr Robyn Edleston said.

Dr Edleston opened her clinic in 1999 and her business has been nominated dozens of times for various awards at the QBA over the years.

The business has previously won awards in 2003, 2013, and 2018, with a look on keeping that once-every-five-year trend going in 2023.

This year the 'family pet vet' could take home awards for Excellence in Customer Service in Professional Services - Large; Excellence in Small Business; Employer of Choice; and Outstanding Employee.

The local vet said of the four categories, she'd most like to see her long-time friend and colleague Bonnie Douglas win the award for Outstanding Employee.

"Bonnie, I think, needs that recognition, and it's a reflection on the practice too that someone has been in the same practice for 25 years next year," Dr Edleston said.

Veterinary nurse Bonnie Douglas has been the "beating heart" of the small clinic since it first opened, and said being chosen as a finalist for Outstanding Employee reflects the passion she puts into her job.

"I've always put in that little bit extra. You have to in this industry, you can't just clock in and clock out and be done with it. Even when you go home you're always thinking about your patients and wondering what else you can do," Ms Douglas said.

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Originally from Montana, Ms Douglas moved from the US to Australia for the sake of love.

She moved to Tamworth in 1992, where her husband's family runs a sheep farm.

Ms Douglas met Dr Edleston shortly after, sparking a lifetime friendship.

"I had a couple of years off after we got married, then I started working for the Goonoo Goonoo vet practice. Robyn was working there as well, and she wanted to open her own up, and I said 'if you open up I'll go with you,' hence we're still a team," Ms Douglas said.

Dr Edleston said the duo are passionate about serving the local Tamworth community.

"It was just Bonnie and me when we first started, and at the time there wasn't anywhere else that was for small animals only, and there weren't many practices that wanted to do the exotic pets: the rabbits, the rodents, the lizards, and those sorts of things."

About 10 per cent of the animals they see are exotic, with some of the most exotic animals including axolotls, echidnas, goannas, and a few Goliath Tarantulas, better known as the bird-eating spider.

The pair have also seen their fair share of weird illnesses and maladies, from a cat eating nerf bullets on three separate occasions to removing earplugs from the stomach of ferret owned by none other than two-time world champion MotoGP rider Casey Stoner.

Dr Edleston said it takes a huge set of generalised knowledge to treat the region's wide variety of pets.

"It's called a steep learning curve," she said.

The Marius Small Animal Veterinary Clinic has grown slowly over the business' near-25 year history, from its humble beginnings with the dynamic duo to now having two vets and four nurses.

Dr Edleston said she wouldn't have had it any other way, as the slow growth has meant they get to stay friendly and local.

"That's why I picked this building, I wanted something that was a bit more homely. I didn't want anything that looked or felt like a clinic," she said.

In the future, Dr Edleston says she'd like to maintain the business' "homel" feel, and will soon look into passing the clinic on to a new generation of veterinarians.

"For now we're pretty stable at four nurses, though it would be nice to have another vet because then I wouldn't need to work as many hours," she said with a laugh.

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