Manukau Veterinary Referral Centre

03/09/2026

Meet Rentia! 💛

Rentia is one of our lovely new additions to our nursing team, who started with us part time earlier this year. She is a qualified veterinary nurse with over 4 years experience, working in both general practice and emergency care.

Veterinary nursing is something that Rentia is very dedicated to. "I believe every pet deserves to be treated with the same love, patience, and respect that I would give my own".

Rentia is passionate about low-stress handling techniques and creating a calm, positive experience for every patient.

Outside of work, Rentia enjoys spending time with her beautiful labrador Lyra, propagating plants, spending quality time with her husband as well as exploring local walking trails, parks, or visiting new beaches.

To get to know Rentia better, we thought we would ask her some rapid-fire questions!

1. Superpower of Choice? ⚡️
- The ability to shrink things... Purely so I could take Lyra everywhere with me. Tiny suitcase, tiny dog, big adventures 🐶✈️

2. What hidden talent do you have?
- Photography, I love noticing the little things and capturing magical moments. I also have a strong sixth sense and my intuition tends to be right.

3. All Blacks 🇳🇿 or South Africa 🇿🇦?
- All Blacks, obviously. Proud Kiwi, but I will always have a soft spot for South Africa

21/08/2026

📣Calling all Vet Nurses!!!

✨WE'RE HIRING!!! 🐾

We are on the lookout for our next superstar vet nurse to join our team!

One of our very talented vet nurses is heading off on her OE, which means we're looking for someone pretty special to join our team here at Manukau Veterinary Referral Centre!

If you're a qualified Veterinary Nurse who is looking for something different from general practice, this could be the opportunity you've been waiting for!

If you are compassionate, proactive, have great attention to detail, enjoy working as part of a team and are keen to keep learning and developing your skills, then we would love to hear from you!

Applications can be made via SEEK, or by sending a CV and cover letter to our team 🐾

Ready to step up to a referral veterinary nursing role?

31/07/2026

W H I S K Y 🥃

Meet Whisky - a very handsome 2 year old Red Retriever, who was referred to our dental team after fracturing his upper canine tooth.

When a tooth is broken, what we can see above the gumline is only part of the story. Even a fracture that appears minor can damage the pulp (the living tissue containing nerves and blood vessels) or the tooth root.

This is where dental X-rays are an essential part of assessing any tooth—they allow us to evaluate the health of the pulp and root, detect hidden damage, and determine the most appropriate treatment option for our patients.

Whisky's dental X-rays showed there was no pulp exposure or evidence of pulp necrosis, meaning the tooth remained healthy and alive.

Given the pulp was still protected, we were able to place an unfilled bonded sealant over the fractured surface. This acts as a protective barrier, sealing microscopic dentinal tubules and helping prevent bacteria from reaching the pulp, reducing the risk of future infection while preserving the tooth.

Every fractured tooth is different, which is why treatment should never be based on appearance alone. Dental radiographs provide information that simply can't be seen during an oral examination, allowing us to make the best decision for each patient and, whenever possible, save a healthy tooth.

Whisky was a wonderful patient, and with the fractured tooth now sealed and protected, Whisky can get back to doing what Retrievers do best—with one less thing to worry about 🐶💙

22/05/2026

🐾 R E M I 🐾

Meet Remi, a 8 month old miniature Australian Shepherd, owned by one of our vet nurse friends, but referred to us by the team at True Vets Ormiston

Remi was referred to us due to some enamel damage on his adult canine tooth. After a consultation with Dr Craig, it was discovered that Remi had a condition called Enamel Hypocalcification.

In Remi's case, the developing adult tooth had damage to the enamel (hard outside surface of the crown) whilst it was still forming. This meant the enamel was weakened and easily damaged. You can see where the enamel was damaged on the x-ray, as the bottom portion of the tooth doesn't have as much enamel as the top portion.

Damaged enamel can lead to dentin exposure, and sensitivity, which can cause pain.

Remi was placed under general anaesthesia, and dental x-rays confirmed there was no pulp necrosis (dead pulp tissue) - which was great news. The tooth was scaled and polished using pumice paste, and the damaged enamel was removed and smoothed with an unfilled bonded sealant applied.

Remi will need to have repeat dental x-rays again in 3 months time, to ensure the tooth is still vital (alive) and on-going monitoring will be decided from the updated radiographs.

Remi had a very good recovery, given he was surrounded by our team of nurses and was in the best hands at home with his mum being a vet nurse too!

13/05/2026

Why does my pet need to be in the clinic early in the day, if they aren't having surgery until the afternoon?

This is a question we do get asked often, and there are multiple reasons why many vet clinics, including ourselves do this.

Once we take your pet through to the hospital, we like to get them all settled into their hospital bed, so they become accustomed to their new environment, and settled in with our staff after leaving you.

From here, our nursing team spend many moments with them doing health checks, pre-anaesthetic bloods and setting up intravenous fluids before we even start tailoring the general anaesthetic plan to each patient. This involves reviewing their clinical history and any ongoing health concerns, discussion with the leading vet as well as the nursing team involved in your pets care.

Once the anaesthetic plan is made, all drug calculations are cross checked and then drawn up for each patient. Whilst this is still going on, we also have patients in for minor procedures, as well as those on the surgical schedule first for the day.

We pride ourselves on making your pet feel at home while they are with us. We make sure cats have a safe, quiet space they can hide away in, with cat friendly music playing in the background, and dogs are treated with the biggest plush beds for maximum comfort - like Bruce here in the photo, whilst listening to either National Geographic documentaries or Bluey episodes. We find the constant noise of these very helpful to help settle our patients.

We know how hard it is to leave your pet for such a long period of time, but know they are very well loved whilst they are with us and cared for as if they were our own 🐾

01/05/2026

Meet Hugo 🩵

Hugo is an 8 month old British Short Hair, who presented to us with a recent fractured canine tooth from the team St Lukes Veterinary Centre

With fresh fractured canine teeth in patients under 1 year, we act promptly on getting them in for a dental procedure, by doing Vital Pulp Therapy.

This differs slightly to Root Canal Therapy, where we ideally are wanting to keep the tooth vital (alive), to allow it to mature. We do this by removing up to 5mm of pulp, and then placing the restoration.

Once Hugo was asleep, dental X-rays were taken and these unfortunately confirmed that the canine tooth had been necrotic (dead) for some time, as there was no bleeding present.

This meant Hugo was not suitable for Vital Pulp Therapy or even Root Canal Therapy, as the apex (top of tooth root) was open. Our dental exam also showed us that the fracture site of the canine tooth had snapped off, and it was picked up in Hugo's upper lip via x-ray!

After a conversation with Hugo's owner, we opted to extract the canine tooth, and removed the small tooth fragment from the lip.

Hugo recovered very well from anaesthesia, with plenty of cuddles from our nursing team and was discharged from hospital later that afternoon.

01/04/2026

🐰 EASTER HOURS 2026 🐣

Our team will be hopping away for a quick break over the Easter Weekend, where we will be closed from:

6pm Thursday 2nd April and reopen 9am Tuesday 7th April

You can continue to contact us over this period. Please send all referrals via our website and for all other queries you can email:

Craig: [email protected]
David: [email protected]

For any of our patients that have emergencies over this break, please contact Manukau Afterhours Vet Clinic on 092778383 and identify yourself as an MVRC Patient.

We hope you all have a safe and Happy Easter

16/01/2026

Meet Payal! ✨

Payal joined our team in May 2025, having spent seven years living in Dunedin. She worked in general practice for almost three years before deciding to move back home to Auckland to be closer to family — and of course, her two cats, Bartholomew and Batman, came with her!

She completed her Diploma in Veterinary Nursing at Otago Polytechnic in 2023 and has developed an interest in orthopaedic and dental procedures. Payal enjoys both the anaesthetic side of things as well as getting hands-on, assisting David and Craig during procedures.

We thought we would also put her on the spot with some rapid-fire questions:

1. If you had the bosses credit card, what would you be buying?
- A round of shots for the team

2. Favourite childhood TV show?
- Teletubbies!! Even have a Po costume that I once wore to a christmas party

3. What is your favourite way to eat potatoes?
- Mashed, with LOTS of butter and cream

We love having Pay as part of our team and she is definitely enjoying being here at MVRC!

08/01/2026

What do we do here at Manukau Vet Referral Centre?

At Manukau Vet Referral Centre, we are a referral-only clinic, meaning patients visit us at the recommendation of their primary veterinarian when advanced veterinary care is required.

This allows us to work in partnership with your regular veterinarian to provide advanced, high-level care when your pet needs more than routine treatment.

How does referral work?

Your primary vet sends all your pets clinical records to us, as well as your contact information. From here, our wonderful team of nurses assess the clinical records, and will contact you for an appointment.

How do we support referring vets?

Our clinic works to support, not replace, your primary veterinarian.
We accept referrals for complex or specialised cases including:
- Orthopaedics & soft tissue surgeries
- Dentistry and oral surgery
- Advanced Anaesthesia for compromised patients

Being referred doesn't mean something has gone wrong. It means that your vet is giving you the option for advanced skills, diagnostics and experience to support your pet.

Can I come to MVRC for my regular vet clinic?

Unfortunately not - as we are a referral only clinic, we only have the means to provide advanced care and not routine work (e.g. vaccinations, health checks etc).

Once your pet has been discharged from our clinic, we pass your clinical records from us back to your usual vet, with a clear plan for ongoing care. They remain your pet's main care provider.

We are committed to supporting referring vets, delivering high-quality care, communicating clearly, and achieving the best possible outcomes and look forward to working with you all in 2026.

30/11/2025

Yesterday, we took the time to celebrate the year that has been for 2025 with our incredible team.

We all enjoy the comraderie at work, so it was fun to get out and about and enjoy a good time together.

Our team work hard to provide excellent veterinary care day in and day out to all our patients, clients and referral clinics and we couldn’t be prouder of them for all they do.

We are thankful to Craig and David, because without them, MVRC wouldn’t be what it would be today.

Looking forward to finishing up the last few weeks with our patients, before a small break and seeing what 2026 will bring ✨

From L-R: Craig, Carmen, Lisa, Amy, Payal, Mel & David