The Team

 

Ros Norledge (Vet & Owner)

Ros grew up in Wivelsfield Green and always wanted to be a vet. She always had cats and dogs and also had her own horse for a while.

Having qualified in 1992 from the Royal Veterinary College, Ros started her veterinary career in mixed practice treating cows, sheep, horses, pigs cats and dogs. Over time this changed to small animal and equine work and she now specialises in cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small animals. She has worked at Cootes for the last 13 years and has owned it for the last 9 years.

Ros is exceptionally proud of her clinic and her highly qualified team of vets and nurses that work there. She strives for a friendly, family atmosphere that can provide you with all the help and support you need to return your animal to you, fit and healthy.
 

Nicky (Vet)

Nicky qualified from the University of Liverpool in 2011 she has decided to return to the sunny south to start her career and be nearer family and friends. Owning a variety of animals from a young age it was always a passion of hers to be a practising small animal vet. Her Cocker Spaniel Dillon was hand reared from an early age as he was born very weak, Dillon is now a vital part of Nickys life and the Cootes team! She also has Tripod who she gave a home to after he suffered major leg injuries.

 

Sue (Vet)

Sue is one of our part-time vet team. She moved to East Sussex two years ago after many happy years in small animal practice in Cambridge. Her family includes two children and two dogs.Wendy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has epilepsy and joined the family when her owners couldn't cope. Sue enjoys gardening. She spends a lot of time feeding rabbits and squirrels on her produce and Spongebob the Jack Russel spends a lot of time keeping them fit!
 

Leanne (Veterinary Nurse)

 Leanne is a farm girl born and bred. She was born and raised in sunny South Africa where she has been involved with animals since a very young age. Her mum was a SPCA inspector in South Africa and as a result Leanne did a large amount of charity work. She helped her mum open a donkey sanctuary in the local area as cruelty to donkeys was rife. Leanne feels she has found her niche in nursing,. She studied and qualified at Plumpton Agricultural College as a veterinary nurse. Leanne could not imagine her life without her partner in crime Bagel - a very cute but very naughty beagle.

 

Emma (Practice Manager)

Emma has joined Cootes after careers working in book publishing and running her own catering business. She loves working at Cootes and aims to make our practice the one everyone recommends! Emma is Ros's sister and so she has grown up surrounded by animals and Ros's obsession with them. She has a grumpy, ginger tom called Squeak who has reached the ripe old age of 18 and is still going strong. She also has Shadders, a British Shorthair Gold-tip who is a beautiful as he is doppy!
 

Fee (Nursing Assistant)

 Fee started on her nursing career path twenty years ago and has been fortunate to experience many years in a fulfilling and often rewarding enviroment. Small animal practice has enabled her to forge strong relationships between patient and owner which makes her job all the more personal. At Cootes, she has found this to be a very natural and important part of the day. Fee has a big passion for the world of anaesthesia, its complexity and how it continually evolves. Aside of work in the UK, she has been lucky to have seen practice on the French/Swiss border and a brief but eye watering visit to Canada where she removed Porcupine spines from a Rottweilers face! Fee lives on the South Downs with her family, who run a flock of 700 ewes producing 1200 lambs and farm 350 acres of arable land. She has six dogs, two cats, a Harris Hawk, a 75 year old tortoise, bantam hens and three horses... life is never quiet or dull and she wouldn't have it any other way!

 

Sam (Receptionist & Nursing Assistant)

Sam has been at Cootes for 17 years. She started in equine practice in Hampshire where she also rode for a local race horse trainer. She went on to instruct for riding for the disabled and ran a rural training centre for people with disabilities. She returned to the Sussex where she became a product specialist for a large diagnostic company and then returned to the veterinary industry at Cootes. She has raced, bred and shown Arabian horses for most of her life and lives locally with her three dogs, husband and daughter.
 

Aimee (Veterinary Nurse)

 Aimee qualified as a degree veterinary nurse in 2012 just as she started Cootes. She studied her three year degree at Plumpton College. She has grown up around animals and has aspired to be a vet nurse since her ABCs. She rescued her dog Inky from the RSPCA when he was seven months old. Being a Flat-coat X Collie, he is a chilled-out friendly giant. Having vibrant red hair, she hasn’t had a natural colour since she was young, and plans to keep it that way!
 

Rob (Orthopaedic Surgeon)

Rob was born and brought up in Sussex and Kent but left the area to gain cutting edge experience under some of the world's leading Veterinary Orthopaedic Surgeons. However, his passion to return to the area drove him to establish Coast Veterinary Referrals. Coast provides the same level of expert care that you would expect from a large referral hospital, but locally here at Cootes.
 

Lucy (Veterinary Nurse)

Lucy has held her nursing qualification for 17 years and is a Registered Veterinary Nurse. She has gained Advanced Nursing Diplomas in both surgical and medical nursing. She has worked for 10 years as a referral nurse in a busy multi-discipline referral centre where she also received further training in anaesthesia; working as part of the anaesthesia team for three years.

Lucy has been involved in the field of continuing education for Veterinary Nurses through lecturing, teaching and as a contributing author to nursing textbooks

 

Martyn (Osteopath)

 Martyn has been living and working with horses and dogs from a very young age, having grown up with working Springer Spaniels. He currently owns a cocker spaniel and a 17.2h Irish sports horse.

From the moment he gained his degree in Osteopathy, after 4 years training, he has worked with canine and equine patients and this led him to gain a recognised qualification with one of the world’s leading equine osteopaths, Mr Stuart McGregor at his clinic in Wantage, Oxfordshire.

Martyn also works as a human osteopath in Crawley treating all manner of conditions and so far hasn’t got the two confused.