Our Background
Westport Veterinary Clinic is a locally owned practice with a strong commitment to giving the best possible care to your pets.
We have been treating your pets for nearly 30 years, starting as a mixed practice with David Porteous as Head Vet. David worked hard to create a loyal client base and first class reputation and today we continue to develop these.
In 2013 ,the clinic became a dedicated “small animal” vets allowing us to significantly increase the level of care we give our patients. We used this opportunity to upgrade our clinic and equipment and are continuously re-investing in our practice.
In 2018, we had the opportunity to buy Capital Vets in South Queensferry and Drumbrae Vets in Edinburgh after Gerry, the original owner retired. This meant we could move our South Queensferry branch into the purpose built practice in The Loan, increasing our capabilities for our clients in South Queensferry and Edinburgh.

Westport Veterinary Clinic boasts dedicated dog and cat wards, recovery kennels, digital x- ray (including dental), endoscope, ultrasound, full sterile theatre, laboratory, and a complete, advanced, soft tissue surgical and orthopaedic operating kit. However, our real strength lies in the brilliant and knowledgeable vets and nurses who bring a wealth of experience to Westport Veterinary Clinic.
Westport Vets is owned and run by Company Director and Veterinary Surgeon Stuart McMorrow
Team Westport Linlithgow consists of:
Our Veterinary Surgeons: Gina Henry, Liesbeth Grycuk, Carolyn Cairns, Emily Cope, Lisa Rasmussen, Yasmin Lester-Powell & Natalie Dunn
Our Head Nurse: Paula Murphy
Our Registered Veterinary Nurses: Louise Forrester, Carena Smith, Abi Ross, Kelly Scott, Rachel Kirk & Paige Piper
Our Student Veterinary Nurses: Mari McDonagh
Our Customer Care Specialists: Julie Flockhart, Leigh Daly, Hannah Reid & Jessica Douglas
Team Westport South Queensferry and Drumbrae consists of:
Our Veterinary Surgeons: Sam Hillier, Rachel Robb, Mair Tyler, Hannah Padley, Andrew Soutar & Graham Leathers
Our Clinical Nurse Manager and Registered Veterinary Nurse: Fiona Leathers
Our Registered Veterinary Nurses: Nicola MacPhee, Gillian White, Chloe Egan, Lauren Wilson, Steph Fisher & Jessica Healey
Our Student Veterinary Nurse: Connor Dewar, Heather McKenzie, Tiffany Lema, Rachel Kirkwood, Cordelle Haslam & Robyn Donnelly
Our Customer Care Specialists: Gail Ainslie, Wendy Girling & Audrey Brown
Westport Veterinary Clinic invests significantly in all of the clinical team to continue their learning and development and ensuring your pets receive the most up to date care possible. Staff regularly attend continued professional development seminars and courses, complete daily ward rounds, participate in weekly clinical discussions, monthly journal clubs and regular in house training run by specialist veterinary surgeons. You can read about a small sample of the training courses we attend in our blog.
Our Premises & Equipment
Westport Veterinary Clinic has branches in Linlithgow, South Queensferry & Edinburgh, all of which provides a convenient location for our clients to attend consultations, collect medications and food orders. Clients can be seen at any of our branches, at a time which is convenient and can request the same vet to ensure continuity of care for their pets.
At the Linlithgow and South Queensferry surgeries we have:
- 2 consulting rooms
- Dedicated operating theatre with gaseous anaesthetic facilities and monitoring equipment
- Spacious preparation room
- Dental facilities including specialised tools and equipment for treating dogs, cats, rabbits and small furries
- X-ray room with the latest digital x-ray technology and ultrasound scanner
- In-house laboratory facilities enabling rapid diagnoses to be made
- Warm and comfortable kennels suitable for dogs, cats and small mammals
- Blood pressure monitoring equipment
- A wide range of surgical equipment including surgical electrocautery and orthopaedic equipment.
- Medical support equipment including oxygen kennel, blood transfusion facilities and intravenous fluid infusion pumps

At our Linlithgow and South Queensferry surgeries we perform both veterinary and nurse consultations, as well as the operations in our sterile theatre, diagnostic imaging and case investigations. We also have the facilities to hospitalise our non-surgical cases. Our patients are nursed attentively by our team of caring, qualified veterinary nurses, student veterinary nurses and nursing assistants.
We perform veterinary consultations at our Edinburgh clinic, any surgical procedures are undertaken at our South Queensferry branch which is only 15 minutes away. We are happy to arrange our ambulance to transport your pets between clinics if required.
Meet the Team
Stuart McMorrow BVM&S MRCVS
Stuart graduated from The Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies in 1999 and his first job was a mixed practice in Falkirk. He then spent a few years as a locum, working in a number of practices across the Central belt. This allowed Stuart to train with, and play for the Scotland National Hockey team. He then moved on to work at the PDSA (a veterinary charity) in Edinburgh where he became the Senior Vet in 2006. After twelve years at PDSA, gaining fantastic experience, Stuart decided to join Westport Veterinary Clinic where he is now the sole owner and senior vet.
Stuart loves all things surgical – especially wound management and reconstructive surgery and orthopaedics. Stuart has also developed a love of dentistry and has completed multiple dental continued education courses and is working towards further qualifications in this area. And, more recently Stuart has started learning more about minimally invasive surgery which will allow him to perform laparoscopic neutering.
Stuart and his family has one rescue cat – Jazz – and three Border Terriers – Barney and Larry and Bracken. Stuart can be found most weekends out with the dogs and kids up Witchcraig and Beecraigs, or out cycling to keep fit. Stuart lives locally in Torphichen.
Mair Tyler MVB PgC(SAM) MRCVS
Mair was brought up in Northern Ireland and graduated from University College Dublin in 2005. After a few years working in mixed (farm and small animal) practice in the beautiful wild west of Ireland, she decided to make Scotland her home. She worked in mixed practice in Perthshire where she was lucky enough to have the chance to do some work at Blair Drummond Safari park. Since 2014, Mair has worked in small animal practice in West Lothian before joining the team at Westport in 2021. Mair has a postgraduate certificate in small animal medicine and particularly enjoys working with diabetic patients, emergency cases and carrying out soft tissue surgery. Mair lives with her elderly Border collie Laika and 3 cats – Socks (who has at least 12 lives!), Harmony and Melody. When not working Mair sings in a choir, plays netball, loves to cook and has recently taken up Irish dancing!
Liesbeth Grycuk BVM&S Pg Cert (Feline Practice) MRCVS
Liesbeth graduated in 2007 from Edinburgh Dick Vet and spent several years working in mixed practice. Before joining Westport at the start of 2016 she spent five years working in emergency and critical care. Liesbeth completed a post graduate certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice in feline medicine in 2019. Liesbeth is a marathon runner and travels the world competing in the world marathon series. She has two ragdoll cats “Princess Beatrice” and “Oscar”.
Sam Hillier BVSc PgCert (VBM) MRCVS
Sam graduated from Liverpool Veterinary School in 2015 and worked in busy small animal hospitals for a few years before moving to Westport Vets at the start of 2018. Sam is interested in surgery and currently studying at various orthopaedic CPD events and is looking to start a certificate in the near future. Whilst Sam is not working he is often in the hills hiking or cycling.
Rachel Robb BVM&S ECAS WVA&CPM MRCVS
Rachel qualified from The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 2008. After a year working in Leeds she moved to Glasgow where she worked for 8 years at a busy small animal practice before returning home to Edinburgh in summer 2018 to join the team at Westport. She has a particular interest in internal medicine, dermatology and is currently working towards a general practitioner certificate in Veterinary Western Acupuncture and Chronic Pain Management. Outside of work Rachel enjoys photography, cooking and trying to control her garden. She spends her spare time with her family and two rather high maintenance cats!
Gina Henry BVMS MRCVS
Gina graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2016. She spent the first 3 years of her career working in a busy small animal practice in central Scotland, before joining the team at Westport in July 2019. She enjoys all aspect of first opinion practice, and the variety it brings every day! In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, travelling, and exploring the scenic countryside on hikes.
Carolyn Cairns BVM&S MRCVS
Emily Cope BVM&S MRCVS
Emily graduated from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Medicine in 2007. She worked for 1 year in Derbyshire, before moving back home and working in small animal and exotics practices in central Scotland. Emily is working towards a certificate in Small Animal Internal Medicine, and has an interest in diagnostic imaging and exotics.
Outside of work Emily looks after her two small children, and when she gets the chance enjoys running, sea kayaking and hill walking. The family also includes Pixel the cat, a cockatiel called Brandy and several newts.
Fiona Leathers RVN
Fiona qualified as an RVN in 2002 after studying full time at Edinburgh’s Telford College.
Before joining the Westport family in Feb 2018, she worked as Head Nurse in practices in Glasgow & Bonnybridge. She is a qualified Clinical Coach which means she is responsible for the training of our Student Veterinary Nurses. In 2017, Fiona won The Blue Cross Veterinary Nurse of the Year title and she is the Scottish “Bandaging Angel” for The Veterinary Wound Library which means she travels to other veterinary practices teaching them all aspects of wound care & bandaging techniques. Fiona is also the first RVN to hold the position of Chairperson for Vet Trust Ltd, a Scottish charity.
Prior to qualifying as an RVN, Fiona was a riding instructor & show jumping groom in London & Switzerland. She is married to Graham, who is also a vet and they have a daughter called Hannah who is currently studying photography in Glasgow. She currently has two dogs, Mavis & Bunty (both mongrels and a bit special), a cat called Tasmin (the brains of the household) and a pondful of goldfish.
Paula Murphy RVN
Paula began her nursing career a full time student in 1997. She then went on to train at Edinburgh Telford college qualifying in 2002. She began working in a first opinion and referral hospital in Stirling and enjoyed the variety of cases that a large hospital deals with. She became an orthopaedic nurse and deputy head before moving on to a different practice .
From 2002 to 2018 Paula worked at a small animal practice in East Lothian and then Edinburgh when that practice expanded. This practice helped to grow Paula skills and love for both animal and clients, with client care being a priority for Paula. Paula began working at Westport vets Linlithgow in September 2018 and is looking forward to getting to know all our clients and their pets.
She lives locally in Torphichen with husband David and kids Mathew and Kathryn. She has a cockapoo called Obi and a cat called Harry. She enjoys all aspects of nursing with anaesthesia and client care being her favourite areas. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family and socialising with her friends. She is also a member of her village galaday committee so can be found fund raising and event planning through out the year.
Louise Forrester RVN
Carena Schmid RVN
Carena joined the team in November 2016 having spent the previous 2 years in a busy Vets4Pets practice working as a RVN after being there as a student. Before qualifying she was fortunate to gain varied experience at different practices including Glasgow Vet School. Interested in dental work she has completed BVNA Oral Care Nurse Certificate. Carena has a keen interest in canine behaviour, in particular with reactive dogs, and is a Training Assistant at weekly training and behaviour classes with Lothlorien Dog Services in Linlithgow. Carena has 2 Border Collies, both rescue dogs, (Mr) Flash and (Miss) Darcy!
Gillian White RVN
Abi Ross RVN
She enjoys all aspects of nursing, from surgery to nurse clinics, but has a particular interest in our feline patients, having grown up on a farm with lots of cats of her own!
In her spare time she volunteers with Streetvet in Glasgow and spends quality time with her little rescue dog (Mr) Douglas
Chloe Egan RVN
Nicola Macphee RVN
Kelly Scott RVN
Kelly is currently in her 2nd year of veterinary nursing training and is doing her placement at Westport Vets. Kelly has a keen interest in exotics and she hopes to go down the exotic nursing specialism route.
Rachel Kirk RVN
Lauren Wilson RVN
Mari Mcdonagh SVN
Mari is a third year student vet nurse who is hoping to graduate next year in 2023. She had started at the practice at the end of May 2022 and has so far enjoyed being here. She likes improving her skills in the practice and next year in June is going to Africa for 2 weeks as part of a wildlife and veterinary course where she will be working with much bigger patients than she sees here. In her free time, Mari likes to just relax and watch shows, especially musicals where she thinks she can hit the notes when she really can’t. She also can be found cuddled up under a blanket with her dog Ollie or keeping a close eye on her hamster when shes out and about exploring the room. Mari also likes getting out the house and exploring new places with her friends, walking for miles until her legs hurt.
Connor Dewar SVN
Connor is a student veterinary nurse with the SRUC, and is currently set to graduate in 2022. He enjoys all aspects of veterinary nursing and is keen to hone his skills to deliver the highest standards of patient care. Following graduation, he hopes to complete further study into canine behaviour in order to minimise stress and make each patient’s visit to the practice as comfortable as possible.
Outside of work Connor enjoys creative pursuits, dabbling in writing and using tabletop roleplay as a way to engage other people with his storytelling. On nicer days, he enjoys adventuring in the countryside with Poppy, his shetland sheepdog.
Gail Ainslie
Gail is the receptionist at our South Queensferry branch. Gail is incredibly friendly and outgoing and likes nothing better that a good natter with the clients in the waiting room! She is also very attached to all her South Queensferry patients and is always keen to take their photos to add to her album which she keeps at the reception desk. Gail loves her dogs, particularly little Louie the Chihuahua. In her spare time Gail is a bit of a “biker chick” and enjoys travelling around Scotland and Europe by motorcycle with her husband and their tent.
Wendy Girling
Wendy has been the receptionist at the Drumbrae branch for over 11 years! Wendy enjoys meeting and assisting clients old and new. She lives with her husband and 2 cats.
Julie Flockhart
Hannah Wilford
Hannah Reid
Hannah is the receptionist in our Linlithgow branch. She loves working with people and helping them and their loved pets out. She joined the team in May 2022 and has loved every minute of it since! Hannah has recently completed her BVRA Bronze level award and is currently working through her Silver BVRA Award. Hannah loves learning so is always looking for opportunities to add to her qualifications and learn something new.