Eurovet Animal Health has announced that its levothyroxine tablet hypothyroidism treatments, Forthyron 200 and Forthyron 400, are now available in a scored snap-tab format that allows the tablet to be broken easily into four equal pieces.

Eurovet says this represents a significant benefit to practices, as individual patients often require varying doses due to differences in absorption and metabolism, requiring a wide variety of strengths of medication to be kept in stock. The new presentation means that veterinary surgeons can provide the accurate, customized, individualised approach that these patients require and since just two strengths need to be stocked, it is easier to manage the dispensary. This saves the practice time and money.

Forthyron contains levothyroxine, a synthetic product, chemically identical to naturally occurring T4 that, due to its long duration of action, is a commonly used treatment for hypothyroidism in dogs.

For further information telephone 01223 257933 or email office@eurovet-ah.co.uk www.eurovet-ah.co.uk

The Blue Cross is calling for nominations from veterinary practices across the country for its Veterinary Nurse of the Year Award 2010.

The annual award is presented at the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) Annual Congress in October.  It recognises the contribution of veterinary nurses in educating the public about responsible pet ownership and the welfare of pets in the community. 

Last year's award was won by Vania Brasseleur for her outstanding contribution to animal welfare, both within her veterinary practice and among the local community in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire

Vania was nominated for the award by student vet nurse and colleague Emily Martin at Astonlee Veterinary Hospital in Newport Pagnell.

Emily said: "Vania is committed to helping student nurses broaden their knowledge and help them on to the path to qualification. Her charity work, serving the public, helping colleagues and of course her nursing abilities are all truly fantastic! I don't think anybody could ask for a better nurse." 

Nominations for this year's award can be made by completing the nomination form on The Blue Cross website at: www.bluecross.org.uk/BVNA2010 or by contacting Sally Leathem on 01993 825577. The deadline for nominations is Friday 20 August 2010.

The Royal Veterinary College and The Donkey Sanctuary have launched WikiDonkey, a new information resource about donkeys for veterinary surgeons, nurses and students.

According to The Donkey Sanctuary, WikiDonkey is the first site of its kind and will provide the most comprehensive source of accurate, research-led, practical and regularly-reviewed donkey veterinary information on the web.

WikiDonkey covers all the common conditions of donkeys and identifies the major differences between the management and treatment of donkeys and horses. The site also provides a set of normal physiological, biochemical and haematological parameters, resources that have not always been easily accessible but will undoubtedly prove essential for those treating donkeys.

The Donkey Sanctuary's veterinary project and development manager, Faith Burden said: "When we were approached by WikiVet to sponsor and provide content for their donkey section we were happy to support the initiative as it offers an excellent medium for us to share our expertise with others. We are pleased that these pages will allow veterinary professionals access to the most up-to-date information on donkey specific ailments and treatments."

Nick Short, head of the eMedia unit at the RVC said: "I believe that this unique resource will become an invaluable reference source for vets not only in the UK but all over the world. It will also help ensure that future generations of veterinary students will have access to a reliable and extensive knowledgebase on donkey health and welfare." 

To view the Donkey Sanctuary's WikiVet pages, visit http://www.wikivet.net/ or to find out more about the work of The Donkey Sanctuary visit http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/

Merial Territory Managers have taken the first three places at the British Excellence in Sales & Marketing Awards, beating off competition from over 100 other entries, including those from household names such as Virgin, npower and DHL.

Merial's Andi Collins was named Sales Professional of the Year (companies over 50 employees), while her colleagues Emma McAnally and Stephen Booth came second and third respectively.  In the eyes of the judges it was their ability to listen, ask questions and then develop insightful business proposals that set them apart.

Merial National Sales Training Manager, Tony Jones said: "At Merial we believe our responsive, well-trained Territory Managers are a great resource for vets.  A resource that we are only too happy to see practices use to the fullest extent.  We expect our people to do their utmost to find out what a  practice's needs really are and then work to deliver the requirements."

The judges recognised the quality of the Merial candidates and their training and also the value this brings to veterinary customers.  Andi's commendation said:  "Her questioning was very strong, undertaking a fact-find in a relaxed manner which gained empathy and importantly she did not try and propose a solution until she had completed her questioning, to gain a full background of the situation in hand."

Nigel Slater, Head of Companion Animal Sales at Merial said: "I am delighted for Andi, Emma and Stephen. These awards are also a huge endorsement of the training investment we make here at Merial.  An investment that independent surveys show is highly regarded by successful veterinary practices."

Fitzpatrick Referrals has carried out a world-first procedure in which an American Bulldog was fitted with a prosthetic hip and femur with a special in-growth attachment which effectively re-attaches the tendons and muscles to the artificial limb.

The procedure took place after 8 year old Roly was diagnosed with cancer in his rear hind leg earlier this year. It involved a highly complex two-hour operation, during which Dr Noel Fitzpatrick, a neuro-orthopaedic veterinary surgeon, replaced the cancerous femur bone and hip joint with a specially constructed artificial prosthesis, while re-attaching the musculature and realigning the relative position of the joint to restore perfect movement to the dog. 

The prosthesis was designed through a collaboration between Professor Gordon Blunn, Head of the Centre for Bio-Medical Engineering at UCL's Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science; veterinary surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick and Jay Meswania from specialist implant manufacturer OrthoFitz.

Professor Blunn said: "What is significant about the design is the way in which it sandwiches tissue and metal together overlaying the gluteal muscles onto the top of the endoprosthetic femur - alternating tendon, synthetic Dacron mesh, tendon, synthetic Dacron mesh, tendon and finally trabecular metal - which has a honeycomb surface resembling a series of small chambers.  In this way, the hope is that the Sharpeys fibres which attach tendons of muscles to the bone will grow into the trabecular metal surface and permanently adhere to it."

"This truly remarkable achievement was made possible through the convergence of biomechanics, biology and surgical innovation," said Noel Fitzpatrick.  "We tapped into the evidence provided by the CT and MRI scanners we have in place at the practice, so that the data collected about Roly during clinical diagnosis was used to design and construct an artificial femur which exactly mirrored his original limb. It has been constructed rather like a telescope - one section fitting inside the adjoining section, so that we get maximum flexibility and traction during motion."

Noel added: "Hip replacement is common here. We do more than 50 a year, on animals as small as a cat or a Chihuahua. But this hip replacement was special, and to my knowledge, the first of its kind in the world. It's important though to emphasise that this technology must only be employed when it is in the best interests of the individual patient. It's not enough to be able to do something; it must be done for the right reason in every case without exception. It must be ethically right. It's also important to emphasise that Roly will probably not live for a normal lifetime because bone cancer generally spreads to the lungs over time in spite of chemotherapy. However, this technology is equally applicable for dogs and cats affected by trauma who will likely live longer. My job is to look after my patients as best I can and to be honest with their guardians and give them options. What I do is provide pain free functional quality of life for as long as my patient is alive. That's important and that's special, but the decision must remain with each and every individual animal owner".

According to the team, this development also has potentialy life-changing implications for human patients such as motorcycle accident victims, where a key challenge to recovery may be successfully re-attaching the kneecap tendon onto the top of the tibia in the lower leg, and injured sports players with ruptured  repairing ruptured tendons.

Click here to view the x-rays of this case in the VetSurgeon Gallery.

The RCVS and VN Councils have each agreed to raise registration and retention fees for the financial year 2011-12 by 2%. This means the annual retention fee for a home-practising veterinary surgeon will increase by £5, and the fee for a veterinary nurse, by £1.

To encourage members who cease to practise to request removal from the Register, rather than simply allow their membership to lapse, the fee for restoration following voluntary removal will be reduced by almost 50%, from £147 to £75.   

All fees for the current financial year were, exceptionally, frozen to help mitigate the impact of the difficult economic climate on the veterinary profession. The increases agreed for 2011-12 are below current inflation figures, and in line with the RCVS financial policy of introducing small fee increases on an incremental basis in order to avoid sharp fee hikes resulting from inflationary pressures.

A list of the new fees can be found in the June edition of RCVS News, also available online at www.rcvs.org.uk/rcvsnews. 

In order to prevent tail injury in one dog you'd need to dock 500, according to research published in this week's Veterinary Record.

The study¹ was based on 138,212 dogs seen by vets at 52 veterinary practices across Britain between March 2008 and March 2009. 281 were treated for a tail injury - a rate of 0.23%, adjusted for sampling.

The owners of 224 of these injured dogs, as well as a random sample of 799 owners whose dogs had not been treated for tail injury were sent a questionnaire on dog tail injuries and docking.

Only 97 of the owners whose dogs needed treatment and 227 of those whose dogs had not been injured replied.

Their responses indicated that around one in three tail injuries (36%; 35 cases) had occurred at home as a result of the dog knocking its tail against a wall, kennel wall or other household object.

A further 17.5% (17 cases) were sustained outdoors, while 14.4% (14 cases) were caused by the tail being caught in a door. In 15 (15.5%) other causes were cited; and in 16 (16.5%), the cause was unknown. Almost half of the injuries (44%) were recurrent.

Over half the cases were treated with drugs and dressings, but in almost one in three cases, amputation was required. Eleven dogs did not need any treatment.

Certain breeds seemed to be more at risk, with springer and cocker spaniels almost six times as likely to sustain a tail injury as labradors and retrievers.

Greyhounds, lurchers, and whippets were almost seven times as likely to do so, possibly because of the lack of protective hair on their tails, say the authors. Dogs with a wide angle of wag were also almost four times as likely to be injured in this way, while dogs kept in kennels were more than 3.5 times as likely to sustain a tail injury.

Only 35 owners said their dogs had had their tail docked, and on the basis of their overall findings, the authors calculated that tail docking would reduce the risk of injury by 12%.

But in absolute terms, 500 dogs would need to have their tail docked in order to prevent one tail injury.

Reference
¹Risk factors for tail injuries in dogs in Great Britain. G. Diesel, D. Pfeiffer, S. Crispin, and D. Brodbelt. The Veterinary Record 2010 166: 812-817.

A poll carried out by The Children's Mutual has found that becoming a veterinary surgeon is one of the most popular career ambitions for 5-7 year olds, second only to becoming a teacher.

The Children's Mutual questioned over a thousand parents about what their children said they wanted to be when they grew up and found that the majority of today's children are looking for a career which requires further training and education. The top careers of doctor, teacher and vet have featured in the 'What I Want To Be' poll for the last three years, demonstrating that children consistently aspire to careers that will need higher education.

However, if you want your children to follow in your footsteps as a vet, you might like to start setting something aside now. According to The Children's mutual, it currently costs £74,700 to train to become a doctor and £75,100 to become a vet but these are set to increase by around £41,000 based on current projection levels over the next 18 years. 

The top 10 career ambitions in 2010 (2009 in brackets) were:

1. Teacher (1)
2. Vet (2)
3. Footballer (4)
4. Doctor (3)
5. Fireman/woman (5)
6. Policeman/woman (7)
7. Pop Star (New entry)
8. Nurse (New entry)
9. Archaeologist/scientist (New entry)
10. Dancer (New entry)    

Tony Anderson, Marketing Director of The Children's Mutual, said: "The children questioned for our research are lucky enough to have a Child Trust Fund account and with half of accounts opened with us receiving additional savings on a monthly basis, we hope these children face brighter financial futures.  The question going forward is how parents will fill the savings black hole for children born from January 2011 if the Child Trust Fund is scrapped." 

Medivet Veterinary Partnership has announced the acquisition of a two-branch practice in Bedfordshire, Ridgeway Veterinary Centre, Flitwick, and Kempston Veterinary Clinic, Bedford, belonging to John Wakely, BVetMed MRCVS.

Current practice vets, John Wakely and Leo Weindrich, as well as all the nursing and reception staff, will remain at the practices. John said: "We are very pleased to be joining the Medivet Group. We will be able to offer our clients a wider range of services and expertise, as well as pass on price reductions for some services, which being part of a larger group enables us to do."

"On a practical level, our clients won't notice much difference. Our staff will remain the same and I will still be their main vet. On a professional level, because the day-to-day administration will be handled by the Medivet head office, I am looking forward to spending more time being a vet. It will give me the time to acquire more expertise in the areas I have always been interested in."

Medivet partner John Smithers said: "John Wakely's practices enjoy an excellent reputation. They will remain local veterinary practices, based, as they always have been, on the high standards of care and strong relationships the staff have developed with their patients and clients over many years. Becoming part of a group will give the practices access to additional skills, facilities and support of staff at other local branches."

This acquisition brings the total number of practices Medivet owns in Bedfordshire to four, the others situated in Biggleswade and Sandy, and brings the total number of practices in the Medivet group to 80.

CEVA Animal Health has announced the results of a survey which found that nearly half a million UK cat and dog owners never go on holiday for fear of upsetting their pet's routine.

In addition, the research revealed that half³ of pet owners who do take holidays experience guilt as a result of leaving their animal at a kennel or cattery, with nearly two-thirds (62%) considering the experience to be just as stressful or even more stressful for them than for their pet.

Cat behaviour counsellor Vicky Halls said, "We plan holidays in order to relax, yet they are actually a common cause of stress for all concerned - particularly for the pet cat. Even a stay at the best cattery can be unsettling, as their patterns of feeding, play and social interaction will be disrupted. They also have to adapt to a different environment and its new smells, noises and other animals. Of course, cats may experience similar issues if staying with a neighbour."

Indeed, 63% of respondents claim to have noticed a change in their pet when they've returned from holiday, with many animals becoming unsettled and showing signs of confusion or nervousness without their owners around.

According to the survey, going on holiday is one of the most stressful events that a pet can experience, although there are measures that people can take to relieve some of their animal's stress.

Juliet Penaliggon, small animal business unit manager at CEVA Animal Health, said: "Many people become anxious at the thought of leaving their pet in someone else's care while they are away. For some, this means they feel unable to go on holiday at all, even for a weekend, but there are excellent kennels and catteries available.

"It's advisable that owners research the facilities in their area and they shouldn't be afraid to ask questions when they visit the kennels or catteries. Once pets are there, some familiar items and the use of pheromone products D.A.P. and Feliway can help the animal to settle in."

For further information, please visit http://www.dapfordogs.com/ or http://www.feliway.com/.

¹ Survey carried out by Opinion Matters on behalf of CEVA Animal Health, March 2010. Sample size: 1,100.
² 464,000 UK cat or dog owners
³ 46% of pet owners

Genitrix has taken on the exclusive UK distribution of the Oxbow Professional range of premium recovery diets for herbivores and carnivores. 

The Oxbow range was developed in the USA, covers a wide range of exotic species, and is offered in multiple pack sizes to ensure ease of use and cost effectiveness. Key products within the range include Critical Care, Critical Care Fine Grind and new Carnivore Care.

Carnivore Care is a recovery diet for carnivores including cats, ferrets, raptors and snakes, which are unwilling or unable to eat their normal diet. Developed specifically for carnivorous mammals, reptiles and birds, it contains easily digestible proteins, as well as high taurine and L-carnitine in a powdered formula which is easy to mix.  It can be self fed, fed by syringe or even by tube to cats, ferrets, raptors, and other carnivorous small mammals and reptiles. It is used for conditions including malnutrition, severe weight loss, appetite stimulation, gastroenteritis, pre and post surgical care and as a medication carrier.

Critical Care is a recovery diet for herbivores, including rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, tortoises and other herbivorous mammals and reptiles. Formulated to contain all essential nutrients, as well as timothy hay to ensure proper gut physiology and digestion, it can be self fed or fed by syringe and is used in cases including gastrointestinal stasis, severe weight loss, dental disease/post extraction, for gastric hair balls and pre and post surgery

Critical Care Fine Grind is a recovery food which is particularly suitable in cases where tube feeding is required. Formulated to contain timothy hay and essential nutrients, it is offered in a fine particle size to ensure easy flow through nasogastric tubes and syringes. It can be used to feed herbivorous mammals and reptiles unwilling or unable to eat due to illness, surgery or poor nutritional status.

John Chitty BVetMed, CertZooMed, CBiol, MIBiol, MRCVS of the JC Exotic Pet Consultancy said:  "In my opinion, the Oxbow Professional Line is the best recovery diet range on the market as it gives vets a variety of high quality options for multiple species. It can make really make the difference in a successful recovery."

Howard Wilder, Genitrix' Managing Director, said: "We're focused on delivering innovative products for companion animals and exotic pets which advance veterinary care and provide revenue opportunities for veterinary practices.

"The Oxbow range covers a uniquely wide range of species giving vets a flexible 'one range fits all' recovery care diet for convalescing pets, which has been well researched and formulated. We're delighted to launch the Oxbow Professional range in the UK and believe many veterinary practices will find it a beneficial addition to their armoury."

The findings of a Canine Vector Borne Disease (CVBD) prevention field study, published in Veterinary Parasitology today, have demonstrated the efficacy of Advantix in repelling ticks and sandflies, thus reducing the risk of potentially deadly diseases.

The study, conducted over two years by a team headed by Professor Domenico Otranto of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Universitá degli Studi di Bari) Italy, with diagnostic support from a team led by Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt at the North Carolina State University, USA, found that dogs treated regularly with Advantix spot-on had a greater than 90% reduction in CVBD cases, including a 100% reduction in new cases of potentially deadly leishmaniosis and a 94.6% decrease in ehrlichiosis.

The study also found that Advantix provided 97.9% protection against tick infestation, compared to untreated dogs, where 100% were infested at the peak of the season. The level of protection offered by Advantix was apparently all the more notable because of particularly large numbers of ticks and sand flies and high prevalence of associated diseases like leishmaniosis or babesiosis in the area of the study.

Prof. Otranto said: "Our study shows the importance of protecting dogs with an effective treatment that repels as well as kills parasites like ticks and sand flies. Despite the high challenge faced by the dogs in our study, nearly all our treated dogs remained free from ticks throughout most of the study, and more than 90% remained free from CVBDs for the whole study time.

"Because we included naïve sentinel beagles in the study, we were also able to model what would happen to dogs travelling to areas where CVBDs are present. We found that by the end of the study, only the Advantix-treated beagles remained protected from infection, while 80% of the untreated beagles were infected with a CVBD. This demonstrates the very real need to protect dogs that are travelling to endemic areas."

According to Bayer, the study showed some interesting results with dogs that were positive with CVBDs when they entered the study. Of these, half of those treated with Advantix were negative for CVBDs at the end of treatment, compared with only 13% of untreated dogs. This suggests the potential for natural clearance of CVBDs if a repellent treatment is used to prevent new transmissions.

Bayer says the study was extremely comprehensive, studying both indigenous and introduced naïve puppies, monitoring for several CVBDs and working with Dr. Breitschwerdt's team in the USA to use highly sensitive molecular testing techniques to ensure optimal diagnostic accuracy. Dr. Breitschwerdt said: "This is the most comprehensive study, to my knowledge, ever conducted testing the efficacy of a repellent ectoparasiticide to prevent the transmission of a spectrum of CVBDs in young dogs."

Leading parasitologist Dr. Luis Cardoso of the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal said: "Thanks to this study we can see just how effective a treatment that repels as well as kills can be."