BreathEazy has launched a new podcast, Between the Reins, exploring the science and management of equine respiratory health and performance.

The first episode features equine veterinary surgeon Fiona Farmer, BreathEazy Director and veterinary surgeon Jon Slattery, and international event rider Harry Meade.

They discuss the impact respiratory health can have on performance horses and the practical management of respiratory challenges in competition settings.

The opening episode also focuses on the relationship between respiratory health, performance and recovery, and on how veterinary understanding can inform everyday horse management.

The episode also explores the science behind nebulisation, and Jon Slattery discusses its role in administering medications and in broader respiratory management in horses exposed to dust, pollen and other environmental particles. 

Fiona said: "By combining veterinary knowledge with real-world experience from the top of the sport, we hope to share useful insights that riders, owners and vets can apply."

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7FHQ6XRR3VYUawgH6sppsP 

In-home hospice and end-of-life care provider, Dignipets, has partnered with the Association of Pet Bereavement Counsellors (APBC), giving veterinary professionals a direct referral pathway to connect clients with accredited support during pet loss.

Dignipets says that as well as supporting clients, referring this aspect of care to qualified counsellors can also reduce the emotional strain on veterinary teams.

Last year, Dignipets launched a free app for pet carers that offers quality of life scoring tools and a connection with the Dignipets hospice team.

Dignipets says that the app can strengthen the relationship between vet practices and their clients, in a partnership where the vet team provides the best care for the pet, Dignipets provides specialist hospice support and QOL guidance, and the APBC offers professional emotional support for clients, reflecting a more holistic model of veterinary care.

Merel Taal, Founder and Principal Director at Dignipets, said: "Coping with the loss of a pet can be extremely difficult and there is no shame in seeking professional support to get through such a challenging time.

"But what really excites me is that we can now reach pet carers so much sooner - before loss, during those incredibly hard weeks and months of anticipatory grief.

"This is an amazing extra feature that means we hopefully get more pet carers struggling with anticipatory grief the support that they need - sooner."

https://www.dignipets.co.uk 

RVC researchers have published research on the prevalence and management of orf on UK sheep farms which they say will give vets an opportunity to improve prevention and disease control by opening discussions on treatment protocols and prevention strategies

The study, which was led by Beth Reilly, Senior Teaching Fellow in Small Ruminant Health and Flock Management at the RVC, and JP Crilly, Lecturer in Small Ruminant Health and Flock Management, used an anonymous online survey distributed to sheep farmers across the UK via social media, with 421 farmers taking part.

The findings showed that 88.8% of respondents had identified orf lesions in their sheep, despite which only 23.8% consulted a veterinarian when orf was suspected.

Farmers reported a median treatment cost of £5 per affected lamb and £100 per affected flock, highlighting the ongoing economic impact of the disease.

Although uncomplicated orf cases do not require antibiotic treatment, topical antibiotic sprays were the most reported treatment used by 65.2% of respondents, while 26.7% used injectable antibiotics and 22.7% reported using both injectable and topical antibiotics.

A total of 13.6% of respondents reported using salt licks as part of orf treatment practices.

Only 34.5% of respondents reported using pain relief in affected animals.

The study also highlighted important human health considerations.

Nearly a third of respondents reported having contracted orf themselves.

Those who reported wearing gloves some or all the time were significantly less likely to contract orf, with their likelihood of infection only 64% of those who never wore gloves.

The researchers say that discussions between sheep farmers and veterinarians should be encouraged to cover current treatment options for orf lesions, the zoonotic risk, the importance of ensuring that other diseases with similar clinical presentations are not overlooked and that antimicrobials are used only when necessary.

Reference

1. Reilly B, et al. ‘Orf insights: establishing current prevalence, treatment practices and opinions of UK sheep farmers’, Small Ruminant Research, Volume 259, 2026. The full paper can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2026.107766

Krka UK has launched Prazemo (emodepside and praziquantel), a POM spot-on wormer for cats, licensed for the treatment of roundworms, hookworms, lungworms and tapeworms.

Krka says Prazemo is the first generic to offer this combination of actives in this format, and is bioequivalent to the originator product.

Prazemo is available in three dosage strengths for different cat weights and can be used from 8 weeks of age and during pregnancy and lactation.

Dechra has launched new Specific Heart & Kidney Support Hydrolysed dry diets and updated its Specific Heart & Kidney Support wet and dry diets, giving veterinary teams another diet option for dogs and cats with kidney disease.

The new hydrolysed diet contains hydrolysed proteins, AuraGuard, fibres and Zeolite.

Dechra says the new formula featured in both diets offers superior palatability and works in a multi-action way with support of the gut-kidney axis to help optimise protein absorption and maintenance of muscle mass, gut barrier integrity and a healthy microbiome, while lowering uremic toxins in the blood.

The company says both diets control levels of protein, phosphorus and sodium and offer high levels of the Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.

Becky Morris, marketing manager at Dechra, said: "Chronic kidney disease is a lifelong progressive disease in dogs and cats, and nutrition is an important part of management to help slow disease progression, improve quality of life and reduce the risk of secondary complications.

"Our new and updated highly palatable Specific Heart & Kidney Support diets will help keep dogs and cats in good condition, prolonging the progression of the disease and the lifespan of the pet."

https://www.specific-diets.co.uk 

The BVA has unveiled its programme for BVA Live 2026, with sessions aimed at helping veterinary teams prepare for the reforms being introduced by the Competition and Markets Authority, at the NEC in Birmingham on 11-12 June.

Among the programme highlights is "Managing complaints post-CMA, what do you need to know?", featuring BVA President Rob Williams, Jennie Jones, Head of Veterinary Client Mediation Service, and Gavin Durston, Director of Thrums Vets.

In another session, "Hot topic: CMA remedies - what do they mean in practice?", Rob Williams, Kate Higgins, owner and Director of Village Vets Formby, and Lyndsay Hughes, BVNA Senior Vice President, will debate where we are with the investigation, what comes next, and the possible impact of the CMA remedies on practices. 

The programme also includes sessions on clinical practice, leadership in the workplace and the role of vets in ethical decision making.

Clinical stream highlights include euthanasia in small mammals, birds and reptiles, anaesthesia in comorbid patients, updates in ocular pharmacology, optimizing hospital care for long-term patients, and managing anxiety in "pandemic puppies".

The BVA Interactive Zone will also return, with President Rob Williams, Senior Vice President Elizabeth Mullineaux and Junior Vice President Gwen Rees leading debates on overtreatment, managing and improving a toxic workplace and contextualised care.

Rob said: "As the profession emerges from the CMA investigation, BVA Live will be one of the first opportunities for vet teams to come together to access practical CPD to move forwards and comply with the CMA remedies."

https://bvalive.vetshow.com/conference-programme 

Virbac will host a free one-hour webinar on managing complex feline hyperthyroidism cases on Tuesday, 28 April at 8pm

The webinar, "The Thyronorm Precision Masterclass: navigating comorbidities, compliance and complex cases", will be presented by Sam Taylor, an RCVS Recognised Specialist in Feline Medicine based at Lumbry Park.

The session will look at balancing thyroid control alongside CKD, cardiac disease and other common concurrent conditions.

It will also cover approaches for improving long-term treatment success in the home environment.

Sam will also cover challenging presentations, atypical progressions and decision-making frameworks for case management.

Registration is free, and the webinar will also be available on demand after the live event.

https://membership.elearning.vet/sam-taylor-thyronorm-free-webinar-registration 

Casco Pet has launched CareKennels, a new veterinary clinical housing range designed to provide an accessible, cost-competitive and quieter alternative to stainless-steel cages.

The new line incorporates integrated sound-dampening materials to reduce noise both within and outside the kennels both for the patients and clinical teams.

It also features a proprietary antibacterial polymer and toughened safety-glass doors, which Casco says improve biosecurity and support more efficient cleaning protocols. 

According to Casco, testing has shown CareKennels take around 40% less time to clean than stainless-steel cages.

Casco Pet CEO Matthew Bubear said: "CareKennels bring together many of the strengths our products are known for - design quality, thoughtful construction and a wellness-first approach - while offering an accessible option for clinics looking to improve their housing standards."

"Creating calmer, more comfortable spaces for patients supports better clinical outcomes as well as contributing to a more positive working environment for veterinary professionals."

https://cascopet.com 

Princess Anne has opened the Royal Veterinary College's Student Learning Centre at its Hawkshead Campus in Hertfordshire, adding teaching and research facilities for veterinary and biomedical science training.

The three-storey development includes Research Laboratories, Student Laboratories, teaching rooms, a 400-seat lecture theatre and social learning areas for students and staff.

https://www.rvc.ac.uk 

Veterinary organisations have broadly welcomed the Competition and Markets Authority’s final reforms for the sector, with responses from across the profession largely supportive of the package’s focus on transparency, consumer information and Veterinary Surgeons Act reform.

The main note of caution came from the RCVS, which said it had concerns about proposals around publishing anti-parasitic medicine prices and about recommended changes to the College’s governance structure.

The Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) also warned the package would bring significant operational and commercial consequences for practices, echoing an earlier VetSurgeon.org analysis that suggested implementation could cost some practices several thousand pounds.

Elsewhere, the BVA, BVNA and BSAVA all backed the measures proposed by the CMA, and the PDSA welcomed the exemption for charities.

However, whilst greater transparency is undoubtedly a good thing, there are reasons to doubt how much difference some of the CMA’s measures will make in practice.

A price comparison website may make fees for commoditised services easier to compare, but it cannot capture the qualities that many owners actually choose a vet for: judgement, experience, bedside manner and clinical philosophy.

A tool that judges veterinary services primarily on price risks devaluing precisely those aspects of care.

The bigger difficulty is that the reforms focus mainly on transparency, not on the other underlying drivers of cost.

Veterinary medicine has become steadily more sophisticated and expensive, shaped by scientific progress, vets’ understandable desire to do the best possible for the patient in front of them, regulatory expectations, pet insurance, commercial pressures, and society’s changing tolerance of risk.

Until the profession is willing to confront the question of whether modern veterinary medicine is too often presenting clients with levels of investigation and treatment that they cannot afford, or that cost more than they believe it is right to spend on a pet animal, transparency measures alone will not make the controversy disappear. 

Without addressing that deeper issue, the negative headlines are unlikely to go away.

The Competition and Markets Authority has unveiled a package of veterinary transparency reforms that will require practices to publish prices, give written estimates and tighten complaints handling.

Although the regulator says the changes should impose only limited administrative costs, VetSurgeon.org estimates that implementation may still run to several thousand pounds for some practices.

Under the reforms, practices will need to:

• Update signage and marketing materials if part of a group to display the practice owner.
• Ensure marketing materials and signage clearly set out out-of-hours arrangements, staff qualifications and accreditations.
• Publish a standardised price list online and in-practice for consultations and a wide range of diagnostics, treatments and procedures defined by the CMA, for five standardised pet characteristic and weight categories.
• Publish prices for commonly sold flea, tick and worm products, plus a link to the VMD Register of online retailers, both online and in-practice.
• Publish full pet care plan details, including standalone prices and an explanation of any claimed cost savings.
• Submit practice information and pricing data to the RCVS for publication via an upgraded Find a Vet comparison platform.
• Provide written estimates for treatment pathways likely to cost £500 or more and update them if costs are likely to increase by 20% or £500.
• Provide itemised bills.
• Put written clinical freedom policies and processes in place.
• Give clients written information produced by the RCVS about prescriptions and buying medicines elsewhere, including via practice websites, posters and emails, and tell owners during consultations.
• Provide written prescriptions at the end of a consultation or digitally within 48 hours.
• When prescribing own-brand medicines, tell clients about the reference product alternative and identify it in writing.
• Provide additional information to owners receiving ongoing medication about their ability to request a written prescription and potential savings from buying medicines elsewhere.
• Check any out-of-hours contract to ensure notice periods do not exceed 12 months and no termination fee applies after that period.
• Offer a communal cremation service and publish clear information about cremation options and prices, including add-ons.
• Put a written complaints procedure in place, publish it and keep a complaint log.
• Take part in mediation in good faith when required.

In total, the CMA package introduces more than a dozen new operational requirements for veterinary practices.

Practices will also have to pay a new levy to the RCVS to fund its expanded role running the price comparison service, estimated at £450-£550 annually, after a £150-£250 setup charge.

Once the Order is made — currently expected in September 2026 — most of the transparency measures will need to be implemented within three months by larger veterinary groups and six months by smaller practices.

More operational changes, such as written estimates, itemised billing and the new prescription rules, follow later, with smaller practices typically given up to 12 months to comply.

The final stage will see practices submitting data to the RCVS for its upgraded Find a Vet comparison platform once the system has been built.

Prescription fees will be capped at £21 for the first medicine prescribed in a consultation and £12.50 for each additional medicine, with both figures rising annually in line with CPI, and practices will need to assess the impact on their business model.

A new study from the Royal Veterinary College has found that Cockapoos, Labradoodles, and Cavapoos in the UK often exhibit higher levels of undesirable behaviours compared to their purebred parent breeds, offering veterinary professionals an insight for client advice and management¹.

For the study, the team at the RVC conducted an online survey of the owners of 9,402 UK dogs to investigate the behaviour of three popular designer Doodle breeds – Cockapoo, Labradoodle and Cavapoo.

Behaviours were compared between the Doodles and their purebred parent breeds, including Cocker Spaniels; Cavalier King Charles Spaniels; Labrador Retrievers; and Toy, Miniature, and Standard Poodles.

Behaviour was assessed using the validated Canine Behavioural Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) which quantifies diverse behavioural challenges including aggression, fear and anxiety, separation-related behaviour and attention-seeking.

The results show that designer Doodles differed from their purebred parents in approximately 54% of behavioural comparisons.

Where differences were identified, Doodles showed more undesirable behaviours in 82% of comparisons.

Some of these common undesirable behaviours included non-social fear (e.g. fear of traffic, loud noises); separation-related problems (e.g. vocalisation and destructiveness when left alone); and excitability (e.g. strong reactions to exciting events such as walks and doorbells).

Doodles showed less undesirable behaviours in only 18% of the comparisons where a difference was identified, for example Labradoodles scored lower for dog rivalry (e.g., conflict with dogs they live with) compared to Poodles.

Considerable variation between the three individual Doodle breeds was also identified, demonstrating that designer crossbreeds should not be treated as a single, uniform group in terms of behaviour.

For example, Cockapoos displayed a higher level of undesirable behaviours compared to their purebred parent breeds, exceeding that seen in Cavapoos and Labradoodles.

In particular, Cockapoos showed higher levels of aggressive behaviours, such as owner-directed aggression and dog rivalry, than their purebred parents.

Dr Rowena Packer, Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science at the RVC and senior author of the paper, said: “Realistic expectations are key to happy dog ownership.

"When expectations and reality don’t align, both dogs and owners can struggle.

"Preconceived beliefs, such as the idea that designer-crossbreeds are naturally easy to train or are safe with children, can have serious consequences if they aren’t supported by evidence.

"Our research shows that many designer-crossbreeds do not always behave as expected, particularly regarding training, anxiety and aggression, which were more common than in their parent breeds.

"We also found that not all ‘Doodles’ are alike, with Cockapoos tending to display more undesirable behaviour compared to Labradoodles and Cavapoos, highlighting that each breed is unique.

"By providing reliable scientific data, we can help puppy buyers to make better-informed choices that support both human wellbeing and canine welfare.”

Reference

1. Bryson GT, O'Neill DG, Belshaw Z, Brand CL, Packer RMA (2026) Comparing undesirable behaviours between ‘designer’ Poodle-cross dogs and their purebred progenitor breeds. PLoS One 21(2): e0342847. The full paper is available from PLOS ONE and can be accessed at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0342847 

Dozens of independent veterinary practices across the UK still face uncertainty over their health plans following IVC Evidensia's wordmark claims for 'Pet Health Club', according to We Are Spartacus, a campaign group formed to fight the claims. 

IVC started writing to the practices at the start of last year, threatening legal action over their use of the term 'Pet Health Club', which the company says infringes its trademark rights.

In March 2025, IVC sent follow-up letters to affected practices, offering an extension until 31st December 2025 to comply with its demands, but according to We Are Spartacus, there has been no contact since the deadline passed.

Meanwhile, We Are Spartacus reports that 200 veterinary professionals have registered their opposition to IVC's claims via its website.

Dr Natalie Morris-Webb, owner of Malthouse Vets, one of the affected practices, said: “Last year was a worrying time for lots of independent practices with a ‘Pet Health Club.’

"Many of those that came forward had been using the term long before IVC registered its wordmark in 2019 and either had to face the cost and hassle of rebranding their health plans or enter into a legal dispute with IVC.

“Neither of these are appealing options for independent practices, or their owner managers.

"Although IVC appears to have ceased defending the ‘pet health club’ wordmark, with none of the affected practices reporting any further correspondence for many months, the uncertainty is still there.

"It’s unacceptable that IVC has not yet achieved a commercial settlement, or revealed whether they have given the industry a reprieve and no longer plan to take legal action.”

An IVC Evidensia spokesperson said: "We have no current plans to approach anyone we haven’t previously contacted on this matter, but of course, we reserve the rights available to the company, as trademark holder, to protect our trademarks and customers in the future, as in any sector."

"A material number of those previously infringing our trademark have now updated their branding.

"Anyone still in breach was given clear notification, so the position is unambiguous - they are required to update."

The Pet Health Club website does not currently state that the scheme is owned by IVC Evidensia.

www.wearespartacus.co.uk