What does a well-known flea & tick collar have in common with the World Cup?
It transpires that the same Bayer MaterialScience technology which is being used by Adidas to make the 'Brazuca' - the new official match ball - more stable, elastic and hardwearing, is also used to allow imidacloprid and flumethrin to diffuse consistently through Seresto flea and tick collars for up to 8 months.
There you go. Bet you didn't know that.
Designed to help veterinary teams make clearer, more confident clinical decisions, the flowchart provides a step-by-step approach to diagnosing and managing ear disease in dogs and cats.
Renzo Di Florio, Technical Veterinary Adviser at Krka UK, said: “It takes you through each step, from diagnosis to treatment and long-term management, including identifying cases that might benefit from referral.
"It can also help practices to develop an otitis externa management plan protocol that’s useful for the whole team, and that’s practical and easy to integrate into existing workflows.”
One of the main messages in the flowchart is the central role of cytology in otitis management.
Tim said: “Cytology is essential to assess the level of inflammation and detect the presence of bacteria or Malassezia.
"This helps clinicians make informed decisions about whether antibiotics are truly needed.
"In contrast, culture and sensitivity testing can be misleading when used to guide topical therapy.”
https://www.krka.co.uk/veterinary-knowledge-hub
Taking over the Presidency from Julian Hoad, David will continue to focus on the Programme of Change and the BSAVA’s new strategy, which includes some new products and services.
David qualified from the RVC in 1988 and has had a career largely in small animal practice, including a year in Canada.
He and his wife Rosie started the first feline-only practice in England and David is now an Advanced Practitioner in small animal dermatology.
He has postgraduate qualifications in small animal dermatology and medicine, becoming board certified in feline practice, and has an RCVS Fellowship on Feline Osteoarthritis.
David helped to set up the BSAVA West Midlands committee, before then becoming a BSAVA Council member and Chair of the Regions for three years before joining the Board and the presidential ladder.
David said: “It is an honour being BSAVA President for 2025-2026, but this next year will not be about me.
"It will be about the renewal of BSAVA, it will hear us shouting out with an ever-increasing voice about the most exciting innovations and I promise to do my very best.”
Julian Hoad will now move into the role of Senior Vice President, whilst Niall Connell begins his new role as Junior Vice President alongside Jo Megarity, who joins the Board as Honorary Treasurer.
The webinar will be presented by Will Gratwick BVSc MMedVet MRCVS (pictured), veterinary surgeon at LLM Farm Vets in Shropshire and RCVS Recognised Advanced Practitioner in Cattle Health and Production.
Along with colleagues at LLM, Harper-Keele Vet School and VetPartners, Will carried out an Udder Cleft Dermatitis (UCD) prevalence and risk factors study which demonstrated that over 10% of cows are affected by the condition, drawing attention to the need for improved awareness and management of the condition.
The webinar will cover the causes and risk factors for UCD, as well as how vets can approach the diagnosis and management of this challenging condition in their clients' dairy herds.
To register, email Joely Plunkett, digital marketing manager at NoBACZ Healthcare, on j.plunkett@nobacz.com.
The company has created the X-Pert Radiation Safety Centre, with free downloadable toolkits for both small animal and equine practice, including positioning guides, top tips, chemical restraint protocols, and a series of case studies with equine and small animal clinics, including Pennard Vets.
Dr Victoria Johnson, CEO and radiologist (pictured), said: “Radiation safety breaches represent a significant health and safety incident and a risk to the health of veterinary team members and their patients.
"Despite this, we know that breaches are not uncommon in clinical practice.
"To help meet the challenge of improving safety in busy practice workflows, VET.CT has created a comprehensive suite of practical resources to support veterinary teams in applying best practice to ensure the health of their personnel and patients.
"We have also partnered with clinics from around the world, including GP, equine and specialist hospitals, to provide some great case studies of how the principles can be applied in practice.”
Victoria added: “Good radiation safety practice also encourages habits that lead to better diagnostics.
"We know that taking extra care to ensure good patient preparation, positioning and optimising settings results in fewer exposures and higher quality diagnostic images for more accurate interpretation.
"This all contributes to improved efficiency, patient management and outcomes, greater satisfaction, and of course, happier owners.”
The X-Pert radiation safety resources for small animal practice: https://uk.vet-ct.com/welcome-to-x-pert
The X-Pert radiation safety resources for equine practice here: https://uk.vet-ct.com/welcome-to-x-pert-equine
There are a mix of online and in-person events.
On the 27th February at 7:00pm, Derek Flaherty, Professor in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia will cover common complications with veterinary anaesthesia and how you can deal with them during this in person event.
On the 29th April and 30th September, Tobi Wagner, Head of Cardiology at Southern Counties (pictured), will test your echo interpretation skills in an interactive online webinar.
On the 11th March, 1st July and 11th November, Tobi will be hosting Echo Clinics: small-group four-hour practical sessions which will look at how to obtain the necessary echocardiography views that can aid decision making in day-to-day clinical practice. Echo Clinics cost £375.
For nurses, Katie Foley and Tom Chapman will be hosting an in-person session looking at suture techniques on Thursday 6th February.
https://www.scvetspecialists.co.uk/vet-professionals/cpd
Initial laboratory tests on the samples taken this morning from the cattle on the holding in Surrey where disease was suspected have indicated the presence of Foot and Mouth Disease. On the basis of these initial laboratory results and clinical symptoms Debby Reynolds, UK Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO), has confirmed Foot and Mouth Disease. The farm comprises a number of separate parcels of land and a single Protection Zone will be put in place which extends a 3 kilometres radius from each of them, and a Surveillance Zone of 10 kilometres radius beyond that. Footpaths will be closed in the Protection Zone.
Purina has launched a range of services and support materials to help veterinary professionals approach the subject of nutrition with owners.
The Gastrointestinal Support Pack includes a GI handbook, "lunch and learn" educational sessions, a diagnostic support tool (available at www.purinavets.eu/giapplication) and a toolkit containing information sheets and diagnostic advice.
The company has also announced the result of some consumer research it conducted through One Poll in 2013, which revealed that 77% of dogs have experienced some form of digestive health issue, but only 20% of owners had visited their vet to discuss it. The research also found that 80% of owners would be willing to change their pet's diet if it would improve their digestion.
Esther Rawlinson, Purina UK Veterinary Affairs Manager said: "GI upsets and associated 'accidents' can be really distressing for both owner and pet but are seemingly suffered as 'just one of those things' by many. This needn't be the case though, as a lot of GI-related conditions could be prevented or at least managed by the correct nutritional advice and a specially formulated veterinary diet. By addressing nutrition at every consultation, vets can better identify those patients who suffer regular GI disturbance but whose owners do not feel it worthy of mentioning when in the clinic. The survey results show that there is a huge opportunity for vets to improve the health of many more of their clients' dogs and this is why Purina has introduced a range of GI services and support materials. We aim to help vets to include a nutritional assessment in all of their consultations."
For more information call PURINA PetCare Team on 0800 212 161.
Following a new study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the World Small Animal Veterinary Association's One Health Committee has called for a co-ordinated global infectious disease monitoring system to be established for veterinarians who work in small companion animal practice worldwide.
The study, led by Michael Day, Professor of Veterinary Pathology in the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol and Chair of the WSAVA's One Health Committee, lists the key zoonotic diseases of cats and dogs.
It recommends that the knowledge gained through surveillance would permit more effective global control of small companion animal zoonoses and reduce the risks associated with the human-animal relationship.
Professor Day said: "It is well recognised that most of the major new diseases of mankind will have an animal origin and that dogs and cats are a potential source of such emerging diseases.
"The number of small companion animals is particularly significant. For example there are an estimated eight to ten million dogs living in up to 31 per cent of UK homes and in the USA, 72 million dogs in 37 per cent of homes. The benefits of pet ownership on human health, well-being and development are unquestionable but, as they have moved from the barn, to the house, to the bedroom, the potential for disease spread to humans increases. Control of diseases among dogs and cats is a good way to prevent spread to humans.
"In human, livestock and wildlife heath there are already programmes of active surveillance for infectious disease underway to monitor the global distribution and movement of key infectious agents. For example, the WHO monitors human influenza virus infection through a network of 111 centres in 83 countries. In contrast, there is no such monitoring for the infections that may be transmitted between small companion animals and man. Meanwhile, canine rabies virus infection, one of the diseases listed in the paper, is estimated to kill a minimum of 55,000 people in Africa and Asia each year.
"The development of such a scheme would require the significant political will, scientific application and financial support that could be achieved through a public-private partnership. The aim of our position paper in Emerging Infectious Diseases is to initiate stakeholder discussions with that end goal in mind."
Langford Veterinary Services, a fully owned subsidiary of the University of Bristol, has announced the opening of a new standing equine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) facility at the university's equine centre.
The equine MRI facility completes the diagnostic imaging facilities in the School, which include a 16-slice CT scanner for small animals and standing horses, digital radiography, high-resolution fluoroscopy, diagnostic ultrasound, echocardiography and scintigraphy with a high-resolution 1.5 tesla MRI scanner, available seven days a week.
Evita Busschers, Senior Teaching Fellow and orthopaedic surgeon in the equine centre, said: “We are very grateful to the Trustees of the Alborada Trust and the Langford Trust who have provided generous support for the MRI facility. The new imaging facility will enable us to provide an even better and more complete service for our equine patients and completes the diagnostic imaging facilities available at the centre.
“Equine MRI offers the ability to image soft tissue structures and identify soft tissue injuries that cannot be demonstrated with other diagnostic imaging modalities and therefore has major additional value in providing a diagnosis and prognosis in lameness evaluations.”
Miles Littlewort, a trustee from the Alborada Trust added: “Donating the money is the easy bit but ensuring that it has been used where it should be and that it has made the necessary difference is much more challenging. We are so pleased to have had the opportunity to support the Langford Trust and their work to improve animal health and welfare. We are delighted to have attended the opening, to meet the clinicians who will use the magnificent facility and to learn about the clinical research which gives all veterinary surgeons evidence-based information to enhance diagnosis and treatment for all patients.”
A study published in Current Biology has demonstrated that there are remarkable similarities in the way that dog and human brains respond to sound, and that dog brains, like those of people, are also sensitive to acoustic emotional cues.
Lead by Attila Andics, researchers from MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group in Hungary trained 11 dogs to lay motionless in an fMRI brain scanner. This made it possible to run the same neuroimaging experiment on both dog and human participants - something that had never been done before. They captured both dogs' and humans' brain activities while the subjects listened to nearly 200 dog and human sounds, ranging from whining or crying to playful barking or laughing.
The resultant scans showed that dog and human brains include voice areas in similar locations. Not surprisingly, the voice area of dogs responds more strongly to other dogs while that of humans responds more strongly to other humans.
The researchers also noted striking similarities in the ways the dog and human brains process emotionally loaded sounds. In both species, an area near the primary auditory cortex lit up more with happy sounds than unhappy ones. Andics says the researchers were most struck by the common response to emotion across species.
There were some differences, too: in dogs, 48% of all sound-sensitive brain regions respond more strongly to sounds other than voices. That's in contrast to humans, in which only 3% of sound-sensitive brain regions show greater response to nonvocal versus vocal sounds.
The researchers say that the findings suggest that voice areas evolved at least 100 million years ago, the age of the last common ancestor of humans and dogs. It also offers new insight into humans' unique connection with our best friends in the animal kingdom and helps to explain the behavioural and neural mechanisms that made this alliance so effective for tens of thousands of years.
Andics said: "This method offers a totally new way of investigating neural processing in dogs. At last we begin to understand how our best friend is looking at us and navigating in our social environment."
Photograph: Borbala Ferenczy. Dogs at the MR Research Centre (Budapest).
Petplan has issued a last call for entries to the 2009 Petplan Veterinary Awards, and announced that comedian Jason Manford, best known as team captain on Channel 4's 8 out of 10 Cats, will be the compere.
The Veterinary Awards aim to honour the special stars within the veterinary profession and nominations remain open under four different categories:
Petplan says it has already received hundreds of nominations from clients and industry professionals alike. To make sure your colleagues are considered for the accolade log onto www.petplan.co.uk/vetawards to nominate. Entries must be in by 6th February 2009.
The Petplan Veterinary Awards are to be held on Thursday 2nd April on the first evening of BSAVA.
Stephen was recognised for his services to veterinary education and animals in science.
He served as RCVS President from 2017 to 2018 and has been actively involved in the work of the College for many years, serving a total of 19 years as a Council member, both as a vet school-appointee and an elected member, before retiring in 2024.
During his time on Council, he led the Legislative Reform Working Group which developed the Legislative Reform Proposals, as well as the Graduate Outcomes Project, out of which the Veterinary Graduate Development Programme was developed.
Kulin was recognised for his services to animal health and international trade.
RCVS President, Linda Belton MRCVS, said: “Huge congratulations to both Professor May and Dr Patel on this outstanding achievement.
"Thank you both for your extraordinary contributions to the veterinary profession during your careers, for which I would like to extend my appreciation on behalf of everyone at the RCVS.
“I would also like to extend congratulations to all those mentioned in the King’s Birthday Honours List for contributions to the veterinary world, animal health and welfare, and to the One Health concept more generally.
"We could not do the work we do without vital stakeholder collaboration, and it is fantastic to see outstanding individuals in the field being recognised for all they have contributed to our society.”
Here's the latest horror to hit the shops in time for Halloween this year:
Form an orderly queue please, everyone.
The British Veterinary Nursing Association and the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons have launched a waiting room poster to help practices raise awareness of the status of their VNs and promote the welfare benefits that VNs can help provide.
Rolled copies of the A2 posters are available in a tube for £2.50 (to cover postage). Folded copies are free or you may download the poster here.
Contact the BVNA office on 01279 408644 to request a copy.
Vétoquinol has announced that Zylkène, a complementary feed used to help pets cope with unpredictable situations, is now available in a 20 capsule pack.
The new packs have been designed to have more 'stand out appeal' on the shelves. Veterinary practices will now be able to display the new packs in waiting rooms and reception areas in a custom-made display unit to generate interest from pet owners and increase revenue for the practice.
Krystyna Joyce, Product Manager at Vétoquinol, said: "This has a huge benefit for the vet practice. As well as increased revenue, pet owners are much more likely to initiate a discussion about behaviour if they can see that there is a product to help their pet adjust to unusual circumstances or environmental changes."
Krystyna added: "With a number of behaviour products on the market, it can be confusing for pet owners to know which ones can be used when. We want to make it easier for pet owners: now when they come to their vets, they can see Zylkène, know what it's for, understand which strength will be right for their pet and pick it up."
As well as increasing product awareness, the packs will work alongside Vétoquinol's ongoing series of pet owner guides which offer advice on how best to help an animal deal with an unusual situation or life change.
Zylkène retail packs are available now from any veterinary wholesaler.
Abbey Veterinary Group in Chaddesden, Derby has won a dental x-ray system worth £2,500 in a prize draw held by Pedigree.
The competition aimed to encourage veterinary practices to sign up for the inaugural Oral Care Month which saw 1109 clinics educating dog owners on the importance of regular dental care.
Clive McPherson, veterinary partner at Abbey Veterinary Group, said: "We were extremely pleased to hear that we had won the dental x-ray system. We had been planning to upgrade our dental facilities and this was one item that was high on our wish list. The new machine will enable us to carry out our dental work to a higher standard and will be of use in other maxilla facial problems. We expect it to be used daily and we are very grateful to Pedigree for its very generous prize."
The Diabetic Clinical Score is a quick, standardised scoring system to record the clinical signs of diabetes in a patient, which was designed by Royal Veterinary College Internal Medicine Specialist Stijn Niessen
The scoring system has been turned into a pet diabetes app which allows clients to record and monitor the impact of treatment.
CVS' aim is to use the recently validated tool in over 80% of patient cases to improve the treatment and control of diabetes whilst supporting the practice team to develop their skills in managing the condition.
Participating practices will use the DCS, alongside blood glucose measurements, to diagnose and monitor patients.
Veterinary nurses will refer animals coming in for six-monthly Healthy Pet Club check-ups to a vet for a possible diabetes diagnosis, whilst vets diagnosing diabetes will introduce owners and patients to the DCS to record a diabetes log, to help manage the condition.
To upskill and develop colleagues in the use of the DCS, dedicated vet and nurse training sessions have been held by the clinical leadership team, including a kick-off ‘diabetes day’ which focussed on current thinking and introduced the DCS tool.
CVS teams have also grouped together to agree a coordinated approach to managing pets with diabetes in their practice.
Supporting diabetes resources have also been drafted for practices, including new clinical guidelines, supporting paperwork and CPD.
Lara Wilson, Regional Clinical Lead at CVS said: “Diabetes is notoriously difficult to diagnose and different vets can use different approaches to managing cases.
“The Diabetic Clinical Score will help the whole team around the patient – the owner, vet and veterinary nurse – to effectively and cohesively manage their care.
It will implement joined-up thinking and help to put a standardised disease management framework in place.
“It will be fantastic to see the benefits that the Diabetic Clinical Score will bring to our patients and practices.
"I am certain that this will help contribute towards them providing some of the best diabetes clinical diagnosis and care in our profession.”
The grants are available for small-scale clinical research projects in areas of the affiliate speciality, focusing on diseases affecting companion animals.
The projects will be selected in the hope that the study results will have a rapid and positive impact on the way diseases are diagnosed, managed and treated in general practice, as well as at a specialist level.
BSAVA says applications are particularly welcome from practitioners, as well as academics or joint applications between practice and academia.
Chris Scudder, from the Small Animal Medicine Society said: “We are delighted to be able to collaborate with BSAVA PetSavers in supporting innovative research in small animal internal medicine.
"We have a shared goal of advancing the health and well-being of small animals.
"Their invaluable and generous support enables us to fund research that makes a meaningful difference for cats, dogs, and their owners.”
Applications are also open for the BSAVA PetSavers Clinical Research Project grant, where funding of up to £20,000 is available.
https://bsava.com/petsavers/apply-for-funding/clinical-research-projects/.
The European Society of Feline Medicine (ESFM) is expanding the scope and reach of its Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (JFMS) in January 2009 by moving to a monthly schedule and introducing six colourful new clinical issues which will alternate with the now well-established classic issues.
JFMS, the official journal of both ESFM and of the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), has an excellent citation index and is ever-growing with record numbers of high quality papers being received. The clinical issues of JFMS will be highly visual and contain commissioned clinical review articles enhanced by case work-ups, self-assessment questions and multimedia online elements to provide practitioners with the latest author guided evidence-based information as a tool for day-to-day feline treatment.
‘As a practitioner-orientated organisation we wanted to do more for the vet in practice. So, for ESFM's 10th anniversary we are again breaking the mould by introducing six new issues a year containing well illustrated clinical reviews, aimed specifically at practice, from the best authors around the world,' said Claire Bessant Chief Executive of the ESFM and its founding organisation the Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB).
‘The aim of JFMS ‘clinical' is to turn vision into reality by delivering opinionated reviews, and some ‘outside the box' thinking, from respected clinicians to the front line of veterinary practice,' says JFMS editor Dr Andy Sparkes.
From January, members of ESFM will receive a monthly journal - six classic (the current JFMS) and six JFMS clinical issues - classic and clinical - pure and applied - the best of feline veterinary science.
If you would like a mini-sample of the new journal then contact the FAB/ESFM office Margaret@fabcats.org or go to www.fabcats.org/esfm where you can download a pdf or view it on screen.
Individual membership of ESFM is £110 pa (Euros 145) for UK and overseas. Practice membership is £170 for the UK, £190 overseas (soruE 240). ESFM members are entitled to reduced rates to ESFM congress and gain online access to JFMS papers. Full details are available at www.fabcats.org/esfm.
Boehringer Ingelheim has launched Bitesize (www.bi-bitesize.co.uk), an educational website about canine epilepsy for veterinary surgeons.
Boehringer’s Brand Manager Craig Roxburgh said: "We have teamed up with eight neurology experts working in referral centres across the UK. These experts have covered the questions most commonly encountered when managing epilepsy cases in first opinion practice, which we hope will assist vets in their epilepsy case management."
Answers to questions are delivered as short video clips of between one and three minutes, optimised for use on smartphones and tablet devices to make them available in the practice or on the move.
Craig added: "Canine epilepsy can be a complex condition to manage. We hope therefore that when cases present, Bitesize will prove a useful and handy ‘go-to’ resource for vets to access information at the time they need it."
There's a chance to win an iPad if you visit the new site before 29th February 2016.
The Fellowship was relaunched earlier this year with three new routes to entry and a greater focus on giving veterinary surgeons from all parts of the profession the opportunity to become an RCVS Fellow. In total over 50 people applied to become a Fellow through one of the three routes – Meritorious Contribution to Knowledge, Meritorious Contribution to Clinical Practice and Meritorious Contribution to the Profession – of whom 44 were successful.
Those who were successful were honoured at the College’s inaugural annual Fellowship Day on Wednesday 19 October were they received their certificates of Fellowship from RCVS President Chris Tufnell.
Nick Bacon chairs the Fellowship Board which, through its various Credential Panels, assesses each of the Fellowship applications. He said: "The recent Fellowship Day was a great success and celebrated the contributions of many colleagues who had a wide range of veterinary careers and expertise.
"I hope to see many similar days over the coming years and would encourage experienced veterinary surgeons who feel they have made a significant contribution to our profession to apply to become a Fellow – whether you are from teaching, research, industry or clinical practice."
Details of how to apply are on the College’s website at www.rcvs.org.uk/fellowship. Those who are interested in applying can also contact Duncan Ash, Senior Education Officer, for further details on d.ash@rcvs.org.uk or 020 7202 0703.