The RCVS is reminding veterinary surgeons that annual renewals must be completed by 1 April 2017.

Those who pay their fees after 30 April 2017 will be charged an extra £35 to renew their registration while those who have not paid by 31 May 2017 will be removed from the Register.

You will also need to confirm your registration details, confirm you've met the RCVS requirement for continuing professional development of 105 hours over a three-year rolling period and disclose any new or previously undisclosed convictions, cautions or adverse findings.

The annual renewal can be completed by logging into the ‘My Account’ area of the RCVS website (www.rcvs.org.uk/login). For those members who do not have a valid email address, or have requested a hard copy of the renewal form, a form has been sent by post.

Any veterinary surgeons who have not received their annual renewal form or security details for the ‘My Account’ area by 7 March should contact the RCVS Registration Department on 020 7202 0707 or registration@rcvs.org.uk as soon as possible.

Those with queries about paying the annual renewal fee should contact the RCVS Finance Team on 020 7202 0723 or finance@rcvs.org.uk

MSD Animal Health has launched a new range of vaccination equipment to help sheep and cattle producers administer its portfolio of farm animal vaccines as effectively, cleanly and safely as possible.

The new vaccinators all incorporate the Sterimatic system, which is designed to take the worry out of administering injections to livestock by delivering an accurate dose of any given product, whilst also cleaning and protecting the needle automatically. MSD says the Sterimatic system also decreases the potential for disease transmission, minimises the risk of infection and abscessing at the vaccination site, and reduces needle-stick injuries.

The new equipment is colour-coded and ergonomically designed for comfort in the hand and comes in clear, sterile bags that list the recommended vaccines for use with each vaccinator.

The new vaccinators are now available from animal health product wholesalers.

Dechra has launched Lodisure, a 1mg chicken-flavoured amlodipine tablet for the treatment of feline hypertension. 

Available in packs of 56 (4 x 14 tablet blister packs), Lodisure tablets are divisible for accurate dosing.

The recommended starting dose is 0.125-0.25 mg amlodipine per kg bodyweight per day, which equates to half a tablet for cats weighing less than 4kg (and more than 2kg) and one tablet per day for cats weighing between 4kg and 8kg.

It can be administered directly to the cat or given with a small quantity of food.

Dechra companion animal brand manager, Sarah Musgrave, said: “Feline hypertension is very often part of a more complex diagnosis, therefore it is important that antihypertensive therapies are easy to dose and administer. 

"Lodisure is a new, first-line, easy to dose and administer treatment to control systolic blood pressure in cats while the underlying primary cause is diagnosed and treated, which vets can rely on in their day-to-day practice.”

https://www.dechra.co.uk/products/cat/prescription/lodisure.

The BSAVA is supporting the role of veterinary surgeons as advocates for animal welfare by publishing the WSAVA Animal Welfare Global Guidelines for Companion Animal Practitioners and the Veterinary Team in the May issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice.

The BSAVA says the guidelines aim to bridge differing perceptions of welfare around the world and help veterinary surgeons tackle the ethical questions and moral issues which impact welfare. They also offer guidance to ensure that, in addition to providing physical health advice and therapy to their patients, vets can advocate for their psychological, social and environmental wellbeing.

Shane Ryan, President of the WSAVA and former Chair of the WSAVA Animal Wellness and Welfare Committee, said: "As veterinarians, our responsibility extends far beyond the physical health of our patients. Animal welfare as a science is a new and rapidly developing discipline and veterinarians need current, evidence-based information to enable them to maintain the highest welfare standards and to provide knowledgeable, accurate advice for pet owners and communities.

"Our new Guidelines provide recommendations, checklists and other tools to promote optimal levels of welfare throughout the veterinary visit. They also offer guidance on increasing welfare beyond the doors of the clinic through outreach activities.

"As levels of pet ownership increase in many regions of the world, including Asia, it is essential that veterinarians champion animal welfare and the WSAVA hopes that these new Guidelines will encourage our members to adopt best practice and set the highest standards.”

StreetVet has launched a 'pet friendly' accreditation scheme to offer certified accommodation for pet owners experiencing homelessness.

According to the charity, one in ten homeless people have a pet, which is around 32,000 people in the UK. However, the majority of hostels do not accept animals, so they are unable to access accommodation.

The new StreetVet Accredited Hostel Scheme will make sure that hostels are well-equipped to support pet-owning residents. This includes having a variety of pet-friendly health, hygiene and safety policies; access to vet care including telemedicine, free provision of pet essentials, transport to vet practices when needed, emergency kennelling should the pet owner be taken ill and trained hostel team members able to offer support.

The scheme - which will roll out nationwide – has launched today with its first accredited site, The Elms in Hemel Hempstead.  

The charity was able to launch the programme after winning £41,000 in funding from Purina’s BetterwithPets Prize which rewards social entrepreneurs and innovators seeking to harness the pet-human bond to tackle societal issues.

StreetVet co-founder Jade Statt MRCVS said: “Under current regulations, if people turn down housing due to 'no pets' clauses, they are told they are making themselves 'intentionally homeless' and are refused further housing assistance. Any pet lover will understand that choosing between a roof over your head and the company of your beloved pet is no choice at all. 

"Our hope is that in setting up the StreetVet Accredited Hostel Scheme, fewer people will have to make this impossible choice. Access to pet-friendly hostels is their first step towards independent housing. With homelessness on the rise due to the economic impact of COVID-19, it was important to us to launch this scheme before Christmas, as winter sets in."

Bernard Meunier, Purina EMENA chief executive said: “This great achievement demonstrates how a programme built on deep love for pets and their owners, and belief in the power of the pet-human bond, can deliver positive change for both individuals and communities. And this is what we want to achieve with ourBetterwithPets Prize.”

For more information, visit https://www.streetvet.org.uk

The BSAVA has released the final figures showing that 6,331 veterinary surgeons, nurses, practice managers and students attended the event, up from 6,178 in 2013.

Outgoing BSAVA President Professor Michael Day was delighted that so many attended. He said: "What continues to set BSAVA Congress apart is simply 'quality'. The quality of the faultless organisation, the quality of the scientific content, and the quality of our exhibition and incomparable social programme."

A few other numbers from Congress this year included:

• Between them, vets and nurses accrued more than 100,000 hours of CPD in a programme that included orthopaedics, neurology, anaesthesia and analgesia, dermatology, oncology and pain management.
• BSAVA's charitable arm announced £40,000 worth of research funding, to be split between the seven veterinary colleges, and a further £5,000 available to veterinary nurses.
• By close of play on Saturday, more than 1,800 textbooks had been bought from the BSAVA balcony.
• There were nearly 300 exhibitors, amongst which Bayer Animal Health won the best 'space-only' Stand Award, Forum Animal Health picked up 'Best Large Shell Scheme', and Chunk Training won 'Best Small Shell Scheme'.
• According to the Birmingham Convention Bureau, BSAVA Congress brought £15M to the regional economy.

Sunday saw the inauguration of the new BSAVA President Katie McConnell. She said: "Like so many previous presidents, I look back on my early volunteering days with deep affection but it would have been a great surprise to my earlier self to be told that one day I would be the BSAVA President.

"During my presidential year I would like to meet as many BSAVA members as I can, hopefully in their own regions. I plan to travel to regional BSAVA continuing education meetings, not to stand up and lecture but to listen to individual members and find out what the BSAVA means to them. The BSAVA is run by members for members and the only way to shape its work is to become engaged with it."

North Star Vets, which launched last year with a business model that gives head vets at each practice a stake in the business, has opened two new sites in Sandymoor and Warrington.

Sandymoor Vets and Westbrook Vets are headed by Clinic directors, Dr Becky Crossfield and Dr Rhys Peters, supported by a team of 18 vets, nurses and receptionists at each practice and a six-strong head office support team providing finance, marketing, property and HR expertise.

North Star Vets which was launched by Dr Sean Cleary, Dr Richard Thomas and chartered accountant, Jane Platt, opened its first practice about 11 months ago. 

The company is aiming to grow to 10 practices over the next four years.

Sea, said: “The ethos of North Star Vets is about giving the next generation of ambitious vets an opportunity to own a share of their own practice and to run it the way they want, without the risk and substantial capital investment that would usually be required to open their own site.

“Our practices also have the added benefit of our central resources spanning clinical, financial, HR, marketing, procurement and property expertise, which are all required to create a successful business.

"In addition, clients enjoy the service levels and continuity that owner managed businesses are renowned for.”

“We knew our offering would be attractive to high quality vets who have the ambition and drive to go beyond heading up a corporate practice, and want to take their career, experience and earning potential to the next level.

“Burford Lane Vets has been very successful achieving a monthly turnover of £100,000 within its first 12 months and we’re very pleased to follow this with the opening of Westbrook Vets and Sandymoor Vets.

"Both practices are in great locations and have undergone high quality fit outs that incorporate all the latest equipment and facilities.

"When this is combined with the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm of Becky and Rhys, it’s easy to see why both practices are proving popular, with almost 700 clients already registered at Westbrook Vets and more than 400 at Sandymoor Vets.

“We’re already planning to open two more sites in the North West, and are currently looking for high-calibre vets who want to be masters of their own destiny by becoming part of our unique co-ownership model.

"Anyone interested should contact us now.”

www.northstarvets.co.uk

VetSurgeon.org has started a series of discussions about major changes to the profession proposed by the Legislative Working Party in order to help you form your opinion and give feedback to the RCVS.  

If they become law, the changes proposed by the working party will have a profound effect on all practising veterinary surgeons and nurses, so it could not be more important that you express your opinion, whether that is in support of the changes or against them.

The proposals fall under five main headings below, each of which is linked to a discussion thread on the subject. Of particular note is the 'fitness to practise' section which includes proposals for radical changes to the disciplinary process:

• Embracing the vet-led team
  Giving the College powers to regulate all paraprofessionals. Allowing vets to delegate more to paraprofessionals (and giving the College greater power to define what can be delegated). Protecting the title 'Veterinary Nurse'.
• Enhancing the VN role
  Extending the VN role in anaesthesia and allowing VNs to perform cat castrations. In the future, looking at nurses becoming 'VN Prescribers' and performing other tasks.
• Assuring practice regulation
  Making the PSS regulatory and giving the College the power to come and bash the door down (so to speak) if you won't let them in to investigate a failure to maintain practice standards. Giving the College the power to issue improvement notices. 
• Introduce a modern 'Fitness to practise' regime
  To change the disciplinary process to be forward-looking, considering fitness to practise, as opposed to backward-looking, punishing past misdeeds. Widening the grounds for investigation beyond serious professional misconduct. Introducing new powers so the College can suspend a vet pending a final decision by the Disciplinary Committee. Introducing reviews of suspension orders so that reinstatement is no longer automatic. Introduce a wider range of sanctions. To reduce the standard of proof required by the Disciplinary Committee. To use a Case Examiner model for early stage investigations, as opposed to the Preliminary Investigation Committee (PIC). 
• Modernising Registration
  To allow limited licensure allowing - for example people with disabilities to practise. To introduce a requirement for vets and nurses to revalidate. To allow the College to refuse re-registration for veterinary professionals who do not undertake the required amount of CPD. 

Do come and join in the discussions. Which of these things do you think will improve the veterinary care of animals? Could any of them have consequences that haven't been thought of? Do you think some of them show the College overreaching itself? Or do they not go far enough?  

Come and tell us what you think. Hopefully the discussions will help you form your response to the RCVS survey. 

The RCVS survey closes at 5pm on 23rd April 2021.

Mossman Farming, a dairy farm on the west Welsh coast which has been stricken by bovine TB, has become the first to gain permission to trial PBD Biotech’s rapid Actiphage blood test for Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). 

PBD Biotech says the Actiphage test offers the potential to revolutionise control of bovine TB by allowing detection of the disease within hours from a blood or milk sample.

Last November, the Welsh Government announced a new policy that allowed the use of non-validated tests such as Actiphage in herds affected by a TB breakdown. It followed a similar protocol to one authorised by the UK Government last year for cattle herds in England after the test was used as part of a successful private eradication plan on a Devon dairy farm.

Mossman Farming, in Ceredigion, is located in an area of chronic breakdown. It is a spring-calving milking herd with a total stock of 529, to date 312 dairy cows have been slaughtered. Farmer Chris Mossman agreed to trial Actiphage after hearing about the Gatcombe pilot.

Chris said: "TB is a massive problem in Ceredigion, so when I heard about Actiphage’s use at Gatacombe, helping to clear that dairy herd for the first time in six years, I wanted to try and replicate those findings here. Me – and many other farmers – are losing large numbers of animals. I’m trying to do all I can to get rid of this disease from my herd."

In Spring 2019, The Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales granted permission for Robert Price-Jones MRCVS to use Actiphage to screen high-risk cattle for M. bovis.

Robert, who has been leading the trial, said: "Actiphage is able to identify the presence of relatively low numbers of M. bovis in the blood stream of infected cattle. It is not dependent upon an immune system response to the pathogen - in contrast to current validated tests - and so has greater sensitivity than such as the official Tuberculin SICCT skin test.

"The benefit of using Actiphage is that it offers the potential for eradicating the disease from the farm; as early identification of animals at risk of bovine TB enables heightened disease management and control."

Under the terms of the Welsh Government’s protocol, cattle not condemned for slaughter can be tested with Actiphage. Those that give a positive result are identified with a ‘management’ marker, monitored and milked separately.

To prevent further contamination of the environment and to minimise risk to uninfected cattle, animals found to be ‘shedders’ are removed from the farm.

Although a decision to remove cattle based on a non-validated test will be at the farmers’ own expense, the APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) has confirmed that during the trial, where a positive result is confirmed with statutory tests, the animals will be removed with compensation as normal.

So far, 100 animals from Mossman Farming have been tested with Actiphage and Robert Price-Jones is preparing a paper to publish the findings in early 2020.

PBD Biotech is now seeking more farms to trial Actiphage in order to gain the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) validation. The company is offering reduced cost testing to support trials where the findings are made available to support validation of the test.

London-based Mark Turner MRCVS, a small animal veterinary surgeon working at Medivet, Croydon, is taking part in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 in aid of the mental health charity, Mind.

Mark will be cycling the 100-mile route, the same as was used in the 2012 London Olympics, on Sunday 30th July.

Mark said: "Having worked in veterinary medicine for more than 20 years, I have have come to appreciate that it is a career with highs as well as lows. That some days are going to be pure gold, but others are likely to be emotionally tough and stressful. In those times mental health can be tested and that's where services like Mind really come into their own. I'd like to advertise their work and raise some money at the same time by cycling this event for them.

"I have wanted to support Mind for a long time and the Prudential 100 is a local event that gives me an opportunity to support their great work."

If you'd like to support Mark's efforts, you can do so at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/markturner31

European veterinary practitioners are to receive guidance on the appropriate use of the fluoroquinolone group of antibiotics in treating a wide range of common diseases in companion animals.

The advice has been drawn up by the REQUEST team, a multinational and multidisciplinary group of experts which met for the third time last November. Their recommendations have been designed to help ensure the continued availability of this class of antibiotics in both veterinary and human medicine.

The REQUEST initiative aims to achieve a consensus on when and how to prescribe fluoroquinolones, based on a detailed assessment of published scientific data by its panel of nine acknowledged international experts. Following earlier meetings in Lyon and Vienna they have reached a stage in this ongoing project in which they can offer specific guidance on the use of fluoroquinolones in treating three important conditions in dogs: pyoderma, bacterial diseases of the upper respiratory tract and lower urinary tract infections. They will also be offering guidance on the appropriate use of this class of antibiotics in cats to avoid the development of retinal toxicities, which may occasionally result from treatment with one particular fluoroquinolone drug, enrofloxacin.

The guidance will be presented in papers to be submitted to those scientific journals which will be easily accessible to veterinary practitioners throughout Europe. Further papers will be produced and translated into the main European languages giving guidance on fluoroquinolones use in other important bacterial conditions in dogs and cats.

In the later stages of the project, the team will be highlighting priorities for future research and will use its influence to encourage collaborative studies involving the animal health industry, practitioners, veterinary schools and other research institutions, which will validate and redefine the current recommendations. They will also advise on studies which may provide the information needed in those clinical areas where there is currently insufficient published data on which to base any practical advice, such as the use of fluoroquinolones in minor companion animal species.

The REQUEST initiative is supported by Vetoquinol, a global supplier of fluoroquinolone medicines to the veterinary community. Further support is provided by the healthcare consultancy StratAdviser Ltd, which gives assistance on methodology and other scientific matters and also guarantees the independence of the expert group.

Petplan has launched nominations for its Petplan Insurance Advisor of the Year Award.

The award is to recognise the hard work and dedication that Pet Insurance Advisors (PIAs) do to highlight the importance of insurance to pet owners as a means of financial protection. To nominate your PIA visit http://www.petplan.co.uk/piaaward/

Petplan works with nearly 2000 vet practices to promote pet insurance within practice. Once a practice has received Appointed Representative status, employees can train to become a dedicated Pet Insurance Advisor by registering on http://www.petplan.co.uk/piaaward/  

Petplan says that since pet owners often look to vets for advice about where they stand on insurance matters, having a dedicated member of staff there to explain insurance benefits can give an added value service to your practice. Also the PIA scheme can contribute to staff's CPD, and help them develop transferable skills such as confidently promoting products and handling client objections.  

Kelly Cummings, the winner of the 2008 Petplan Insurance Advisor of the Year award said: "Encouraging owners to invest in pet insurance early on in their pet's life can help to ensure a stress-free future. The PIA scheme offers good advice about the basics of insurance which are easy to understand for vet staff.  This information can then be simply conveyed to clients."

The PIA of the Year will receive a new laptop and their practice will receive £100 in vouchers!  Nominations close on 31^st August 2009 and the nominees will be judged by industry professionals.  The winner will be announced at the annual BVNA Congress on 10^th October.

Please note: due to insurance regulation, the PIA scheme is only available to veterinary staff employed at Petplan Appointed Representative practices.