UK veterinary surgeons strongly prefer recommending branded treatments, according to a survey conducted by specialist advertising agency Masius.

The survey, conducted amongst members of www.vetsurgeon.org, received 725 responses. It gave a conclusive insight to veterinary surgeons' opinions on branding, with 87% of respondents saying that they prefer to recommend a branded POM-V over a generic equivalent.

While branded treatments are clearly preferred over generics, vets recognise that higher prices can be an issue for clients. Price is justified mainly through a higher level of trust in the quality of the product (through extensive trialling). They also cite the added support in the event of client usage issues and the value that clients attach to brands. The cascade is a further factor, requiring the use of licensed drugs.

When it comes to supplements, vets are still in favour of brands, but less so - as the cascade is not a factor. On the issue of price differential, most vets felt that a premium of 10-25% is justifiable for a brand over a generic.

Jonathan Posner, Business Director at Masius said: "As well as the quantitative data, we also got some interesting qualitative comments as well. Looking at these, one can see a range of opinions - from the vets who value the easier client acceptance of brands, to those who feel that their professional care of the patient is paramount and that a generic should be used where it delivers the same benefit as a brand. Client ability to pay was also mentioned as a factor - a generic being more likely to lead to compliance for a client on a tight budget."

The fact that branded products come with better information and marketing support was agreed by the large majority (93%) of respondents.

All the participants in the survey were entered into a draw to win an iPad 2. The winner of the draw was Megan Wood MRCVS (pictured right) from Fife. She said: "The iPad is brilliant; I love it, and am a lucky lady!"

The Society for Practising Veterinary Surgeons and the RCVS Mind Matters Initiative are encouraging practices to use the Vet Wellbeing Awards entry process as an opportunity to audit the wellbeing of their teams.

The Vet Wellbeing Awards, which are now in their fourth year, are designed to highlight positivity within the profession by sharing stories and initiatives from veterinary workplaces that demonstrate commitment to improving staff wellbeing.

The Awards also aim to support all practices to take a structured approach towards evaluating their own wellbeing support systems. 

This year, for the first time, feedback will be given to practices that enter about the areas where they are doing well and those where they can improve. The organisers hope that this change to the Awards process will encourage practices to think of wellbeing support as an area of continuous development. 

However, they also hope that practices will use the entry process as an opportunity to audit wellbeing even if they don't plan to enter. 

Liz Barton, SPVS Board Member, said: "Going through the entry form and evaluation process is valuable for every vet practice, even if they don’t feel they’re ready to enter the Awards just yet. Sitting down as a practice team for a few hours and working through the questionnaire is a highly useful exercise for facilitating celebrating areas where your practice is doing well for wellbeing, and also highlighting some areas for improvement for years to come."

"We recommend all practices get into the habit of going through the process annually and choosing areas to focus and improve on, to build towards better wellbeing across all areas for all staff."

There are three award categories that practices can enter depending on the number of employees:  small practice (15 or fewer full time equivalent team members (FTE)), medium practice (16 to 50 FTEs) or large practice (51 or FTEs).

The Award application form covers six aspects of work that, if well-managed, can promote wellbeing and reduce the risk of work-related stress, and the Award judges will be looking for evidence of commitment to enhancing wellbeing for each of these.

They are:

• Promoting physical and psychological health at work

• Relationships at work

• Communication at work

• Career development

• Workload and work scheduling

• Work demands

More examples of the type of evidence and initiatives that the Awards are looking for, together with the entry form, are available on the Vet Wellbeing Awards website: https://vetwellbeingawards.org.uk.

Winning and Highly Commended practices will receive a dedicated logo and certificate for display. The winners in each category will also receive two registrations and banquet tickets for SPVS/VMG Congress 2020.

In addition to the Wellbeing Awards, the RCVS and SPVS are also running the Practice Star nominations, which are open to all veterinary practices. 

These nominations aim to support practices to thank someone in their team who has gone the extra mile to make the practice a happy place to work, whether this be through introducing an initiative that makes everyone’s work life better, going out of their way to support a colleague going through a tough time, or just making everyone smile. 

To enter, practices need to send in their nominee’s name, job title and contact details, and a short paragraph explaining why they have been chosen. They will then receive a certificate congratulating them for being nominated as the practice’s very own ‘Practice Wellbeing Star’.

The closing date for both the Wellbeing Award entries and Practice Star nominations is Friday 22 November 2019. 

Fitzpatrick Referrals has unveiled details of its new joint replacement program, which includes solutions for replacing badly injured and arthritic knees, shoulders, and hocks in addition to the more commonly replaced hip and elbow joints.

According to the practice, this is a dramatic breakthrough which brings new hope to veterinary surgeons and pet owners in otherwise hopeless cases.

Fitpatrick Referrals says the procedures have been developed as a solution for joints with traumatic global joint disruptions involving significant soft tissue damage and for joints with painful end-stage arthritis, with the objective of providing functional, pain free quality of life.  

Noel Fitzpatrick said: "As we understand and try to deal with the problem of painful osteoarthritis in our pet animals it seems likely that there will be a larger role for joint replacement.  Already hip replacement is used to great benefit in the majority of patients that receive it. Other damaged joints could be treated in the same way - but until now the technology to replace knee, hock, shoulder and elbow joints with custom designed prostheses to exactly fit each and every patient did not exist. At Fitzpatrick Referrals this is now a reality for both cats and dogs."

He added: "Joint replacement is particularly useful when a multi-modal approach is used to try and manage osteoarthritis through-out the life of the animal, an area where The Fitzpatrick Group has an increased interest and a variety of publications in peer-reviewed journals. It also offers a realistic alternative to either fusion or amputation in traumatically injured joints." 

The RSPCA has thanked the veterinary profession for its support as the charity endeavours to maintain an emergency-only service to animals through the coronavirus crisis.

RSPCA Chief Veterinary Officer, Caroline Allen, today praised the vets and nurses who are providing essential care to animals through the crisis.

She said: “This is an incredibly challenging time for the RSPCA, trying to advise the public and keeping emergency services going with fewer staff, strained resources and in line with Government advice.

"I know this is equally stressful and challenging for vet staff too and I wanted to say a huge thank you from everyone at the RSPCA for your hard work, dedication and support you are giving the RSPCA.

"Our call centre team and officer are working hard to maintain a frontline animal welfare service, but we know there may be occasions where we are unable to attend and this may impact demand on the local vet practice." 

Current guidance from the BVA defines emergency and urgent treatment as:

• Emergency: Immediate threat to life; significant impact on health/welfare and likely to deteriorate if left unmanaged. Previously these cases that would have been seen out of hours, or fitted in on the same day.
• Urgent: Significant impact on health/welfare but currently stable, or moderate impact but significant risk of deterioration.

Caroline continued: "There are some circumstances particular to the RSPCA, such as animals that have been subject to abuse or severe neglect, or injured/unwell unowned animals, that may not initially appear to be such an “emergency” in the traditional sense, but our officers will only be collecting them if there is considered to be ‘significant impact on health/welfare and likely to deteriorate if left unmanaged’ as covered by the BVA emergency criteria. We would greatly appreciate your support in ensuring we can protect the welfare of these animals.

"Our National Control Centre will also be following the guidance from the BVA and will be limiting, wherever possible, sending members of the public to vets. However, on occasions where there is a welfare need that would justify an essential journey, we will always ask members of the public to call practices first and follow their social distancing protocols.

"For vets who provide care for our shelters and private boarders we understand the support available will be limited, we will be producing further advice for our teams around options, including remote support. 

"We do understand and appreciate the current restrictions being put in place by the BVA and we do understand the very serious strain on practices and teams at this time and we hope that we can continue to work together during this unprecedented time."

Voting has now opened in the 2018 RCVS Council election and eligible voters can now do so online or by paper ballot.

There are 10 candidates standing in this year’s elections, including four existing Council members eligible for re-election and six candidates not currently on Council. They are: 

• Mr David Catlow MRCVS

• Mr John C Davies MRCVS

• Dr Mandisa Greene MRCVS

• Miss Karlien Heyrman MRCVS

• Professor John Innes FRCVS

• Dr Thomas Lonsdale MRCVS

• Dr Susan Paterson FRCVS

• Mr Matthew Plumtree MRCVS

• Mr Iain Richards MRCVS

• Colonel Neil Smith FRCVS

Ballot papers and candidates' details have been posted to all veterinary surgeons eligible to vote and an email containing a link to a secure voting site unique to each member of the electorate has also been sent by Electoral Reform Services which runs the election on behalf of the College.

All votes must be cast, either online or by post, by 5pm on Friday 27 April 2018. 

This year the College invited all election candidates to produce a video in which they answered up to two questions submitted directly to the RCVS from members of the electorate. All videos have been published on the RCVS website (www.rcvs.org.uk/vetvote18) and YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/rcvsvideos).

Key question themes this year included recruitment and retention, the College’s concerns investigation process and veterinary education. The list of accepted questions has also been published on the RCVS website.

The biographies and statements for each candidate in the RCVS Council election can be found at www.rcvs.org.uk/vetvote18.

Eleanor Ferguson, RCVS Registrar and Returning Officer for the election, said: "Last year we had a record number and proportion of the electorate vote in an RCVS Council election and we would once again stress the importance of voting to ensure that you have a say in the future direction of travel for the College and its policies."

Those who are eligible to vote but have not received either an email or ballot paper should contact Luke Bishop, RCVS Senior Communications Officer, on l.bishop@rcvs.org.uk.

A new study, led by academics at the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Sciences and published online in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, has investigated the occurrence of dog aggression towards people with a survey of UK dog owners.

Nearly 15,000 questionnaires were distributed to dog owners of which 4,000 were returned and used in the analysis.

The researchers found that:

• aggression towards unfamiliar people was reported more commonly by owners than aggression to family members.
• nearly 7% of owners responded that their dog barked, lunged, growled or actually bit when people came to the house
• 5% cent reported these behaviours on meeting people when out on walks. 
• by contrast, about 3% of dogs were suggested by owners to show aggressive behaviour towards family members. 

The study highlighted that the majority of dogs showing aggression do so in just one of these situations. Researchers say this indicates that the common tendency to categorise dogs as either generally 'safe' or 'vicious' is a misconception, and that most dogs show aggression as a learnt response to particular situations.  

Dr Rachel Casey, Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare, said: "Dog owners and members of the public need to be aware that any dog could potentially show aggression if it is anxious or feels threatened, even when it has never done so before.

"On the other hand, dogs which have shown aggressive signs in one situation are not necessarily 'dangerous' when in other contexts - an important consideration in the assessment of animals, such as in rehoming centres."

The study also compared the characteristics of those dogs reported to show aggression with those which had never done so. It was revealed that factors such as training classes attended, type of training method used, the sex and neuter status of dogs, the age category of owners, and the breed of dogs were all associated with the occurrence of aggression.

Different risk factors were found to be significant in statistical models examining aggression to family members and unfamiliar people. This suggests that different factors are important in the development of aggressive signs depending on the situation.

The research also highlighted that although general characteristics, such as breed type, are significant risk factors across large populations they explain only a small amount of the overall difference between aggressive and non-aggressive dogs. This suggests that it is not appropriate to evaluate the risk of aggressive behaviour in an individual dog using characteristics such as breed type. 

Reference

Human directed aggression in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris): occurrence in different contexts and risk factors, Rachel A. Casey, Bethany Loftus, Christine Bolster, Gemma J. Richards, Emily J. Blackwell, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, published online 11 December 2013. 

Intervet /Schering-Plough Animal Health has announced plans for a third National Vaccination Month Campaign to take place in May.

The campaign, which is aimed at owners of unvaccinated animals, is being fronted by TV presenter and wildlife expert Chris Packham. Intervet / Schering-Plough says it hopes the initiative will counter falling rates of pet vaccination that have been seen since the credit crunch.

In the lead up to National Vaccination Month, the company will be running a pet health awareness national and regional PR campaign backed up by print and TV advertising. 

Pet owners will be able to download a voucher for a discounted vaccination in May from http://www.nvmonline.co.uk/.  As well as dogs, cats and rabbits, horses will be included in the scheme for the second time.

During the last National Vaccination Month in June 2009, 1022 surgeries participated nationwide and an additional 40,000 animals were vaccinated as a result - 8,000 up on the first campaign run in 2008. According to Intervet / Schering-Plough, many practices saw more than 100 vouchers being redeemed.

The 2009 campaign came after more than a quarter of vets surveyed by Intervet reported concerns about falling levels of vaccination because of the credit crunch. Following the recession and public fears over the deficit, there are concerns that pet owners will cut back even further.

Angus Robinson from Intervet / Schering-Plough Animal Health said: "Research shows that the main reason why people don't vaccinate their pets is a lack of awareness of disease risk. We are also concerned that given the current pressures on household budgets, more people are deciding to cut back on vaccinating their animals with the real risk that this may have a potential effect on levels of herd immunity in the longer term."

He added: "We listened to practices which took part in NVM 2009 and have invested in improving the website to offer a simpler system for surgeries to download and log vouchers for their clients. The site will also drive pet owners to participating vets more quickly. Social media has taken off in a big way since our first campaign in 2008 and we will also be using Facebook and Twitter this time to reflect that. We are hoping that this will reach younger pet owners as data from our last campaign showed that pet owners in their 20s and early 30s were the age group least likely to vaccinate their animals."

Jane Carter of the Drove Veterinary Hospital in Swindon said: "National Vaccination Month is a golden opportunity to communicate the key preventative healthcare messages to new and existing clients. There was a significant outbreak of parvovirus in our area last summer which got a lot of publicity so we are expecting people will really catch onto the campaign this time."

Intervet / Schering-Plough Animal Health veterinary customers planning to take part in National Vaccination Month 2011 can log onto www.nvmonline.co.uk to complete the registration process.

Petplan has announced the finalists for the 2011 Petplan Veterinary Awards.

Now in its 12^th year, the Petplan Veterinary Awards received its biggest response yet with over 2,800 nominations submitted for exceptional veterinary staff all over the UK.

The finalists for each of the categories are as follows: 

Vet of the Year
Charles Bagnal, Orwell Veterinary Group - Ipswich
Alison Laurie, Crown Vets - Highlands
Daniel Parry, Village Vet Garden Suburb - London

Vet Nurse of the Year
Emma Clare, Copthorne Veterinary Clinic - Shropshire
Maria Corcoran, Orwell Veterinary Group - Ipswich
Ingrid Hunt, Cranbrook Veterinary Centre - Devon

Support Staff of the Year
Bev Millward, Milton Keynes Veterinary Group - Milton Keynes
Lauren Hunter, The Ferns Veterinary Practice - Dunkeld
Patty Fraser, Loch Leven Equine Practice - Kinross

Vet Practice of the Year
Ashfield House Veterinary Hospital Ltd - Nottinghamshire
Emersons Green Veterinary Surgery Ltd - Avon
Leonard Brothers Veterinary Centre Ltd - Shropshire

Alison Andrew, Petplan's Marketing Manager, said: "The nominations get bigger and better every year and we're absolutely delighted to announce the finalists for 2011. With 70% of veterinary practices within 3 miles of their patients, veterinary staff are an important part of the community and that's why we feel it important that they have a chance to receive the recognition they deserve. We're looking forward to revealing the winners on 31^st of March."

All finalists will be invited to an elegant awards ceremony that will take place on 31st March at the Birmingham Town Hall, where the winners will be announced.

For further information, visit http://www.petplanvet.co.uk/

The Royal Veterinary College has carried out the first ever open-heart surgery to treat a stenotic tricuspid valve in a dog.

The three-year-old Labrador, Mabel, suffered from congenital tricuspid dysplasia. She was referred to cardiology specialists at RVC Small Animal Referrals where her tricuspid valve was found to be completely fused in the middle, with just two very small openings for her blood to flow through. 

In a procedure that took a little over an hour, the RVC team examined and worked on the valve. The College reports that Mabel’s surgery was a success and her stenosis was relieved.

Mabel was subsequently found to have a moderate amount of regurgitation into the right atrial chamber, but after a few more days of additional monitoring at the RVC she was able to return home. 

The surgery was carried out by Professor of Small Animal Surgery Dan Brockman at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals. He was assisted by a team of RVC specialists to provide pre and post-operative care, including a perfusionist, a team of three anaesthetists, two surgery nurses, three surgeons and a cardiology veterinary specialist-in-training. In addition, Professor of Veterinary Cardiology Virginia Luis Fuentes and veterinary specialist-in-training Dr Rosie Payne were members of the Cardiology Service’s investigation into Mabel’s condition.

RVC students were also involved in the Mabel’s initial examinations at the hospital, providing them with an insight into the procedure. The examinations included cardiac ultrasound using the newest generation of cardiac ultrasound equipment, which is able to capture 3D and 4D images. The new ultrasound scanner was funded in part by the RVC’s charity, the Animal Care Trust. 

After the surgery, the emergency and critical care (ECC) team and the Cardiology Service took over Mabel’s care, with Professor Brockman remaining involved. This saw up to four senior ECC clinicians, a number of veterinary specialists-in-training and half a dozen highly trained ECC technicians working in shifts around the clock to care for Mabel and ensure a good recovery.  

According to the RVC, there have been previous attempts by veterinary surgeons to open stenotic valves with balloon valvuloplasty. However, because it is very difficult to tear the stenotic valve, this approach has not proved very successful. There is also a high risk when putting canines onto bypass. Canines have fragile blood vessels, and cannulae need to be inserted into several of these vessels, creating a danger that a major vessel tears. 

Commenting on why the RVC team decided to perform this procedure at this point, and on Mabel, Dan said: "Lots of things fed into this decision. First and foremost, we had a patient whose pathology made surgery the best solution. I explained to the owner and was very honest that this procedure would be really breaking new ground. Based on what the human paediatric cardiac surgeons will do, and our limited experience of balloon-valvuloplasty suggests this is the best approach for these dogs

"The operation itself is risky, much worse than most other operations. In our hands, for this type of disease, we have about an 80% chance of getting them through the procedure. The owner has to gamble what life the dog has left against the promise of a more normal quality of life and life-span following the operation."

In relation to Mabel’s prognosis if the surgery had not been undertaken, Professor Luis Fuentes said: "It is likely that the signs of right-sided heart failure would have been more difficult to control. Her ability to exercise would have become less and less, and she would have also been at risk of having abnormal heart rhythms associated with the enlargement of the right atrium. Generally we expect them to develop more and more signs as the disease progresses. These are difficult cases to manage on a long-term basis with drugs. Her life expectancy would have been substantially reduced.

"I thought Mabel was almost a perfect candidate to have the procedure here as Dan has a lot of experience replacing tricuspid valves in dogs with tricuspid dysplasia. In those cases there is usually leaking, but Mabel’s case was unusual in that she has minimal leaking and she was most affected by the stenosis. That means you may not have to implant any additional valve structure."

Speaking two weeks after the operation, owner Annabelle Meek, from Melton Mowbray, said: "Mabel has just come back in from wandering around the perimeter of my garden for the first time since before the operation. It’s more than half an acre and she has been ambling around happily following a scent.

"I would like to thank absolutely everybody. It’s been an enormous team effort on all sides. Every single person I met at the RVC, from the man on the gate to all the hospital staff, was so friendly. After she came home Dan Brockman phoned me every day to see how she was doing. The RVC should be very proud of what they have done for Mabel."

Bayer Animal Health has signed a global collaboration agreement with adivo, a company which develops therapeutic antibodies for pets.

The two companies have agreed to jointly discover and develop species-specific therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for companion animals, a class of drug which they say is neglected in veterinary medicine but offers a variety of future therapeutic options for diseases that cannot be adequately treated today.

adivo will select species-specific antibodies using its proprietary fully canine phage display library. Bayer Animal Health will provide targets involved in severe animal diseases.

Dr. Douglas Hutchens, Bayer Animal Health’s Head of Drug Discovery, External Innovation & Chief Veterinary Officer, said: "Today’s agreement is another example of how we realize our innovation strategy

"By combining the know-how from creative start-up companies like adivo with opportunities derived from Bayer’s research, we broaden our space of therapeutic medicine options and complement our portfolio.

"We are constantly looking for innovative technologies that enable us to generate novel treatment options for the companion animal sector. Now, we will focus on evolving the options presented by adivo from research and development to market maturity."

Dr. Kathrin Ladetzki-Baehs, Managing Director of adivo said: "At adivo, we truly believe that pets have a positive impact on our society. By developing novel medicines for companion animals, we want to make a difference for veterinarians and pet-parents. Today, we are more than pleased and excited to have gained such a committed and experienced collaboration partner, to jointly develop new treatment options."

The British Association of Veterinary Ophthalmologists has announced that its annual conference will be held online via The Webinar Vet this year, and you are all invited!

The theme for this year's event, which takes place on 7th November, is the cornea. Lectures will include 'Medical Cornea', 'Cross Linking' and 'Surgical Cornea'. There will be Q&A sessions after each one.

Amongst the speakers are Chris Dixon, CertOphthal MRCVS MRCVS from Veterinary Vision Ophthalmic referrals, Christine Heinrich, RCVS & European Specialist in Veterinary Ophthalmology from the Eye Clinic and Sara Thomasy, Professor of Comparative Ophthalmology at the University of California from UC Davis University.

As is customary, abstracts will be presented throughout the day. 

Tickets are £100 +VAT, or £60+Vat for students, interns and veterinary nurses: https://www.thewebinarvet.com/pages/bravo-virtual-winter-conference-2020-tickets/

Petplan is calling for nominations for this year's 'Petplan Veterinary Awards 2011'.

The awards, which are now into their 12^th year, are an opportunity for colleagues and pet owners to thank their local veterinary stars who go above and beyond the call of duty.

Alison Andrew, Petplan's Marketing Manager, said: "At Petplan, we work closely with vets and hear first hand about the incredible work that is carried out by the profession, so we believe that their invaluable care and support deserves special recognition. Nominating a colleague for an award is a fantastic way of expressing your appreciation for their hard work."

Alison added: "Last year, Petplan was inundated with over 1,800 nominations from across the UK, highlighting that more pet owners understand the great work vets do to help animals and their owners, and with 40% of pet-owners in the UK, stating that they trusted their vet more than their GP, it is not hard to see why the awards are so highly commended."

Closing date for entries is 4^th February 2011. All finalists will be invited to a glittering awards ceremony in Birmingham on 31^st March 2011, where the winners will be announced.

Winners will be selected based on the evidence given on the nomination forms by veterinary association presidents, so make sure you provide as much information as possible. To nominate today visit www.petplan.co.uk/vetawards