Kruuse has launched Krutex Polyisoprene Surgical Gloves, which are both powder and latex-free to minimise the risk of glove-related allergy to latex protein.

The gloves are made from synthetic polyisoprene, which has a molecular structure similar to natural rubber latex. This, says the company, means the gloves have a fit, sensitivity and comfort equal to natural rubber latex. The company says they are also designed to provide increased fingertip sensitivity.

Andrew Groom Managing Director, Kruuse UK Ltd said: "After feedback from our customers showed an increasing concern regarding latex allergies amongst clinicians, we were encouraged to develop this addition to our well established range of gloves."

Krutech latex free gloves join the existing Krutech range which includes; Vet Gel surgeons' gloves, Krutech latex surgical gloves, Krutech latex, vinyl and nitrile examination gloves and the widely used arm length gloves range. The new range is supplied in boxes of 25 sterile, single packed pairs and are available in half sizes from 6.0 to 9.0.

The Purina Institute has published the Handbook of Canine and Feline Well-Pet Nutrition, a free, product-agnostic ebook designed to give veterinary professionals the knowledge and tools they need to give informed, science-based nutritional advice to pet owners.

The book covers things like the functions of various nutrients, nutrition for different life stages, proactive nutrition strategies and effective communication techniques for discussing nutrition with pet owners.

Natalia Wagemans, the global head of the Purina Institute, said: “Nutritional science has evolved significantly, and there are many facets to consider in a well-pet diet, not just from the pet’s perspective, such as life stage, activity level and body condition, but also the owner’s perspective – their lifestyle, budget and preferences.

“This resource simplifies the process of making informed recommendations and can be a vital tool for veterinary professionals to both facilitate nutrition conversations with their clients and provide informed responses to questions.”

https://www.purinainstitute.com 

Petplan Equine is now seeking nominations for the Equine Vet of the Year Award 2009, an award to recognise vets that go above and beyond with their care of horses and their owners. 

Andrew Dobson of The Barn Equine and Large Animal Practice in Great Wakering, Essex, is the current 2008 Equine of the Year. He was nominated by a number of his grateful clients and their glowing testimonials impressed the judges enough to give him the edge over his closest rivals for the title.

The 37 year old qualified in 1999 and for the last four and a half years has run his own practice. His involvement with horses evolved from a desire to work with large animals and the outdoor life it would bring.

Andrew said: "I was absolutely stunned. I'm so honoured and amazed to have received the Petplan Equine Vet of the Year award. I really enjoy what I do and would like thank all my clients, Petplan Equine and The Animal Health Trust for their support."

If you feel you know a vet that displays equine clinical excellence and fantastic customer care you can nominate online by visiting www.petplanequine.co.uk/events Nominations close 3^rd October 2009.  An independent panel will judge the nominations and the winning vet will be announced at the Animal Health Trust UK Equestrian Awards in London, in November 2009.

The deadline for candidate nominations for the RCVS and VN Council elections is fast approaching - so please hurry if you plan to stand.

There are six seats on the RCVS Council, and two on the VN Council, due to be filled in the 2010 election, but candidate nominations must be received by 31 January 2010.

Jane Hern, RCVS Registrar said: "Getting regulation right is something that all Members and Listed/Registered VNs have power to influence. We know from the reaction we get when we propose changes or ask for your comments that vets and VNs are not backwards about coming forwards - and, like us or loathe us, what the RCVS does impacts directly on the lives of veterinary surgeons and nurses, their clients and patients."

The elections will be held in March, and decided by all veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses who use their vote. The results will be announced early in May, with those elected taking their seats at RCVS Day in July and serving four-year terms.  

All prospective candidates need to provide the signatures and registered/listed addresses of two proposers, and should also submit a short biography, 'manifesto' and photograph for inclusion in the elections booklets. Nobody can nominate more than one candidate, and no current member of the RCVS Council or VN Council may nominate anyone.

Newly elected RCVS Council members should expect to sit on at least one committee which, together with Council attendances, means a time commitment of at least six to eight days a year. Those elected to the VN Council should expect to spend approximately six to eight days attending Council meetings, working parties and subcommittees. Both RCVS Council and VN Council members' expenditures on hotels and travel are reimbursed. Their employers can also claim a standard day-rate for loss of earnings.

Nomination forms and full details relating to RCVS Council nominations can be downloaded from www.rcvs.org.uk  or obtained by contacting the Executive Office (020 7222 0761 or executiveoffice@rcvs.org.uk). Nomination forms and details relating to the VN Council can be requested from Annette Amato (020 7202 0788 or a.amato@rcvs.org.uk). All nominations must be made in writing on the prescribed form and received by the Registrar on or before the closing date of 31 January 2010.  

Will Balhatchet MRCVS from The George Farm Vets in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, has been named as Virbac's Young Dairy Vet of The Year.

Nominated by a colleague, Will graduated and joined the practice in 2021, having previously worked as a dairy herdsperson.

In his nomination, clients described Will as having an excellent understanding of the practicalities of running a herd, and said he provides realistic and achievable advice.

The judging panel was impressed by Will’s dedication to improving health, welfare, and productivity on dairy farms with his clear advice and workable action plans.

In addition, Will set up an embryo transfer service, bringing a new service to his practice, along with a robot discussion group, all of which have made a significant and positive impact to his dairy farming clients.

Will said: “It was a real privilege to be awarded the Young Dairy Vet of the Year award amongst so many talented and dedicated farm vets in our line of work.

"Above all it is a testimony to the farmers I work with day to day and the proactive attitude they take to improving their systems which has given me so many opportunities to develop my career”.

This year’s runner up was Hana Ward of Torch Vets in Barnstaple, Devon. 

Photo: Will with last year's winner, Tom Warboys.

Dr. Tracy Hill, a specialist in internal medicine, has joined the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, bringing with her expertise in interventional radiology.

Tracy completed a fellowship in interventional radiology and endoscopy at the Animal Medical Centre in New York, will be researching new techniques in this developing field.

She will also work in the clinic at the School's Hospital for Small Animals and as a senior lecturer.

She said: "Interventional radiology is an emerging and expanding area in veterinary medicine. Interventional radiology employs the use of fluoroscopy and endoscopy to enable minimally invasive treatments for diseases in many body systems. These techniques often reduce morbidity, mortality, or cost associated with more invasive procedures. The Dick Vet has been performing interventional cardiac procedures for some time and we are looking to expand this field into treatment of non-cardiac diseases."

Tracy, who carried out her residency in small animal internal medicine at North Carolina State University, where she also completed a PhD, will help the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh to provide interventional radiology procedures.

This includes a minimally invasive treatment for certain liver shunts using a procedure only being regularly performed at a handful of veterinary hospitals in the world. In this procedure, fluoroscopic guidance is used to access the abnormal vessels in the abdomen via a catheter placed in the jugular vein in the neck. The abnormal shunt vessel is then closed using coil embolization, without the need for abdominal surgery.

Tracey said: "I am delighted to join the Dick Vet. There is no denying the expertise at the vet school, as well as its partnership with The Roslin Institute for research."

Ceva Animal Health, manufacturer of Adaptil and Feliway, has launched a competition in which the practices that build the top ten dog dens in their client waiting rooms will win a luxury hamper worth £50.

The competition is designed to encourage practices to show clients how they can build a dog den to calm their dog during the fireworks season

To enter the competition, you need to post a picture of your waiting room dog den on the Adaptil Facebook page in October: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adaptil/109397602429388?fref=ts.

Ceva also has a range of marketing materials for veterinary practices to use in the competition, including a hanging mobile, cut-outs, wobblers, posters and a leaflet and leaflet holder.

For additional hints and tips, a short film will also be available on the Adaptil website: www.adaptil.co.uk in due course. The footage includes information on preparing a den for a dog to hide in while the fireworks are going off.

For further information, contact your local Ceva territory manager or ,telephone 01494 781510.

Idexx is celebrating its 100,000th laboratory submission via the Idexx VetConnect™ Plus service.

The sample was submitted by the Inglis Veterinary Hospital in Dunfermline, part of the group that has been practising in the area for over 50 years. To mark the occasion, Idexx territory manager Sandie Crawford visited the team at Inglis to present a commemorative plaque and find out what aspects of the service they find most useful.

Rachel Motion MRCVS from Inglis said: "VetConnect Plus allows me to check when a sample has arrived at the lab and what its status is. This can be particularly useful as it allows me to reassure owners that might be worried about the health of their pet. It’s also really helpful to be able to add on any extra tests if they are required."

Dechra will be hosting two CPD sessions at the London Vet Show, the first about why senior cat health checks are worthwhile and the second covering the Nordic approach to antibiotic usage in otitis external.

‘Feline enthusiasts assemble! How to help senior cats retain their superpowers' will be led by Geoff Duncan, veterinary technical advisor at Dechra, alongside panellists Natalie Dowgray, Head of ISFM, Sam Taylor, Head of Veterinary Specialists at ISFM (pictured), Vicky Halls, Head of Unowned Cats at ISFM and Marge Chandler, Clinical Nutritionist at Vets Now Referrals. 

They will discuss the type of behavioural indications that a senior cat may present with, support for a stress-free visit and how practices can get the most out of these visits including the ‘how and why’ of BCS (body condition score), MCS (muscle condition score), the frailty scale and best practice nutritional guidance. 

This hour-long session will be held twice: at 9.10am in Gallery Suite 22 on Thursday 16th November and 1.45pm in Gallery Room 17 on Friday 17th November.

‘Nordic voices on antibiotics in otitis externa; a call for responsibility’ will address the challenges associated with antibiotic usage in the management of otitis externa and discuss the importance of embracing the Nordic model to help significantly cut down on antibiotic usage in the UK. 

It takes place at 10.10am on Friday 17th November in Gallery Room 17.

The CPD sessions are first come, first served.

The company is also offering Happy Hour cocktails on its stand from 4:00pm to 6:00pm on Thursday.

The British Small Animal Association has responded to Defra's statement on compulsory microchipping.

The Association says it is an advocate of compulsory microchipping as the most effective way to permanently identify a dog - as long as owners maintain an up-to-date registration on the various databases. As such it broadly welcomes the recent Defra statement.

However, BSAVA points out that the statement has come before a full and considered consultation in terms of its implementation, and says it raises a number of questions for vets in practice:

• The Dogs Trust scheme is offering to supply practices with the microchips. Yet with an estimated 3 million or more dogs in the UK currently without microchips, will the profession be expected to bear the brunt of the cost of training and paying staff to carry out the procedure, as well as the significant administration that follows?
• The current information from Defra suggests that the service will be free to pet owners. Even if this is the case at the Dogs Trust, Battersea and Blue Cross centres, it is unlikely that they will receive all unchipped dogs, so will those owners entering a private practice have a similar expectation?
• BSAVA is also concerned about an emphasis on microchipping that doesn't also consider the management of the relevant databases. Implanting a microchip in itself is without value unless it is linked to accurate information that is kept up to date.

Despite the headlines around the statement, this is yet to be laid down in law and will require changes under the Animal Welfare Act and potentially the Dangerous Dogs Act, so there is still a conversation to be had about its implementation.

For this reason BSAVA has announced that it is launching a consultation with its members to establish their concerns and opinions in order to work with all the organisations involved in the best interest of animal welfare and the profession. If anyone in practice wants to feed into this consultation, they should visit http://www.bsava.com or contact BSAVA's Scientific Policy Officer Sally Everitt via email - s.everitt@bsava.com.

BSAVA President Mark Johnston said: "While implantation can be straightforward for those with appropriate experience it will be important to ensure that all those who carry out implantation are properly trained. However microchipping is not just a matter of implanting the microchip, there is a significant amount of administrative work in ensuring that animals are properly registered and that details are kept up-to-date. All of these stages need to be properly funded if the scheme is to be successful and sustainable. BSAVA will be consulting its members to gather their views and concerns and hope to be involved in a productive conversation with all interested parties."

BSAVA says there is a good news animal welfare story within this statement concerning the seizure of animals during investigation under the Dangerous Dogs Act. The new measures will allow the authorities to decide whether a suspected prohibited dog can stay with their owners until the outcome of court proceedings. Until now all such animals had to be kennelled until the proceedings had concluded, which often means that dogs who posed no risk suffered unnecessarily.  BSAVA welcomes this new measure in the interest of animal welfare.

In the week that VetNurse Jobs released the results of a survey which found that the most important thing to nurses about a job in practice is to feel valued and appreciated as part of a team, White Cross Vets, the 15-practice, family-run group headquartered in Guiseley, has shown that it's leading the way in this area, taking it's entire nursing team for a 3-day training and team-building event in the South of France

The 29 strong team jetted into Nice for a series of training sessions by Kristie Faulkner focussed around nurse consulting skills. Topics covered included dealing with challenging clients, efficient ways to manage consultations and prescribing health care plans.  

The team also attended a presentation hosted by senior managers from Virbac, followed by a tour of the company’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Carros. In the evening, the team went for a guided tour of Monaco and dinner at the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo.

Tim Harrison, Managing Director of White Cross Vets, said: "Every year we run a training event in Nice and each years it’s been an amazing few days, which prove to be hugely beneficial and enjoyable for everyone involved. We have committed to give every White Cross team member across every level the opportunity to enjoy the trip to Nice, and we’re already planning future events for our vets and leadership team."

Bekkii Bridges, a student Veterinary Nurse from White Cross Vets in Northampton, said: "To have a training session in such a fabulous place was out of this world! Everyone involved had an incredible weekend and came away with lots of fresh ideas that will enable us to continue building on the high standards of nursing and client care that we are renowned for."

Improve Veterinary Education and Central CPD have merged.

The merger brings together Improve International’s global reach and postgraduate qualification programmes with Central CPD’s practitioner-led Continuing Professional Development training and digital learning infrastructure. 

Improve says the merger will better position the two companies to meet the growing and evolving needs of the profession. 

However, the veterinary training marketplace has been hit recently by news that IVC Evidensia has opened two in-house training centres, one in Scotland and one in the Midlands, perhaps precipitating some consolidation, especially since IVC has announced plans to offer CPD to the wider profession later this year.