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VetSurgeon.org publishes a curated feed of veterinary news for practising veterinary surgeons, with a primary focus on the UK profession.
We select stories based on their practical relevance, clinical interest, or professional significance — filtering out noise so busy vets can stay informed quickly.
Our coverage includes:
We report across all areas of practice, including companion animal, farm, equine and exotic species.
Our editorial approach is deliberately selective and concise. We prioritise clarity and relevance over volume, aiming to make each story worth your time.
You can follow VetSurgeon News by subscribing to the daily, weekly or monthly email digest, or via our channels on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Elanco Companion Animal Health, which makes Surolan and Surosolve, has launched a couple of short films to demonstrate to pet owners how to administer veterinary prescribed ear drops and clean their pet's ears.
Filmed with the University of Bristol and published on YouTube, the first shows how to administer ear drops:
whilst the second offers hints and tips on using a veterinary supplied ear cleaner:
As well as being viewed on YouTube, the videos can also be embedded into veterinary practice websites or used on waiting room TV screens. They are available in different formats upon request from your local Elanco Companion Animal Health key account manager.
Matthew Rowe, senior brand manager at Elanco Companion Animal Health, said: "The new YouTube films will enable dog owners to learn more about how to correctly administer ear treatments and cleaners to ensure that the procedure is as positive as possible for their pet. This will lead to better owner compliance and happier pets!"
Elanco has also revised its Surolan and Surosolve client leaflet and is running a special offer for the products offering veterinary practices up to 20% free Surosolve ear cleaner with qualifying purchases of Surolan.
For further information on the offer, or to ask for the Surolan or Surosolve footage or client leaflets to be sent direct to your veterinary practice, contact your Elanco Companion Animal Health key account manager or email elancoCAH.uk@elanco.com
The answers you get are all linked to their original sources in the BSAVA Library and website.
All BSAVA members get 25 free queries per month, whilst non-members get five.
Queries can also be bought in packs of 25, 50 and 100 searches which have no expiry, priced between £10 and £25 for members.
Alternatively, Rover Unleashed gives unlimited access.
Ian Mellor, Head of Publications at BSAVA said: “In a fast-paced clinical environment, we know that time is precious.
"Rover is a fantastic leap forward in how we support our members, combining innovation with reliability.
"All backed by our trusted resources, we’re confident that Rover will help you to easily cut through the noise and get straight to the information that matters.”
https://rover.bsava.com/pages/about
The presentation comes in the form of an editable Powerpoint presentation which can be downloaded from www.training-progress.com (visit 'downloads').
Laura Shaw from Training-Progress said: "Most of our clients are PSS accredited practices. Getting the practice accredited is a great achievement and the whole team should be aware of this and ‘singing it from the roof tops’. The resource outlines why PSS is good for the practice, the clients, the patients and the practice team - helping team members to promote it."
Training-Progress is a training management system and communication tool to support a practice through PSS accreditation. It includes features such as ensuring processes are in place; sharing information; implementing change in processes and reporting systems which provide evidence for accreditation and allow concentration of training resources.
The two surveys, for veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses respectively, ask the professions a wide range of both quantitative and qualitative questions, covering everything from what they do in a typical working day, to career aspirations, to levels of mental and physical wellbeing.
The surveys are confidential and anonymous.
Lizzie Lockett, RCVS CEO, said: “Our Surveys of the Professions are not just a useful and interesting snapshot of the veterinary professions at a particular moment in time, but are really consequential in terms of what we do with the results.
"For example, information from the previous surveys were used to inform our current Strategic Plan, including our mission to be a compassionate regulator, ongoing support for the Mind Matters Initiative, and a focus on workforce-related issues.
"In a similar spirit, this year’s results will inform the forthcoming RCVS Strategic Plan.
“Of course, the quality of the results of the surveys really depends on hearing from as many of you as possible – so we would like veterinary professionals from all parts of the UK as well as our overseas members, from all backgrounds, of all ages and working on all different disciplines to feed into all areas of the surveys and help us with our research.
"Please don’t miss out on having your say, and a huge thank you for taking the time to support this important work.”
The deadline for completing the survey is on or before Friday 16 February 2024.
In addition, some delegates at the ‘Break the Pain Conference and Round Table’ event, which took place last month, said that they sometimes assume that farmers are worried about the cost of medication, which discouraged them from talking about it.
Katherine Timms, ruminant veterinary advisor at Ceva Animal Health, which manufactures the NSAID Ketofen, said: “The Stride UK dairy mobility report 2024 revealed that 7% of dairy farmers were not using NSAIDs in any lame cow, yet foot care and lameness management should be included in their herd health plans to meet the Red Tractor Dairy Standards and the standards of their milk buyer.
“Farmers want an easy and cost-effective solution when it comes to offering pain relief to their herds due to other priorities on farm and using NSAIDs strategically have shown a substantial return on investment of £1.66 for every £1 invested1.
"Vets should be leading discussions on pain relief to change their clients’ mindset with the goal of providing gold standard care for the long-term health and welfare of the nation’s herd.”
Sam Bowker, vet surgeon at Blackdown Farm Vets in Devon, who attended the conference, said: “It was a good challenge to us as vets to lead on the use of NSAIDs and pain relief on farm.
"We had a good discussion about protocols we have in the practice, particularly around the use of pain relief when called to assisted calvings and all agreed to use them ongoing.
"The other good reminder was not to assume that farmers won’t want to give pain relief because of cost, and to consider both the welfare and production benefits of their use.”
www.wavegoodbyetopain.co.uk
Reference
Vetoquinol UK is offering vets and nurses the opportunity to win a day's free CPD by entering its new Marbocyl® P Challenge.
The challenge runs for three months with a prize each month for a veterinary surgeon's one day CPD voucher worth £300 and a nurse's one day CPD voucher worth £200 from Improve CPD. There are also 10 runners up goodie bags available each month.
Each challenge focuses on knowledge of fluoroquinolones. July's challenge involves use in pyoderma, August's challenge focuses on respiratory tract infections and September's challenge will be on canine urinary tract infection.
Russell Roan, Vetoquinol's Veterinary Services Manager said: "Fluoroquinolones are an often-discussed antibiotic in the veterinary and medical world, but all too often they are mentioned as a class rather than as the individual molecules. This can cause the common misconception that all fluoroquinolones are the same. The Marbocyl® P Challenge aims to address this misconception and to highlight the varied uses for fluorquinolones."
To enter, visit http://www.vetoquinol.co.uk/, click on the Marbocyl® P Challenge banner at the top of the home page and complete the short quiz.
To improve our understanding of the attitudes of vets to treating OA pain, a survey is being conducted in seven countries across Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK) by a group of top European veterinarians.
The Pain Expert Panel intends to publish the results for each country and also the combined European results. These publications will allow comparisons to be made between countries and types of practices.
In addition, individual vets will be able to compare their own behaviours with the findings of the survey. It is hoped that the results will highlight any areas where continuing education would be beneficial and also topics for clinical research.
The survey is web based, completely anonymous and should take no more than 20 minutes to complete. Access details are as follows:
Website: www.painsurvey.net Password: pain
There is no right or wrong answer; your opinion is the only thing that matters.
The members of the European Expert Panel on Canine Osteoarthritis are: Dr. Bernard Bouvy (Fr), Prof. Stuart Carmichael (UK), Dr. Emilio Feltri (It), Prof. Jean-Pierre Genevois (Fr), Prof. Herman Hazewinkel (NI), Prof. John Innes (UK), Prof. Martin Kramer (Ge), Prof. Duncan Laschelles (USA), Dr. Carlos Macias (Sp), Dr. Sabine Tackle (Ge), Dr. Peter Vandekerckhove (Be)
As part of its Pet Factor campaign, the National Office of Animal Health has launched a competition via its consumer website Pet Health Information www.pethealthinfo.org.uk to find a pet with "the Pet Factor".
NOAH is inviting owners, vets, and vet nurses to go on to the website and put forward nominations, in no more than 200 words, of animals that have staged an amazing recovery, shown exceptional bravery or set themselves apart in some other way.
The Pet Factor campaign was launched with a set of three viral videos, focussing on Pet Factor auditions for a dog, cat, and hamster that reminded owners of the importance of basic pet care.
The PHI site encourages owners to go to talk to pet care professionals to seek advice about how to keep their pets healthy and happy.
Phil Sketchley chief executive of NOAH said: "The video campaign was very successful, with over 25,000 people having watched them so far. Now we want to take the campaign further and find pets that have done something special in a way that really embodies the spirit of 'the Pet Factor'."
The winning pet and their owner will receive a full photo shoot worth over £1,000 with renowned animal photographer Sam Lunt. The final photographs will be presented to them in a beautiful bound book, to remember their special day.
If you think one of your clients deserves to win, submit your 200 word entry at www.pethealthinfo.org.uk, with a photograph if you have one. The closing date is 28 February 2010.
This edition has a redesigned cover, developed for NOAH's 25th anniversary which took place this year. It contains data sheets from 32 companies which can be accessed through colour-coded indexes. The book also includes the up-to-date edition of NOAH's Code of Practice for the Promotion of Animal Medicines.
NOAH chief executive Phil Sketchley said: "This book - along with the online version - is a major part of NOAH's efforts to help provide prescribers and users of animal medicines with information to assist the appropriate and responsible use of all animal medicines."
He urged prescribers not to forget the back-up that company advisors can give to assist a prescribing decision: "The compendium also includes another vital resource - the contact details for each company. Company veterinary and technical advisors have detailed knowledge about their company's medicines at their fingertips. They are ready to talk to prescribers about the use of a medicine in a particular animal or in a particular situation, as well as to explain any queries about the data sheet," he said.
If your practice has not received its copy, contact Ruth Herbert at NOAH (r.herbert@noah.co.uk).
Extra copies are also available to order now, for £42. There are special prices for bulk orders.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are reminding veterinary surgeons of their legal responsibilities under the Horse Passport Regulations 2009.
The move follows a small number of horses testing positively for the presence of phenylbutazone, which, if consumed, can be harmful to human health.
Defra and the FSA have asked for the assistance of the profession in ensuring that treatment with phenylbutazone is properly recorded in Horse Passports and have said that they are working together to understand the cause of the positive tests, and what longer term measures can be put in place to stop this happening.
In the interim, all horses slaughtered for human consumption will be sampled for the presence of phenylbutazone, with immediate effect.
The letter from Defra and the FSA can be downloaded from the RCVS website.
The full advice can be read in a Veterinary Medicines Directorate/Defra leaflet, which can be found online at http://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/pdf/leaflet_horses.pdf.
Mark Bowen, Chair of the British Equine Veterinary Association's Health and Medicines Committee, said: "The number of horses entering the human food chain from the UK has doubled since 2009 and is no longer an insignificant minority of horses. All vets should be checking horse passports and only dispensing sensible quantities of this drug, and its prodrug suxibuzone."
Meanwhile, a form is available from the British Equine Veterinary Association website for veterinary surgeons to use if the horse passport is not available, but emergency treatment is required: http://www.beva.org.uk/_uploads/documents/emergency-treatment-form-no-passport-2011.pdf
The database, which has been designed to streamline the process of securing extra-mural study (EMS) placements for veterinary students and providers in the UK, has been backed by the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons and both organisations are now calling on veterinary practices and workplaces to sign up.
The College says it created the database to improve the accessibility and overall experience of booking EMS placements, mainly by aligning students' and providers' expectations before the placement.
EMS place providers will be able to list their placements and highlight details such as placement type, location, expected caseload/type, professional learning opportunities and practical aspects that students will look for such as transport links, accommodation and specific dates / availability.
Students will be able to search for placements based on their specific requirements and communicate directly with providers.
UK vet schools will also have access to be able to approve placements, streamlining the process.
RCVS Director of Education, Dr Linda Prescott-Clements, said: “By providing EMS placements, you’ll play a vital role in shaping the future of the veterinary profession.
"Hosting passionate, knowledgeable students not only enhances their educational experience and readiness for working life after graduation, but also brings fresh insights and energy to your practice.
"Additionally, you’ll build relationships with future veterinary talent, some of whom may return to work with your team after graduation.
"So, if you are not already a provider, we encourage you to consider the value of participating in EMS.”
If you are an existing placement provider and would like to join the RCVS National EMS Booking Database or are keen to learn more about the database and becoming an EMS placement provider, contact ems@rcvs.org.uk.
https://www.rcvs.org.uk/lifelong-learning/extra-mural-studies-ems
The BVA and the RCVS are inviting applications from veterinary surgeons to join the new Vet Futures Action Group, set up to drive forward the ambitions identified in the Vet Futures report launched at BVA Congress at the London Vet Show on 20 November.
The Vet Futures report, Taking charge of our future: A vision for the veterinary profession for 2030, was the culmination of a year-long joint project by BVA and RCVS designed to help the veterinary profession prepare for, and shape, its own future. The Action Group is a vital next step in the Vet Futures project, ensuring the delivery of the report’s six ambitions and 34 recommendations.
BVA and RCVS are seeking seven veterinary surgeons and one veterinary nurse to join the Action Group to ensure there is buy-in from across the professions and to drive forward workstreams of activity. The group will be co-chaired by the BVA and RCVS Presidents, and both Junior Vice-Presidents will sit on the group. Action Group members will be independent and will not represent, or be required to report back to, any particular organisation.
Veterinary surgeons or nurses keen to apply for an Action Group role should have experience of working as an active member of a group or committee and the ability to deliver, engage and inspire others. The veterinary surgeon members should have specific expertise, knowledge and experience in relation to at least one of the Vet Futures ambitions or the cross-cutting issue of veterinary education. The ambitions cover:
Successful applicants must be able to attend three all-day meetings in London (9 February, 17 March and 12 May) and an all-day Vet Futures Summit (20 June), with a time commitment totalling approximately seven days between February and June 2016. The group will be supported by BVA and RCVS staff. For the full Vet Futures Action Group role profile and terms of reference, please visit: www.vetfutures.org.uk.
The deadline for applications is 12 noon, 31 December 2015.
The materials include a social media toolkit and a board kit, both designed to encourage owner awareness and more frequent conversations on eye health.
There is also a new CPD module, focused on ophthalmology.
The company is running a webinar on 24th September which focuses on management of dry eye and corneal ulcers for brachycephalic dogs
Campaign materials & VPD module: https://www.tvm-uk.com/national-pet-eye-health-awareness-week
Webinar: https://thewebinarvet.com/webinars/take-a-closer-look-big-eyes-big-problems-ocular-issues-of-the-brachycephalic
HaemoVet haemostats are individually sterile packed in a variety of forms ranging from dental cubes, flex dressings and flowable powder.
Invicta says the range is affordably priced with dental cubes costing £1 each, packaged in 24 individual blistered packs with a three-year shelf life.
Rob Watkins, Managing Director of Invicta, said: “Most practice staff are familiar with using absorbable haemostats in routine and emergency surgery.
"However, statistics show that just 17% use them regularly1.
"Many staff cited price as a reason and this coupled with the rising costs of consumables spurred us to bring an affordable option to practices.”
The HaemoVet range comprises of sponges, powders or flowable syringes of gelatin matrix designed to provide rapid and safe haemostasis2.
For dental applications, there is also a sponge impregnated with colloidal silver.
Rob added: “The HaemoVet range provides practices with a much more affordable option and are carefully packaged in individual sachets to avoid waste to make it the economic and environmental product of choice.”
HaemoVet is available from Invicta Animal Health, which will also give training and information on its use.
T: 01403 791313Email: mail@invictavet.comW: invictavet.com/haemovet
References
Dickson Company, a US supplier of data loggers and chart recorders, has launched the Dickson Drug Recorder, a temperature monitor for refrigerators and freezers used for drug storage.
The company says the benefits of Dickson Drug Recorder are:
The Dickson Drug Recorder is compact and fits easily into drug storage refrigerators and freezers. It features a digital display for quick visual checks, and operates for two years on a single AA battery. It monitors temperatures ranging from –22oF to 122 oF (-30oC – 50oC).
For more information, visit: http://www.dicksondata.com/results/result_725.php, email Dickson customer service at dicksoncsr@dicksondata.com, or call +1-630-543-3747.
The Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) has joined forces with the Professional Development Foundation (PDF) to revolutionise higher veterinary education in the UK.
The two organisations – SPVS through its Masters and Doctors Group (MDG) – have officially announced that they will deliver the new modular Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (CertAVP) and the CertAVP (VetGP) qualifications through the new Vet Learning group.
SPVS recognised that vets were finding it difficult, if not impossible, to combine working in practise with completing the old-style certificates and decided to work with the RCVS to create more flexible and relevant qualifications and the PDF to provide more guidance and support.
Students taking the Vet GP qualification will also work from a syllabus that firmly complements the experience of the practising modern vet.
Richard Hillman, SPVS President Elect and SPVS CertAVP project leader, explained: “I registered for the RCVS Certificate in Welfare and Ethics three years ago as, as a practice owner, I am very interested in these fields but have found it very difficult to juggle work, home life and study.”
He added: “I’ve been on the CPD and I’ve read the books so I’ve done the personal development parts of the certificate but I just can’t get the cases written up. If I had the structure, support and mentoring that the SPVS and Vet Learning will now supply, I could have gone on and got the qualification I wanted. I am delighted that Vet Learning has now been created.”
Both qualifications will be assessed at MSc level and will be quality controlled by the University of Middlesex and the national Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). SPVS will shortly announce the date of a road show that will supply practitioners with further information on this ground-breaking development in veterinary education, including how to structure their CPD.
Ticks infected with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease may be considerably more prevalent in the UK than recent estimates indicate, according to new research from the University of Bristol that used pet dogs as 'sentinels' for human disease risk.
Transmitted by ticks, Lyme disease is a debilitating chronic infection which affects a number of animals including humans and dogs. It is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Clinical signs in humans include a characteristic circular red rash that spreads from the site of the tick bite, followed by a flu-like condition. In dogs, the symptoms can be much more vague and difficult to diagnose. If untreated, the disease progresses to neurological problems and arthritis; chronic forms of the disease can last for many years.
While only occasionally affecting humans, reported cases in the UK are thought to have increased more than fourfold since the beginning of the century - from 0.38 per 100,000 in 2000 to 1.79 per 100,000 in 2009. In 2010 there were 953 reported cases in England and Wales but the level of under-reporting is likely to be considerable.
To obtain a clearer picture of the prevalence of infected ticks, Faith Smith of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences and colleagues recruited veterinary surgeons across England, Scotland and Wales to examine dogs selected at random as they visited veterinary practices. Since pet dogs largely share the same environment and visit the same outdoor areas as their owners, exposure to infected ticks in dogs is likely to provide an index for corresponding risks to humans.
Of 3,534 dogs inspected between March and October 2009, 14.9% had ticks. Of the samples that could be tested, 17 (2.3%) were positive for the Borrelia bacteria. The expected prevalence of infected ticks on dogs is 0.5 per cent, or 481 infected ticks per 100,000 dogs. This suggests that the prevalence of Borrelia in the UK tick population is considerably higher than previously thought.
Faith Smith said: "Lyme disease appears to be a rapidly growing problem in the UK with important health and economic impacts in terms of loss of working hours and potential decrease in tourism to tick hotspots.
"Without considerably better surveillance and routine diagnostic testing, Lyme disease is only likely to become more prevalent. In particular, future warmer winters might well extend the period over which ticks are active seasonally, while growing wild reservoir host populations, such as deer, will allow the tick population to expand."
The study is published today in the journal Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Merial Animal Health Ltd.
Virbac has taken over the distribution of the prescription-only topical ectoparasiticide range, Activyl.
Activyl is available in three spot-on preparations: Activyl for Dogs and Activyl for Cats (flea control) and Activyl Tick Plus for tick and flea control in dogs. Based on the active ingredient indoxacarb, they are effective against developing flea life stages in the immediate environment of the pet.
Virbac Product Manager Kate Woolley MRCVS said: "Virbac is a global leader in parasitology and is using its knowledge and expertise to develop a portfolio of award-winning products. We are delighted to add Activyl to our range of parasiticides."
For more information, contact your Virbac Territory Manager.
The College says that the course is suitable for veterinary surgeons who:
The course does not offer clinical training, but the College says it will help vets identify areas for improvement and support them in building confidence and competence.
It also offers guidance on wellbeing and mentorship.
The snappily job titled Tash Goodwin Roberts, RCVS Projects Implementation Manager in the Advancement of the Professions Team, said: "As part of our commitment to supporting the workforce ambitions this is a course that can support not just the returning vets but also offers insight to those who will be supporting them.
"Vets who have taken career breaks have often gained a huge wealth of skills which, combined with their veterinary training, makes them assets to their new teams and the professions.
“The course covers key topics to bring vets up to date with many of the professional aspects of working as a vet and also includes a range of additional content to support their journey, such as practical tips for returning, important recent updates on prescribing, as well as reflective practice and lifelong learning.
"The course also contains video interviews with vets who have already returned, offering valuable insights into how they approached their journey.
The course takes around three hours to complete.
https://academy.rcvs.org.uk
If you had purchased £1000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago they would now be worth £4.95; with HBOS, earlier this week your £1000 would have been worth £16.50; £1000 invested in XL Leisure would now be worth less than £5; but if you bought £1000 worth of Tennents Lager one year ago, drank it all, then took the empty cans to an aluminium re-cycling plant, you would get £214.
So based on the above statistics the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and re-cycle.
According to a survey carried out by Pfizer, veterinary surgeons are generally upbeat about the business prospects for their practice this year, despite predicting a harsh economic environment for the industry as a whole in 2011.
The Pulse Survey of more than 400 practice owners and their senior management teams, which presents a snapshot of market sentiment, revealed that predictions for the veterinary market in general remained as gloomy as 2010. Over half (52%) of respondents believed that conditions for the industry would get more challenging.
However, the response from owners about their own practice's performance was more bullish with a third (34%) believing their prospects will improve.
Pfizer Business Consultant, James White, said: "Practices are right to remain cautiously optimistic about 2011 if we accept it's going to be a challenging year. Some practices came slightly unstuck in 2010 as a result of the knock-on effects of the economic downturn on pet owners' pockets. However, by implementing the correct strategies now there are still opportunities for growth. Client loyalty is the buzz word and should remain a key component of any practice strategy being implemented in the coming months."
Pfizer launched the Pulse survey in Autumn 2010 to deliver up to date analysis on a range of issues that senior management teams at practice level are witnessing. According to the company, the survey is attracting a growing volume of respondents. All participants receive a summary report of the Pulse Survey findings.
Pfizer's team of Business Consultants is working with practices throughout the country to pinpoint their individual business challenges, offer solutions through the company's Vet Support+ service and work with the practices to drive growth. For further information visit http://www.vetsupportplus.co.uk/.
The British Small Animal Veterinary Association has written to Public Health England to ask if they would be prepared to review their risk assessment for front line staff in veterinary practices (i.e. veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses and receptionists) regarding pre-exposure rabies vaccination.
The letter points out that the changes to the Pet Travel Regulations, brought in on 1st January 2012, make it possible for dogs, cats and ferrets to enter the UK from an EU country only 21 days after vaccination, with no requirement for blood testing and a 6-month wait.
The risk assessment undertaken by Defra at that time acknowledged that this would lead to an increase in the risk of introducing rabies to the UK, but this risk was still considered to be very low.
However, this risk assessment made a number of assumptions, including that there would be full compliance with the regulations. Since that time it has become apparent that not only have these changes led to a significant increase in the number of animals entering the UK, but that a number of these animals do not fully comply with the regulations.
According to BSAVA, current evidence suggests that increasing numbers of puppies enter the UK from abroad, particularly Eastern Europe, and that these are often presented with illness at veterinary practices by their new, and often unsuspecting, owners. While it has been assumed that animals entering under the Pet Travel Scheme pose a low risk of carrying rabies, the recent case of two puppies imported into The Netherlands from Bulgaria which tested positive for rabies indicates that the disease may occur even in puppies that were vaccinated and travelling legitimately.
While a great deal has been achieved in the control of rabies in the EU, there is increasing expansion in member states to include countries such as Bulgaria and Romania in which rabies remains endemic. Moreover, sporadic cases continue to occur in countries within this region (i.e. Italy and Greece). Animals imported into the UK from these regions could potentially introduce rabies into the United Kingdom.
While importation of affected animals remains a remote possibility, the likelihood is that an affected animal would present for veterinary treatment and that frontline veterinary staff may be at greatest risk of exposure. Some veterinary practices that deal routinely with imported pets adopted from the street or animal shelters in other countries, have staff that may be at even greater risk.
BSAVA President Professory Michael Day, who signed the letter on behalf of the Association and its members, said: "As a result of the current conditions in which veterinary professionals find themselves, BSAVA, in our letter sent on 12 November, has urged Public Health England to consider adding veterinary staff who may come into contact with imported animals to the list of those entitled to receive pre-exposure rabies vaccination."
A 3 km Protection Zone and a 10 km Surveillance Zone have been put in place around the infected premises to limit the risk of the disease spreading.
The flock is estimated to contain approximately 35 birds. A number have died and the remaining live birds at the premises are being humanely culled.
A full investigation is under way to determine the source of the infection.
Keepers are urged to continue to be vigilant and look out for the signs of avian flu in their flocks, informing the Animal and Plant Health Agency should they suspect infection.
VetSurgeon member Howard Wilder, founder and managing director of British veterinary pharmaceutical company Genitrix, has been named Director of the Year at the 2010 Institute of Directors' London and South East Director of the Year Awards.
Genitrix provides treatments and therapies for pets and horses, and has just launched Libromide, the UK's first licensed formulation of potassium bromide, used in the treatment of canine epilepsy. Howard won the award in the category for businesses with a turnover of up to £4.99 million.
Howard said: "I founded Genitrix in 1998 and it's undoubtedly my greatest achievement. From scratch, and in just 12 years, we've become one of the top 20 companies in the veterinary pharmaceutical sector and compete strongly with multi-million dollar global corporations.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to have won. It's recognition both of the success of Genitrix and for me personally. I've worked very hard to make Genitrix the best run business in the sector and this confirms that I'm heading in the right direction."