Origin (previously known as Westpoint) has announced that FarmVets SouthWest has joined the group, giving further geographical coverage to its veterinary practice network.

FarmVets SouthWest has practices at Ilminster and North Petherton in Somerset and Honiton in Devon.

Eoghan McAlonan, a director of the practice, said: "We are delighted to be joining Origin. The Origin group delivers the highest standards in veterinary services to UK agriculture, and we will bring our farmer friendly services to further enhance the groups activities".

In turn Origin says it plans to bring the wide benefits of group membership, including lab services, dairy consultancy and paraprofessional services, to further enhance the high level of service the vet team at Farmvets SouthWest provide to producers in Somerset and Devon.

Jon Mouncey, Managing Director of Westpoint Farmvets, said: "Working alongside our other Origin practices in the South West region, we can now offer all livestock producers our advanced services, ensuring their stock receive the very best in veterinary care. Our group offers a unique approach to integrated veterinary services and by applying the latest technology and research we ensure that animal health and welfare is optimised, delivering real value for our clients in a challenging agricultural climate."

Vets Now, Manchester is hosting a full-day ECC CPD event on Thursday, 20 June 2024, at the Mercure Bolton Georgian House Hotel in Bolton.

The event will offer vets and vet nurses six hours of CPD across five streams, covering topics such as initial fracture treatment, stick injury management, post-op orthopaedic patient care, and handling clinical complaints.

Simon Hagley, an Emergency and Critical Care specialist at Vets Now Manchester, has helped develop the program and will run a session on acute kidney injury.

He said: "We have one of the largest emergency caseloads in the country, therefore we’re well placed to share best practice with the profession to enable vets and vet nurses to feel confident when dealing with emergency cases. "

There will be 23 lectures over the course of the day, across five streams: CPR, Vet Stream, Vet Nurses Stream, Client and Colleague Communication, and Pathology.

The sessions will be delivered by experienced Vets Now clinicians, dedicated nurses, communication experts, and VPG experts. 

Later in the year, the Vets Now 24/7 hospital in Glasgow will be offering free evening CPD events at the Hilton Doubletree, Westerwood, all focussing on ECC.

The first of these events, on 05 September 2024 will see Lead OOH Veterinary Surgeon John Sheppard from Vets Now, Glasgow run an out-of-hours session on ‘What happens after dark, shouldn’t leave you in the dark’. 

The Manchester event is priced at £80+VAT per person, which includes refreshments, lunch, and on-site parking.

https://www.vets-now.com/professionals/vet-cpd-events-courses. 

Biobest is highlighting the benefits of using its canine prostate specific arginine esterase (CPSE) test to differentiate between those dogs which have benign prostatic hyperplasia and those suffering more serious conditions, such as neoplasia.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common condition of entire dogs with over 50% of dogs over 5 years of showing histological evidence of BPH.

Paul Burr MRCVS from Biobest said: "While the clinical stages of prostatic disease are not difficult to diagnose, differentiating BPH from other causes of prostatic disease such as prostatic cysts, prostatitis, prostatic abscesses or neoplasia is less simple. Traditionally further investigation would include bacteriology and cytology on a prostatic wash or final needle aspirate, and prostatic ultrasonography."

Although the CPSE test has been available for a couple of years now, Paul says the benefits of the test have not thus far been well-explained: "I think most vets probably think it's just a test for Prostatic Disease, something which is easy enough to diagnose without testing.

"While the test can be used as part of an annual check up to look for pre-clinical BPH in entire male dogs, it's real value is that it is a simple, convenient non-invasive blood test that helps determine whether a dog presenting with signs of prostatic disease is most likely to be suffering from BPH or a more serious condition that requires further investigation."

For more information about the CPSE test, contact Biobest on 0131 440 2628 or email enquiry@biobest.co.uk.

IVC Evidensia has launched the GP Vet Futures Award Programme, designed to champion the role of its general practitioners.

In what the company says is a European first, IVC vets will be recognised for the skills they already have, as well as supported to achieve new skills within the GP framework.

The programme is also intended to increase GP's status within the profession, boost confidence, develop ability and provide a clear path for career progression.

Edward Davies BVSc MRCVS, IVC's new Aspirational GP Lead, said: "The plethora of skills a GP vet has is unparalleled when you look at other professions.

“This programme is about recognising the core and expansive knowledge sets we as GP vets possess, not just at an individual level, but an organisational and professional level.”

An initial two cohorts of up to 20-30 vets from across the business will take part over the next 12 months, and the expectation is that it will take around two years for every cohort to complete. 

The programme is structured around a portfolio-based assessment by peers, with six core and three elective categories.  

The core section includes the elements seen as fundamental to being a successful GP vet, complimented by the individual vet’s selection of three elective modules which best fit their clinical interests.

IVC says it plans for the GP Vet Futures Award to be externally accredited.

Hill's Pet Nutrition has released the results of a survey of how last year's graduates feel about clinical nutrition.

Despite teaching of clinical nutrition moving up the agenda for most vet schools, over one third of respondents said that they did not feel confident about applying their knowledge of pet nutrition to clinical cases. The remaining two thirds claimed to be reasonably confident but no respondent felt very confident in this area.

When it comes to advising clients 86 per cent would make a nutritional recommendation for their clinical cases but of those, half left it up to the nurse to decide on the brand of food. For 14 per cent of the new graduates, the decision was made to allow nurses to decide on the type of nutrition and brand.

The respondents were also asked about their preferred form of nutritional CPD support. Despite the advances in on-line CPD, the majority expressed a preference for face-to-face teaching in the form of in-clinic updates from reps, speaker tours and roadshows. However e-updates and on-line courses were preferred over paper correspondence courses.

Adrian Pratt, Veterinary Affairs Manager at Hill's Pet Nutrition said: "We recognise that our short survey dealt with only a small number of respondents but it gave us much food for thought. It's disappointing, for ourselves, but more so for the newly qualified vets, that a significant number don't feel confident about making nutritional recommendations. Having been in those 'new vet' shoes, I have to wonder whether this is a crisis of confidence or actually founded on a real or perceived lack of knowledge and also whether this is a finding that applies only to nutrition or affects other areas too. We would very much like to know the answers to these questions because we think that this could be a source of very considerable stress to the individuals concerned.

"Our survey doesn't really tell is whether this is resulting in vets delegating nutritional matters to their nurses because nurses are seen to have at least equivalent, or possibly greater knowledge of nutritional matters and are respected as fellow professionals, or whether these cases are being passed to the nurses with a sigh of relief because the vet doesn't feel able to deal with them. I also found it interesting that vets did not want to be seen to be actively recommending a particular brand, despite the wide variations in clinical evidence and nutritional make up between brands. I do wonder if there could be a perception here that 'brand' is a commercial decision that can be made by another member of the healthcare team, rather than a clinical decision."

Marge Chandler, DVM, MS, DACVN, MACVSc, DACVIM, DECVIM-CA, MRCVS is one of the two American College of Veterinary Nutrition diplomates in the UK (along with Dr Dan Chan) and believes that nutrition is well integrated at the R(D)SVS, "In addition to the general basics, we also teach the basics of small animal nutrition for healthy adult cats and dogs, kittens and puppies, with some emphasis on the special needs of cats. During the clinical lectures there is information provided for disease specific nutritional needs, for example with chronic kidney disease, liver disease, and gastrointestinal disorders.  In their final year, our students are given an interactive tutorial on clinical nutrition for hospitalized small animal patients. In addition to this tutorial, we discuss the patients' nutritional requirements and supplementation during rounds, and there is a nutrition form for each medicine in-patient requiring supplementation."

For those who need access to good quality post-graduate CPD on the topic, Hill's has just launched the latest Veterinary Nutrition Academy (VNA) course. VNA Level 3 is all about applying nutritional principles to make a recommendation appropriate to a clinical case. Anyone who would like to brush up on the topic can register with VNA - registration and the course itself is free of charge.  VNA also gives access to booking forms for Hill's roadshows and other events.

Adrian said: "While face-to-face training events are still proving to be highly popular, it is clear that travel time and cost can significantly hinder access to CPD particularly for those with family commitments or in geographically remote locations and our on-line training courses are continuing to grow in popularity."

Registration to VNA is free at www.myhillspet.com/vna. To complete registration the practice U number will be required and this is available by contacting Jane Quail at Hill's on 01923 814454.

The RCVS has published a summary of the goings on at its 6 November meeting.

Amongst other things, Council agreed to continue to display postnominals in the Register, undertake a consultation on whether members should be able to use the courtesy title 'doctor' and make amendments to the College's current registration regulations.

In addition, 

• Council discussed and approved the College's budget for 2015.
• Council heard that the new Royal Charter had been approved by the Privy Council the previous evening and approved new rules relating to the registration of veterinary nurses which need to be in place when the new RCVS Royal Charter comes into effect and new bye-laws to replace the existing ones which will be revoked when the Charter is sealed and brought into effect.
• Council agreed to amend a number of the current regulations for the registration of veterinary surgeons in order to make the process more convenient for registrants. Key changes include allowing veterinary surgeons to supply either a work or home address for publication in the Register, not charging a punitive additional restoration fee for those who are restored to the Register at the direction of the Disciplinary Committee and no longer levying an administrative charge on credit card payments - a change which will also now allow the College to accept debit card payments. The new registration regulations have now been submitted to the Privy Council, which will need to grant approval before they come into effect.
• Council confirmed that the College will continue to display postnominals for postgraduate qualifications in the Register - reversing a previous decision to remove all postnominals except those for the registerable degree and MRCVS or FRCVS. Council agreed that the following postnominals would be included on the Register - primary veterinary qualifications that the College has a legal obligation to display; qualifications approved for Advanced Practitioner and Specialist status; and other qualifications and honorary postnominals deemed relevant by Council including some non-veterinary/science-related qualifications.
• Council agreed to undertake a consultation on whether members of the College should be allowed to use the courtesy title 'doctor'. The proposals were brought forward by RCVS President Professor Stuart Reid who cited the fact that international veterinary surgeons used the title, that medical practitioners in the UK carry the courtesy title and a recent decision by the General Dental Council to allow dentists the use the title. Council agreed to open the issue to an online consultation with both the public and profession, which is likely to be launched before Christmas.
• Council members heard reports from VN Council and the Audit and Risk, Education, Standards, Preliminary Investigation, Disciplinary and PIC/DC Liaison Committees. Papers for each can be also be found at www.rcvs.org.uk/about-us/rcvs-council/council-meetings
• During the afternoon session of Council, members considered a range of possible options for reforming the governance structure of the College. The case for reform was outlined by Professor Reid who asked Council members to consider its decision-making functions, size, composition and frequency of meetings. Following group discussions various views were put forward, including a larger consultative Council which would meet less frequently, alongside an enlarged Operational Board which would meet monthly; and having a smaller Council which would meet more frequently. The Operational Board will now be considering these views and will put further proposals to Council in March.
• Council agreed a recommendation put forward by members Mark Elliott and Richard Stephenson that recognised that while much decision-making had been delegated to committees (eg the Standards and Education Committees), Council members should feel able to discuss decisions made in committee with which they disagree. Furthermore, the recommendation stated that committees should be encouraged to refer major policy decisions to Council for ratification. The majority of recommendations were accepted in principle by Council.

More information about these decisions can be found in the latest edition of RCVS News, copies of which have been sent to all veterinary surgeons and listed/registered veterinary nurses.

The full papers for the Council meeting can be found on the RCVS website at www.rcvs.org.uk/about-us/rcvs-council/council-meetings

North Yorkshire-based Amelia Briggs MRCVS has been reprimanded and warned by the RCVS Disciplinary Committee after she was found to have been dishonest in documentation relating to her official avian influenza surveillance visits. 

Dr Briggs faced four charges and admitted to her conduct in the first three at the outset. 

They related to three official Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) clinical investigation report forms she submitted following three official avian flu surveillance visits she'd undertaken as an Official Veterinarian (OV).

The three surveillance visits all took place during an outbreak of avian influenza in North Yorkshire and were on behalf of the APHA.

Dr Briggs admitted that she'd certified on each of the three forms that she had inspected specific poultry, that she had seen no clinical signs of avian influenza in the poultry and that in her opinion avian influenza did not exist and had not existed in the previous 56 days.

Dr Briggs also admitted that that she had subsequently submitted the three forms to the APHA.

The fourth charge alleged Dr Briggs conduct in certifying the three forms had been dishonest and that her actions risked undermining procedures, regulations and rules designed to protect animal welfare and public health.

Dr Briggs denied that she had been dishonest in any of her actions but admitted that her conduct had risked undermining procedures designed to protect animal welfare and public health.

Dr Briggs explained that in two cases she had relied on information given to her by the keepers of the poultry and in the remaining case it was possible that she had not visited the correct location of the poultry, had posted a letter through the wrong door and had then accidentally submitted a pre-populated inspection form to APHA.

Having heard evidence from the relevant poultry keepers, fellow Official Veterinarians, officials from the APHA and Dr Briggs herself, the Committee gave its determinations on dishonesty.

In relation to the first two charges, which concerned the visits that did take place, the Committee found Dr Briggs had been dishonest both in submitting the inspection forms to the APHA and also in certifying that she had seen no clinical signs or history of avian influenza in both cases.

The Committee concluded that an ordinary decent person would regard the submission of a signed form which contained false information as dishonest.

It also concluded that Dr Briggs had deliberately signed an official form which contained information which she knew to be untrue.

However, the Committee found that Dr Briggs was not dishonest in asserting on these forms that she was of the opinion that disease did not exist based upon the information provided to her by the poultry keepers.

In relation to the third charge, where Dr Briggs did not visit the property concerned, the Committee did not find it proven that she had been dishonest, having heard her evidence that, in this case, she had accidentally submitted a pre-populated inspection form.

The Committee next considered whether the admitted and proven charges amounted to serious professional misconduct.

Paul Morris, chairing the Committee and speaking on its behalf said: “In considering the seriousness of the misconduct, the Committee took into account the fact that the misconduct had involved dishonesty, that there had been a risk of injury to animals and humans (though this risk had not materialised), and that the misconduct had occurred when the respondent, as an Official Veterinarian, occupied a position of increased trust and responsibility.”

He added: “The Committee considered that honest, accurate and careful veterinary certification was a fundamental component of the responsibilities of a veterinary surgeon.

"The matters which the Committee had found to be proved fell far short of the standards expected of a registered veterinary surgeon and amounted, in the Committee’s judgment, to disgraceful conduct in a professional respect.”

In considering the sanction for Dr Briggs the Committee heard positive character testimonials from former employers and clients, as well as a representative from the APHA who said that Dr Briggs had shown contrition for the breaches while recognising that there was unlikely to be a repetition of the conduct and that Dr Briggs was a relatively new and inexperienced vet at the time of her actions.

Mr Morris said: “In the Committee’s judgement the circumstances of the incident were a mitigating factor in the sense that the respondent was working in a pressurised environment, and in a field of practice which was unfamiliar to her.

"The Committee had heard a considerable amount of evidence from various witnesses that the surveillance system created, to monitor the prevalence of avian influenza was one which placed considerable pressure on OVs and, perhaps inevitably, had some shortcomings.

"The respondent had not worked with poultry before so her inexperience in this area fed into this situation.

“The Committee took into account the fact that no actual harm had occurred and there was no financial gain to the respondent.

"The matters with which the Committee was concerned formed a highly unusual, and short-lived, episode in the respondent’s career.”

The Committee also considered that Dr Briggs had made open and frank admissions regarding most of the charges against her and had also shown genuine contrition over her failings.

In light of this, the Committee considered that a reprimand and warning as to future conduct was the most appropriate sanction.

Mr Morris added: “False certification can never be acceptable.

"Veterinary surgeons should never certify any matter which they know, or ought to know, not to be true.

"However, the Committee considered that this case was at the lower end of the spectrum of gravity of false certification cases, that there is no future risk to animals and that the respondent has demonstrated insight.

"In relation to the public interest, the Committee considered that a reasonable and fully informed member of the public would recognise that, in all the circumstances of this particular case, a reprimand and warning as to future conduct would be sufficient to satisfy the public interest.”

www.rcvs.org.uk/disciplinary

The Veterinary Karting Championship, organised by NVS, is proving a huge success, according to the company. At the half way stage of the championship, around two hundred drivers have already participated in regional events in Manchester, Edinburgh, Essex, Surrey and Reading. 

Drivers arrive following evening surgery and change from veterinary uniforms into their race suits. All drivers receive race and safety briefings before heading off to meet their team mates and get a feel for the track during the practise session.

Racing lasts for an hour and a half, during which time teams have to use clever strategies and tactics to remain in pole position and avoid eviction from the track for foul play.  At the end of the evening, all competitors get a goody bag and jacket, with each member of the winning team receiving a bottle of champagne, a trophy and certificate. 

Caitrina Harrison, Sales & Marketing Director at National Veterinary Services, said: "All the evenings have been great fun and have certainly shown the competitive side of the veterinary profession.  The ladies have definitely given the men a run for their money, especially in Scotland.  Some drivers have been so inspired by the events that they are looking to host their own inter-practice championships next year."    

The teams that have qualified so far for the National Final are: Manchester Bears, Essex Panthers, Scottish Bears (pictured), Reading Bears and Camberley Elks. There will be a break from racing over the festive period, with the next regional heat taking place in Bristol on Tuesday 18^th January.  Further heats will then be held in Birmingham, Loughborough, Aylesbury and Leeds, followed by the National Final on Sunday 20^thMarch in Milton Keynes.

Caitrina Harrison continues: "NVS would like to thank the event sponsors for their support, which has been invaluable in making the championship happen.  The championship sponsors are Agria Pet Insurance, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Dechra

VetHelpDirect.com has conducted a survey of 380 vets which found that 54% have received verbal abuse referencing the Competitions and Markets Authority report.

15.3% said they had received written abuse and 13.4% had received online abuse.

One in ten (9.87%) had cited receiving generally negative grumbles from their clients and a small percentage (0.8%) said they had noticed negativity from usually supportive clients.

17% reported abuse relating to the CMA across more than one platform. 

On the other hand, the survey also revealed that 22.4% had received support in person, almost one in twenty (4.5%) had received online support, and 2.4% cited they had received supportive correspondence.

The Royal Veterinary College and the Animal Health Trust are trying to recruit 3000 horse and pony owners to take part in 'CARE about laminitis', a web-based research project that aims to reduce the threat caused by laminitis.

The four-year study, which is being funded by World Horse Welfare, is being conducted by PhD student, Danica (Dee) Pollard, based at the AHT. The main aims of the study are to:

• Estimate the frequency of owner-reported laminitis, including both horses that are diagnosed by a vet and those that aren't
• Further investigate factors which increase or decrease the risk of an animal developing laminitis, especially focusing on factors relating to management that can be changed by owners
• Provide owners with evidence-based guidelines that will reduce the impact of laminitis nationwide.

Currently the veterinary-reported frequency of laminitis in Britain, estimated between 2009 and 2011, shows that active episodes of veterinary-diagnosed laminitis occurred in nearly 1 in 200 horses/ponies registered with veterinary practices, and accounted for nearly 1 in 200 equine visits. Dee said: "However an overall lack of studies into the frequency of laminitis leaves little to compare these estimates with."

If you'd like to take part in the study, or invite clients to do so, visit: www.careaboutlaminitis.org.uk or email danica.pollard@aht.org.uk.

New research, conducted by the WALTHAM-initiated Laminitis Consortium, has raised questions over the assumption that soaking hay will make it safe to feed to laminitis-prone horses and ponies¹. 

The Laminitis Consortium comprises world-leading equine veterinary, nutrition and research experts interested in collaborating on the important topic of laminitis. It includes the authors of this work: Dr Pat Harris of the WALTHAM^® Equine Studies Group, Clare Barfoot of Mars Horsecare UK Ltd and Dr Annette Longland of Equine Livestock and Nutrition Services (ELNS).

Over-consumption of water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) has been associated with the onset of laminitis. It has been recommended that hay with a non-structural carbohydrate (WSC and starch) content of less than 10% should be fed to obese animals as well as those at risk of laminitis² and that hay should be soaked in water before being fed in order to reduce the WSC^3,4,5.  The study, which was completed earlier this year, examined the loss of water-soluble carbohydrates from nine different hays submerged in water for up to 16 hours.  It was presented to the biannual Equine Science Symposium in America in May 2009.

Previous studies have shown that the prolonged soaking of chopped hay in large volumes of water can result in the leaching of nutrients, including soluble carbohydrates. However, because common practice in the UK tends to involve long-stemmed hay, soaked in relatively small volumes of water over varying timescales, the Laminitis Consortium's study aimed to replicate such a practice⁶.

The nine different hay samples were analysed for WSC and then soaked in cold water. The soaked samples were subsequently analysed at four intervals of 20 minutes, 40 minutes, three hours and 16 hours.

Clare Barfoot said: "The results showed a highly variable leaching of WSC and substantially less leaching than reported previously for chopped hay soaked for 30 minutes.³

"Very few samples reached below 10% WSC, despite prolonged soaking. The concern is that this strongly suggests that soaking may not be sufficient to render some hays safe to feed to horses and ponies prone to laminitis. 

"Our current advice is that ideally you should analyse your hay before feeding it to an animal at high risk of laminitis and choose hay with the lowest WSC content you can find. Soaking hay provides an additional safeguard but should not be relied upon."

The study also highlights that if hay is soaked for extended periods, it may not meet the nutritional requirements of the animal because substantial amounts of other nutrients, protein, vitamins and minerals will also be lost ⁵. In such cases it is even more important that the horse or pony should receive a balanced supplementary feed.

The Laminitis Consortium is continuing its work in this area and hopes to be able to identify practices that will be of greater benefit to the horse owner faced with hay of unknown WSC content.

¹Longland AC Barfoot C &  Harris PA  (2009) The loss of water- soluble carbohydrate and soluble protein from nine different hays soaked in water for up to 16 hours.  J. Equine Vet Science 29 (5 ) p 383 - 384, ² Frank  N Equine Metabolic Syndrome J Equine Vet Sci 29 (5) p 259 - 267, ³Cottrell, E., Watts, K., Duarte, S. and Ralston, S. (2005). Equine Science Symposium, 2005, ⁴Kenny, D. (2007). Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science. ⁵Warr EM, Petch JL. Equine Vet Educ 1993;5:169-171, ⁶Longland, A.C. (2009) In preparation.

Ceva Animal Health has announced the winners of its 2014 Animal Welfare Awards.  

The awards recognise volunteers, charity workers and veterinary professionals who have gone the extra mile in improving animal welfare around the world. Winners were decided by a panel of industry professionals, including Christopher Laurence MBE BVSc and Claire Bessant of International Cat Care. 

The winners of the 2014 Ceva Animal Welfare Awards were as follows:

Christopher Laurence Vet of the Year Award
Marc Abraham, veterinary surgeon and founder of Pup Aid, for his tireless campaigning about puppy farming. He recently gathered more than the 100,000 names required to trigger a parliamentary debate about puppy farming in a record breaking six months.

Volunteer of the Year Welfare Award
Johanna Beumer from Whittingham Kennels, Essex, for dedicating the last 50 years of her life to finding loving homes for retired racing greyhounds. Joanna is one of the Retired Greyhound Trust's longest-serving volunteers.

Farm Animal Welfare Award
Molly McKay from Norfolk Farm Vets Ltd, Norfolk, for her tireless work to ensure the health and wellbeing of her farm animal patients. 

Charity Professional of the Year
Luke Gamble MRCVS from the Worldwide Veterinary Service, for raising awareness about animal welfare and in particular his recent work in launching Mission Rabies, a worldwide campaign to highlight this issue and bring about control.

Charity Team of the Year
Hope Rescue, a small charity dedicated to rescuing stray and abandoned dogs. Last year it successfully rehomed 143 dogs and on top of that placed a further 384 dogs with reputable rescues.

Welfare Nurse of the Year Award
Jodie Foster from Haygate Veterinary Centre, Muxton, for her work helping owners whose pets have behavioural problems, and organising blood drives for the Pet Blood bank. 

International Cat Care Welfare Award
Agnes Dufau from Plataforma Gatera for her work to ensure the welfare of cats in Spain.

Jodie Foster said: "I didn't even know I had been nominated until very recently so I'm still in shock! I'm loving every minute of the night though. Awards like these really help raise awareness of the work veterinary nurses and other veterinary professionals play in improving animal welfare."

Upon receiving their award, Vanessa Waddon of Hope Rescue, winners of the Charity Team of the Year Award, said: "We are so proud to have been recognised for all the hard work that our volunteers and one paid member of staff do. We are a very small charity, and it is amazing to have been picked as winners over hundreds of other larger charities, all deserving of awards for the fantastic work they do in animal welfare. Even though we are a small charity, we do try to make a big impact and it is wonderful that Ceva are here in recognition of the important work that smaller charities, like Hope Rescue, do."

Ceva Managing Director, Alan Doyle said: "The judging panel were overwhelmed by the quality of the entries we received this year. It is truly wonderful to read so many stories about honourable people dedicating their time to improve the welfare of animals both in the UK and internationally. The judges had a tough time whittling down the short list as there were so many well-deserved entries; however we are pleased with the final result."

Claire Bessant CEO of International Cat Care adds: "I began my charity career more than 20 years ago and I only wish awards like these one had existed then as the wonderful work that these people do needs celebrating. Ceva's Animal Welfare Awards provide a real insight into the lengths people are prepared go to improve animal welfare. The stories were both tear jerking and inspiring - each and every one deserves to be a winner."