Jessica Lewis MRCVS and her husband James have set up VetSetters, a travel company specifically for veterinary surgeons. 

Jess, who works as an ECC locum in the North of England, launched the new service to provide sustainable travel options, with a particular focus on creating holidays for time-poor professionals and their families, organising combined leisure and volunteering trips, eco and adventure holidays off the beaten track, and business travel around conferences and events.

The company operates through Not Just Travel to offer holiday deals and discounts exclusively to veterinary professionals.

Jess said: “Having worked in the industry myself, I know the demands staff are under.

"They are incredibly busy but desperately need a well-earned break.

"We take the stress out of the booking process for them, by offering them specifically tailored options to meet their needs and allow them to reset and recharge.”

In addition, VetSetters have partnered with the charity VetLife, donating £5 from each booking in order to support the charity’s work in protecting the mental wellbeing of staff in the industry.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/384018824510499/ 

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.

Supreme PetFoods has published a series of rabbit lectures for veterinary surgeons and nurses by world-renowned experts.

The lectures, which were held at London Vet Show last year, covered a variety of topics in rabbit medicine and surgery, including dental disease, digestive disorders, calcium metabolism, urinary disease and 'sticky bottom' syndrome. The round table of case-based discussions also provided an opportunity for the audience to have their questions answered by rabbit specialists and discuss the complexities of some example cases.

Claire Hamblion, Marketing Manager at Supreme Petfoods said: "The success of Think Rabbit Month really highlighted that raising awareness and expanding rabbit-related expertise is becoming increasingly important for vets. However, in comparison to cats and dogs, specialist information is less widely available - even though rabbits can often be the trickiest patients! This is why we're so thrilled to able to make contemporary thinking from world-class specialists available at the click of a few buttons."

In addition to the lectures, vets and nurses also have access to an array of free Supreme support materials including a series of professional waiting room videos and a variety of downloadable practice documents, available at http://www.supremepetfoods.com/vet-zone/.

Expert speaker, Molly Varga, BVetMed DZooMed MRCVS,RCVS Specialist in Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, whose lecture was entitled, 'Rabbits and Calcium: how much is too much?'said: "With current concepts in rabbit medicine and surgery rapidly evolving, access to convenient, concise and cutting edge information is crucial for the whole veterinary team. The only way this is possible is through initiatives such as this seminar series, which drives our knowledge and expertise forwards."

Other speakers in the seminar series included, Charly Pignon DVM (pictured right), Head of the Exotics Medicine Service at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vétérinaire d'Alfort in France, Professor Anna Meredith MA VetMB CertLAS DZooMed MRCVS, Livia Benato MRCVS, Lecturer in Rabbit and Exotic animal Husbandry and Nutrition and Wendy Bament RVN BSc (Hons) MSc, Exotic Animal Veterinary Nurse.

Claire added: "Not only are these specialists regarded as academic leaders in their profession but they are also renowned successful speakers, which makes for superb presentations. The watch-again capability of the online seminars makes it easy for vets and nurses to dip in and out at their leisure, gaining maximum value for minimum effort."

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.

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.

Vetlife is holding its third Veterinary Month of Movement next month, when veterinary professionals are asked to come together, get active, and fundraise for the charity.

The idea is that by raising money through exercise, which is documented to improve mental health, you'll be helping to boost your own wellbeing as well as supporting the wellbeing of others.

To take part, you need to team up with colleagues, then decide on a challenge such as an overall distance or a total step count you want to hit. 

Then create a fundraising page through Just Giving, so you can share the link and spread the word about your event.

If you share photos of your fundraising on social media, be sure to tag Vetlife.

You can buy running vests and t-shirts from Vetlife through it’s website (use code Vetlife40! for 40% discount).

Vetlife trustee Richard Killen said “It is well recognised how important physical activity is for wellbeing and what better way to promote within your workplace than participating in this event.

"Vetlife is a great charity with ever-increasing demands on its services and it is hoped that much needed funds can be raised through the VMOM campaign.

"Vetlife will be grateful for any contributions to its work.”

https://helpline.vetlife.org.uk/

Genitrix has launched a free epilepsy faxback advice service for veterinary practices prescribing Libromide. 

A form downloadable from the Genitrix website will enable practices to provide detailed case histories, and challenging canine epilepsy cases will be reviewed by Dr Clare Rusbridge, RCVS and European Specialist in veterinary neurology. Clare runs a small animal neurology referral practice based at the Stone Lion Veterinary Hospital in South London. She is board certified by the European College of Veterinary Neurology.

Launched earlier this year, Libromide is the first and only licensed formulation of potassium bromide for refractory canine epilepsy. Rob Watkins, Marketing Director at Genitrix, said: "When we launched Libromide, it was our goal to ensure that generalist practices, which may not deal with cases every week, were given more accurate guidance and advice on treating canine epilepsy than was possible when only unlicensed products were available.

"Our subsequent launch of the discounted blood test, the dosing wheel and now the Libromide Epilepsy Advice Service through Clare, are examples of our commitment to achieving this goal.

"The advice service is aimed specifically at practices which are finding it difficult to control seizures or which have a patient experiencing unusual side effects, even after receiving dosing advice from Genitrix. I hope that having Clare's experience and expertise 'on tap' for challenging cases will prove reassuring for our customers."

For more information on the Libromide Epilepsy Advice Service, practices are asked to call Genitrix' head office on 01403 786345.

Bayer is highlighting a new study which, the company says, proves that a 'metaphylactic' treatment approach to coccidiosis - when the animal has been infected, but before the disease has had chance to take hold - produces the best long term results¹.

The research spanned a two year period where heifer calves on two farms that had previously experienced problems with naturally acquired coccidiosis, were divided into two groups. One group was treated with Baycox and one group remained untreated. The calves were then monitored for two years to gather the long term results following the coccidiosis treatment.

Sharon Cooksey BVSc, MRCVS, Bayer Animal Health Group Product Manager said: "The results demonstrated that treatment with Baycox at the right time significantly reduced the average age to first service by 24 days in comparison with the non-treated control group.

"Other key long term benefits following treatment included positive effects on certain fertility parameters, including overall pregnancy rate, the first service conception rate and average services per conception as well as a significant reduction in oocyst shedding in the treatment group." 

Sharon says the take home message of the new research is the paramount importance of getting treatment right at the right time, before coccidiosis develops and causes any long term implications: "The positive impact on heifer development from correct subclinical coccidiosis treatment is clear to see in this research, with the reduction of days to first service alone being a powerful reason for farmers to seek veterinary advice."

Reference

1. Veronesi F, Nisoli L, Diaferia M, Falcini R, Ficola E, Fioretti DP (2013) Influence of metaphylactic treatment with Baycox® Bovis on the reproductive performances of Fresian heifers: a preliminary study. Parasitol Res.

Medivet has announced the appointment of John Bower MBE BVSc MRCVS to its Panel of Enquiry set up following coverage of the company on Panorama.

Mr Bower has been President of the British Veterinary Association, the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, and the Veterinary Practice Management Association.

Mr Bower said: "Medivet is a large partnership with numerous branches and I am looking forward to helping the partners assess and review the management of their practice to eliminate the sort of incidents and situations that were alleged in the Panorama programme.  This panel will look deeply into the management and I have been convinced by the partners that they are determined to take appropriate measures where necessary."

Adi Nell, Medivet central partner and fellow member of the panel said: "We are delighted that John Bower is to be a part of our panel. John is not only an eminent vet of unquestionable ethical standing, but he set up and ran a medium-sized veterinary partnership for 38 years. His expertise will be crucial to Medivet, as the panel carries out its investigations and makes its recommendations over the next few months."

Mr Bower, who retired from general practice in 2007, is currently Veterinary Advisor to Petplan Insurance Company and a trustee of two national charities - Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and The Petplan Charitable Trust. Mr Bower was awarded the BSAVA Melton Award for meritorious contributions to Small Animal Practice in 1991, the MBE in 2010 for services to the BVA:AWF, and has authored or co-authored a number of books including Veterinary Practice Management, The Dog Owner's Veterinary Handbook and The Cat Owner's Veterinary Handbook.

Tails.com, a UK pet nutrition company run by a team of people with backgrounds working for well known names as innocent, lovefilm.com and graze, has launched an innovative service delivering dog food optimised for each individual animal, direct to your door.

The concept behind tails.com was born when the company’s co-founder and head vet saw the impact of different diets on the pets in his surgery and realised that the best way to deliver effective health benefits through nutrition was to create unique diets for each animal.

Using research which included analysis of detailed pet growth curves and nutritional requirements based on a wide variety of physical and lifestyle variants, tails.com developed a system which it says offers an optimised feeding plan for each individual dog.

Visitors to tails.com are invited to complete a questionnaire which is then used to calculate their dog's individual feeding plan and the price. After that, the food is delivered to your door in packaging which displays the name of the dog it's for. Nice touch.

Another nice touch in these times of spiralling pet obesity is the inclusion of a free, vet-designed Perfect Portion Scoop, together with an individual feeding plan to help customers feed the correct amount of food in each meal.

The team’s lead nutritionist is Dr Samantha Ware MSc BSc (Hons), a pet nutritionist with over 15 years of experience in the pet food industry. She said: “Tails.com can create a bespoke diet and feeding plan to fulfil the unique nutritional needs and specific feeding preferences of your dog, for life. As a pet nutritionist, the most common question I face is ‘what is the best food that I can feed my pet?’ Despite the plethora of brands and products available in the market it can often be quite a challenge to find and select that perfect product to fit that specific pet, let alone within the budget of the owner. Bespoke diets are the ideal solution. With the ‘Tailored Nutrition’ proposition Tails.com has challenged the status quo, and has fully embraced and acknowledged that each pet is an individual and has its own unique nutritional needs.”

Any UK-based veterinary surgeon that would like to try tails.com free for 2 weeks (with a one-off £1 delivery charge), visit the site and enter the code VETSURGEON, valid from now till 28th September 2015.

A report published by the Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs committee this week has concluded that The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 is in need of updating. However, lack of available budget in the current Comprehensive Spending Review period means that further work on a White Paper won't happen till 2011 at the earliest.

In particular, the report found consensus within the profession that the disciplinary procedure is in urgent need of updating. However, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons does not have majority support for its proposals on compulsory practice standards and compulsory continuing professional development.

The report crticised the RCVS for not having done enough to provide a clear picture of its proposals for a new statutory framework for the regulation of the profession.

However, an RCVS spokesman said: "In fact, we have invested considerable time and resources in the development of proposals, led by a working party that included stakeholders. However, we have been awaiting further input from Defra before taking matters further."

Chairman of the Committee the Rt Hon Michael Jack said: "We urge the profession to coalesce round some specific proposals to amend the disciplinary process for veterinary professionals. We believe that a working party should be set up between Defra, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the British Veterinary Association to produce a new Bill for introduction in 2009."

Responding to the publication of the report, BVA President Nick Blayney said: "While we will certainly consider EFRACom’s proposal that BVA work with Defra and RCVS to produce a draft bill, the BVA is a voluntary association and our focus is the benefit of our members. Given that we are not even persuaded of the need for a new Act, it is likely that our contribution will be advisory and not financial."

Click here for the full report

Animalcare has launched Florgane, a novel, patented, long acting florfenicol 300mg/ml suspension which the company says has significant advantages over existing organic solvent-based florfenicol products on the market when used for the treatment and prevention of bovine respiratory disease (BRD).

Florgane is an aqueous, low viscosity advanced formulation, which, claims Animalcare, means that it is easier to inject even at temperatures as low as 5°C. Low temperature syringeability is important, as a large number of calves may need to be treated during colder weather at a time when the challenge from infectious agents is greatest. A syringeability study apparently demonstrated that Florgane is up to five times faster to administer when compared to the leading florfenicol non-aqueous formulation.

A paper on the treatment of naturally occurring respiratory disease with Florgane was presented recently at the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) Congress in Torquay. According to the company, the multi-centre field studies in Belgium, Germany and Italy, in over 400 cattle with bodyweights ranging between 73-180kg, demonstrated that Florgane given by a single intramuscular injection, at a 25% lower dose of 30mg/kg, is as efficacious as non-aqueous florfenicol 40mg/kg administered by subcutaneous injection, measured by treatment success and relapses.

Post mortem examination at day 27 (meat withdrawal of 37 days) confirmed that, despite being given via the intramuscular route, Florgane is well tolerated at the site of injection due to its aqueous base and physiological pH. Maximum volume per injection site is 15ml allowing calves up to 150kg to be treated.

Animalcare adds that a further advantage of Florgane is that it persists in plasma above the MICs for the three most common pathogens for significantly longer than conventional extended action 300mg/ml florfenicol solution preparations -  thereby prolonging bacterial killing time. Therefore, owing to its improved bioavailability and excellent pharmacokinetics, Florgane can be given at an easy to remember dose of 1ml per 10kg.

Tony Liepman, Marketing Manager at Animalcare said: "Using Florgane will result in faster administration, resulting in less stress for the calves and a saving in time and money for the farmer."

Florgane is presented in polypropylene 100ml and 250ml multi-dose vials with a three year shelf-life.

For more information, visit www.animalcare.co.uk