According to a survey of 2,000 dog owners by Burgess Supadog Sensitive, 18% of women say they speak to their dog more than their partner or husband.
Not only that, but it seems the older you are, the more likely you are to strike up a conversation with the dog: 21 per cent of respondents aged 45-54 said they talked to their dog more than their partner as opposed to 10 per cent of 18-24 year olds.
Other findings from the survey included:
The challenge is part of Merial’s #CALFMATTERS calf pneumonia vaccination awareness campaign.
In total, the group aims to walk over 70,500 miles and raise £15,000 for Farm Africa, a charity which helps farmers and communities in developing countries by giving the advice and products they need to lift themselves out of poverty.
So far the challengers have covered one fifth of their total target, and completed the equivalent of several iconic distances including the Appalachian Trail, Lands End to John O’Groats, and ‘virtually’ crossed entire countries including Australia, China and Japan.
The participants have committed to the challenge by upping their physical activity. Merial has provided them with Fitbit fitness trackers to record their daily steps, which count towards the virtual teams’ total progress. The goal is 141 million steps in 20 weeks.
Robert Smith MRCVS from Farm First Vets is one of the highest steppers of the group. He recently scaled Ysgyryd Fawr (The Big Skirrid), one of the Black Mountains in Wales’ Brecon Beacons, for the challenge. He said: "I used to think of myself as a coiled spring ready for action, but the steps challenge has forced me to realise there is plenty of scope to increase my activity levels significantly. Hopefully when it is all over I will see the benefits and feel physically fitter for it."
Robert has taken the challenge one step further by encouraging his wife, two daughters, and Farm First Vets practice staff to join him in the challenge, with an added incentive. Between now and the BCVA Congress on 19th October, Farm First Vets will donate £50 to Farm Africa for every member of Robert’s team who completes the #CALFMATTERS challenge. Additionally, for every member of staff that achieves an average of 10,000 or more steps per day, the practice will donate £50 to XL Vets’ and BCVA 50th Anniversary charity, Send a Cow.
If you want to support those taking part in the challenge, you can do so at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/calfmatters.
The new course is called ‘New staff training course with Post2Pet’, and, as the name suggests, it will look at how to incorporate the home delivery option into a preventative healthcare plan.
Premier Vet Alliance says the course is suitable for any member of the practice team that wants to increase their knowledge about healthcare plans.
The course is 4 modules long with an assessment leading to 1.5 hours of completed CPD. It will launch towards the end of April.
James Tudor, Head of Customer Experience at Premier Vet Alliance, said: "This is a fantastic resource and I am I so proud of the team who’ve developed this and helped practices to train staff efficiently and effectively.
"It’s opening up the future of training and we hope to gain guidance in developing our training provision by working directly with practices, to help keep the training relevant.
"We see real value in CPD accredited courses, especially where they help enable veterinary staff to increase their knowledge on maximising their clients’ compliance. They can also learn how to influence animal health, and drive other aspects of the business through health plans."
"This is just the beginning; we will continue to increase our CPD accreditations and share best practice across Europe and the United States."
For more information contact 0117 370 0300 or email pcp@premiervetalliance.co.uk .
The British Veterinary Association's Members' Services Group has devised a Vet Helpline sticker as a practical way to promote the help and support available to members of the veterinary profession suffering from anxiety or depression. It will be sent out with the 20th February edition of the Veterinary Record.
The suicide rate within the veterinary profession is around four times higher than in the general population and around twice that of other high risk groups including farmers and medical practitioners. Research has shown that long hours, the risk of professional mistakes and rising client expectation and administrative work lead to high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Ready access to and knowledge of lethal means such as medicines and firearms may also be contributing factors in the increased suicide risk.
The Vet Helpline sticker acts as a constant reminder to veterinary professionals that a confidential helpline, manned by trained volunteers from the veterinary profession, is available around the clock on every day of the year to offer support and direct them to specialist help where appropriate. In addition to the Vet Helpline phone number the sticker also gives the number for the Samaritans and includes the address of the Vetlife website which is a "one stop shop" for all the help available.
BVA President, Professor Bill Reilly, said: "Please remember that if you're feeling depressed, lonely or under pressure, or are perhaps worried about a colleague, you can talk it over in confidence with trained volunteers from the veterinary profession. The Vet Helpline is there for all veterinary surgeons, nurses and students.
"Ours is a small profession and sadly most of us know someone who has suffered mental ill health or taken their own life. We hope that by reminding colleagues how to get help and continuing to publicise the Vetlife website and the Veterinary Benevolent Fund support services the BVA can play its part in supporting vets in crisis."
Dogs Trust has come out firmly against RSPCA-supported proposals to re-introduce the dog licence.
The dog welfare charity says it does not believe re-introducing the dog licence would provide a welfare benefit for dogs. It has also expressed surprise at the RSPCA position, which is that: "a licence would be hugely beneficial in addressing many animal welfare concerns stemming from overbreeding of dogs to a lack of traceable ownership." Dogs Trust has said this view is extremely naïve, that responsible owners might struggle to pay what is likely to be a punitive annual licence, and that a licence is simply a tax on dog ownership.
Meanwhile, the RSPCA has announced the results of a survey in which 2 out of 3 pet owners said they would be in favour of a licence scheme. 76% said that a dog licence should be enforced in England to help curb problems such as 'puppy farms', stray dogs, stolen dogs and animal abandonments.
The RSPCA also says that research carried out on its behalf by Reading University clearly shows that an affordable and well-enforced dog licensing scheme could provide funding for a range of issues, most of which are currently funded poorly by central and local government. Professor Emeritus Martin Upton from Reading University's school of agriculture, policy and development, said: "Our study into the potential costs and benefits of dog licencing and registration found that such a scheme could greatly contribute to responsible dog ownership and animal welfare."
Dogs Trust says the dog licence has been shown to be an ineffective measure in the UK. In Northern Ireland, where the dog licence is still a requirement, only an estimated one-third of all dog owners currently have their dogs licensed. Northern Ireland still has the highest number of stray dogs per head of population of any region in the UK and the number of dogs put to sleep in the region represents a staggering 34% of the total UK figure.
The charity recommends compulsory microchipping as the most effective means of registration as well as identification of a dog. Unlike the dog licence, which involves an annual fee, microchipping involves just a small one-off fee (Dogs Trust offers microchipping at its centres for £10). The benefit to responsible owners and their dogs is therefore relatively cheap and effective. Microchipping a dog should infer legal ownership and reinforces the responsibilities of the owner under the Animal Welfare Act. The introduction of compulsory microchipping would allow stray dogs to be quickly returned to their owners, make easier the identification of owners who persistently allow their dogs to stray or cause nuisance, and make all puppies traceable to their breeder, helping to reduce the widespread problem of battery farming of dogs.
The Heart Health Panel - a group of expert veterinary surgeons, cardiologists and nutritionists set up by Boehringher Ingelheim Vetmedica - has launched a set of guidelines on the management of canine cardiac health through nutrition and lifestyle changes.
Entitled Supporting canine heart health through nutrition and lifestyle, Boehringher says the guidelines provide veterinary professionals with information on canine heart health, including the progression of heart disease through four main stages. These are: the green phase - no clinical signs and no pathology; the yellow phase - no clinical signs of heart failure but evidence of disease at clinical exam; the orange phase - occasional clinical signs when exercising and the red phase - clinical signs at rest.
The panel has developed a diagnostic checklist to determine whether a patient has heart disease and which phase they are in to help initiate a good diet and healthy lifestyle early enough to support heart health. While a dog's individual needs should be taken into account when advising on dietary management and lifestyle, the panel's recommendations include a balanced, complete diet, dietary supplements, such as omega-3, and an appropriate exercise regime.
The Heart Health Panel's guidelines are now available as a booklet and are supported with a leaflet for dog owners entitled Support your dog's heart. The leaflet features information on canine heart health including risk factors, dietary advice, clinical signs of disease, diagnosis and the creation of a heart health management plan. Both the owner leaflet and the panel guidelines are available from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, and copies can be ordered from your local territory manager or by emailing vetmedica.uk@boehringer-ingelheim.com.
Petplan has announced the finalists for the 2013 Petplan Veterinary Awards.
Now in its 14th year, the Petplan Veterinary Awards received its biggest response yet, with 11,000 nominations submitted for exceptional veterinary staff across the UK.
The finalists for each of the categories are:
Vet of the Year
Vet Nurse of the Year
Vet Support Staff of the Year
Vet Practice of the Year
Practice Manager of the Year
Isabella von Mesterhazy, Petplan's Head of Marketing, said: "As the leader in the pet insurance market for over 35 years, we have a rich history of working with veterinary practices across the UK. The Veterinary Awards is a great way to recognise and celebrate the fantastic work that goes on helping keep pets healthy and their owners happy. This year we have seen a near fourfold increase in nominations which goes to show the appetite from both staff and clients for celebrating exceptional work, it is going to be a fantastic night."
Gyles Brandreth will compère the award ceremony on the 4th April at Birmingham Town Hall.
Registration will start at 9am, with the first lecture from 10am.
As usual, abstracts will be presented during the day, and there's an exhibition to visit during breaks and lunch.
Hot ophthalmology topics such as rhytidectomy and facial reconstruction will be discussed, with lectures presented by renowned veterinary and human ophthalmologists.
The day will end with a Q&A session where all lecturers will take part.
Veterinary surgeons need to be a member of BrAVO to come to the event, which costs £120.
There is a reduced price of £90 for vet students and nurses, who don't have to be a member to attend.
For more information, visit https://bravo.org.uk
Together, they're producing an educational video to be distributed and used by registered career advisers across the Southwest of England, and subsequently across the rest of England.
Remi qualified from the Royal Veterinary College in London as a registered veterinary nurse in 2019 and then applied to start the graduate Veterinary Medicine programme at the same university.
She said: “I didn’t quite get the grades to study to be a vet straight away, but I always knew that I wanted to focus on a surgical career path and having gone through the university application twice, I want to help other students realise that they too can pursue a career as a vet or vet nurse.
“I met the managing director of JHP Recruitment, Justin Powlesland, at a networking event and explained how keen I was to help more people realise that there is more than one way to become a veterinary professional and to encourage school age children not to dismiss a veterinary career from an early age.
Justin said: “We have employed a production company and are now looking for a location to film it.
"Ideally, we need a teaching hospital to offer us some space for a day, as we want to set our interview with Remi in a clinical setting, where there is plenty of equipment to see.
"We are hoping to film this summer and are appealing for help to find a location.
“The video will tell Remi’s story about the hurdles she has faced and overcome to ultimately study to become a vet, it will also show students where the veterinary industry can take them and the different roles and routes to study that are available.
"As well as the video, a downloadable PDF version will be created, which are both great resources for career advisers that we will also share across social media.”
Remi added: “I really hope that what we are doing will encourage more people from diverse backgrounds to consider going to into higher education to start a career in veterinary medicine or veterinary nursing – that’s the ultimate goal.”
Any teaching hospital that can help with a filming location is being asked to contact Justin via email Justin@jhprecruitment.com or to call him on 07506 981 354.
So far this year the charity says it has received 144 requests from people asking for it to take in or help rehome their horse or pony through the Blue Cross Home Direct service.
More than 70% cited personal or financial circumstances as the reason.
In comparison for the full year of 2021, 43 (or around 15%) of a total of 277 intake and rehoming requests specified financial reasons.
In 2020 a total of 32 (around 14%) out of 231 requests stated financial reasons.
Annabelle Taylor, Rehoming Coordinator at Blue Cross, said: “It is distressing to see that the number of people seeking rehoming support because of financial reasons is already more than double last year’s annual total and we still have a third of the year to go.
Petsavers, the charitable division of the BSAVA, is calling for entries to its 2012 digital photography competition, this year themed 'Best Buddies'.
The competition is open to entries from pet owners and veterinary professionals alike. The judges will be looking for qualities like humour and character in the photos, as well as photographic skill.
If you need a little inspiration, you can see the winning images from previous years on the BSAVA website.
The competition has two categories: Adult (16 and over) and Junior (under 16). First prize in each category is £200 in photography vouchers, second prize is £100 in photography vouchers and third prize is £50 in photography vouchers. The closing date is Thursday 26 January 2012. To enter the competition, email your photographs to info@petsavers.org.uk. An application form must also be submitted; this can be emailed with your photograph or alternatively you can print and fax the form to BSAVA at 01452 726701.
Petsavers is also encouraging practices to help promote the competition by displaying leaflets in practice, and telling clients about it.
More information is available by emailing: info@petsavers.org.uk or visiting www.petsavers.org.uk/.
The government has confirmed that tests carried out on a poultry farm in Dunfirmline have indicated the presence of a notifiable strain of avian influenza.
At this stage, officials say that the clinical picture indicates that this is a low pathogenic strain which poses little risk to human health.
All birds at the premises - 40,000 according to the Daily Mail - will be humanely culled, and a 1km Temporary Control Zone has been put in place to prevent the movement of birds, carcasses and eggs.
BVA President Sean Wensley said: "This suspected outbreak is further evidence of the vital surveillance role played by frontline vets in protecting animal and, by extension, human health. We commend the veterinary surgeon involved in detecting the outbreak in Fife, which has enabled a swift and effective response by the Scottish Government and all other organisations involved.
"We urge poultry keepers and vets working in the area to remain vigilant and to report any concerns to their local Animal Plant & Health Agency (APHA) office. We would like to emphasise that there is no food safety risk to the public."
Photo: RonaldDuncan at en.wikipedia
The new Improve Veterinary Academy Series is comprised of five month-long semesters, each of which will focus on a different clinical topic.
Each semester will consist of videoed lectures, discussion forums, journal clubs, as well as the ability to access the university’s latest evidence-based research in these areas.
The clinical topics to be explored are:
Each semester counts towards your annual CPD requirement.
Professor James Wood, Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at University of Cambridge, said: “This new partnership will allow veterinary surgeons to get the latest evidence-based knowledge directly from our top specialists.
"They will also learn to apply valuable skills in their everyday practice life and engage with others on Improve International’s global, interactive online platform.
Charlotte French, Head of Curriculum & Quality at Improve International, said: “We are thrilled to be working with University of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine as another innovative way to help the veterinary community take their careers to the next level.”
Professor Mike Herrtage, Trustee of the University of Cambridge Veterinary School Trust and former Dean of the Cambridge Veterinary School, said: “The new joint agreement brings together Improve International, with its outstanding record of high-quality and innovative CPD provision and the staff of the Department of Veterinary Medicine with their excellent specialist clinical knowledge and experience, as well as their recognised quality in small group teaching to stage the Improve International Academy Series.
"This will provide a new milestone in CPD course delivery.”
Janssen Animal Health has launched a range of skincare products - Cavalesse® and Cavalesse® Topical - to help maintain and support a healthy skin in horses prone to summer skin allergies.
According to the company, summer skin allergies, including sweet itch, which is caused by reactions to bites from Culicoides midges, can be serious and frustrating conditions that affect three to five per cent of all horses in the UK. These allergies can be difficult to manage and are often a real challenge for both horse owners and vets alike.
Cavalesse is a natural food supplement containing a specialised formulation of water-soluble vitamins and minerals, including Nicotinamide. Once a month the contents of each sachet are dissolved in water to form an oral solution, which can be administered daily via a special pipette, either by sprinkling over a small handful of feed or adding to a treat such as a sugar lump. The supplement helps horses maintain a healthy skin by reducing histamine release within the skin, moderating the excessive immune response within the skin, reducing anti-inflammatory reactions and suppressing antigen induced transformation.
To complete the Cavalesse skin management range, Cavalesse Topical is a skincare gel that can be used in combination with the Cavalesse solution. The gel can be applied to the skin to help support natural immunity from the outside, whilst the oral solution works in partnership from the inside.
Helen Goldberg, marketing manager at Janssen Animal Health said: "Summer skin allergies, such as sweet itch, are frustrating conditions that can be difficult to treat. To help prevent the disease, horses are often fully blanketed while out at grass, given limited access to pasture or covered with insect repellents, while treatment has included antihistamines and corticosteroids which can have side-effects.
"Only available via veterinary wholesalers, the Cavalesse range of products will enable owners to protect their horses from the inside, whilst maintaining a healthy skin from the outside."
2ml of Cavalesse should be administered to horses and ponies weighing less than 500kg daily, while horses weighing more than 500kg should be given 3ml per day. Cavalesse Topical should be applied to the skin according to requirements.
For further information, please contact your Janssen Animal Health account manager or phone 01494 567555.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) has granted MSD Animal Health a provisional UK marketing authorisation for Bovilis SBV, the first vaccine specifically targeting the Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in cattle and sheep.
SBV, which emerged in late 2011, is transmitted via insect vectors, mainly midges and causes transient clinical symptoms in adult cattle and sheep, such as fever, diarrhoea and reduced milk yield, as well as congenital malformation in newborn calves and lambs. As of March 31st 2013, 1753 cases of SBV had been confirmed throughout the UK. SBV has now been detected in every county in England and Wales.
Andras Bolcskei, Country Manager, MSD Animal Health UK said: "On behalf of Merck MSD, we would like to thank the VMD for its partnership and support to fast track the availability of Bovilis SBV to the market. There was a tremendous urgency for a SBV vaccine in the UK especially given the marked increase in confirmed cases over the past year and the increasing importance to help control this devastating disease."
MSD says that studies it conducted in support of the provisional marketing authorisation showed that all animals responded with formation of virus neutralizing antibodies. During the studies, reduced viraemia against SBV was observed in sheep vaccinated once and prevention of viraemia was observed in cattle vaccinated twice, whereas all animals in the control groups developed infection and became viraemic. In studies to date, Bovilis SBV has been shown to be efficacious in cattle and sheep.
The vaccine is based on wild-type SBV that has been inactivated and contains an adjuvant that stimulates the immune response.
The vaccine will be available in 20ml and 100ml vials. Bovilis SBV is indicated for the active immunisation of cattle to prevent viraemia against SBV and for the active immunisation of sheep to reduce viraemia against SBV.
MSD says it is working diligently to expedite stocks to the UK, and expects Bovilis SBV to arrive in the UK in the coming weeks.
She said: "The veterinary family – which is my focus as BVA President – is part of the international scientific community, and we are a diverse profession with far-reaching influence and impact in so many areas of political and public life ... A healthy veterinary workforce is vital for UK animal and human health."
With the residence or working rights of UK-based EU vets a 'top five' priority for the profession in forthcoming Brexit negotiations, Gudrun highlighted workforce issues: "The UK veterinary profession relies heavily on EU graduates, who have felt the impact of the EU referendum result since day one … In the meat hygiene sector alone, some estimates suggest 95% of veterinary surgeons graduated overseas.
"That’s why our first action after 23 June was to call on UK governments to protect the status of EU veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses currently living and working in the UK. It was encouraging to see some of these key priorities … make it into the Prime Minister’s list of negotiating priorities. But we have said from the outset that our members need certainty and reassurance, so we urge the Government to make that firm commitment now."
"We know vets remain nervous about the changes to come, with many of our members concerned about the threat Brexit poses for UK animal health and welfare … Yet we can also see the opportunities Brexit presents, and BVA is determined to work with the Government to seize these opportunities, where they exist, to improve standards."
Highlighting opportunities that Brexit could offer in terms of improving animal health and welfare, Gudrun suggested a tightening up of the Pet Travel Scheme to reduce the growing trend of illegal puppy imports and improvements for welfare at slaughter. She said:
"The Welfare at Time of Killing or WATOK Regulations for England … are a case in point about the welfare-mismatch that could occur between domestic standards and those of our trading partners under the new Brexit arrangements. By failing to bring in evidence-based parameters for all waterbath stunning of poultry, [the] legislation has rendered it impossible for Official Veterinarians to protect the welfare of all chickens at slaughter. The regulations are simply not for fit for purpose, and could call into question England’s claim as a leader in high animal welfare."
The BVA President then shared a highlight of an early meeting between BVA and the then new Defra Secretary of State Andrea Leadsom MP last July: "We were pleased to hear [the Defra Secretary of State’s] vision to make the unique selling points of 'UK PLC' high animal welfare and food safety standards. It's a commitment that BVA fully backs ... To ensure our high standards continue, it is essential that we maintain existing veterinary certification and controls to satisfy our own consumer demand for quality and safety. Official statistics put the value of UK livestock outputs at £13 billion and not a penny of that could be realised without veterinary input."
Gudrun concluded by saying: "We can only make a success of Brexit if we harness our veterinary resource in clinical practice, public health, government services, conservation, academia, research and industry. We are a small profession but our impact is significant."
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity Lord Gardiner of Kimble responded, saying: "In my role at Defra I am continually reminded of the importance of the relationship between vets and government - most recently in tackling the outbreak of Avian Influenza in the UK. Your thoughts and ideas are invaluable as we manage the many opportunities and challenges posed by exiting the European Union, ensure the highest standards of animal welfare, protect the country from new animal disease threats, and attract the brightest and best into the profession.
"I look forward to continuing to work closely together as we push ahead with our plans to create a world leading food and farming industry based on high standards of animal health and welfare."
To find out more about the BVA’s work on the UK’s exit from the EU, visit www.bva.co.uk/news-campaigns-and-policy/policy/future-of-the-profession/brexit/
Dubbed the PICO Project, the scheme will initially run via a series of specialism-specific surveys that let respondents select individual species or topics and input the research questions they would like to see covered within Veterinary Evidence.
Knowledge will make the list of submitted questions available online for the veterinary community to answer as Knowledge Summaries (Critically Appraised Topics), which will be peer-reviewed and published in the open-access journal.
Professor Peter Cockroft, recently appointed Editor-in-chief of Veterinary Evidence, said: "The practice of evidence-based veterinary medicine is an empowering process for practicing veterinarians that enables important gaps in knowledge to be identified. It is the bridge between research and clinical practice.
"If you have a clinical question that may shape the care of a patient, Veterinary Evidence may have the best current answer or will add the question to the growing archive of important information needs."
The first survey to launch – open now – will focus on equine practice, with possible subjects ranging from the likes of husbandry or vaccination to infectious diseases.
To ask for the evidence on a particular area, choose your topic in the survey’s drop-down menus and fill in up to five related questions, preferably in Population Intervention Comparison Outcome format.
Livestock will be the focus for the next survey, due to open alongside the BCVA Congress in October. Further surveys will look at canines, felines and other specialisms.
To keep up to date with the list of PICO questions being answered or available to be answered, visit Veterinary Evidence and follow @RCVSKnowledge on Twitter.
If you wish to become an author of a Knowledge Summary for publication in the journal, contact the Managing Editor at Bridget@rcvsknowledge.org.
The extension will triple the size of the hospital's waiting room and nearly double the number of consultation rooms to seven, including one cat-only consult room and a cat-only waiting area.
The work to improve facilities for felines will also enable NWVS to apply for the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) gold award.
Clinical director Prue Neath said: “This work will serve to further enhance the modern facilities we have on offer and add to our wide range of cutting-edge equipment which is all aimed at delivering the very best of care and treatments to our pet patients.
“We are always looking to expand our expert team and recruit new specialists, clinicians and vet nurses, as well as extending our in-house opportunities for residents and interns to fulfil their veterinary ambitions.
“This work will be another piece in the jigsaw which allows us to meet those ambitions, both in terms of the care we deliver to pets and the opportunities we offer to outstanding clinicians.”
www.nwspecialists.com
Photo: Sarah Hardy, client services team leader at NorthWest Veterinary Specialists
The RCVS has launched a research project into the extent to which veterinary surgeons are able to meet its requirement that steps are taken to provide 24-hour emergency cover.
The College's 24-hour Emergency Cover Working Party (24-7 WP) has been considering the ongoing practicality of the current requirement in the Guide to Professional Conduct, and whether it should remain, be removed, or be amended in some way. The research aims to build a sound evidence base on which a decision can be made.
"Changes in practice profiles and owner demands, health and safety issues, the desire for an improved work-life balance, veterinary and animal density... all these factors affect the ability of veterinary practitioners to meet our 24-7 requirement. The Working Time Regulations - which prescribe maximum working hours and minimum rest periods - have also affected practices' ability to run out-of-hours services," according to RCVS President Jill Nute.
"However, we are frequently reminded by members that the profession is proud to offer a 24-hour emergency service to animals and their owners. There seems to be no single majority view in the profession, so we need to understand exactly how people are meeting the requirement before any changes are made," she says.
To ensure that the research is independent and representative, the RCVS has contracted a specialist market research agency, Cognition Market Intelligence.
The first step is to build a robust and unbiased questionnaire that takes account of all of the issues. To this end, in-depth interviews will be carried out over summer with a small number of veterinary surgeons from a range of different practice types, and across different gender/age/role categories.
The 24-7 WP will then meet in September to hear the findings and agree the questionnaire, which Cognition Marketing Intelligence will then use during autumn as part of a quantitative phone interview exercise with 440 veterinary surgeons, again covering a spread of individuals, practice types and geographies. The phone interview approach will ensure that the views of a range of different practitioners are heard, which is not always the case with a paper survey.
Should changes to the Guide to Professional Conduct be recommended by the Working Party on the basis of the findings, a consultation exercise may be undertaken.
The RCVS President has sent a letter to all home-practising members to explain the activities. She has urged veterinary surgeons to assist the research team, saying "your contribution will make a difference".
The Recruitment Investment Group (RIG) has established a new recruitment agency that specialises in the supply of skilled professionals to the veterinary animal health market.
The newly formed RIG Animal Health Recruit will be working in the "industry" side of the profession to provide a permanent and temporary recruitment service in areas such as sales, technical product, academia, and laboratory work. The company's activities will not be confined to the UK alone, but, due the nature of this work, it will also operate in Europe.
The new company is headed up by James Roadnight, who has over 14 years' experience in working in specialist recruitment within professional and high integrity industries.
James said: "There comes a time in some vets or vet nurses' careers when they can want a change from working in practice and would like to move their skills to industry or academia. And we can help with this transition. Similarly, companies and institutions have a need to recruit personnel and will benefit from working with an agency that specialises only in this sector and should therefore have the strongest candidates available."
For more information, see www.rigahr.co.uk
The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics is urging the Prime Minister to make the announcement on antimicrobial resistance he promised the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday 7th May 2014.
In a reply to a question from Zac Goldsmith MP, David Cameron acknowledged that the problem of antibiotic resistance could have 'unbelievably bad consequences' leading to quite minor ailments not being properly treatable by antibiotics. The Alliance is urging the government to take urgent action to reduce antibiotic use in both medicine and farming.
The issue was further highlighted at this year's World Health Assembly (WHA) Conference when attendees confirmed that a catastrophic post-antibiotic age - in which minor, common infections could again become killers - is a real possibility unless urgent action is taken.
At the conference, the Netherlands' Minister of Health, Edith Schippers said: "People are getting seriously ill and are dying as a result of skin infections and diarrhoea. Common surgeries like knee replacement will become potential killers because of secondary infections that are untreatable. This is a global problem on a par with, if not more serious than, nuclear security, international terrorism and climate change."'
In a letter to David Cameron on 13th May 2014, the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics said: "It simply does not make sense to be feeding nearly half of all the antibiotics used in this country to farm animals, just so that they can be kept in high numbers indoors, often in conditions which carry with them the risk of high levels of disease."
The Alliance says the measures the Prime Minister is due to announce must include the urgent phase-out of the routine preventative use of antibiotics in farming.
Alison Craig, Campaign Manager for the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics said: "Our near European neighbour the Netherlands has phased out routine preventative use of antibiotics in farming by government taking strong and decisive action and industry taking voluntary measures - so why can't we do the same in the UK?"
In 2007 the Netherlands was one of the world's heaviest users of antibiotics in food animals. In 2009 the government decided to decrease farm use of antibiotics by 50%. This was achieved by 2013.
Alison continued: "It is alarming that, in this country, we don't even yet know how many people are already dying due to antimicrobial resistance. By contrast, in the Netherlands they know that there are 2 million hospitalisations per year due to resistance.
"If the Prime Minister knows that there will be 'unbelievably bad consequences' for families, why is his government being so slow about getting a grip on the problem?"
There are three full equine streams running for the duration of the two days, programmed by the Royal Veterinary College and the British Veterinary Association in partnership with the British Equine Veterinary Association. Organisers say the programme has been designed to ensure it caters for both mixed and equine only veterinary surgeons.
The lecture streams are complemented by the show’s ‘Meet the Professor’ equine sessions, where a number of the speakers are able to have more intimate discussions with a smaller group of delegates.
Topics covered in the 36 sessions include:
For more information on the BVA/BEVA Equine Theatre, RVC Equine Theatre 1 and RVC Equine Theatre 2 programmes at the London Vet Show or to register for the event visit londonvetshow.co.uk.
In a short video produced by Elanco Animal Health, Natalie highlighted how critical pet behaviour is to achieve a clinical cure: "Many of our cases that are referred for surgery are because the owner can’t apply treatment. However, we still treat the majority medically, alongside behavioural therapy.
"Prioritising your diagnostics in the consult, especially ear cytology, being able to identify subtle behavioural cues and potentially taking treatment back into the practice can all help achieve first-line treatment success."
Emily said: "Treatment doesn’t need to be merely 'tolerated'; it should be a positive experience. Just one bad experience can be hard to overcome so it’s important to get it right first time."
According to a survey commissioned by Elanco1, 45% of owners struggle to administer ear medications at home. 55% of those said the dog finds it stressful, while 43% said their dog hides from treatment.
Natalie said: "Owners often won’t admit that they struggle to apply ear treatments so it is up to us to ask the right questions and make them feel at ease in order to find out."
Emily added: "Owners often feel guilty and think they should be able to apply the treatment. We frequently underestimate how stressful this can be; having to apply treatment once a day to a painful dog is really difficult for any owner and can seriously affect the bond with their pet."
Natalie says treatment choices should be influenced by subtle behavioural cues in the consultation and in some cases veterinary surgeons should consider taking the burden of treatment away from the owner and into the practice in the first instance, to prevent negative experiences and unnecessary stress. She said: "We often find that applying a long-acting treatment in the consultation can make a big difference. It has less of an impact on the pet-owner bond and can help prevent behavioural issues that develop all too commonly."
Elanco highlights a recent clinical study2 which looked at the impact of Osurnia on quality of life, which concluded that: "A veterinarian-administered otic gel provided equivalent efficacy and higher QoL to dogs with otitis externa and their owners, compared to an owner-administered topical otic therapy".
Natalie said: "It’s our responsibility to proactively prevent the negative association with ear handling, making ear treatment a positive and easy experience. By thinking more about how we handle our patients and what we’re dispensing, potentially using a product that can be applied in the practice and less frequently, we can make the whole experience a lot better for dogs and owners."
References
The Canine Cruciate Registry is a free, anonymised, data collection audit tool that will enable veterinary surgeons to share information on techniques and procedures to improve patient care.
RCVS Knowledge will collect data from both vets and dog owners on patients recovering from cruciate surgery to identify which procedures and techniques give the best outcomes and have the fewest complications.
According to the charity, injury to the cruciate ligament is one of the most common causes of lameness and the most common type of orthopaedic problem in dogs, affecting about 1 in every 200 individuals in the UK each year.
Surgery is widely accepted to result in better outcomes for cruciate patients, however, there is a lack of high-quality evidence comparing which surgical techniques and implants are most effective and have the fewest complications. The Canine Cruciate Registry aims to fill this gap and provide evidence that veterinary surgeons worldwide can access to help guide decision-making about techniques for every patient they see with a cruciate rupture.
RCVS Knowledge has developed the registry with Amplitude Clinical Outcomes, a global leader in online registry software. It involves a web-based series of questions that vets, and dog owners are asked to complete throughout the dog’s care, to monitor their long-term progress.
In human medicine and surgery, outcome measures are common practice, with many human surgeries involving mandatory data entry onto a national registry.
Clinical Lead for the RCVS Knowledge Canine Cruciate Registry is veterinary orthopaedic surgeon Mark Morton. He said: “Thanks to several years of hard work and development from a group of vets across the UK and the team at RCVS Knowledge, I am delighted that the Canine Cruciate Registry is now up and running.
“We want to work with as many vets and dog owners as possible, we want to know about complications, we want to know about different techniques and how dogs recover so we can build a knowledge base for vets around the world to improve the quality of care they provide.
“As vets, it's our job to advise owners on treatments options, as well as what can go wrong with those treatment options and how often these potential complications may occur.
“I invite all vets in the UK as well as owners caring for dogs having cruciate surgery to join us and help improve outcomes for all patients in the future.”
Chair of the RCVS Knowledge Board of Trustees, Amanda Boag said: “This is a hugely exciting step forward in developing quality improvement initiatives within the veterinary profession and potentially transformational in terms of consistency and quality of care for our patients.
“I applaud the vision of the surgeons in setting this registry up and am keen to see how the same approach can be applied in other common disease conditions.”
Orthopaedic Surgeon, Richard Whitelock said: “The benefits of the Canine Cruciate Registry are immense – for dogs, owners and veterinary surgeons. Owners will be able to make better-informed decisions and their feedback on outcomes will be included. Surgeons will be able to monitor and compare their results, adapting and improving their treatments accordingly.
“I believe that the Canine Cruciate Registry could trigger a widespread change in the veterinary profession, we look forward to owners and surgeons across the UK engaging with it.”
The Canine Cruciate Registry has been endorsed by the British Veterinary Orthopaedic Association (BVOA), and all UK vets performing cruciate surgery are encouraged to sign up to the registry.
For more information, visit: www.caninecruciateregistry.org
The article argues that as the equine influenza (EI) vaccine supply returns to normal, there is sound scientific evidence why bi-annual vaccination schedules should be re-implemented promptly.
Whilst the scale and number of outbreaks has been relatively small since the introduction of mandatory EI vaccination by most competitive equestrian disciplines in the 1980s, disease events such as those experienced in the UK in 1989, 2003 and most recently in 2019 have demonstrated EI’s epidemic potential, even in vaccinated horse populations.
In their article 'Equine influenza bi-annual boosters: what does the evidence tell us?' Victoria Colgate and Richard Newton discuss what has been learnt from previous outbreaks and explain the evidence from mathematical models to show why bi-annual boosters are beneficial.
The authors say that epidemiological data from previous natural EI outbreaks have repeatedly demonstrated the impermanent nature of the protection provided by vaccination and observational field studies have repeatedly highlighted the potential for 12-monthly boosters to leave a vulnerable immunity gap at both the individual animal and population level.
Mathematical models of EI transmission confirm that six-monthly rather than annual EI booster vaccinations are preferable to establish and maintain effective population level immunity to EI.
Ideally vaccine strains should be updated in a timely manner to ensure inclusion of the most epidemiologically-relevant strains, however, this is a slow and expensive process for equine vaccine manufacturers.
In the absence of updated vaccine strains, bi-annual vaccination is strongly recommended to help compensate for antigenic drift between vaccine and circulating EI viral strains
Professor Celia Marr, Editor of the EVJ said: “Although the recent EI vaccine shortage has necessitated a temporary relaxation of competition vaccine schedules, we must now renew the message that six-monthly boosters are optimal and necessary.”
The Editorial can be found at https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.13898 and is free to view.
Two related articles can be found here: https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.13874 and here: https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.13885