The BVA has released the result of a survey of its members to identify what vets think are the most pressing welfare needs affecting cats in the UK.

According to the Spring 2022 Voice of the Profession survey, one in four cats (24%) seen in practices are not having all of their welfare needs met. 

The issues identified by vets as the most pressing at their practice were:

• 43% Obesity
• 41% Behavioral problems/stress from living in a multi-cat household
• 34% Dental issues
• 26% Health issues linked to extreme conformation
• 19% Owners not accessing preventative veterinary care

Companion Care Vets has been named as one of The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For, the first veterinary organisation to receive the accolade.

Companion Care, which has 90 surgeries across the UK (the majority within Pets at Home stores) launched its joint venture partner model in 2001. The group received a "first class" one-star status from The Sunday Times, and was ranked at number 69 overall, a position determined by employee views, staff policies, processes and services.

Best Companies Accreditation is based around employee engagement and listed companies are noted for "excelling in every area throughout the workplace." Particularly recognised is an organisation's commitment to its most important assets - its workforce.

Jane Balmain, Managing Director of Companion Care Vets said: "We value every member of our team who have all worked tirelessly over the past 11 years to help our expansion into the market leader we are today. Without the commitment and expertise of every person within the organisation this would not have been possible and for us to receive this recognition, and on our first try, is outstanding."

Jane added: "To be the first veterinary organisation to receive Best Companies Accreditation is an honour and we will strive to continue to provide an exceptional working environment for our teams."

As part of the survey process 79% of Companion Care Vets' employees said their jobs are good for personal growth, 76% felt their jobs were secure and a fantastic 81% said colleagues are committed to taking care of each other.

With 109 Joint Veterinary Partners and a further 867 employees in the group, Companion Care Vets is one of the largest veterinary employers in the UK. The company plans to have 200 surgeries in place by 2015 which will create a host of career opportunities for vets and veterinary support teams around the UK.

The RCVS is seeking the views of veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses and members of the public about proposals for a new Royal Charter which would clarify and underpin the role of the College and give it formal recognition as regulator of the veterinary nursing profession.

The new Charter, approved at a meeting of RCVS Council in November, would replace the 1967 Supplemental Charter, with the most far reaching change being a proposal to make veterinary nursing a formally regulated profession on a similar footing to veterinary surgeons. Veterinary nurses would become associates of the College and have the post-nominal letters RVN. The List and the Register of Veterinary Nurses would also be effectively combined, meaning that the 1,100 listed veterinary nurses would join the 10,500 already on the Register.

Under the proposals registered veterinary nurses would continue to need to fulfil certain responsibilities, including abiding by the Code of Professional Conduct and completing an average of 15 hours a year of continuing professional development, and would be subject to RCVS disciplinary procedures.

What's new is that individuals struck off from the Register for serious professional misconduct would no longer be able to give medical treatment or carry out minor surgery under veterinary direction.

As well as changes to the regulation of veterinary nursing, the proposed Charter would also more clearly state the role and remit of the RCVS, for example, in advancing standards through the promotion of continuing professional development and the Practice Standards Scheme.

Professor Stephen May, a member of RCVS Council who led the Legislation Working Party that developed the new Charter proposals, said: "The proposed new Charter represents an historic opportunity to affirm the role of the RCVS, and to provide a modern framework for the future regulation of the professions. I call on veterinary surgeons and nurses, together with other interested stakeholders, to read the consultation documents and support our proposals."

Speaking about the need for change, RCVS President Neil Smith added: "The consultation paper explains why it is time to replace the 1967 Charter with a new version which sets out the role of the College. The present Charter doesn't explain what objects the RCVS should set out to achieve, and it is silent about veterinary nurses. The remit of the College should include being the regulator for the veterinary nursing profession, and we want a new Charter to recognise registered veterinary nurses.

"We hope that the new Charter will provide a solid basis for the work of the College for years to come. We would urge members of the professions and the public to let us know what they think and help us to make sure that we have got it right."

The consultation paper, which contains further details about the proposed Charter, is available to download at www.rcvs.org.uk/consultations. Those who wish to have their say must respond to b.myring@rcvs.org.uk with their comments by Friday 7 February 2014.

The RCVS will also be organising a meeting and a webinar during the consultation period for those who wish to ask questions about the proposals. Those interested in attending a meeting should email b.myring@rcvs.org.uk. The webinar will be held early in 2014 - further details will be on www.rcvs.org.uk in due course.

The BSAVA has announced the publication of its latest practical guide: The BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Abdominal Surgery.

The new manual covers everything from routine ovariohysterectomy to emergency drainage for acute peritonitis and features two new chapters on laparoscopic instrumentation/surgery and urinary incontinence.

The extensively revised and updated second edition equips veterinary surgeons with practical information, illustrations and images, along with step-by-step operative techniques that provide information on patient positioning and preparation, instrumentation and postoperative management for a variety of procedures.

International expertise includes editors John Williams and Jacqui Niles, as well as contributions from vets around the world.

The BSAVA says that hundreds of veterinary surgeons registered interest in advance after the first edition went out of print last year (2014) and a preview copy was made available at the BSAVA Congress in April.

John Williams said: "The BSAVA exists to promote excellence in small animal practice through education and science, and the BSAVA Manuals are instrumental in fulfilling this aim. As editors of this latest edition, Jacqui and I have had the privilege of being able to work with experts in their respective fields, to produce a practical guide packed full of the latest developments in abdominal surgical techniques that will be useful to the whole veterinary profession."

You can now buy a copy from the BSAVA website: www.bsava.com or by ringing: 01452 726700.

RCVS Council has announced there will be no increase in annual renewal fees this year, but the alternative fee payment arrangements brought in to reduce financial pressures on vets during the pandemic will now come to an end. 

Annual renewal fees for veterinary surgeons will remain at the same level as in 2021: £364 for UK-practising members, £182 for members practising outside the UK and £60 for non-practising members.

The removal of the alternative fee payment arrangements means there will no longer be the option to pay in instalments and the fee needs to be paid in full by the usual deadline of 1 April.

RCVS Treasurer Niall Connell said: “We understand that many veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses will have been impacted financially over the last couple of years, and we appreciate that this has been a very difficult time for the professions.

"We are pleased that we are able to keep fees static for a second year running, whilst maintaining a strong programme of strategic projects that help to set, uphold and advance standards within the professions.”

With fireworks season approaching, CEVA reminds that it's a good time to let clients know the steps they can take to minimise noise-related stress and highlight the benefits of the using D.A.P.® and Feliway®.

Companion Care Vets has announced it will work in partnership with VetAbroad, an e-learning company that has been established to help vets who qualified outside the UK to develop a successful career within it.

Companion Care is the first veterinary group in the UK to enter into partnership with VetAbroad, with the aim that all new non-UK employees will complete the course.

According to the company, almost 30% of vets registered in the UK are from overseas and statistics show that one in three will leave the register in less than 24 months and 20% in less than 12 months. Statistics also highlight the likelihood of a non-UK vet to be struck off or suspended is six times higher than for a UK vet.

Jane Balmain, Managing Director of Companion Care Vets said: "Whilst we as a company offer as much support as possible to our team members from overseas and support their continued learning , we are delighted to be working in partnership with VetAbroad to utilise their training solutions and further enhance what we offer to team members who come from overseas. All new employees will be required to take the course and we will also be encouraging our current overseas vets to complete it."

The e-course covers social and professional adaptation, compliance with current legislation, teamwork, productivity, client care and communication skills and VetAbroad states that those taking the course will substantially increase their chances of retaining and obtaining a job in the UK.

Vet and founder of VetAbroad Luis Sainz-Pardos said: "The primary aim of our course is to help vets who have qualified overseas to swiftly integrate into the UK system. Vets who have taken the course will be aware of UK legislation and should be able to interact with colleagues, clients and patients to a UK standard. As a result, the problems often associated with employing non-UK vets to work in UK practices are greatly reduced. I am thrilled to be working in partnership with Companion Care Vets, a company that I believe is thriving due to its investment in its most important asset - people."

For further information about VetAbroad please visit www.vetabroad.com

A vision for improving horse welfare has been set out following research carried out by the University of Bristol’s School of Veterinary Sciences and funded by World Horse Welfare.

It is hoped the findings, which were unveiled at the House of Commons yesterday, will enable the welfare priorities of the UK’s 800,000 horses to be addressed.

This is the first time welfare organisations, breeders, the equine industry and the veterinary profession have come together to agree on a strategy to best improve the welfare of horses in the UK.

The equine welfare study found the welfare needs of many horses are not currently being met and the report has highlighted four welfare priorities. 

Dr Siobhan Mullan, Research Fellow in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law at the University of Bristol and one of the report’s authors, said: "Bringing together the views of people associated with horses in England and Wales has provided an overview of horse welfare, from the day-to-day concerns of equine caregivers to identifying four priority challenges to equine welfare.

"This research has also identified how equine welfare can be improved, by addressing both the priority challenges, and a wider set of industry and horse-based needs."

Roly Owers, World Horse Welfare Chief Executive, added: "This research report provides a vital insight to the UK’s equine sector, mapping out the welfare landscape from a wide range of sector experts and stakeholders.

"In order for World Horse Welfare and others to most effectively address the welfare challenges facing UK equines, we need to better understand today’s welfare priorities and this research will provide a valuable guide to help in driving the focus of our educational initiatives and resources over the next few years.”

The priority welfare challenges and solutions outlined in the report are:

Unresolved stress/pain behaviour
Problems associated with unresolved stress/pain behaviour affect large numbers of horses, often for long durations with variable severity of suffering caused to individual horses.

More academic research is needed to fully understand the links between behaviour, stress and pain, and objective measures of stress and pain in horses should be developed. Vets, riding instructors, the Pony Club, riding clubs and the equine press have a role in educating horse caregivers about signs of stress and pain and the appropriate responses. Academics and experts also have a role in tackling this issue through evaluating the effectiveness of intervention programmes.

Inappropriate nutrition
Overfeeding and obesity are the main welfare problems associated with nutrition and affect large numbers of horses, often for a long time with varying severity of suffering.

Vets have a key role in tackling the problems associated with inappropriate nutrition. A consistent approach by all vets is needed, to prevent horse owners choosing vets that don’t challenge owners about their horses’ nutrition. Feed companies can also play an important role in tackling this issue, although many feed companies already offer appropriate nutrition for a range of horses and exercise situations. Better owner education, based on existing good research, would ensure the right nutritional choices are made for individual horses.

Inappropriate stabling /turnout
Welfare of horses is compromised when the amount of time spent at pasture/stabled does not meet their individual needs, when they are kept in social isolation or when they are exposed to unsuitable grazing conditions. Welfare problems associated with incorrect stabling/turnout affect large numbers of horses for a long time with variable levels of suffering.

Although all horse owners make choices relating to the amount and type of stabling and turnout experienced by their horses, livery yard owners could play a role in addressing this issue. For example, by encouraging different approaches to management, including group housing and the use of all-weather turnout facilities. Strengthening legislation is another possible way for improvement but a ‘one size fits all’ approach would be inappropriate. For example, for some horses, turn out to pasture may not always be suitable.

Delayed death
Horses may be kept alive inappropriately resulting in firstly, prolonging welfare problems, such as continued suffering of a horse in pain. This affects relatively large numbers of horses, for short periods of time with the severity of suffering often being severe. Secondly, an increased risk of suffering, for example where horses are unwanted by their owners, become low value and subsequently aren’t cared for well.

One way for improvement could be by putting pressure on the EU to make changes to the passport regulations. In particular, legislation changes that would enable horses who had received medications, including Phenylbutazone, to be slaughtered to enter the human food chain after a six month withdrawal period. In addition, challenging negative attitudes of horse owners towards timely euthanasia is important.

The research, undertaken over a four year period, was to understand the welfare status of horses in England and Wales, identify priority welfare issues and explore horse owner and industry experts’ perceptions of these issues.

Stakeholders from across the equine industry contributed to the research: from vets to farriers and welfare charities to governing body representatives, participants represented a wide-reaching cross section of horse care roles and responsibilities.  

Ceva Animal Health has highlighted a new study which revealed that the use of the opioid buprenorphine, the active ingredient in Vetergesic, before equine elective general anaesthesia and surgery resulted in better post-operative analgesia than butorphanol, without causing further physiological disruption than is normally expected of general anaesthesia in horses.

The prospective, randomised and blinded multicentre study, conducted by Dr Polly Taylor VetMB MA PhD DVA DipECVAA MRCA MRCVS, an RCVS Specialist in Veterinary Anaesthesia, compared the degree of post-operative pain and physiological variables in horses following premedication with either buprenorphine or butorphanol in a general clinical setting. The study included 89 healthy adult horses from six UK equine veterinary clinics admitted for routine elective surgical procedures.

Ceva says that butorphanol is often used in equine procedures due to familiarity and its value for enhancing alpha2-induced sedation, but that it is probably the least effective opioid as an analgesic. There is also a common perception that butorphanol has less impact on locomotor stimulation and depression of intestinal motility than other opioids. This is likely to have contributed to the almost exclusive use of NSAIDs to manage pain in the post-operative period.

To view the full study, visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.12442/abstract. For details on Ceva's analgesic product range, email analgesics-group@ceva.com or call 01494 781510.

Equine clinicians and scientists are being invited to submit abstracts for presentation at the 14th International Equine Colic Research Symposium taking place in Edinburgh on 10-12 July 2024.

The event is held every four years and hosted alternately by BEVA and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP).

It offers the opportunity for equine vets to absorb and digest the latest knowledge, clinical practice and scientific advances in the treatment and prevention of colic, from the world’s leading international equine gastroenterology experts.

Held over 2.5 days, the symposium comprises numerous 12-minute oral presentations on a range of topics including surgical techniques, treatment, parasitology, gastric ulceration, endotoxemia, pharmacology of intestinal motility, colic complications, epidemiology, physiology of digestion, the intestinal microbiome and metabolomics.

Each session will be followed by three minutes for questions and discussion.

Poster sessions on the first two days will cover ground beyond the oral presentations and delegates will be able to review and discuss the work with presenters.

There will also be opportunities to network with other equine vets, researchers and professionals.

Clinicians and scientists have until 1 February 2024 to submit abstracts of recent work that they wish to present at this meeting.

The scientific committee will consider abstracts on all aspects of equine gastroenterology, including basic science research and reports of clinical cases or novel approaches to treatment.

The abstract submission form is here: https://form.jotform.com/230473925626359 

Tickets cost £475 (with a concessionary rate of £235 for post graduate students and interns) and includes a drinks reception on both 10th & 11th, an evening buffet and Ceilidh on 11th and lunch on 11th & 12th.

Further information and booking details can be found here: https://www.beva.org.uk/Education/CPD/Event-Details/eventDateId/1740 

RCVS Knowledge has published the 2024 annual report of its Canine Cruciate Registry (CCR) which reveals a 79% increase in the number of surgeries recorded by UK-based vets in the last year. 

The Registry’s dataset now contains the details of 1,319 canine cruciate surgical procedures, compared with 735 reported in 2023.

The report contains 3 years of data provided by 138 UK-based vets and their clients, and reports on cruciate surgery outcomes on dogs from all stages of life – from 3 months to 18 years.

The report provides a breakdown of the clinical outcomes of different surgical techniques, patient demographics, use of antibiotics, and more.

Some of the main findings in this year’s annual report were:

• Staffordshire Bull Terriers are no longer among the top five most common breeds on the registry, with Cockapoos jumping from seventh most common to fourth.
• The rest of the top five remained unchanged from 2023: Labrador Retrievers (first), English Springer Spaniels (second) Golden Retrievers (third), and Cocker Spaniels (fifth).
• The most commonly performed procedures were osteotomies, while the proportion of Tibial Plateau Levelling Osteotomy (TPLO) procedures have increased.
• Regional anaesthesia was used in 82.6% of patients. A femoral and sciatic block was the most commonly performed technique.
• Patient weights ranged from 1.6kg to 80.3kg, with the number of patients reported as Overweight and Too Heavy having reduced by 1.5% since the last report.
• Most patients (97.5%) had an intra-articular assessment, a 5.5% increase from 2023. Arthrotomies remain the most common.
• Antibiotics were used peri-operatively for most patients (99.9%), remaining constant with data from 2023.
• Only about a third (36.1%) of patients were dispensed post-operative antibiotics, a reduction of 1% since 2023.
• Adverse event reporting increased, with haemorrhage remaining the most common. In line with the last report, the majority of patients are still rated ‘Much Better’ at all time intervals post-surgery.

Mark Morton, Clinical Lead for the Registry, said: “It has been fantastic to see the CCR go from strength to strength this year with contributions from owners and vets across the country.

"Evaluating what we do and sharing this information with owners is really important.

"There is now sufficient data in the registry that vets can use the reporting functionality to see how they compare to anonymous data from the registry as whole.

"This allows everyone to look at where we can improve what we do to enhance outcomes for our patients.”

Steve Butterworth, veterinary surgeon at Weighbridge Referral Service, Swansea, and CCR contributor, said: “To better understand the long-term outcomes for different breeds of dog using differing surgical techniques we need the power of numbers and this will only be achieved by pooling our resources. 

"The CCR offers the veterinary profession an opportunity to do this. 

Any veterinary surgeon performing cruciate surgery in the UK can get involved in the CCR by signing up and logging surgical cases.

All data submitted by summer 2025 will be anonymised and become part of the next report in late 2025.

ccr.rcvsknowledge.org/annualreport

Woodley Equipment Company has become the exclusive Europe-wide distributor for the new Epoc Hand Held Clinical Care Analyser from Epocal Inc 

Woodley says the Epoc, developed by the founder of the i-STAT analyser, is the first wireless point of care testing solution to use smart card technology. The Epoc provides immediate blood gas, electrolyte and critical care biochemistry results directly to a hand held PDA (included) and wirelessly interfaces with your in-practice computer. It is a completely affordable analyser that is easy to use and requires no refrigeration of consumables.

Key Features:

• Accurate blood gas and electrolyte and critical care biochemistry results in 30 seconds
• Room temperature cartridge storage
• 100µl sample volume, eliminating overfill issues
• Wireless system that interfaces to an electronic data manager (EDM) and Bluetooth printer
• Easy to use with touch screen technology
• Ready to use at anytime, anywhere (in-practice, operations, equine/farm yard)
• Integrated calibration and quality checks
• Bar-coded smart cards for error free identification
• 2000 patient results storage on analyser
• Ability to input all patient data, temperature and even ventilator settings
• New parameters continually being developed

For a more information about the Epoc Blood Gas Analyser please email sales@woodleyequipment.com, visit woodleyequipment.com, or call Woodley's customer service team on +44 (0)1204 669033 ~ Option 1