Mandisa Green has become the first black woman to be invested as the RCVS President at the first Annual General Meeting to be held online. 

In her opening address, Mandisa said: "When the College was founded in 1844, it would have been unthinkable that a woman, let alone a black woman, would become President of the institution one day. I am immensely proud of this achievement and, while it clearly demonstrates progress, there is still plenty to do in widening access to our professions.”

She said she hoped to use her position as President to act as a role model to young people from under-represented groups, to encourage them to consider careers in veterinary surgery, and to support those already in the profession. 

Mandisa, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh in 2008 and an elected member of RCVS Council since 2014, added: “I also take the Presidential baton from Niall to champion a more diverse and inclusive profession with renewed intention, and look forward to playing my part in our upcoming Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan. 

“As recent weeks and the Black Lives Matter movement have highlighted, there is more to be done, and we are committed to doing the work necessary. It is essential that we support all members of the veterinary team to work in an environment that is free from discrimination and racism.”

In another first at the RCVS AGM, Matthew Rendle became the first male veterinary nurse to chair VN Council. 

CEVA Animal Health has confirmed its sponsorship of Stephanie Dakin, an equine veterinary PhD student at the Royal Veterinary College in London.

The four-year sponsorship, due to commence October 2008, is being run through the BBSRC Industrial CASE studentship scheme, which involves partnerships between UK-based industrial companies and eligible UK universities or research institutes, to support collaborative postgraduate research. It is the first time that CEVA, the company that recently introduced Tildren®, a treatment for equine bone disease, has undertaken such an initiative in the UK.

Stephanie is conducting her PhD on the pathogenesis and treatment of equine tendonitis. She is currently working with Professor Roger Smith, Professor of Equine Orthopaedics and Dr Jay Dudhia at the RVC, on a study to determine the efficacy of stem cells in the treatment of superficial digital flexor tendonitis in the horse.

Stephanie commented: "I am very keen to direct research in this field in order to better elucidate the mechanisms involved in tendon injury and identify therapeutic targets, such that we can improve our management and hopefully advance our ability to treat and prevent disease, thus improving the health and welfare of equine patients."

She added: "Having the opportunity to undertake this vital research, supported by the BBSRC and the industrial contribution from CEVA, is a real privilege and I hope that the findings from this study will feedback to have a direct, positive impact on clinical cases of tendonitis, in the equine and possibly the human fields."

The Animal Health Trust has presented the results of a study which has identified a significant link between hind limb lameness and saddle slip, showing consistent saddle slip in some horses with hind limb lameness, even when the lameness is fairly subtle and difficult to detect.

According to the AHT, saddle slip in sports horses is a well-recognised problem that can occur for a variety of reasons, including asymmetry in the shape of the horse's back, riders sitting crookedly and ill-fitting saddles. Sue Dyson, Head of Clinical Orthopaedics at the Centre for Equine Studies at the Animal Health Trust, had also observed that saddle slip may occur because of hind limb lameness. The intention of the study, therefore, was to find out more about the interrelationships between the horse, saddle and rider and to document the frequency of occurrence of saddle slip in horses with hind limb lameness compared with other horses.

The research was undertaken by Sue Dyson and Intern Line Greve and was presented at the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) Congress last month. It is thought to be the first study of its kind, and was supported by the Saddle Research Trust (SRT). The SRT is a charitable organisation, aiming to facilitate research and provide support as well as advice on the influence of the saddle on the welfare and performance of horses and riders.  

The study assessed 128 horses of varying size, age and type. The degree of lameness of each horse was graded; back shape and symmetry were measured and saddles assessed for symmetry and fit.  Each horse was ridden by at least two riders and rider straightness plus weight were recorded. The grade of saddle slip, whether it occurred with more than one rider, and whether saddle slip was influenced by the direction of movement or the diagonal on which the rider was sitting were also noted.

The saddle consistently slipped to one side in 54% of horses with hind limb lameness, compared with 4% of horses with fore limb lameness, 0% with back pain and/or sacroiliac joint region pain and 0% of non-lame horses. Diagnostic analgesia was subsequently used to abolish the hind limb lameness and this eliminated the saddle slip in 97% of cases.

Sue said: "Our findings emphasise the need to educate owners, veterinarians, physiotherapists, trainers, riders and saddle fitters that saddle slip is frequently an indicator of lameness, not necessarily a manifestation of an ill-fitting saddle or asymmetric shape of the horse's back. Detection of saddle slip provides an opportunity for the owner, riders and trainers to detect low-grade and subclinical lameness, with important welfare consequences."

Further scientific studies are planned, with the support of the Saddle Research Trust, in order to build on these findings. To this end the SRT is currently seeking an honorary fundraiser to help secure ongoing financial support. For further information contact Anne Bondi on 07775 912202 or email annebondi@me.com.

¹An investigation of the relationship between hindlimb lameness and saddle slip, L. Greve and S.J. Dyson, Centre for Equine Studies, Animal Health Trust, Lanwades Park, Kentford, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 7UU, UK.

Feline charity International Cat Care (the charity formerly known as FAB) has teamed up with Digital Photographer and Your Cat magazine to launch a photography competition, 'Picture Purrfect Cats', which they are asking veterinary surgeons and nurses to help spread the word about.

The charity, which undertakes feline welfare projects across the globe, is looking for exceptional images of cats, celebrating their unique appeal under the following categories:

• Cats close up
• Cats in action
• The cat-human bond
• The wild side of cats

The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges including International Cat Care CEO Claire Bessant, Digital Photographer editor, April Madden, and Your Cat magazine editor Sue Parslow.

The first prize is a weekend safari break for two at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, Kent, which includes tented accommodation overlooking a watering hole where a variety of African animals, such as zebras, giraffes and rhinos drink - offering plenty of magical photo opportunities. The winner also will be invited to attend International Cat Care's annual event at Altitude 360 in London, where their photograph will be exhibited and they will be presented with their prize.

International Cat Care CEO, Claire Bessant, said: "They say a picture conveys a 1,000 words, so we are hoping for some high quality images which shout to the world about the beauty of cats, and therefore why it's important to ensure they are looked after properly. Our welfare projects are international, working with both owned and unowned cats, pedigrees and moggies. We've reflected this in our categories and are hoping for some very varied entries. Please visit our Facebook page and enter or have a look at our growing gallery of feline photographs and vote for your favourite."

Runners up from each category will receive a framed A3 print of their winning photograph, along with official merchandise from the charity. Young photographers, ages 12 - 17 years, can win a Samsung Galaxy Smart WiFi Compact Digital Camera.

You can help support the competition by tweeting or e-mailing this link to your clients: www.facebook.com/internationalcatcare. Alternatively, add it to your practice website or your newsletter. It'll be fun if one of your clients wins.

The deadline for the competition is 16^th August 2013.

VetSurgeon.org has launched a new register of veterinary locums as a resource for practices that need to find a locum quickly and at no cost.

Veterinary locums can add themselves to the register free of charge, and include full details of the service they offer.

Practices that need a locum can then search the register by area. After they've used the locum, they are encouraged to comment beneath the locum's entry on the register.

At the time of writing, about a dozen locums have added their details to the register, so it's still early days. Hopefully, however, this will grow into a really valuable resource for both practices and locums.

To add your name to the register, click here and follow the instructions linked to from the right hand side.

Bayer Animal Health is hosting ‘Planning your way out of the crisis’, a free webinar at 7:00pm tonight in which veterinary business guru Alan Robinson will offer support and advice for practices emerging from lockdown. 

Alan, who is MD of the veterinary business consultancy, Vet Dynamics, will be looking at finances, the team, and scoping out a future strategy. The session will provide practical planning tools, strategic advice, and the opportunity to ask questions.

Bayer points to a number of trends which have emerged during lockdown which it says practices must respond to quickly in the post-lockdown recovery.

The company says retailers have reported that internet traffic increased threefold at the start of lockdown and it remains at double the pre-lockdown levels. Direct retail sales of flea and tick products have also increased.

This suggests that owners are becoming more comfortable with buying preventative healthcare products online.

Bayer says there is a business opportunity here for practices. The subscription box market is expected to hit £1 billion by 2022², and one way practices can capitalise on this trend is by offering home-delivered flea, wormer and tick treatments.

Another business opportunity could lie in research by Banfield Pet Hospital among 1,000 US pet owners in which 20% vowed to take their pets ‘more often’ to the vet post-lockdown for preventative care checkups³.

Caroline Braidwood, Regional Business Manager of Bayer Animal Health said: "We know that many veterinary customers have potentially gone elsewhere during the pandemic and vets will need to work hard to win them back. Our webinar will provide tangible insights to ensure that practices can flourish. Whether you’ve worked with Bayer or not, our team of Veterinary Business Managers are here to help. We’re all in this together, and with some planning, we can ensure the veterinary industry continues to grow.”

To book your webinar place, visit: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/46/rk71qav5 

Petplan Equine is now seeking nominations for the Equine Vet of the Year Award 2009, an award to recognise vets that go above and beyond with their care of horses and their owners. 

Andrew Dobson of The Barn Equine and Large Animal Practice in Great Wakering, Essex, is the current 2008 Equine of the Year. He was nominated by a number of his grateful clients and their glowing testimonials impressed the judges enough to give him the edge over his closest rivals for the title.

The 37 year old qualified in 1999 and for the last four and a half years has run his own practice. His involvement with horses evolved from a desire to work with large animals and the outdoor life it would bring.

Andrew said: "I was absolutely stunned. I'm so honoured and amazed to have received the Petplan Equine Vet of the Year award. I really enjoy what I do and would like thank all my clients, Petplan Equine and The Animal Health Trust for their support."

If you feel you know a vet that displays equine clinical excellence and fantastic customer care you can nominate online by visiting www.petplanequine.co.uk/events Nominations close 3^rd October 2009.  An independent panel will judge the nominations and the winning vet will be announced at the Animal Health Trust UK Equestrian Awards in London, in November 2009.

Ceva Animal Health has added a new session to its Cardio Academy CPD website entitled 'Thoracic X-rays: Normal Features'.

In this 30 minute multimedia presentation, the cardiology specialist Nicole Van Israël discusses how the normal thoracic radiograph should appear, as well as the differences observed between breeds.  Participants can then receive a CPD certificate by completing the quiz for this session. The Cardio Academy CPD website is free of charge and can be accessed by visiting http://www.cardioacademy.cevalearn.com/.

The first three sessions in the series can still be viewed on the website. They cover the 'Pathophysiology of Mitral Valve Disease, by Adrian Boswood, 'Clinical Examination of the Cardiac Dog', by Gérard Le Bobinnec and 'Thoracic X-rays: How to Proceed' by Nicole Van Israël.

The RCVS has suspended all Practice Standards Scheme assessments until 1st May 2020. 

Pam Mosedale, Lead Practice Standards Scheme Assessor, said: “We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, but based on the UK Government’s advice and our duty of care to our team of Assessors, as well as team members and clients at veterinary practices, our only option was to postpone and reschedule all visits in the short-term.

"Although we have cancelled all assessments until the end of April, we will be constantly monitoring the situation over the coming weeks, and it is likely that there may be some further postponement of assessments planned for May and beyond."

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which carries out assessment inspections of veterinary premises that are not within the ambit of the Practice Standards Scheme, has also confirmed that it has postponed its forthcoming inspections. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-vmd-remains-open-for-business. 

The RCVS Practice Standards Team can be contacted on pss@rcvs.org.uk or 020 7202 0767 for further advice.

The Royal Veterinary College has launched a national online survey to understand the pre-purchase motivations and behaviours of owners of puppies purchased during 2021.

Data from the survey will be used as a comparison to previous years (2019 and 2020), to determine whether the changes in puppy buying in the UK seen during the COVID-19 pandemic have returned to their pre-pandemic baseline or persisted into 2021. 

Dr Rowena Packer, Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science at the RVC said: “The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in the way many of us bought our household goods, with online ordering and delivery a common feature of lockdown life.

"The pandemic also led to changes in the way the UK bought puppies during 2020, due to the many restrictions to travel and social contact during this period.

"Many of these so-called ‘Pandemic Puppies’ became much-cherished companions, helping households cope with lockdown life; however, there are concerns that some owners were duped into buying from unscrupulous breeders.

"We are interested in whether pandemic-related changes in puppy buying persisted into 2021, so we can best support owners of puppies bought during this period going forward."

For more information, visit: www.rvc.uk.com/Pandemic-Puppies-of-2021-research

The survey is at: www.rvc.uk.com/Puppy2021-survey

The Journal of Small Animal Practice (JSAP) has published the first study to document the histopathological frequency of hepatobiliary diseases in a large cohort of dogs in the United Kingdom.

The researchers hope that the study will help to increase a veterinary surgeon’s index of suspicion of a particular liver disease, particularly if a biopsy-confirmed diagnosis is not possible.

In the study titled “Histopathological frequency of canine hepatobiliary disease in the United Kingdom”, histopathology reports from canine liver tissues submitted to a commercial veterinary laboratory by UK first and second opinion practices were retrospectively reviewed.

Data collected included breed, age, sex, gross and histological descriptions, diagnosis and additional comments.

Data were then grouped into 23 categories according to WSAVA histological criteria for canine hepatobiliary diseases using the four main morphological groups of vascular, biliary, parenchymal and neoplastic disorders. Breed analysis was then performed on the top five ranking breeds within each individual category.

A total of 4584 histopathology reports of canine liver tissue were included in the analysis.

The most common histopathological diagnoses were reactive hepatitis (16.8%), chronic hepatitis (16.0%) and reversible hepatocellular injury (RHI) (12.9%).

Labrador retrievers were found to have increased odds for reactive hepatitis (OR 1.57, 95%CI 1.23-1.99), whilst crossbreeds demonstrated reduced odds (OR 0.65, 95%CI 0.54-0.79).

Breeds with increased odds of chronic hepatitis included the Labrador retriever (OR 4.14, 95%CI 3.47-4.93), springer spaniel (OR 6.30, 95%CI 5.10-7.79), cocker spaniel (OR 2.78 95%CI 2.20-3.53) and West Highland White Terrier (OR 3.23, 95%CI 2.24-4.65).

Within the RHI group, the schnauzer (OR 8.06, 95%CI 5.77-11.26) and Bichon Frise (OR 5.19, 95%CI 3.63-7.42) had increased odds of disease.

Dr Yuvani Bandara, corresponding author for the paper, said: “This is the first study to report the histopathological frequency of hepatobiliary diseases and to identify possible breed predispositions in a large cohort of dogs in the UK.

“Despite multivariable analysis not being performed to account for confounding factors, we hope that this information informs and supports future investigations for hepatic disease in particular breeds and potential predispositions.”

The full article can be found in the September issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice and can be read online here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.13354.

Reference

1. Y Bandara, WA Bayton, TL Williams, T Scase and NH Bexfield (2021) Histopathological frequency of canine hepatobiliary disease in the United Kingdom. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 62 (9). Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.13354 

Vetoquinol has announced that packs of Rubenal 300mg are now available in bottles of 60 tablets instead of the previous 20.

Rubenal, which was launched earlier this year, is a complementary nutritional feeding stuff for the support of renal function in case of chronic renal insufficiency in dogs and cats. It is used as an aid to the maintenance of the normal renal fibrous architecture.

Simon Boulton, Rubenal's product manager said: "This increased pack size is a direct result of customer consultation. It will make treatment more cost effective for dogs and allow a longer treatment period per pack purchased."

For further information please contact your Vetoquinol representative or telephone 0800 1698197.

Petplan has announced that it has raised £1million for the Blue Cross in the past decade.

The funds have gone towards running a dozen rehoming centres for dogs, cats, horses and rabbits, as well as four major animal hospitals across the country.

Petplan offers four weeks free insurance to adopters of dogs, cats and rabbits from Blue Cross as well as many other animal charities across the UK. All animal charities who work with Petplan receive 10% of the premium for any full policies they generate. The company says that in 2011, it raised over £2million for animal charities this way.

Petplan says that in addition to creating additional funds for the charity, providing four weeks free pet insurance also gives charities peace of mind that if the pet should require veterinary treatment the adopter has the funds available to ensure the animal receives the care it needs. This also means that the animal is less likely to be returned to the charity because the adopter can't afford the veterinary fees or that the charity will be asked to help cover the cost of treatment.

Chief Executive of the Blue Cross, Kim Hamilton, said: "As a charity that does not receive any government or lottery funding, we rely solely on donations from the public and valuable funding from our corporate partners. Petplan understands that our primary focus is animal welfare and the income generated from working with them has enabled us to give even more pets a healthy life in a happy home."

Simon Masding, Petplan's Head of Sales and Partnerships said: "At Petplan we work with over 1,700 animal charities and therefore understand the financial struggles that charities face on a daily basis. Along with offering charities commission Petplan also run the Charity Cheque initiative. When a four weeks free pet insurance voucher is activated it automatically enters the charity into a monthly prize draw to win £500."

For more information on how your animal charity can work with Petplan please visit www.petplan.co.uk/charity or call Charityline on 0800 072 8877.