Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW), which starts on 23rd May this year, is calling on veterinary practices to sign up to its free health check scheme to help raise awareness of rabbits' behavioural needs.
Participating practices will receive free support packs to help them advertise and run their health check events, as well as goodie bags to give out to clients who bring their rabbits in.
The 2011 event will see a PR, advertising and marketing campaign with backing from Burgess Excel and RAW partners, including Panacur Rabbit, Petplan Insurance, RSPCA, PSDA, The Blue Cross, Wood Green Animal Shelters and RWAF (Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund), which are the driving forces behind the RAW 2011 initiative.
Naomi Chatterley, marketing manager at Burgess Excel, said: "Following the success of last year's event, our aim is to create an even bigger success in 2011. This May, the focus is on raising awareness of rabbits' emotional welfare needs by encouraging owners to consider their rabbit's mental and emotional health. Rabbits that are not stimulated both mentally and physically tend to develop behavioral problems such as fur plucking, depression or severe aggression. Our sole aim is to educate owners about responsible rabbit ownership and improve the wellbeing of Britain's 3rd most popular pet."
If you are interested in supporting RAW 2011 by hosting rabbit healthcare clinics at your surgery, please visit http://www.rabbitawarenessweek.co.uk/ to order your free support kit and register your event.
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has released a series of photographs taken at its last council meeting on 7th March 2013.
Anyone for a photo-caption competition?
The full album can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcvs/sets/72157633046308352/
Drawing attention to the symptoms of allergic skin disease that owners should look out for during the warmer months, the leaflet, poster and notice board materials discuss some of the substances that dogs can be allergic to, how to manage skin allergies and what to look for in an itch prevention plan.
The materials have been produced to support Apoquel, the oral therapy for the treatment of canine pruritus associated with allergic dermatitis and the clinical manifestations of atopic dermatitis. They feature two dogs – Eric and Daisy – whose lives have been changed by the product.
For more information, contact your Zoetis account manager.
Lynda Maris, NexGard™ Spectra Product Manager said: "The campaign, which is designed to raise awareness of the rising threat from ticks, lungworm and other parasites that can endanger the health of pets and their owners, is reaching millions of pet owners."
A radio day, during which presenter Jenni Falconer and Merial vet Mike Woodhouse (pictured) discussed parasites and called on owners to visit their practice, apparently reached nearly 3 million listeners via 16 radio stations from BBC Radio Guernsey in the south, to Waves radio in Peterhead and Aberdeen.
The campaign has also been promoted with advertising on Newslink, which broadcasts to 287 stations including: Kiss, Capital, Star, Magic, Talk Sport, Classic and Absolute.
Participating practices have been send campaign support packs and Merial has provided educational and competition social media content to share on Facebook and Twitter. According to the company, its campaign Facebook page has reached reached over 1 million unique users in the last 28 days. Over the same period, Merial says 25,000 unique users have received campaign content on Twitter.
Practices can also direct clients to the campaign website www.petparasiteaction.co.uk.
Pet Parasite Action runs throughout June and July, so there's still time to get involved. For more information, contact your Merial Territory Manager, or call the company on 0870 6000 123.
Dr Westwood, who now lives in Australia, had been referred to the Committee in relation to a number of charges against him relating to the treatment of a cat at his former practice in Cardiff in October 2015.
He was not present at the inquiry and had requested that his solicitor, Tony Wilson, act on his behalf.
Mr Wilson made an application to the Committee that the hearing should be adjourned contingent on a form of undertakings being accepted. These undertakings were that Dr Westwood’s name be removed from the Register with immediate effect and that he never apply to be restored to the Register under any category.
The application was granted by the Committee, taking into account a number of factors. These included the fact that Dr Westwood has retired as a veterinary surgeon, that he has closed his practice and returned to his home in Australia with no intention of returning to the UK, and that animal welfare and the reputation of the profession have been protected as Dr Westwood will no longer be in practice.
The Committee noted that there were several precedents for concluding cases in such a manner, and that the application was not objected to by the complainant or opposed by the College.
Dr Westwood’s name was removed from the Register of Veterinary Surgeons with immediate effect as of Monday 14 August 2017.
The successful candidates, who completed their studies during 2020 and passed the examination in November, are Lucy Wilson (pictured right), from Equibreed UK, Reading, Vanessa Austin, who works at at Vets4Pets, Northampton, and Donna Johnson, the Clinical Services Manager at The Pet Vet, Barnsley.
Lucy said: “I chose to do the CVPM to cement my knowledge of how to run our practice to the best of my ability and to provide the highest level of support to my colleagues. The CVPM resources, syllabus and experience have given me a thorough understanding of my skills and areas to develop. I cannot recommend the experience highly enough.”
Chair of the VMG Certification and Training Committee, Philippa Davies, said: “The CVPM exam tests candidates’ skills in operational management, prioritising, strategy, and thinking on your feet. It’s a gruelling assessment and holders are an elite group. We are delighted to welcome Vanessa, Donna and Lucy and congratulate them on their achievement.”
For more information, visit: https://www.vetmg.com/education/cvpm/
On Thursday 16th June at 4:00pm, Dr Jude Capper, PhD DSc (h.c.) ARAgS, livestock sustainability consultant and ABP chair in sustainable beef production at Harper Adams University, will present 'Managing Fertility to Enhance Sustainability'.
On Thursday 21st June at 4:00pm, Dr Stephen Butler, MAgrSc MSc PhD, principal research scientist and group leader for dairy cattle reproduction research at Teagasc, Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority (pictured right), will present 'Using Sexed Semen in Dairy Herds', followed by Dr Tom Clark, BVSc MRCVS, veterinary surgeon and clinical director of Synergy Farm Health, who will present 'Practical Implementation of Sexed Semen Strategies'.
The webinars will update vets on how they can support the improvement of reproductive sustainability on dairy farms and provide new data demonstrating how they can promote the implementation of sexed semen protocols in dairy herds.
They will also include information on the practical use of sexed semen strategies with useful hints and tips from on-farm case studies and scenarios.
To register, e-mail cevauk-webinars@ceva.com giving your name, practice name and the date(s) of the event you wish to attend.
Further details and the link will be sent out before the webinar.
Fitzpatrick Referrals has unveiled details of its new joint replacement program, which includes solutions for replacing badly injured and arthritic knees, shoulders, and hocks in addition to the more commonly replaced hip and elbow joints.
According to the practice, this is a dramatic breakthrough which brings new hope to veterinary surgeons and pet owners in otherwise hopeless cases.
Fitpatrick Referrals says the procedures have been developed as a solution for joints with traumatic global joint disruptions involving significant soft tissue damage and for joints with painful end-stage arthritis, with the objective of providing functional, pain free quality of life.
Noel Fitzpatrick said: "As we understand and try to deal with the problem of painful osteoarthritis in our pet animals it seems likely that there will be a larger role for joint replacement. Already hip replacement is used to great benefit in the majority of patients that receive it. Other damaged joints could be treated in the same way - but until now the technology to replace knee, hock, shoulder and elbow joints with custom designed prostheses to exactly fit each and every patient did not exist. At Fitzpatrick Referrals this is now a reality for both cats and dogs."
He added: "Joint replacement is particularly useful when a multi-modal approach is used to try and manage osteoarthritis through-out the life of the animal, an area where The Fitzpatrick Group has an increased interest and a variety of publications in peer-reviewed journals. It also offers a realistic alternative to either fusion or amputation in traumatically injured joints."
Ceva Animal Health has announced the addition of a new CPD module to its Cardio Academy, covering the clinical significance of heart murmurs in cats.
Hosted by Virginia Luis-Fuentes, Professor of Veterinary Cardiology at the Royal Veterinary College, the online seminar provides guidance in deciding which heart murmurs are significant and working out which are more likely to develop complications, such as congestive heart failure or aortic thromboembolism.
According to the company, up to 40% of cats will have heart murmur at some point in their life, but are often clinically normal at presentation. To make things more confusing, says Ceva, 50% of cats with congestive heart failure do not have a heart murmur at all.
The module lasts for 20 minutes and, after viewing, delegates receive a CPD certificate by answering questions relating to the session.
To access this module, and 20 hours of online cardiology CPD, visit www.cardioacademy.cevalearn.com.
The Easy to Give Awards are designed to recognise the commitment made by pharmaceutical companies in making it easier to give prescription-only medications to cats; recognising that medicines which are easier to give make life less stressful for vets, owners and cats alike and ensure better compliance.
Each Easy to Give Award is decided by a feline expert veterinary panel taking into account feedback from their clients. And the winners are ...
These companies will be granted the use of the Easy to Give logo on advertising to the veterinary world. These bring the total number of Easy to Give awards presented, since their inception in 2005, to 39.
International Cat Care also announced the winners of the Cat Friendly Awards, which recognise other products that have made a real difference to cat wellbeing and welfare.
For more details on the work of the charity go to www.icatcare.org.
The company is also working with the UK charity to call for the creation of international standards in the training and deployment of sniffer dogs.
Earlier this week, Medical Detection Dogs announced the findings of its research on scenting COVID-19, confirming that dogs can play a major role in public safety through their ability to detect the virus’ odour.
Researchers will now move to trial the dogs at sites such as ports of entry and public spaces, where dogs can screen individuals rather than samples and contribute to the fight against the virus by detecting COVID-19 carriers.
Sniffer dog schemes are currently being piloted in countries including Finland, Russia, Italy and France, but there is currently no centralised best practice process for such programmes.
Medical Detection Dogs and Purina are calling for:
Medical Detection Dogs founder and CEO Dr Claire Guest said: “Sniffer dogs have the potential to make an important contribution to the fight against COVID-19 and future pandemics. Researchers around the world are urgently working to meet that need, but it is vital that we collaborate, share the knowledge we have gained on the incredible abilities of our dogs and formalise best practice in training and deployment.
"Along with Purina we want to call for international collaboration between organisations around the world on the implementation of disease detection and research. Our vision is to guarantee that dogs are well-treated and consistent in their performance, and support the reliable, safe creation of similar schemes in developing countries, where dogs could play a huge role in halting the spread of this disease and future pandemics.”
Jeff Hamilton, CEO at Nestlé Purina PetCare EMENA, said: “Purina and Medical Detection Dogs share a belief in the positive role and impact of dogs in society. These dogs could provide fast, effective and non-invasive diagnosis and help to create safer spaces for us all, but we should ensure that each of them is trained safely, humanely and able to effectively perform their important role in detecting COVID-19."
The BSAVA has launched a new app for iPhone / Android users, the Guide to Procedures in Small Animal Practice.
The guide, which is aimed at vets and students, covers more than 70 of the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures commonly performed in small animal veterinary practice.
The Association says it always planned to extend the number of digital member benefits, but has been spurred on by feedback about its Formulary app, like this comment from 'talland' on the iTunes store: "Absolutely fantastic App - in some ways even easier to use than the book itself. Well done BSAVA. It'd be great if the Guide to Procedures in Small Animal Practice could be an App too".
The BSAVA says the key features of the new app are:
Once installed on your phone you will need to launch the Application by entering a unique activation code which can be obtained from the App Activation Code page (member login required).
Elanco Animal Health has announced the launch of a Milbemax television advertising campaign to educate pet owners about the importance and ease of worming.
The 30-second advertisement will appear as pre-roll to video content on a number of websites from the end of August, and will broadcast on mainstream TV channels including ITV1, Channel 4, Channel Five, Sky, ITV2, ITV3, E4, More4, Film4, UKTV and Five Digital in mid-September to reach an estimated nine million people – of which nearly three million will be identified/targeted pet owners.
Elanco says the advert is designed to target female pet owners between the ages of 25 and 49 and drive them to seek further information and buy pet wormers from their local veterinary surgeon with the call to action: ‘Make an appointment with your vet to find out how easy worming your pet can be.’
Viewers watching the online advertisement will be able to click through to campaign specific pages on Elanco’s WormPatrol website - www.wormpatrol.co.uk/easyworming - where they can use 'Find a Vet', a worm risk checker and worming reminders to connect them with veterinary practices. The advertisement will also be available to view on the WormPatrol website.
The campaign is supported by a range of educational marketing materials and initiatives which are available to Milbemax customers from the vet section of the WormPatrol website or from their local Elanco companion animal territory manager.
The materials include a video to embed in practice websites and to use on social media, a subtitled version of the video for waiting rooms, a range of pet owner worm education materials, social media resources and SMS text message broadcasts.
Matthew Rowe, marketing manager at Elanco Animal Health, said: “Elanco is committed to encouraging responsible pet ownership; the new Milbemax advertising campaign will educate pet owners about the importance and ease of regular worming while driving them to veterinary practices for further information and to purchase pet wormers.”
For further information please contact your local Elanco Animal Health territory manager or email elancoCAH.uk@elanco.com.
Sean Wensley, President of the British Veterinary Association, said: "The research released today reflects the seriousness of the health problems associated with English bulldogs that our members are seeing in practice. Revision of breed standards, to include evidence-based limits on physical features such as muzzle shortness, and full consideration of other approaches such as outcrossing, are now needed to ensure high risk breeds, such as the English bulldog, do not continue to suffer unnecessarily.
"Vets are reporting concerning trends in dog health and welfare linked to the rise in ownership of brachycephalic breeds, such as bulldogs, and we are unequivocal in the need for all those with roles to play – including vets, breeders, breed societies, the pet-buying public as well as others – to take action to combat the health problems that brachycephalic breeds experience due to extreme conformation. These issues include severe lifelong breathing difficulties, corneal ulcers, skin disease, a screw-shaped tail which is linked to painful spine abnormalities, and the inability to give birth naturally.
"As part of their pre-purchase research, prospective dog owners should consider the health harms perpetuated in dogs by purchasing brachycephalic breeds and choose a healthier alternative breed, or crossbreed, instead, and local veterinary practices are ideally placed to give this advice. Brachycephalic dogs should not be seen as cute or desirable, rather as dogs predisposed to a lifetime of poor health, and English bulldogs should not be hailed as a national symbol for the UK where animal welfare is strongly valued.
"Vets have a duty to always prioritise the best interests of their pet patients, which, for affected animals, can involve performing surgical procedures to correct conformational disorders. They have a concurrent duty to be part of initiatives that aim to address the health and welfare of a breed beyond the individual affected animal.
"This is why BVA promotes the importance of vets submitting data on caesarean sections and conformation-altering surgery to the Kennel Club, to improve the future of dog health and welfare."
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica has launched a series of information sheets written by veterinary surgeons, nutritionists and leading riders to support its muscle building supplement for horses, Equitop Myoplast Power Pearls.
Available to download as PDFs from its website - http://www.equitop-myoplast.co.uk - this resource for horse owners covers a range of feeding topics including training the young showjumper and feeding the performance horse, older horses and horses during periods of rest and recuperation.
New video and written testimonials from performance riders and veterinary surgeons are now on the website, which also offers owners advice on healthy lean muscle growth and the benefits of Equitop Myoplast. Olympic dressage rider, Emile Faurie, international showjumpers, Ellen Whitaker and Scott Brash, and show horse producer, Katie Jerram, all endorse the product.
A client leaflet has also been launched featuring the testimonials and providing owners with information on Equitop Myoplast and an online offer of £15 off their first purchase of the supplement by downloading a voucher from the website.
Boehringer says Equitop Myoplast is packed with 18 key amino acids and is scientifically designed to support lean muscle growth, not bulk. The company says the supplement is great for optimising performance in horses in intensive training and competition, as well as bringing on young, breeding and injured animals, and for older horses which lose condition easily.
For further information, please contact your Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica territory manager or call 01344 746959.
Petplan has announced the winners of its 2011 Veterinary Awards.
The awards are to recognise and celebrate staff and practices throughout the country that have delivered an exceptional level of care to the nation's pets and their owners.
Alison Andrew, Petplan's Marketing Manager said: "Britain is known to be an animal-loving nation and with millions of households owning cats and dogs, pets play a central part in family life. The Petplan Veterinary Awards give us the opportunity, on behalf of all pet owners across the UK, to thank the veterinary profession for the outstanding service they provide to our pets.
"This is the 12th year of the awards and this year we received over 2,800 nominations, a record number for the vet awards, which really highlights the high regard that the profession and pet owners have for these awards."
The winners for each category are:
VET OF THE YEARAlison Laurie, Crown Vets - Highlands What really stood out about Alison for the independent panel of judges was her clinical excellence, exceptional ability and compassion towards customers and their pets, all of which were highly praised in her nominations.
VET NURSE OF THE YEARMaria Corcoran, Orwell Veterinary Group - Ipswich Maria's ability to naturally lead by example was a prominent factor for the judges, as well as her ability to always make pet care and comfort her top priority. She also provides great customer service and high clinical standards.
VET SUPPORT STAFF OF THE YEAR Patty Fraser, Loch Leven Equine Practice - KinrossThe independent panel of judges was really impressed by Patty; she is considered to be the 'hub' of the practice and constantly makes a strong contribution to the team in many ways. Her ability to organise and multitask whilst offering excellent customer service is outstanding.
VET PRACTICE OF THE YEAR Emersons Green Veterinary Surgery Ltd - Avon Emersons Green Veterinary Surgery's work to continually educate their customers really stood out for the independent panel of judges. The practice works incredibly hard to provide regular newsletters and updates on their Facebook page, which is run by nurses, whilst maintaining a great level of service for their pets and clients. The practice has also been very successful in helping to re-home dogs.
Vetericyn VF, the vet-only wound and skin care spray from Innovacyn has been named product of the year by Animal Health International, one of the world's largest food and companion animal health distributors.
Commenting on the award, Innovacyn said: "for an organisation the size and reputation of Animal Health International to give this top honour to Vetericyn is a great vindication of the product's efficacy but also the very positive feedback they have received from professional users."
Vetericyn VF is available throughout the UK from all the leading veterinary wholesalers. Further technical resources are available at: www.vetericyn.com/veterinarians or email enquiries to uk@vetericyn.com
The RCVS has launched a new online form to allow veterinary surgeons to change their Register title to 'Dr'.
You can make the change by logging into the 'My Account' area of the RCVS website (www.rcvs.org.uk/login) where you can access the form. Usernames and passwords for the My Account area were sent to all veterinary surgeons in February as part of the annual renewal process.
The College says an email confirmation is sent once the form is completed and changes should take effect immediately in the My Account area. However, it may take up to 24 hours before the title appears on an individual's Register entry.
The use of 'Doctor' as a courtesy title was approved by RCVS Council at its March meeting, following a public consultation which garnered more than 11,000 responses.
Use of the title is optional and veterinary surgeons who choose to use 'Doctor' or 'Dr' should use it in conjunction with their name and either the descriptor 'veterinary surgeon' or the postnominal letters 'MRCVS'. This ensures that they do not mislead the public by suggesting or implying that they hold a human medical qualification or a PhD.
Intraperitoneal and incisional analgesia in small animals: simple, cost-effective techniques1, considers the findings and limitations of recent studies and makes recommendations on the use of IP and incisional analgesia in companion animals.
Paulo Steagall, lead author of the paper said: "Based on current evidence and a consensus of the WSAVA-GPC members, it is recommended that IP and incisional analgesia should be used for abdominal surgery such as intestinal foreign body removal, splenectomy, etc. These techniques can be particularly useful in high-volume sterilisation programmes due to their safety and cost effectiveness. They should never be administered as stand-alone analgesic techniques, but rather should be used in addition, as part of a multimodal analgesic plan with opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)."
The review says that current literature on IP and incisional analgesia has several limitations including the use of different doses, drugs and volumes of local anaesthetic. Furthermore, acute pain assessment was performed using a number of different pain scoring systems with variable validity, by a number of different people which may introduce bias. Further studies are therefore warranted to continue to investigate the use of IP and incisional analgesia in a number of clinical scenarios.
Nicholas Jeffery, editor of JSAP said: "Local anaesthetics are inexpensive and not limited by geographic availability; this review supports their use to manage perioperative pain as part of a multimodal management approach."
The full article can be found in the January issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice which is free for BSAVA members. It can also be read online here: https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsap.13084
For further information relating the use of local anaesthesia and the management of perioperative pain, the BSAVA is advising veterinary surgeons to consult a text such as the BSAVA Guide to Pain Management in Small Animal Practice.
Reference
Genitrix has launched Dentagen, billed as the UK’s first dental plaque protection system for dogs and cats.
The active principle in Dentagen is a plant extract called RF2 and the product operates as an ‘anti-biofilm’ treatment by modifying the membrane of oral bacteria to prevent them from producing plaque even at low concentrations.
Dentagen wax is presented for practice use in a syringe for easy application to the gingival layer and the buccal area of teeth. The initial protective coating of wax is applied to dogs or cats at end of dental procedures in practice and while the animal is still sedated. The coating lasts for two to three days.
Dog owners can then maintain the protective coating by giving their pet Dentagen plaque prevention chews every other day. The chews, impregnated with RF2 and of a specially designed shape and consistency, are supplied in two sizes with the larger size designed for dogs over 8 kg and a smaller size for dogs less than 8 kg.
Vet Katy Horton of White Hart Lane Vets, who has trialled the product, commented: “The Dentagen wax was certainly very easy to apply and, from the small sample of dogs we’ve so far tried it on, the palatability of the chews was good. While tooth-brushing remains the gold standard for dental care, we recognise that it can be difficult for owners and believe that this new approach could be a valuable alternative.”
Five syringes of Dentagen for application in practice cost £12.50. Packs of nine small chews cost £5.10 while a pack of the larger chews costs £6.50.
BVA members who join the Webinar Vet before the end of this month will receive a USB headset and microphone worth £40
Webinar Vet founder Anthony Chadwick MRCVS said: "The idea is to help new members get equipped and ready to listen and ask questions during the regular Thursday evening member webinars."
"BVA members already benefit from half price gold membership to the Webinar Vet and many have already taken advantage and are enjoying the many benefits of online CPD."
Gold membership includes invitations to weekly members' live CPD events, full access to the library of over 150 hours of categorised pre-recorded webinars, and a monthly CD of one of the presentations to listen to in the car.
All BVA members who sign up before March 31st will also qualify for the free headset. For more information visit www.bva.co.uk/webinar.
The Blue Cross is calling for nominations from veterinary practices across the country for its Veterinary Nurse of the Year Award 2008.
The annual award is presented at the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) Annual Congress. It recognises the contribution of veterinary nurses in educating the public about responsible pet ownership and the welfare of pets in the community.
This year's Congress will take place on 10-12 October at the Kettering Conference Centre, Northamptonshire.
Last year's award was won by Anna Hatchett for her outstanding contribution to animal welfare, both within her veterinary practice and among the local community in Whitby, North Yorkshire.
Anna Hatchett was nominated by two vets, Edward Gillams and Kate Loomes, who previously worked with her at The Beck Veterinary Practice in Whitby. Ms Loomes commented: "Anna is an exceptionally dedicated and talented nurse. She has an amazing memory for clients and takes time to enquire as to how their individual pets are. She doesn't hesitate to take in and care for stray and lost animals and works well over her working hours when animals are in need of help."
Nominations for this year's award can be made by completing the nomination form on The Blue Cross website at: www.bluecross.org.uk/BVNA2008or by contacting Sally Leathem on 01993 82557. The deadline for nominations is Friday 15 August 2008.
Virbac Animal Health has launched a twitter-based early warning system to alert vets and dog owners of cases of canine parvovirus (CPV) in their area. It is to go live on 1 November 2012.
@parvoalert is a twitter feed that updates followers on the geographic location of cases of the disease using the first half of the relevant postcode. The company is asking vets and owners learning of a case to tweet the first half of the postcode where it occurs to @parvoalert. Virbac will then retweet it to everyone else following @parvoalert. The company is also advising vets and owners to check the feed regularly for news of cases. The service is free.
Virbac says that when it hears of a case, it will also provide practices in 'at-risk' areas with a 'Parvo-alert' Pack, containing a range of tools and support materials to help them alert dog owners. These include waiting room posters, leaflets, stickers and template text for newsletters.
The Veterinary Director of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Shaun Opperman, said: "As recent viewers of ITV1's 'Paul O Grady: For the Love of Dogs' may have seen, parvovirus causes dreadful suffering to dogs. Unfortunately many people still aren't vaccinating their dogs, so we see cases on a regular basis and it's vital that owners vaccinate their dogs, are aware of the disease and remain vigilant for the early signs."
Simon Boulton MRCVS, Product Manager at Virbac, said: "One of the problems in tackling canine parvovirus is that little information is shared on the frequency and location of cases so, in some ways, it's a hidden problem. While it's not as common as some other infectious diseases, when outbreaks occur, as they did earlier this year in South Wales and Oxford, the disease proves fatal in around half of diagnosed dogs."
Once @parvoalert is established, Virbac says it aims to build it into a comprehensive web-based CPV resource, featuring background on the prevention and treatment of the disease; comment from veterinary experts and downloadable practice support materials.
Simon continued: "It's heart-breaking for owners to lose their pets in this way and to see them suffer from a disease that could easily have been prevented. We hope @parvoalert will help to raise awareness of the fact that CPV continues to represent a significant threat to unvaccinated dogs. It will benefit all practices in areas affected as they will receive a Parvo-alert Pack, which they can use to encourage their clients to get their dogs vaccinated and look out for signs of the disease."
The app gives users the ability to find information on over 1000 animal medicine listings included on the compendium website; with the complete datasheets available for viewing.
The new app also allows you to scan datamatrix barcodes on veterinary medicinal product packaging to take you straight to important product information. You can also search by medication, manufacturer or GTIN.
Dawn Howard, NOAH’s Chief Executive said: "The NOAH Compendium is the recognised industry reference, and it is essential we fully utilise the information offered in the compendium with modern technology, whilst protecting the integrity and respect that it holds.
"The website, which we relaunched earlier this year, has had over 8.5 million views to date. We feel this app serves as a great addition to this modern method of accessing data – meaning users are no longer reliant on internet access to obtain the information they need.
"As an organisation, we will continue to embrace new technologies to ensure animal medicine is used correctly and responsibly in the UK. The launch of this new app goes towards ensuring all those who prescribe or use animal medicines have access to the latest technical information available for companion and farm animals when they need it."
As part of its review, the College had planned a series of focus groups of veterinary surgeons and nurses across the UK. However, these have had to be delayed both because of social distancing rules and because of the pressures that practice teams are currently working under. However, the agency tasked with hosting the focus groups is now exploring alternative options and it is hoped there will be a revised timetable soon.
In the meantime, the College says it now plans to commission an additional independent agency to survey veterinary surgeons about their experience of remote prescribing during lockdown.
In March, RCVS Council agreed to temporarily allow veterinary surgeons to prescribe prescription-only veterinary medicines remotely, without first having physically examined the animal, subject to a number of conditions and safeguards being in place.
This position is due for review by 30th June, and the College will be looking for feedback and data from veterinary surgeons about your experience of remote prescribing, in order to determine whether these arrangements can continue, with or without any extra safeguards.
Because remote prescribing is also one of the most important aspects of the planned under care review, feedback gathered now will help inform future discussions too.
RCVS President Niall Connell said: “We recognise the current conditions that veterinary practices are working under in no way represent normal practice life. Most practices will not have been set up to offer remote services and remote prescribing in a way that they might have chosen, given sufficient time and appropriate detailed guidance, if indeed there are any future guidance changes after the review.
"However, we feel it would be remiss of us not to seize the opportunity arising from this current crisis to ask about the experiences – good or bad – of those on the frontline of clinical veterinary practice in providing remote services to their clients.
"Whilst this will be no substitute for the formal evidence gathered by the research agency in due course, whatever data and feedback we can collate from veterinary practices at this unique time for our professions will, I’m sure, be extremely valuable to our ongoing discussions."