A survey carried out by http://www.fitfurlife.com/, a company which makes exercise and rehabilitation treadmills for dogs, has found that 'walkies' is an underused word amongst pet owners.

The poll of 2,000 dog owners revealed that one in ten NEVER walk their dog - and almost a third only walk their dog twice a week at the most.

Those who do exercise their pet might not be doing it enough, as a quarter of people admitted they merely walked their dog around the block. More than a third said they made do with throwing them a ball in the park for a few minutes. Around 60 per cent described walking their dog as 'a chore' while one in 20 said they let their dog run around in the garden rather than taking them for a walk.

68 per cent then feel guilty that they don't walk their pet enough while 70 per cent don't actually know how far they are supposed to go and how fast.

Just as interesting is the product this survey was designed to promote: a dog treadmill to aid in the post operative/injury rehabilitation of dogs, which got backing from Dragon's Den. Worth taking a look: http://www.fitfurlife.com/

Exotics referral practitioner, Mark Rowland MRCVS CertZooMed MRCVS has launched an iPhone app for GPs which puts all the information you need about the commonly presented exotic species at your fingertips.

Mark said: "Vets often have little training in exotic animal medicine, an area which is becoming increasingly important as more rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, tortoises, other reptiles and birds are presented in practice. Although data is available in books, it usually has to be sourced, which can be difficult if the practice does not have the relevant texts."

"For this reason, I've developed an iPhone app which provides species biological data, such as normal temperatures and gestation periods, a exotics formulary, a list of common conditions and a gallery of images and video footage of basic procedures."

Mark says he hopes it'll be an invaluable mobile resource for veterinary surgeons, students, nurses and technicians worldwide, and that he will be updating it regularly.

Veterinary Care of Exotic Pets is now available now from iTunes, priced at £7.99. Click here for more information: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/veterinary-care-exotic-pets/id511902278?mt=8

The BSAVA is reminding everyone that the closing date for the BSAVA PetSavers' 40th Anniversary Awards is Friday 1^st August .

To celebrate 40 years of funding veterinary projects, the charity has up to £5000 for each vet school to fund veterinary undergrad student projects, and also a £5000 award going to veterinary nursing projects, both RVNs and undergrad students.

Derek Attride, chairman of the grants awarding committee, said: "The PetSavers 40th anniversary grants reflects the charity's commitment to ensuring that first-class research into small companion diseases continue in the future. This grant is the first of its kind for PetSavers and is a great opportunity for veterinary students and veterinary nurses to work on a companion animal clinical research project."

The closing date for applications will be the 1st August 2014. Veterinary students should apply through their university and veterinary nurses can apply directly to the BSAVA.  Each university will be able to submit five applications.

The awards will be announced in December 2014 and the projects will have to be completed and written up by December 2015.

Further information about the anniversary grants can be found at www.petsavers.org.uk 

The Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB) has teamed up with Agria Pet Insurance to provide insurance cover for cats in the UK, with each policy generating a donation to the work of FAB and its International Fund for Cat Welfare.

Ross Tiffin, FAB's Strategy and Business Adviser said: 'In Agria, we have found a respected company that shares our ethos - it believes in sharing information to makes cats' lives better. One of the leading pet insurers in the world, Agria has been insuring pets since 1890 and has shared information on longevity and disease patterns with university researchers for many years.'

Claire Bessant, Chief Executive of FAB said: 'FAB has always been an enthusiastic supporter of health insurance for cats - we want cats to receive the best treatment without owners having to worry about the cost. Our support has now taken on a practical form in the shape of a general pet insurance guide and, through working closely with Agria, by providing cat owners with an excellent insurance option.'

To view A fabcats guide to cat insurance go to www.fabcats.org/catinsurance. The guide gives generic advice on choosing insurance.

For more information on Fabcats Cat Insurance from Agria go to www.fabcats.org/catinsurance or call Agria on 0800 369 9441.

Companion Care has launched a new section on its website for vets and nurses that want to know more about current partnership and career opportunities in its small animal veterinary surgeries. The new section includes:

• The latest practice locations available for partnership, in both new and established surgeries
• Current vacancies for employed positions at the Companion Care surgeries around the country including receptionists, trainee nurses, nurse and veterinary surgeons
• An explanation of Companion Care’s joint venture model - how it operates and the benefits to potential partners
• Current joint venture partners and staff talking about their roles at Companion Care

Companion Care Services Managing Director, Jane Balmain added: "Our business goes from strength to strength, confirming that we are here to stay and present a genuinely attractive option for vets looking at different routes to business ownership. The Group, which now numbers 39 surgeries across the country, is forecast to turn over in excess of £28 million this year, and is achieving annual like-for-like sales growth of 17%. We estimate that dividend payments to our 50 plus partners will total £1.5 to £2 million this year."

Petplan has opened nominations for its Petplan Insurance Advisor (PIA) of the Year award.

Available for staff at veterinary practices who are an Appointed Representative (AR) of Petplan, this award recognises PIA's who are dedicated to promoting the benefits of pet insurance in their practice.

Staff can nominate themselves or their colleagues via the website www.petplanvet.co.uk  and are encouraged to provide examples of how the nominated PIA has improved practice performance.

The 2012 PIA of the Year will be crowned at the BVNA Congress on 6^th October and the winner will receive an iPad. Submissions close on 20^th September.  

Simon Masding, Petplan Head of Sales and Partnerships said: "This award celebrates the fantastic job our PIAs do communicating the importance of pet insurance to their clients. We know first hand from the time we spend in practice, just how many fun, innovative ways they find to highlight how having insurance helps keep pets healthy."

The RCVS is reminding veterinary surgeons to complete their registration process by confirming they have met the requirement for continuing professional development (CPD) and declared any outstanding convictions.

The College says that although the deadline for completing the annual renewal was April 2014, there are still some vets who, despite having paid on time, have not yet fully completed the registration process. This includes declaring that they have met the minimum requirement of 105 hours of CPD over a three-year period.

Failing to confirm that the CPD requirement has been met means that the College may request the individual's records as part of its annual monitoring of CPD compliance.

As of this year, veterinary surgeons must also declare any convictions, cautions and adverse findings since 1 January 2006 - or lack thereof - to complete the registration process.

Convictions disclosure forms and a document explaining the new protocol are available to download. The College also has a convictions helpline on 07818 113 056 which is open Monday to Friday, 11am to 4pm.

Those veterinary surgeons who have yet to complete their registration should contact the Registration Department as soon as possible on 020 7202 0707 or registration@rcvs.org.uk for assistance from a member of the team.

The industry-led Cattle Health and Welfare Group of Great Britain (CHAWG) has published a review which identifies a practical approach to gathering antibiotic usage data on UK cattle farms.

The review outcomes, announced today at a joint conference held by the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA) and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), highlight the significant benefits better data could deliver, such as improving the way antibiotics are administered strategically to tackle disease.

But CHAWG’s chair Tim Brigstocke says it’s also important that the industry is able to accurately report usage levels because of the rising levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which threaten human health. 

"We found that while data is already stored at every vet practice and in every farm medicine book, it currently exists in many different forms. It’s also not collected or collated, and is further complicated by multi-species approvals for many of the antibiotics.

"This means we can’t always be sure in which type of animal a medicine has been used. For example, out of 420 tonnes of animal-authorised antibiotic active substance sold in the UK in 2013, only 14 tonnes was authorised solely for use in cattle. However, 63 tonnes was authorised for multi-species use in food producing animals and within the 217 products included in this, 201 are authorised for use in cattle."

Tim says that with the support of the VMD, which requested the review and will now act as secretariat, CHAWG will set up a working group to implement the report’s recommendations.

The starting point is likely to be the survey of vets carried out by the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA), which formed part of the review. This suggested vets could be using as many as 15 different software programmes to log data, so CHAWG will be working with the BCVA and individual practices to look at how standard sets of data can be anonymised and exported.

"Then we will almost certainly look at how cattle farmers can be supported in migrating records from the physical ‘medicine book’ on the farm, into a spreadsheet or existing cattle management software for anonymous aggregation on a national level.

"There are undoubtedly areas where we can improve the effectiveness of how we use these powerful medicines to improve welfare. But the antibiotic resistance debate is an emotive one and we must also demonstrate accountability to ensure the preservation of antibiotics for future use in humans and animals; any future curbs on usage should be proportionate and informed, and not compromise animal wellbeing."

Mandatory reporting in Europe could be just over the horizon and the European Medicines Agency has focused in the past year on developing a method for data collection on the usage of antibiotics in the EU pig sector. In the UK, the VMD is encouraging the livestock sectors to develop systems appropriate to their own unique circumstances and industry characteristics.

Tim said: "It’s therefore in cattle farmers’ own interests to anticipate the kind of figures it might be asked to supply in the future, and develop a way of collecting that data which suits the way the UK industry works.

"Then we can retain control over the data and the methodology, and ensure the reporting is accurate – and this in turn will help the VMD represent our case better in Europe as this debate continues.

CHAWG says that throughout this project, it will be liaising with others – such as the pig sector – to ensure learnings are shared, duplication avoided and efficiencies realised where possible. 

The CHAWG review report is available to download at www.chawg.org.uk.

Twycross Zoo has released a video on YouTube in which Sarah Chapman, Head of Veterinary Sciences, describes the challenges of being a zoo vet, explains why she loves the job and introduces the zoo’s partnership with the vet school at University of Nottingham.

The video is part of a six-part series of behind-the-scenes videos in which viewers can see some of the 500 animals in its care and the people that keep the zoo running from day to day. In addition to explaining the role of the veterinary team, the videos also explore the role of the zoo’s keepers and the research, conservation, education and animal training that takes place.

The Advertising Standards Authority has decided not to uphold complaints against the Morrisons Christmas TV advertisement.

The full adjudication can be read here.

Peter Jones, President of the British Veterinary Association, said: "This ruling is disappointing but the ASA has set out its reasons for the decision and we accept those reasons. Thankfully, the advert only had a short shelf life and we hope that Morrisons is now very unlikely to make the same mistakes again. Overall, we hope the whole incident has served to educate Morrisons and the general public about the dangers of grapes and raisins to dogs."

Research led by Eleanor Haskey, an Anaesthesia and Analgesia Nurse at the RVC’s Queen Mother Hospital for Animals has identified multiple factors that can contribute to complications following the placement of peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs). 

The multicentre observational study described 382 placements of catheters across 19 different institutions, recording the placement techniques and tracking resulting complications to determine the associated risk factors.

The majority of the data was collected by veterinary nurses across the country.

The risk factors identified included the number of insertion attempts, whether a second subsequent placement was required, the frequency that the catheter was flushed and if the flush solution was compound sodium lactate.

In addition to identifying the risk factors, the study also found that complications occurred in just over one-quarter of placements, with limb swelling and phlebitis being the most common (11.5%).

The second most common complication observed was PIVC dislodgement/patient interference (7.9%).

As a result of these findings, the researchers are calling for more vigilant monitoring of patients with a PIVC in situ, particularly if they have experienced any of the factors that increase their risk of complications.

Eleanor said: “PIVCs are placed every day in almost all veterinary practices, yet there is little evidence to inform how best to place and manage them.

"I am passionate about providing the best care for cats and dogs, and it was fantastic to work with like-minded nurses and vets who wanted to gather the evidence that we can use to improve the care of our patients.

"I look forward to continuing this area of research, and believe veterinary nurses are best placed to undertake this work as it is part our of daily working lives."

Dr Christopher Scudder, Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Internal Medicine at the Royal Veterinary College and senior author in the study, said: “The hope is that this study will stimulate more research about PIVCs, and that sufficient evidence will be developed to help reduce complications associated with these routinely placed devices.”

Reference

1. Haskey, E., Maund, V. et Al., ‘Placement, management and complications associated with peripheral intravenous catheter use in UK small animal practice’, Journal of Small Animal Practice, https://doi.org/10.1111/jsap.13782 

Veterinary Nurse Nick Shackleton has started a campaign to protect the title Veterinary Nurse

The campaign has a section on Facebook where Nick explains: "The title veterinary nurse at present is not a protected title. A lot of people who work in practice call them selves veterinary nurse, when they have no theoretical training in such a position. As qualified nurses we feel that this issue should be addressed so that the general public are no longer confused as to the qualification and hopefully make them more aware of the hard work it is to gain the qualification. As we are heading for autonomy within the profession I think it is right and fitting that the title should be protected."

The group has already gained an impressive 781 members.

In addition, Nick has started a petition on the Prime Minister's website: Number10.gov.uk, which has gained 139 signatories so far.

If you'd like to sign the petition on Number10.gov.uk, I recommend you add the letters after your name (MRCVS / RVN).