For the first time ever, an educational advertisement about the importance of worming cats and the availablity of spot-on treatment, is to be broadcast on TV.

The advert has been produced by Bayer Animal Health, makers of Profender Spot-on, with the aim of driving pet owners to their vet to ask about spot-on worming for their cats.

Bayer product manager Dan White said: "Profender Spot-on solution is a POM-V product. So we have produced a public information style advert which is educational rather than commercial, in accordance with industry regulations on advertising this animal medicine category to the public. It informs and reminds cat owners of the importance of worming, and encourages them to ask their vet for more information.

"In addition, the advert also features details about a competition to find the cat with the biggest personality to celebrate responsible cat ownership, and invites them to upload images and/or videos of their cat onto the website http://www.spotonwormer4cats.com/."

The 20 second advertisement will be broadcast throughout May on ITV1, ITV2, Channels 4 and 5, and Sky One, and is estimated to reach 7 million cat owners.

Practices can obtain a range of campaign support materials by contacting their Bayer Territory Manager or by calling the Bayer Leaflet Line on 0845 2574798 and quoting 'spot-on'.

Ceva Animal Health, manufacturer of Adaptil and Feliway, has launched a competition in which the practices that build the top ten dog dens in their client waiting rooms will win a luxury hamper worth £50.

The competition is designed to encourage practices to show clients how they can build a dog den to calm their dog during the fireworks season

To enter the competition, you need to post a picture of your waiting room dog den on the Adaptil Facebook page in October: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adaptil/109397602429388?fref=ts.

Ceva also has a range of marketing materials for veterinary practices to use in the competition, including a hanging mobile, cut-outs, wobblers, posters and a leaflet and leaflet holder.

For additional hints and tips, a short film will also be available on the Adaptil website: www.adaptil.co.uk in due course. The footage includes information on preparing a den for a dog to hide in while the fireworks are going off.

For further information, contact your local Ceva territory manager or ,telephone 01494 781510.

In the week that VetNurse Jobs released the results of a survey which found that the most important thing to nurses about a job in practice is to feel valued and appreciated as part of a team, White Cross Vets, the 15-practice, family-run group headquartered in Guiseley, has shown that it's leading the way in this area, taking it's entire nursing team for a 3-day training and team-building event in the South of France

The 29 strong team jetted into Nice for a series of training sessions by Kristie Faulkner focussed around nurse consulting skills. Topics covered included dealing with challenging clients, efficient ways to manage consultations and prescribing health care plans.  

The team also attended a presentation hosted by senior managers from Virbac, followed by a tour of the company’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Carros. In the evening, the team went for a guided tour of Monaco and dinner at the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo.

Tim Harrison, Managing Director of White Cross Vets, said: "Every year we run a training event in Nice and each years it’s been an amazing few days, which prove to be hugely beneficial and enjoyable for everyone involved. We have committed to give every White Cross team member across every level the opportunity to enjoy the trip to Nice, and we’re already planning future events for our vets and leadership team."

Bekkii Bridges, a student Veterinary Nurse from White Cross Vets in Northampton, said: "To have a training session in such a fabulous place was out of this world! Everyone involved had an incredible weekend and came away with lots of fresh ideas that will enable us to continue building on the high standards of nursing and client care that we are renowned for."

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.

A new pet health advice line, similar in principle to the now-defunct NHS Direct service, has been launched for pet owners.

pet-gp.co.uk offers a 12 month subscription for £4.50 per month, or owners can seek one-off advice from its team of veterinary nurses (not veterinary surgeons as the name implies) for £12.50.

The company implies says on its website that the average vet bill is £300, and that 2 out of 3 visits are unnecessary anyway, so a quick call to them first could represent a considerable saving.

However, VetSurgeon.org sees a number of flaws in this logic:

• Even if the figure quoted for the average vet bill is correct (something disputed by the BVA), it doesn't cost £300 to consult a general practitioner veterinary surgeon; if an owner walks out of a practice with a £300 bill, clearly there was something wrong with the animal, and the trip was necessary.
• Therefore, the potential saving to the owner by avoiding an unnecessary consultation is nothing like £300. 
• Even veterinary surgeons are not able to diagnose illness properly without seeing an animal. Veterinary nurses are not allowed to diagnose at all. So the advice that can be given must necessarily be very limited. £12.50 perhaps sounds like value for money for veterinary advice, until you discover that the advice is 'go and see your veterinary surgeon'.
• Many - perhaps most - veterinary practices offer clients basic advice free of charge over the telephone anyway. 

BVA President Gudrun Ravetz said: "Although triage phone lines have been used in the NHS for several years, for pets these can be more problematic as animals are unable to speak themselves, and many symptoms may be subtle signs that will only be picked up in an examination by a vet."

MSD Animal Health has launched a new app for veterinary surgeons based on its paper-based Suckler Herd Performance Checklist tool.

The Suckler Herd Performance Checklist is designed to help veterinary surgeons and farmers work together to draw up a workable action plan to address the main areas influencing optimum herd health and performance.

The new app works on tablet computers, as well as Apple and Android smartphones, and allows vets to e-mail audit results directly to farmer clients following an interactive on-farm assessment.

MSD Animal Health’s beef and youngstock marketing manager Robert Simpson said:  “This additional engagement tool helps a vet assess performance across the five crucial time periods and processes impacting on the efficiency of beef suckler herds. 

“For example, reducing calf morbidity and mortality rates in a suckler herd starts with management practices before conception.

"Optimum performance also requires following proper management protocols throughout the youngstock period from birth to weaning, including effective colostrum administration, vaccination, nutrition and hygiene.

“It can also be used to provide confidence to vets who are less experienced with suckler herds, allowing them to follow a structured evidence-based approach when on farm,” he said.

The RCVS Charitable Trust is offering two 'Blue Sky' grants of between £10,000 and £20,000 for basic or pure research intended to advance veterinary science.

Applications may be made for either an 'open' grant or a Robert Daubney Fellowship.  Both are open to academic staff and students within UK veterinary schools. However, the Robert Daubney Fellowship is granted specifically for research within the fields of virology and helminthology, and has additional criteria including that applicants must be on the RCVS Register of Veterinary Surgeons, and hold a postgraduate veterinary qualification.  

Cherry Bushell, the Trust's Director said: "This funding is offered for veterinary scientific research projects which meet our interests in innovation and development. In particular, pilot projects aiming to show a 'proof of concept' as a first stage of a more substantial project will be looked on favourably - if the project can then attract support from major funders this is likely to have more impact over the longer term." 

The Trust aims to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with grant recipients, and innovative and exciting projects which can respond to these objectives through the grant-giving process and beyond are also preferred.

Further information, including full application criteria, is available from www.trust.rcvs.org.uk/grants.   Preliminary applications should be made via the head of a UK veterinary school, and submitted to the Trust by 20 May 2011. 

Biobest is highlighting the benefits of using its canine prostate specific arginine esterase (CPSE) test to differentiate between those dogs which have benign prostatic hyperplasia and those suffering more serious conditions, such as neoplasia.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common condition of entire dogs with over 50% of dogs over 5 years of showing histological evidence of BPH.

Paul Burr MRCVS from Biobest said: "While the clinical stages of prostatic disease are not difficult to diagnose, differentiating BPH from other causes of prostatic disease such as prostatic cysts, prostatitis, prostatic abscesses or neoplasia is less simple. Traditionally further investigation would include bacteriology and cytology on a prostatic wash or final needle aspirate, and prostatic ultrasonography."

Although the CPSE test has been available for a couple of years now, Paul says the benefits of the test have not thus far been well-explained: "I think most vets probably think it's just a test for Prostatic Disease, something which is easy enough to diagnose without testing.

"While the test can be used as part of an annual check up to look for pre-clinical BPH in entire male dogs, it's real value is that it is a simple, convenient non-invasive blood test that helps determine whether a dog presenting with signs of prostatic disease is most likely to be suffering from BPH or a more serious condition that requires further investigation."

For more information about the CPSE test, contact Biobest on 0131 440 2628 or email enquiry@biobest.co.uk.

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.

A new study published this month in the Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ)¹ has concluded that toxins from the seeds of the sycamore tree (Acer pseudoplatanus) are the likely cause of Atypical Myopathy (AM) in Europe.

However, to avoid confusion, the authors of the study point out that the American Sycamore (also just called 'the sycamore' in the USA), is a completely different species: Platanus occidentalis. Furthermore, the sycamore found in the UK is also known as the sycamore maple in other countries.

The new research follows on the heels of a study in the USA earlier this year that linked toxins from the box elder tree (Acer negundo) with Seasonal Pasture Myopathy (SPM), the US equivalent of AM². The discovery marks an important step for the future prevention of this fatal disease.

Atypical Myopathy is a highly fatal muscle disease in the UK and Northern Europe. In ten years, approximately twenty European countries have reported the disease. Incidences tend to occur repeatedly in the autumn and in the spring following large autumnal outbreaks. Horses that develop AM are usually kept in sparse pastures with an accumulation of dead leaves, dead wood and trees in or around the pasture and are often not fed any supplementary hay or feed. SPM is a very similar disorder, prevalent in Midwestern USA and Eastern Canada that is now known to be caused by the ingestion of hypoglycin A, contained in seeds from the box elder tree.

The new European research¹ was conducted by an international team led by Dominic Votion, University of Liege and involved 17 horses from Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, suffering from Atypical Myopathy. High concentrations of a toxic metabolite of hypoglycin A, were identified in the serum of all of the horses. The pastures of 12 of the horses were visited by experienced botanists and the Acer pseudoplatanus, the sycamore maple, was found to be present in every case. This was the only tree common to all visited pastures.

Researchers believe hypoglycin A is the likely cause of both AM in Europe and SPM in North America. The sycamore and the box elder are known to produce seeds containing hypoglycin A and the pastures of the afflicted horses in Europe and the USA were surrounded by these trees.

Hypoglycin-A is found in various levels in the seeds of plants in the genus Acer as well as in various other genera in the family Sapindaceae such as ackee (Blighia sapida).  In ackee, hypoglycin-A levels do vary with ripeness of the fruit and, if the fruit is eaten before it is mature, it causes hypoglycaemia to different degrees including a condition called "Jamaican vomiting sickness" (because of ackee's use in Jamaican cooking) and occasionally death in humans.

Researchers at the Universities of Minnesota² and Liege are continuing their work to try to uncover exactly how the equine disease occurs. Dr Adrian Hegeman of University of Minnesota said: "It is likely that the most important contributing factors to horses becoming poisoned by hypoglycin-A are the availability of seed in the field combined with lack of other feeding options. The seeds from two species of maples (box elder and sycamore maples) that we have tested include significant quantities of hypoglycin-A.

"We know that seeds contain highly variable quantities from seed to seed, even within a single tree. We do not know yet how hypoglycin-A levels vary seasonally, nor do we know how its abundance varies with different levels of stress to the plant, though this may well explain seasonal variability in the occurrence of the malady. It is possible that conditions that stress the plants may contribute to significant seasonal changes in hypoglycin-A levels.  At this point we just don't know.  It is common held knowledge that trees under stress usually produce more seed."

Dr Jeff Gillman of University of Minnesota said: "Without question, further analysis of the seeds and other tissues from Acer species needs to be performed along with sampling of plant materials over multiple seasons and at various stress levels. Additionally, one cannot rule out more complex explanations for the seasonality of disease occurrence such as: animals may begin feeding on seed materials in response to depletion of more palatable choices under drought conditions; or simple explanations such as high wind events driving seeds into fields. These sorts of explanations for the occurrence of the disease do not depend on botanical variations in toxicity across seasons, sites or stress levels, yet also require consideration.

"Although limited examples are available, the experience of animals at a pasture site might also confer some degree of behavioral resistance to poisoning due to exposure at sub-lethal levels with prior exposure to seeds in the pasture."

Professor Celia Marr, Editor of Equine Veterinary Journal said: "This is an important advancement in our understanding of what causes AM and how it can be prevented. In immediate practical terms owners can take prompt measures to avoid exposing their horses to sycamore seeds this autumn. Where horses are grazing in the vicinity of sycamore trees, it is imperative that they are provided with sufficient supplementary feed as this will minimise the risk that horses might be tempted to ingest seeds containing this toxin. This must be done carefully and leaving wet hay on the ground should be avoided so providing extra carbohydrate feeds may be more practical."

References

1. The European study can be accessed at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.12117/abstract
2. Related research from the University of Minnesota can be accessed at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.2012.00684.x/abstract

Novartis Animal Health has announced the results of a survey of dairy and beef farmers which found that 39% of those who found Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) present in their herd did not then go on to test for persistently infected (PI) animals.

Any calf born from a BVD persistently-infected cow will be born Persistently Infected with the virus and cannot be cured. As a result, future vaccination of this animal against the virus is rendered ineffective and the affected animal will be a source of the virus, spreading infection within the herd.

With young cattle being the source of PI's and reservoirs of infection within a herd, failure to test, identify and then deal with PI livestock represents the most significant problem facing the industry when trying to eradicate BVD.

Professor Joe Brownlie from the Royal Veterinary College and current chairman of the BVD Scientific and Technical Working Group, said: "Of the 61% of farmers that did do follow up tests for PI's once BVD had been detected in their herd, one third found one or more PI's within the stock holding.

"However, one third of farmers who identified having active BVD infection in their herd then failed to go on and carry out individual animal testing; of those that did, nearly half discovered one or more individual PI's within their herd".

"It just shows that the disease can be hidden, and farmers could be in the dangerous position of potentially missing PI animals that are in their herd; PI's that can continue to spread the BVD virus amongst other cattle and pass on their PI status to any calves they produce. It is hugely important to be thorough and consistent in your testing as part of an agreed herd health plan"

The survey also indicated that action needs to be taken to educate farmers about what to do once BVD and, most significantly, PI's are discovered amongst a herd. 

Professor Brownlie said: "There is much evidence from this survey to encourage the industry in how it is tackling this disease, however there is still a great need for clear direction.  The survey indicated that 20% of farmers wrongly believe that PI animal's will eventually become non-infective and that 25 % believe that calves born of PI cows will not always have PI calves themselves.

"All of these perceptions are incorrect and can lead to reservoirs of the disease being allowed to remain not only within individual herds, but geographical regions as well; seriously hindering the eradication of the virus in England and Wales".

With nearly half of farmers saying that they talked to vets - their main source of information about BVD - only once or less a year, Professor Brownlie said it is unsurprising that many farmers did not show a greater understanding of BVD beyond biological side effects present in the infected cattle: "About 50% of farmers surveyed were unsure as to what types of tests need to be carried out to detect the infection in their livestock and 32% of respondents were unaware that correct vaccination of livestock against BVD can protect both the cow and unborn calf".

Novartis says that while BVD is still regarded by farmers as one of the top bovine diseases, other health issues such as mastitis and tuberculosis are given much greater attention. This lack of focus on BVD is exacerbated by the lack of sound information of the financial implications of the infection on their herd. 

Professor Brownlie said: "The side effects of BVD appear to be overlooked in financial terms, but the infection can severely hinder a herd's financial productivity due to poor health, reduced milk yield and loss of reproductive efficiency.  

Caroline Dawson from Novartis Animal Health said:"Perhaps by aiding understanding of the financial cost of the virus, we can encourage farmers to take more proactive steps to combat BVD. As such, I am pleased to announce that that the FAB panel has initiated a follow on project to carry out detailed research with regards to the financial impact of BVD on farms and is due to report findings in the new year". 

(Photograph shows, left to right, James Russell MRCVS (McMurtry & Harding), Caroline Dawson (Novartis Animal Health), Tony Brooks (Brighthams Farm), Professor Joe Brownlie(RCVS)

Brinsea has announced the launch of the new Vetario range of intensive care units.

The company says the new models are the result of a 2 year design programme to provide the ideal environment for the successful recovery of small mammals, reptiles and birds.

The new S40 and S50 models incorporate the features found on the previous S10 and S20 models, but with improvements to the control systems, sturdiness and ease of cleaning.

According to the blurb: "The two models are approximately 40 and 100 litres volume respectively, and available with either standard or 'M' control systems. The cabinets are moulded from tough, gloss-finished ABS, making them durable and easy to clean. The importance of cleaning extends to all aspects of the design: the cabinets split to allow the base to be immersed and the fan and heater are both easily accessed for cleaning. The digital push button control panels are wipe clean without disturbing the settings. The 'M' models show humidity (as well as temperature) and include temperature and power-off alarms, enriched oxygen compatibility and nebuliser fitting. Inlet and recirculating filters keep the risks of respiratory problems from airborne contamination to a minimum. Both models are portable, which makes them ideal for isolating animals: a sensitive cat recovering from an anaesthetic can be safely accommodated away from barking dogs, for example."

Prices start at £420 (including 20% VAT).

For more information, telephone: 0845 226 0120