CEVA Animal Health is launching a new TV advertising and marketing campaign to promote its veterinary behaviour products, DAP and Feliway, in the run up to this year's firework season.

The campaign will feature a new animated character 'Dap the Dog', who will join 'That Purple Cat' in educating pet owners on the behaviours expressed by pets that are fearful of loud noises during fireworks, and the benefits of using DAP and Feliway.  The adverts will be aired throughout October on ITV2, E4, More4 and Channel 4 (London only) starting on Monday 4^th October and will be seen by 11.5 million ABC1 women.

A range of firework marketing materials have been produced to support veterinary practices and help educate owners who have noise phobic pets. These include client leaflets, an A4 leaflet holder, waiting room display materials and a firework poster all featuring the characters from the advert. CEVA's petfireworkfear website - www.petfireworkfear.co.uk/ - has also been updated to include the new TV advert, downloadable versions of all materials and tips on how to prepare pets for fireworks.  In addition, www.dapfordogs.com/ and www.feliway.com/ will feature a voucher offering pet owners a free 60ml spray when they purchase a DAP or Feliway diffuser from their local veterinary practice.

The support comes in light of recent research¹, carried out by CEVA, that revealed 80% of pet owners have had a pet that has been afraid of fireworks, with more than half of dog owners wanting to ban them altogether because they are too upsetting for their animals.

Julia Wood, product manager at CEVA Animal Health, said: "Fireworks are the most stressful event that a pet can experience and, in most cases, owners have noticed their animals becoming visibly unsettled with 49% of dogs shaking¹ and 65% of cats hiding¹.  The new TV advertising campaign and marketing support will educate pet owners on behaviours expressed by pets with a fear of loud noises and the importance of taking proactive action by using DAP and Feliway."

CEVA will be running its annual firework display competition amongst veterinary practices throughout October for the best decorated waiting room. 

For further information on CEVA's firework campaign or its marketing support, please contact your local CEVA territory manager or call CEVA Animal Health on 01494 781510.

The RCVS has held the first meeting of its Brexit Presidential Taskforce.

The taskforce was established following the EU referendum result on 24 June, with the central purpose of putting the profession in charge of its future by maximising the opportunities and minimising the risks of Brexit.

Almost half of veterinary surgeons registering in the UK qualified from veterinary schools elsewhere in the EU. While the Government issued a statement in mid-July clarifying that as yet there has been no change to the rights and status of EU nationals in the UK or UK nationals in the EU, it is not clear whether this situation will continue once the UK has left the EU.

The Brexit Presidential Taskforce will consider, and proactively engage with, the many possible changes that could shape the future of the UK veterinary profession due to Brexit.

The members of the Taskforce are: the President of the College, Chris Tufnell; the CEO, Nick Stace; the Treasurer, Amanda Boag; Operations Director, Corrie McCann; Junior Vice-President, Stephen May; Acting Registrar, Eleanor Ferguson; Chair of Education, Susan Dawson; Head of Education, Chris Warman; Council member Stuart Reid; Chair of VN Council, Liz Cox; and Director of Strategic Communications, Lizzie Lockett. 

The terms of reference include: considering how EU regulations currently impact the regulation of veterinary professionals in the UK, and making recommendations as to which should be maintained; looking at the issue of mutual recognition of veterinary graduates in Europe; considering workforce requirements and the implications of a new system of immigration; understanding the implications for the current RCVS agenda; considering whether a proactive RCVS agenda can influence any new UK legislation; reconsidering the College’s existing international strategy; and studying the financial impact on the College.

It was also agreed that the College should maintain communications with the British Veterinary Association and coordinate approaches where appropriate. 

Dr Chris Tufnell, President of the RCVS, said: "Brexit has profound implications for our professions. The Presidential Taskforce is exploring all implications and will develop proposals that will seek to mitigate the risks and maximise the benefits that can flow to the veterinary professions and to animal welfare.

"We are working closely with representative bodies and others so that the veterinary professions have a coordinated and well executed plan in place. We are in discussions with all relevant Government departments, working collaboratively and constructively, ensuring that our voice is heard and our influence is felt."

The next meeting will be held on 15 September, with the third one scheduled for 9 November.

Alternative remedies which could be dangerous to pets are being targeted by the Government in a major drive to improve animal health and welfare.
 
Some herbal and homeopathic products are claiming medicinal benefits without scientific proof, meaning they may not properly treat or prevent serious diseases, leaving pets at risk.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate’s (VMD) Director of Operations, John FitzGerald, said: "Some of these products are claiming to be effective and safe when no scientific evidence has been presented to us to show they are.

"Animal owners have a right to know if a product does what it claims. The products claim to treat diseases which can cause serious welfare problems and in some circumstances kill animals if not properly treated. So in some cases owners are giving remedies to their pets which don’t treat the problem."

A number of unauthorised products are being targeted, including:

• Homeopathic ‘nosodes’ - which are derived from diseased animal tissues, in the belief they act as a vaccination to prevent infection.
• Animal food supplements - known as neutraceuticals, which claim to treat diseases or bring extra health benefits such as improved mental ability in pet animals.
• Herbal liquids, powders and pellets - sold as herbal wormers - claiming to irritate and repel parasitic worms from the guts of horses, livestock, and pets.

From now on, the VMD will be contacting manufacturers to ensure that they demonstrate the products are safe and provide the benefits which they claim to. If this is not the case the manufacturers will be required to re-brand the products to make it clear they are not medicinal.

Supporting the action, British Veterinary Association President Harvey Locke said: "As veterinary surgeons we rely on the use of safe, effective and quality medicines for the health and welfare of animals under our care – and there must always be sound scientific evidence to back up medicinal claims made by the manufacturer of any product.

"Some of these unauthorised products may at the least be ineffective and at worst could cause harm because serious life-threatening diseases may go undiagnosed. We would urge animal owners always to check with their veterinary surgeon before giving any remedy or supplement to their pet."

VetNurse.co.uk has officially launched a completely revamped job advertising section designed to make it quite simply the best place to advertise jobs for veterinary staff online.

VetNurse Jobs now allows jobseekers to search for veterinary positions by distance from their front door (or from a city, county or country). Other filters allow them to narrow the search yet further, by job title, contract type, hours or practice/employer type. Each advert now also includes a map of the location, and a link to contact the advertiser at the foot of the page.

Jobseekers can subscribe to receive email or RSS alerts the moment a job advert is posted on VetNurse Jobs. Alternatively, they can now 'follow' or 'like' dedicated VetNurse Jobs pages on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, to have VetNurse Jobs delivered direct to their timelines.

For advertisers, VetNurse.co.uk remains the largest community of veterinary nurses and support staff to advertise in front of. And its free. But now recruitment adverts are pushed out onto other social networks and there's work being done behind the scenes to push them up the search rankings too. What's more, the advanced new search tool also means that where before users had to sift their way through a long list of vacancies, adverts will now be far better targeted.

Arlo Guthrie, Publishing Editor said: "My aim with VetNurse Jobs has always been to support veterinary practices by eliminating the need to pay for recruitment advertising. But it's not enough just being free. We need to be the best, too."

The Kennel Club has broadly welcomed Professor Sir Patrick Bateson's 'Independent Inquiry into Dog Breeding', which has recommended that steps be taken to tackle irresponsible breeders and to change the way the public think about buying dogs. 

The Kennel Club, which commissioned and funded the report in conjunction with Dogs Trust, welcomes the report's focus on irresponsible breeders who farm puppies with little concern for their welfare and those who sell poorly socialised puppies on to owners to use as 'status dogs' or as fighting weapons.

The Kennel Club agrees that additional training and support needs to be given to local authorities, which are responsible for issuing breeding licences to those people who breed five or more litters of puppies in a single year, as the current provisions are deemed to be ineffective. It agrees that compulsory microchipping of dogs and increased public education to stop people falling prey to puppy farmers and to help them find responsible breeders are necessary.

It is also glad that the report recognises the need for a 'robustly policed and well respected quality assurance scheme', consisting of breeders that buyers can trust to look after their puppies' health and welfare, and that it suggests that the Kennel Club's Accredited Breeder Scheme, with some modification could be used. 

However, the Kennel Club is concerned that the report could have gone further and that its recommendations do not appear directly to cover those breeders who breed less than five litters per year and who are not part of the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme. The Kennel Club would have liked to have seen a recommendation for regulation to ensure that these breeders follow higher standards, such as compulsory health testing. 

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club spokesperson, said: "Whilst the report recognises that the majority of breeders are responsible, there are those whose actions are bringing the rest of the dog breeding community into disrepute and this needs to be stopped.

"We are glad that the report recognises that the Kennel Club has made a good start in its efforts to unite responsible breeders within its Accredited Breeder Scheme, for the benefit of puppies and puppy buyers, and we believe that this should be the basis for moving forward. We are currently working towards UKAS accreditation of the scheme as suggested by Professor Bateson.

"We agree that responsible breeders should be rewarded and believe that the show ring is the best forum for this. The report recognises that 'dog showing and judging are a powerful lever for change' and the Kennel Club is dedicated to ensuring that only the healthiest dogs are rewarded at shows.

"Public education is vital and all dog welfare organisations must continue to work together to ensure that people know what to look for when buying a dog."

The report looks at genetic diversity in breeds and recognises that the Kennel Club has banned close matings. It advises that future decisions about matings that could affect genetic diversity should be 'breed specific' and made upon evidence based scientific information and advice. To this end it is recommended that the veterinary profession should gather data to show the prevalence of certain diseases and that an advisory council should develop evidence based breeding strategies.

Mrs Kisko continued: "The Kennel Club has long recognised that genetic diversity plays a crucial role in safeguarding the health of dogs and the report is absolutely right to suggest that there are no further blanket rules in place but that decisions are based upon scientific knowledge and are made on a breed by breed basis. This is why we are well on the way to creating a new database which will revolutionise the way that we record dog health data. The data will enable us to bring out our Mate Select programme, which will help breeders to find suitable mating pairs which are most likely to produce healthy offspring. The database will go further than the report's recommendation, as the data will be attributable to specific dogs, rather than being anonymous, and will give us a better picture of the health of pedigrees and crossbreeds. Such knowledge is critical and will enable us to provide information to breeders, vets, geneticists and ultimately the puppy buyer. 

"We are keen to harness as much knowledge as possible for the benefit of dogs so we welcome the principle of an advisory council whose members will work with the Kennel Club to advise on decisions about breeding and health. A structure already exists in the form of the Kennel Club's Dog Health Group with its recently extended remit. Additional independent experts include canine and human geneticists, veterinary surgeons and an epidemiologist. Using this framework for establishing the advisory council under an independent chairman would save significant sums of money, which can instead be devoted entirely to the dog health research that the report identified as being in 'urgent' need of more funding."

The Kennel Club and Dogs Trust will now arrange a meeting between all relevant parties in order to move forward with the recommendations from all three reports.

The full report may be downloaded at www.dogbreedinginquiry.com

Veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses will be able to try their hands at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons code-cracking competition at the London Vet Show at Olympia on 24-25 November.

At the RCVS breakfast session on the Friday morning (8.30, part of the Business Stream), President Dr Jerry Davies will unlock the secrets of the proposed new Codes of Professional Conduct for vets and VNs. 

To promote this breakfast session, the RCVS is inviting visitors to come to its stand (J90) to solve photo enigmas, using clues provided to decipher a series of words that appear in the proposed new Codes. The winner will be in line to receive a pair of super sleuthing video glasses.

VNs who missed BVNA Congress can also get their hands on a 50^th anniversary commemorative chocolate medallion by visiting the RCVS stand.

Coffee and pastries will be served at the morning session on Friday - there's no need to book, just turn up.

The Pig Veterinary Society (PVS) has announced that following a review carried out by its Medicines Sub-committee, it is adopting the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) list of highest-priority Critically Important Antibiotics (CIAs), namely fluoroquinolones, 3^rd and 4^th generation cephalosporins and colistin.

The review coincided with a move last month from RUMA, the agricultural and food industry alliance which promotes responsible use of medicines in farm animals, to align with the EMA position.

The announcement means that under PVS guidelines, fluoroquinolones, 3^rd and 4^th generation cephalosporins and colistin will retain Class 3 status. This means they are only used when no other options are available and when supported by laboratory sensitivity testing – or exceptionally when all other options have failed.

Class 1 antibiotics form the standard prescribing list within responsible use guidelines and Class 2 are used only when sensitivity tests or clinical experience proves standard antibiotics are not effective. In all treatment decisions the health and welfare of the pigs must always take priority.

Betalactams with betalactamase inhibitors (clavulanic acid) were previously in the highest priority Class 3 but in light of the list defined by the EMA, which has been adopted by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate as well as RUMA, the PVS has reassessed the risk and moved them to Class 2 to align them with plain betalactams. This means they are still subject to voluntary restrictions, but their use would not necessarily be only as a last resort.

PVS president Mark White said that despite the ongoing review process and the potential to reclassify certain products, the Society’s underlying principles remain unchanged: "The total amount of all antibiotics used on pig farms to treat and prevent disease should be minimised, and the types of antibiotics used in pigs should be considered in light of the implications for antibiotic resistance challenges in both pigs and man.

"This policy is proving successful with AHDB Pork’s electronic pig medicine book (e-MB) recently showing that use of colistin appears to have fallen by over 70% in 2016 following its move to a Class 3 antibiotic in late 2015.

"We must also continue to be alert to the possibility of cross resistance, even in older antibiotics that have little or no use in humans. Risk must be acknowledged where it exists and overall reductions are still imperative."

RUMA has welcomed the review and alignment from the PVS. Secretary General John FitzGerald said: "Farmers and vets need boundaries within which to operate and clear objectives to meet, and we would urge all supply chains, from farmer to retailer, to align with the sector position on best practice use of antibiotics, as defined by each sector’s professional veterinary organisation."

BSAVA PetSavers has gone into partnership with NationWide Laboratories to enable its Ageing Canine Toolkit to reach a wider audience of UK pet owners.

The Ageing Canine Toolkit, which was developed from research carried out by the University of Liverpool, aims to help both vets and owners provide the best care for senior and geriatric dogs.

It includes information about common health problems that affect ageing dogs and a colour-coded checklist to help owners know when to seek advice from a veterinary practice and how to guide discussions during consultations.

As part of the partnership, NationWide Laboratories will be distributing the toolkit to its clients, helping raise awareness and make sure that the owners of older dogs know how to look for signs of disease which could enable treatment to be started earlier.

Alison Selby, Fundraising Manager for BSAVA PetSavers said: “We are thrilled to be embarking on this partnership with NationWide Laboratories.

"By supporting the print and distribution costs of this invaluable resource, they will help us reach more pet owners across the UK.

"Working together in partnership, we hope to equip owners with the knowledge and confidence to support their dogs through the ageing process, ultimately improving their quality of life.”

https://bsava.com/petsavers/our-impact/citizen-science-project 

CEVA Animal Health is drawing vets' attention to research which has found a possible link between autism and pyrethrin-based flea shampoos.

Findings from the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment study, which is funded by the US National Institutes of Health, have raised the possibility that pyrethrins found in pet shampoos are linked to an increased risk of autism.

Mothers who used flea treatments containing pyrethrin based flea shampoos while pregnant were found to be twice as likely to have a child with an autistic spectrum disorder as those who did not.

The scientists who undertook the research have emphasised that the findings remain preliminary.

CEVA points out that while veterinary on-animal and household flea products have undergone extensive testing for safety and efficacy, parents may abandon flea control regimes over fears of pesticide use (as they abandoned the MMR vaccine).

Anxiety about the use of pesticides in the home is actually nothing new; a survey carried out in 2007, showed that two out of three pet owners were concerned about safety when using a pesticide-based flea spray in their homes.

CEVA highlights its own environmental flea control, Skoosh, as a possible alternative for concerned parents. Instead of pesticides, Skoosh uses inert silicones, commonly used in skin creams, make up, headlice lotions and oral medications, to physically engulf the fleas. CEVA says that Skoosh™ is not only effective against mature fleas, eggs and larvae but also physically prevents the hatching and development of pupae, which are not affected by traditional household sprays.

Ed's note: Fleas are something I know a little bit about (having worked on behalf of Novartis Animal Health for many years); I'd say that Program is another good alternative for pet owners that want to use a flea control product that does not put them into contact with pesticides. And no, I wasn't paid to write that, just force of habit!

Vetoquinol has announced that the 50g pack size of Ipakitine will shortly be replaced by a 60g pot.

The company says this will provide the convenience of a 30 day supply for a 5kg cat or dog who is on 1g/5kg bodyweight twice a day (one level scoop twice a day).

The 60g pot will be available from the end of December.  Also at this time, the existing 150g size pot will be replaced by a 180g pot.

The new packaging is more eye-catching, easier to read and gives more description. A 300g pot will also be available in February 2012. Pricing will be in-line with increase in pack size, so proportionally a 20% increase for 20% more product.

Ipakitine is a phosphate binder formulated specifically for veterinary use. It is designed for both cats and dogs and is available as a tasteless powder formulation for easy administration with food.

CarefreeCredit, the vet-run company we reported on back in October, has announced that it is working with its 600th practice in offering its interest-free or low-interest credit to clients that find themselves unable to pay for unforeseen veterinary treatment.

Stewart Halperin MRCVS, Managing Director of CarefreeCredit said: “2014 has been an incredibly busy but successful year for us. We’ve increased the take up of our service by over 500%, we have proudly cemented our partnerships within the corporate and buying groups and most importantly, we have become established enough to make a substantial difference to the pets and pet owners who rely on the help our service provides.”

Stewart added: “We know 2015 is going to be an even bigger year for us, with even more practices joining our system and the introduction of dependable and innovative business support services that will continue to save our practices time and money and help them increase sales and reduce debtors. With this in mind, we are introducing a very small monthly charge to cover our increased costs in software, training and office support services.”

From the New Year, practices that join Carefree Credit will be charged a flat rate of £10 per month for the duration of their membership. The £10 monthly fee covers support for FCA applications, unlimited training in-practice or online, use of the CarefreeCredit unique platform, CarefreeCredit office support, and point of sale materials. Practices that sign up before January 1st, will continue their membership without charge until at least January 2016.

For further information, visit: carefreecredit.co.uk or ring 0203 697 8439.

Diverse Undertakings Ltd. has announced that it is extending its services to include support for veterinary practices in securing their RCVS Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) accreditation.

The company was originally formed to provide business advisory services to small and medium sized enterprises across a range of industry sectors. Its services range from general H.R. advice, health & safety guidance and facilities management to candidate sourcing and call-centre services.

However, with previous experience supporting a substantial veterinary practice in Kent for both employment challenges and PSS accreditation, Company Director Neal Palk decided to extend the company's capability to support other veterinary practices in securing their PSS accreditation.

He says that because the needs of each practice vary, Diverse can adapt its service to reflect both the individual circumstances relating to accreditation as well as the capability/capacity with the practice to undertake necessary tasks itself. By using a network of associates, he says Diverse can call upon other specialities (for example - competitively priced office/building equipment) to smooth the progress to accreditation.

Diverse says it offers a range of transparent pricing options to suit the client which, without the overheads of large consultancies, often result in PSS accreditation being achieved for less cost than a typical administrative temp for a month. Monthly retention fee alternatives for other services are available, beginning at £95+ VAT.

Neal said: "Several organisations offer professional services to the veterinary practice sector, but few can claim to have 'been there, done that' and really understand the climate and culture the sector operates within. Diverse Undertakings Ltd. values its experience in the sector and aims to work with other practices to achieve both accreditation and wider business success."

For more details please contact Neal on 07771 843719, e-mail: info@diverseundertakings.com, or visit: http://www/diverseundertakings.com