What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Clive Ansell — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 17:54:50 GMT

Too numerous to mention since qualifying in 1996, but ones that stand out;

Increased knowledge and advancement, acceptance and use of analgesic drugs and alpha-2 agonists.

medicines; Vetmedin, Cerenia

Digital radiography

OOH clinics and being able to delegate on call duties. (Stopped short of saying better OOH care, because I know it is controversial)

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Mark Hedberg — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 13:18:10 GMT

Drug wise i'd go for pain relief, information wise i'd vote for "t'internet" - hugely helpful when i needed to know something right then, right away!

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Richard Carter — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 10:02:08 GMT

safe gas anaesthetics, propofol, (can anaesthetise almost anything in any condition using these two), methadone and other pain killers, digital xray (no more discovering the tank has gone off and chemicals need complete replacing before any further work and hip scheme xrays taking hours not minutes), in house lab (and extensive external labs), ultrasound (when I was a student, the university had ONE and only the professor was allowed to touch it)

on the drug side definitely pimabendin - just love the way the murmurs disappear, followed by apoquel, finding cytopoint a bit hit and miss, transdermal methimazole, other cat friendly formulations,

The advance of companion animal medicine and increased care and willingness by clients to to so. When I qualified it wasn't uncommon to be presented with a litter of pups or kittens for pts, or one of the worst - we going on holiday, we will get another when we come back...

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Chris Milligan — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 05:54:00 GMT

thromboelastography - really interesting from an academic perspective. not terribly new theory but sort of new in modern practice.

we borrowed a machine from a rep and it's revolutionised the way we manage our splenic crises and DIC patients

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

jane alexander — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 10:01:36 GMT

apart from when a bus thundered past the surgery and dog jumped off table.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Ian Ramsey — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 11:01:17 GMT

[quote user="Catherine Spence"]Felv vaccine for sure. I still remember the sinking feeling that the diary entry of 1yr old male cat, off colour could bring, knowing that you might find a mass in his abdomen.[/quote]

Wasn't the incidence of FeLV falling before vaccination started? I thought the test and remove/segregate policies in multi-cat households, which were the source of the vast majority of infections, had proven their value by the mid '80s and by the early '90s I was struggling to find such households for research. FeLV vaccines were not widely used till later in the 90s.

I totally agree it is nice to have truly innovative medicines like the FeLV-canarypox and the subunit vaccines to protect individuals and the science behind them is great but actually not sure they achieved that much in the UK in terms of incidence. Even in the USA - which had the vaccines 10 years before we did - the effect is unclear compared to tackling the infection at the source. Which means still being vigilant in multi-cat environments is key to continued control.

For me (and confining my choice just to drugs) then effective (safe, licensed and used) pain relief (NSAIDs and opiates) has got to be the biggest improvement since 1990. To those others already listed (and I agree about several) I would add far more use of IV fluids and methimazole (without this the vet/owner of an 'old thin cat' had few options - all rather limited in appeal by cost/facilities/willingness to take a small risk). Radio-iodine is great - but all the centres in Europe could not deal with even 1 month of the number of hyperthyroid cats diagnosed in UK alone so we really are still very dependent on this drug.

Good thread this!

Best wishes

Ian

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Anthony Todd — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 20:00:31 GMT

[quote user="Thomas Johnson"]I very much doubt it! [/quote]

It worked very well, humane, safe and as far as I know no dogs died....

Most vets, even I, could hit an adult boar's testicle......

Mind you, ear veins are pretty easy too,if you know the trick......

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Thomas Johnson — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 18:12:39 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]Is intra-testicular pentobarb used still to castrate old redundant boars? [prior to ear-vein I/V][/quote]

I very much doubt it! I had it described to me by my boss in my last job, quite a clever idea, inject the pentobarb into the testicle, as soon as it's asleep remove the testicles and you've removed the source of the drug and they wake up shortly afterwards.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Anthony Todd — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 14:40:31 GMT

[quote user="Neil Wheadon"]intrabdominal pentobarbitone[/quote]

Is intra-testicular pentobarb used still to castrate old redundant boars? [prior to ear-vein I/V]

Farm dogs sleep for a long time if they got hold of them!

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Wren — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 14:26:12 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]But effective sedatives for horses must be near the top[/quote]

Definitely detomidine. I probably use it 5 or 6 times a day!

Mobile digital radiography. In my last job (only 6 years ago!!) we had to drive out to the yard with the x-ray machine, unload it all, take 4 pics (we only had 4 plates - and you need 4 views just to radiograph one hock!) hoping that they were roughly the right settings and angles to catch what you wanted, drive back to the surgery, develop them, realise that they were either underexposed, or you wanted to skyline something, or there was a really interesting 'something' just on the edge of a picture and you wanted to take one further up, or of the contralateral limb, then decide whether you really wanted to repeat all that palaver and probably piss the client off, or just make do with what you had. Now I have horse-side diagnosis and can easily take a set of 42 good quality pre-purchase radiographs inside an hour.

Prascend - I have huge issues with drug companies licensing something cheap and generic that we have been using for years (don't ever mention Equisolon in my presence!!) but Prascend has radically changed the quality of life for a lot of older horses and ponies. A lot literally get a new lease of life. Which is awkward when you prescribe it for the half dead bomb-proof first pony that a client has just bought, and the pony transforms from a kick-along disinterested plod, to something so bright and sparky that their kid no longer has any chance of being able to stay on board.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Bob Russell — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 13:31:30 GMT

FeLV vaccine if I have to restrict it to one.

I agree that it is so much better that we don't have to declare a death sentence in so many young cats.

Before my time was distemper in dogs, as a student parvo but since qualifying FeV.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Stephen Spencer — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 12:15:22 GMT

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]

[quote user="bob lehner"]

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]fluothane instead of ether ! Anaesthetic machines not Boyles jar [/quote]

You are a mere spring chicken - in my first job I had to lead horses round with a chloroform mask strapped to their muzzle, trying to avoid getting squashed when they eventually keeled over ....then we moved on to Immobilon....then thio....

[/quote] Immobilon was terrifying. Brilliant drug but terrifying to use

[/quote]I remember calculating a dose for my neighbours' adult Suffolk Punch stallion castration and it was a whole bottle of Immobilon 10.5 ml. if I recall.... Worked like a dream, apart from the sweating and tremor (that would be both the patient and 'anaesthetist/surgeon'!).

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Liz w — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 06:46:11 GMT

I agree with the internet. I remember being called about a poisons case, and having to drive a 30 mile round trip in the middle of the night to get to the ‘poisons book’ in the practice ‘library’. (The practice hadn’t bothered to sign up to the VPIS).

Digital radiography - no more hanging around and making do with sub optimal radiographs.

propofol

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Neil Wheadon — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 23:12:17 GMT

I've just worked with a retired partner, locumming back at his old practice. He remembered his mentor anaesthetising dogs with intrabdominal pentobarbitone and he recalled no deaths.

Cue the Python's Yorkshireman sketch

Neil

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 21:14:55 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]fluothane instead of ether ! Anaesthetic machines not Boyles jar [/quote]

[/quote] Immobilon was terrifying. Brilliant drug but terrifying to use

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

bob lehner — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 21:09:11 GMT

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]fluothane instead of ether ! Anaesthetic machines not Boyles jar [/quote]

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 21:01:56 GMT

Pain relief that wasn’t phenylbutazone tablets

Mobile phones, parvovirus vaccine , digital xrays, ultrasound.

Changes in owner attitudes , dogs no longer being let out to roam all day while the owners were at work , getting run over , running in packs round the streets of Rotherham ( my first job in 1978)

people actually being willing to have their cat treated instead of just being put to sleep if they were lucky or just not treated at all

fluothane instead of ether ! Anaesthetic machines not Boyles jar

god now I feel old , thanks

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Anthony Todd — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 17:20:56 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]But effective sedatives for horses must be near the top. [/quote]

Was ACP used much [apart from the well-known incident??]

We just had succinyl chloride, which hardly qualifies, or chloral hydrate which does, if you made sure it was intra-venous.....

Was Largactil used in horses??

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

bob lehner — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 13:57:48 GMT

So many...as mentioned by others.

But effective sedatives for horses must be near the top. Saved getting your head kicked in quite so often.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Catherine Spence — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 11:33:42 GMT

Felv vaccine for sure. I still remember the sinking feeling that the diary entry of 1yr old male cat, off colour could bring, knowing that you might find a mass in his abdomen.

Otherwise, in-house lab machines for nearly instant information.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

nick shackleton — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 23:20:21 GMT

Having working in veterinary practices since 1996. One of the greatest advancement would be diagnostic imaging. From working in practices with second hand nhs machines and manual developing in dipping tanks. Fast forward nearly 25 years and we have CR or DR. Many practices are now able to offer advanced imaging, CT & MRI

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Gillian Mostyn — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 21:17:22 GMT

More vet welfare than animal welfare ... But I'd say mobile phones and a good signal. During seeing practice I remember the vet trying to find a phone box to ring the practice. Or arriving at the next farm to be told you'd forgotten something at the last job.....

In my first (mixed) job I had a basic Nokia (and the pager was still very much in use) but the signal in Cumbria was .... patchy!

Even in small animal practice, having a reliable mobile signal made being on call far easier.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Michael Woodhouse — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 20:44:30 GMT

[quote user="Sarah Keir"]The internet.

Anti-parasecticides that work and few if any side effects.[/quote]

You qualified a couple of years before me, if I remember correctly? We had the internet when I was at school, the days of MSN messenger talking to the people you saw all day.

I also am sure we had Drontal, Panacur, Stronghold, Frontline, Advantage etc when I qualified.

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Ceri Gruffudd Jones — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 20:19:21 GMT

Medetomidine/Atipamezole. Reasonably safe, reliable and reversible sedation. Was around when I qualified (2003) but ACP still seemed to be the default in most practices I saw. (0.5 ml for a small dog, 1 ml for a big dog, no other drugs required for neutering premed according to one senior partner )

RE: What's your favourite "new thing" in veterinary medicine?

Sarah Keir — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 11:06:58 GMT

The internet.

Anti-parasecticides that work and few if any side effects.