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/
The new Chestergates ophthalmology service will offer a wide range of treatments for eye conditions, including: cryotherapy, corrective lid surgery, rhytidectomy, nasal fold ablation, cherry eye and scrolled cartilage, keratotomy, keratectomy, pedicle conjunctival graft, corneo-conjunctival transposition, bioimplants for corneal reconstruction, glaucoma diagnosis and monitoring, management of dry eye (KCS) and neurological dry eye, retro-bulbar disease investigation and treatment, cataract assessment, and intracapsular lens extraction.
The service will be led by Chestergates Advanced Practitioner in Ophthalmology, Endika Garcia MRCVS DVM PGCertSAOphthal.
Endika graduated in 2016 from the University of Valencia, completed a rotating internship, then worked for a few years in different hospitals in Spain, before moving to the UK, enrolling on the BSAVA Certificate in Small Animal Ophthalmology and being awarded Advanced Practitioner status.
Endika will be supported by a 25 strong specialist nursing team, four nurse students, one lab technician, two sterile technicians and a team of receptionists and support colleagues.
Consultations and surgical procedures will be offered at Chestergates Veterinary Specialists on Mondays and Thursdays between 8am and 5pm.
https://chestergates.org.uk/referral-services
VetNurse.co.uk has been asked to publish the following announcement from The University of Liverpool
Hydrocortisone aceponate (Cortavance®, Virbac Animal Health, Bury St. Edmunds) is a potent but very safe topical glucocorticoid. A recent publication1 clearly demonstrates both its safety and efficacy. In this trial clinical lesions scores were decreased by more than 50% in 11 of 15 dogs after 28 days, and no changes to haematology, biochemistry and ACTH stimulation tests were seen in dogs treated once daily to every other day for up to 70 days.
We have, however, become aware that the wording in the notes for the nurses’ proceedings for the recent BSAVA annual congress has led some people to make the erroneous conclusion that hydrocortisone aceponate is a mild steroid. The text listed glucocorticoids in order of the potency of their adverse effects, not clinical efficacy, although this isn’t clear from the wording. The intention was to emphasise that the side-effects were very mild, not that hydrocortisone aceponate isn’t effective. We can see how this mistaken interpretation has arisen and apologise for any misunderstanding.
Ms Vanessa Schmidt, RCVS Trust/Schering Plough Resident in Veterinary DermatologyDr Neil McEwan, Senior Lecturer in Veterinary DermatologyDr Tim Nuttall, Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Dermatology
The University of Liverpool Faculty of Veterinary Science, Leahurst Campus, Chester High Road, Neston, Cheshire, CH64 7TE.
1. Nuttall TJ, Mueller RS, Bensignor E, Verde M, Noli C, Schmidt V, Rème C. Efficacy of a 0.0584% hydrocortisone aceponate spray in the management of canine atopic dermatitis: a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. Veterinary Dermatology 2009; available online 03 April 2009: DOI 10.1111/j.1365-3164.2009.00756.x
Designed for the whole practice team, the Congress theme will be Smarter Working – better outcomes: focussing on how individual and veterinary practice life can be transformed through consistent incremental gains.
Congress will be opened by Cath Bishop (pictured), Olympic rower turned business coach, with an insight into how working smarter revolutionised her rowing career, and the importance of continued learning to help achieve the marginal gains required to help thrive in practice.
The Smarter Working non-clinical lecture and workshop programme will incorporate the following streams:
Saturday workshops are also included in the full congress ticket price.
The social programme includes an afternoon Happy Hour in the exhibition hall, a networking event and the President’s Party with a reception, three course meal and party band.
There will also be a commercial exhibition.
www.spvs-congress.co.uk
The new machine is a modular system using low-flow anaesthesia for animals from 2-80kg.
The company says that compared to anaesthetic techniques which use high fresh gas flow rates, it functions without posing a risk to team members from the huge amounts of oxygen and inhalational anaesthetic agents that would otherwise be released.
In turn, this results in cost savings from unwasted agents, and a typical 5 to 10 times reduction in environmental damage.
Darvall founder, Dr Colin Dunlop, said: “For optimal outcome from anaesthesia, veterinary anaesthesiologists and veterinarians routinely make decisions about the physiological well-being of the patient, the environmental impact of their actions, the operational efficiency of their practice and cost-effectiveness.
"Having suitable equipment that uses low-flow anaesthesia will reduce the risk of hypothermia, improve team safety, reduce environmental emissions and reduce costs.”
“Low-flow anaesthesia not only reduces oxygen flows and inhalant agent consumption to less than 10% of high-flow, non-rebreathing systems, it can help reduce anaesthetic hypothermia because it uses warm gas when using the Darvall heated breathing circuits.
"Using our specifically designed modern system for veterinary patients addresses the traditional challenges associated with low-flow anaesthesia and hypothermia.
Darvall says the use of just one system will also simplify staff training and ensure familiarity.
https://darvallvet.com
A paper introduced by the RCVS Registrar Eleanor Ferguson looked at the possibility of the RCVS prosecuting, for example, unqualified individuals undertaking veterinary work and courses falsely purporting to lead to a registerable qualification.
The paper also explored other options, including better educating animal owners about veterinary services and assisting people with concerns about the breaches of the VSA to raise them with the authorities.
Council heard that over the past year, the RCVS had assisted other agencies on investigations of suspected VSA breaches on a number of occasions.
It was considered that the RCVS could consider undertaking its own private investigations and criminal prosecutions when statutory prosecuting authorities did not have the resources to pursue these cases.
However, the RCVS has no statutory powers of investigation, so if it did pursue a private prosecution, it would have no powers to carry out a criminal investigation or compel evidence.
Council members voted for a further paper setting out a draft policy on private prosecutions, as well as what general information regarding breaches of the Veterinary Surgeons Act could be provided to members of the public and the professions.
As part of the University of Bristol, Langford is the only referral hospital in the South West which has an educational facility.
The new academy will also be developing its Veterinary Nurse Graduate Program and give access to its Vet Nurse Congress.
Juliet Morrison, Nurse Graduate Lead said: “At LV we passionately believe in nursing progression.
"Through our SAH Graduate Nursing Programme, we continue to support the next generation of nurses to become confident, resilient professionals.”
For more information, email: brm@langfordvets.co.uk
The new policy has been published ahead of an upcoming review of England’s Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing regulations (WATOK) by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Recommendations in the policy address all areas of the slaughter process, including:
The policy also covers a wider range of species and focuses on some of those species-specific needs.
For the first time its recommendations include fish. In order to improve the welfare of farmed finfish, BVA says that UK Governments should include the effective stunning of finfish as well as general welfare protections in WATOK regulations. It also calls for more research into developing effective and humane methods of stunning for decapods (shrimp, lobsters and crabs) and cephalopods (squid and octopus) as well as wild caught fish.
BVA Senior Vice President, Simon Doherty said: "With millions of animals slaughtered each year to provide us with the food we eat, we have a responsibility to provide them with a life worth living and a humane death. Our updated position aims to do just that by building on existing legislation and guiding the industry in a direction that better protects the welfare of animals destined for the food chain.
"Slaughter processes should be designed to minimise avoidable pain, distress, fear, and suffering and this document looks at all of the ways that we as vets can work with industry bodies and farm colleagues to improve the legislation already in place.”
A snapshot survey carried out in 2018 by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for the period of one week revealed that nearly 20 million animals (excluding fish) were slaughtered across 248 operating plants in England and Wales during that time.
In order to effect change for such a high quantity of animals, BVA’s new position sets out recommendations for a range of stakeholders, government, industry, researchers and the veterinary profession, at each stage of the slaughter process. Improvements to the way that stunning data is captured and reported on is also on the list of asks, as well as improving regulation of non-stun slaughter and working collaboratively with Islamic scholars and Halal certification bodies to promote the acceptability of recoverable stunning.
Simon added: "From making sure that stunning methods are as effective as possible, to looking at the specific needs of each species, revalidation of training for operators, and championing the role of the Official Veterinarian, there is a lot of work to be done but we look forward to progressing these recommendations and working to improve the welfare of farmed animals across the UK."
The service has been free of charge since March 15th 2020, when it first became clear how difficult things would become. However, as life has become less restricted, now seemed an appropriate time to introduce a very modest charge to help with the site's ongoing development and maintenance.
Over the last four and a half months, there has been a significant increase in the number of jobs advertised on VetSurgeon (to the extent that VetSurgeon and VetNurse Jobs now have more jobs advertised than either the Veterinary Times or the Veterinary Record). What's more, feedback from advertisers is that they've received more enquiries both on VetNurse.co.uk and over on VetSurgeon Jobs.
On VetSurgeon, this may be due in part to a number of locum vets seeking permanent positions. However, it also seems likely to be a consequence of a 'virtuous circle' whereby more jobs advertised = more visibility on Google and other social networks = more enquiries = more jobs advertised = more visibility and so on.
For this reason, the plan for the future is to optimise the price of advertising on VetNurse.co.uk at the lowest level needed to encourage the largest number of vacancies, the greatest number of enquiries and the revenue needed to pay for the ongoing running of the sites.
For more information about recruitment advertising on VetSurgeon.org.
The toolkit is part of a major study, the ‘Old Age Pets (OAP) research project’, recently funded by BSAVA PetSavers at the University of Liverpool.
The ACT includes an owner checklist for home triage and a leaflet which explains the more common health problems affecting aged dogs.
There's a practice waiting room poster which includes a QR code to give clients access to a digital version of the leaflet.
The leaflet recommends working through the checklist at least every six months and keeping completed versions for comparison, to monitor dogs as they age.
PetSavers says that some clients may benefit from advice and guidance from RVNs or PCAs on how to complete the checklist for the first time.
BSAVA has also curated a collection of articles, podcasts, lectures and book chapters to support veterinary professionals in caring for senior dogs: http://www.bsavalibrary.com/petsaversact.
Professor Carri Westgarth from the University of Liverpool said: “We conducted this research project kindly funded by BSAVA PetSavers in order to help owners and veterinary professionals provide great care for our loved pets as they age.
“Our investigations uncovered common physical and behavioural signs in dogs that owners observe and for which support from the veterinary practice would be beneficial.
"Our simple evidence-based checklist is designed to engage owners and importantly stimulate efficient discussion with their veterinary team.”
Free digital copies of the leaflet and poster can be downloaded here: http://www.bsavalibrary.com/content/cilgrouppetsaversact, where veterinary professionals can also request free printed copies for their practices.
https://www.bsava.com/petsavers/our-impact/citizen-science-project.
With this new system, you gain points by achieving different ISVPS qualifications.
In 2023, mini modular programmes will also be released to help delegates accumulate more points.
Once enough points have been reached, delegates are awarded the ultimate qualification: an ISVPS Lead Veterinary Nurse Practitioner.
Improve says My Veterinary Career has been launched to tackle the growing problem of career dissatisfaction amongst veterinary professionals.
A 2019 survey of the veterinary profession by the ies reported that 55.2% of vets said they did not feel rewarded/valued in the profession1.
Additionally, the FVE Survey of the veterinary profession in Europe claimed that in the UK, 40% of vets and nurses wished to leave the industry.
In other countries Improve Veterinary Education operates in, 51% in Portugal, 32% in Spain, 27% in Denmark, 25% in Germany and 17% in France also felt the same2.
Improve says that with My Veterinary Career, vet nurses will now have a clearer pathway to advance their careers and they will be able to develop a bespoke learning journey.
This, the company hopes, will help with the recruitment and retention of veterinary professionals across both corporate and private practice and boost practice productivity and revenue.
https://www.improveinternational.com/uk/myveterinarycareer-vets
References
For example, a human generic paracetamol/codeine tablet costs approximately 3p at wholesaler prices.
By comparison, an almost identical licensed veterinary equivalent costs ten times as much.
The requirement for veterinary surgeons to prescribe expensive veterinary-licensed medications over cheaper unlicensed medications or drugs licensed for human use was first introduced though EU Directive 2001/82/EC in 2001, which the UK was legally required to implement in the form of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013.
The main objectives of the EU directive were to safeguard public health by regulating medicines used in food-producing animals, to ensure the health and welfare of animals by requiring veterinary medicines to be authorised based on quality, safety and efficacy, to facilitate the free movement of medicines between member states and to encourage pharmaceutical innovation.
Whilst there is a strong rationale for the use of licensed medicines in food-producing animals, primarily to protect the public from medicine residues, the case for cats and dogs is weaker.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that legislators considered the increased cost to pet owners of implementing Directive 2001/82/EC, and the potential unintended consequences.
14 years later, this new research shows that the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 may in fact harm companion animal welfare and stifle pharmaceutical innovation.
In terms of harm, the survey found that 38.8% of veterinary surgeons noted that owners are unable to afford the veterinary licensed drugs they are obliged to prescribe between 1-4 times per week.
Another 25.8% of vets said this happened very often, ie at least once a week.
Another 24% said it happened at least once a month.
From these figures, the authors calculated that 438,000 owners may be unable to afford vet licensed drugs over cheaper human-use generics.
In requiring vets to prescribe veterinary-licensed medications, there should obviously be a clear, measurable benefit to animal welfare.
For example, if it were possible to argue that the regulation has reduced the occurrence of adverse reactions to medication or inefficacy.
However, in the US, where no comparable regulation is in place and the same drugs are used, there is no evidence of this being the case, despite the very much larger population.
There is also evidence to suggest that the system may stifle, rather than promote the development of novel treatments, as pharmaceutical companies have prioritised the veterinary licensing of human use drugs over the development of new ones, because it costs them far less and carries less risk of failure.
Since the introduction of Directive 2001/82/EC, pharmaceutical companies have launched six novel veterinary medicines for companion animals in the EU, namely Frunevetmab, fluralaner, lokivetmab, bedinvetmab, lotilaner and pradofloxacin.
By contrast, over the same time period, there have been 13 human use drugs licensed for veterinary use, with no evidence to support the idea that they have become safer, better or more effective in animals than they were when the cheaper human-use variants were prescribed before the Directive was introduced.
David Mills MRCVS, lead author of the article, said: "It is incumbent on veterinary legislators and regulators to consider the impact of their legislation and regulation on the cost to the consumer and consequently on animal welfare.
"In this case, they need to consider whether the benefits of licensing are real and measurable, and that they outweigh any harm caused by impact of licensing on the cost of treatments.
"Whilst it is only right that pharmaceutical companies should be rewarded for developing novel treatments, removing the requirement for vets to prescribe licensed medication when a human generic exists, or even simply allowing discretionary use of unlicensed medication on the grounds of cost are all simple solutions that would better serve animal welfare, reduce costs to owners and promote research of new drugs."
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Reference
Each year the WSAVA Congress is held in a different location around the world and attracts over 70,000 veterinary professionals who relish the opportunity to hear from top international speakers on all aspects of practicing small animal veterinary medicine.
The WSAVA is an international network of associations dedicated to the continuing development of companion animal care around the world. It brings veterinary practitioners and academia together to help enhance the knowledge of specific topics, such as hereditary disease and nomenclature of pathological processes.
To celebrate the Association's 50th anniversary Professor Michael J Day, chairman of the WSAVA Scientific Advisory Committee, has proposed that this year be the year of 'One Medicine'. The theme is intended to recognise the importance of the link between the medical and veterinary professions. It will encompass the human population, domestic animals and wildlife, and the impact that current environmental changes are having on these groups. Lectures and seminars during this year's congress will reflect the 'One Medicine' topic, looking for an exchange of ideas and to build the foundations for future developments of mutual interest. For further information please visit http://www.wsava2010.org/.
Veterinary staff can enter the WSAVA prize draw by visiting Petplan at stand 311 during the BSAVA Congress or via the dedicated Petplan veterinary staff website, petplanvet.co.uk.
BVA’s advice comes as the four nations of the UK launch contact tracing programmes to move from blanket lockdown restrictions to a more targeted approach, in line with strategies to ease lockdown restrictions.
Although slightly different across the UK, each programme will ask those who test positive for coronavirus to identify people they have been in recent contact with and those people will be contacted and asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
Relevant contact appears to be spending more than 15 minutes within two metres of another person or being in direct face-to-face contact (less than one metre) with them. At present, the schemes are voluntary, but may become mandatory at a later stage.
Northern Ireland: Test, trace, isolate, supportEngland: NHS Test and TraceScotland: Test and ProtectWales: Test Trace Protect
Employees in self-isolation are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay for every day they are in isolation, as long as they meet the eligibility conditions. Further roll out of testing may enable people to return to work sooner that 14 days if they receive a negative test.
BVA President Daniella Dos Santos said: "The next step in the Covid-19 response is shifting to a more targeted approach, but it’s clear that this could have a very significant impact on individual veterinary practices if a member of the team tests positive. The nature of veterinary work means we are in close contact with our colleagues in order to work safely with animals.
“Many veterinary teams will be understandably anxious about the impact on their ability to staff a full rota to maintain 24/7 care. And there are significant concerns about the impact on animal health and welfare if practices are unable to provide veterinary services.
"Our advice is to continue working in fixed pairs or small teams as much as possible to reduce your contact with different individuals and continue to practise good hygiene and biosecurity.
"We continue to ask neighbouring practices to work together to support those impacted by self-isolation and ensure full geographical cover for veterinary services.
"We recognise some veterinary professionals will be worried, but we urge everyone to comply with the contact tracing programmes."
The talk, entitled “Rabbit Dentistry: It Takes Two”, will be co-presented by Craig Tessyman, an exotics veterinary nurse who works alongside Molly at Rutland House Referral Hospital. Their talk will cover the diagnosis and management of dental disease. It is aimed at any veterinary surgeon or nurse who wants to learn more about best practice in rabbit dentistry.
Molly, who holds both a Certificate and Diploma in Zoological Medicine, said: "Dental disease is common amongst pet rabbits, so small animal vets often need to diagnose and treat dental problems.
"It can be challenging to manage these cases. Our aim with this talk is to help vets improve their clinical approach, and also to provide useful tips for nurses – we want to explain how the practice team can work together with these cases, along our theme of ‘it takes two’."
Molly and Craig’s presentation will cover relevant background on the mechanisms of chewing in rabbits and provide practical advice on recognising and diagnosing dental disease. Physical examination and dental charting will be discussed, as well as dental radiography.
Molly said: "Radiography can be a really useful tool to assess dental disease in rabbits. Vets often aren’t as familiar with positioning and evaluating radiographs of rabbits as compared to cats and dogs, so we’ll give some useful tips on what to look out for."
Molly will share some advice on taking good dental radiographs, and then go into the details of interpretation, explaining how to use imaging to gain a more accurate diagnosis and enable more specific treatment. After this, she will discuss how best to plan and perform dental treatment. Incisor removal, cheek tooth extraction and pulpectomy are some of the topics she’ll cover.
The talk counts for 1 hour of CPD and will be held on 11th November at 12:20pm. Those who can’t make the live session can access a recording afterwards. More information and the sign-up link is available here: https://supremepetfoods.com/rabbit-dentistry-it-takes-two/.
Apparently, there were over 100 times more recorded outbreaks of equine flu across the UK in 2019 than the year before1, and numerous equestrian events were cancelled as a result.
The company says that despite this, as of 2019, only about half of all UK horses are vaccinated2.
Blaise Scott-Morris MRCVS, Equine Marketing and Technical Manager at MSD Animal Health said: "Last year’s outbreaks of equine flu rocked the equine world, raising important animal welfare issues and costing the racing industry millions.
"Furthermore, they highlighted the need for good preventative healthcare and, in particular, vaccination. It’s vital that more owners are encouraged to vaccinate and those that already have, to keep up with their annual vaccinations and health checks so we don’t experience the same suffering again."
MSD's campaign invites horse owners to join the movement to #fightequineflu, and there is a range of materials to help practices promote the campaign and encourage clients to talk about vaccination and preventative healthcare, including an educational infographic poster, a social media pack and new resources on the Chameleon appointment reminder system.
MSD will itself be promoting the campaign on social media (Facebook: @Keeping Britains Horses Healthy, Instagram: @KeepingHorsesHealthy), and through partnerships with consumer channels such as Horse and Country TV.
There is also a new information resource online at www.kbhh.co.uk/achoo, which offers horse owners links to a range of other educational preventative health materials and horse care advice.
To request your Fight Equine Flu practice pack, speak to your MSD account manager.
The new suite offers chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment facilities under one roof, including a linear accelerator (LINAC) which enables treatment of tumours previously considered untreatable.
Southfields has two full-time client-facing specialists in radiation oncology and two on-site, full-time double-boarded medical and radiation oncologists, along with dedicated radiotherapy technicians and therapeutic radiographers.
RCVS and European Specialist Sarah Mason, Southfield's lead in general oncology, said: “Southfields is already renowned as being the leader in cancer treatment for small animals in the UK and the opening of our dedicated oncology and radiotherapy suite takes patient care to an even higher level.”
www.southfields.co.uk
"Learning from everything – Significant Event Audits and root cause analysis" teaches how to use significant event auditing and root cause analysis tools to investigate an event and uncover what went wrong and what went right.
RCVS Knowledge says the boxset, with its supporting tools and templates, breaks down the steps from start to finish so that anyone in practice can use a tried and tested framework to reflect and share learning and contribute towards profession-wide improvements.
Pam Mosedale, Chair of the RCVS Knowledge Quality Improvement Advisory Board, said: “We all make mistakes; it’s how our teams deal with them and learn from them that is important.
“We understand that errors can be costly in practice, impacting our patients, causing stress for our teams, and financially impacting our businesses, and that is why we are providing practical free support for all veterinary teams.”
https://learn.rcvsknowledge.org/course/index.php?categoryid=4
Although microchipping has been a legal requirement for dogs since April 2016, it is not currently required for cats unless they are travelling under the Pet Travel Scheme.
Cats Protection says microchipping should become a legal requirement for owned cats and is petitioning for change in the law. At the moment, it says, eight out of ten stray cats taken in by its adoption centres in England are not microchipped, making it virtually impossible to trace the owner.
Cats Protection’s Chief Executive, James Yeates, said: "Introducing compulsory microchipping of owned cats would encourage more cat owners to microchip their cats, meaning that lost cats can be identified and returned home rather than handed into rehoming charities as strays.
"It also means that injured cats can be quickly identified by vets and their owners can be informed and involved in their care.
"We’re delighted the Government has shown a commitment towards improving feline welfare and promoting responsible cat ownership in the UK by announcing this call for evidence."
Environment Secretary, Theresa Villiers, said: "Today’s call for evidence on cat microchipping will help the government understand how we can better protect this country’s much-loved cats and kittens. This government is committed to animal welfare and improving the lives of our companion animals."
The call for evidence will last for 12 weeks and respondents are being encouraged to respond as soon as possible. You can take part here.
The support packs include a social media toolkit with graphics for practices to use on their own social media channels.
Visitors to the company's stand at the London Vet Show will also be able to sign up to receive a Practice Pet Protection Pack which contains a detail aid, a general microchipping leaflet, a law guides for horses, dogs and cats, and puppy and kitten leaflets.
https://identichip.co.uk
Lax-a-Past is a palatable paste that can be administered orally to kittens and cats aged over 6 months.
It can be used weekly to help stop hairballs from forming or in higher doses over a consecutive three-day period to help eliminate them.
Carol Morgan, Brand Manager from Dechra Veterinary Products (pictured right) said: “Hairballs are a well-known issue for cats. Lax-a-Past is a complementary feed that offers a simple, easy-to-administer solution to help relieve the digestion problems caused by hairballs.
“It is very easy for owners to administer as the required dosage can be squeezed out and spread on a front paw or given directly into the mouth."
Lax-a-Past is available in a 70g tube.
For more information visit www.dechra.co.uk.
Newmarket-based Test and Treat was one of three finalists, for its U-Treat test which enables vets to diagnose a UTI and get antibiotic sensitivity results in an hour.
Rachel Kirkby MRCVS, Business Development Director at Test and Treat, said: "It’s a great accolade to be recognised by such a prestigious award. The Vet Record Innovation Award celebrates new innovations that can bring about improvement and make a real difference to vets in practice – and that’s exactly what we’re aiming to do with U-Treat.”
The second finalist was the Animal Welfare Assessment Grid, developed by Public Health England (PHE), in collaboration with the University of Surrey School of Veterinary Medicine. Initially developed in zoos, rescue and research centres, there are plans now to develop it for use in small animal practice and in the farm sector.
The overall winner was PBD Biotech for Actiphage, its test for bTB and Johne's disease which gives very early detection, thereby allowing vets and farmers to prevent the spread of infection.
For more information, visit: https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.267
The company has also carried out research amongst 60 practices which found that despite the fact that over 80% of dogs over the age of three reportedly suffer from dental disease1, only 48% opened discussions about dental care at the earliest opportunity: vaccination time. 16% only discussed dental care if the dog developed a dental problem and 52% also admitted that they did not follow up discussions on dental compliance.²
Eleanor Workman Wright, Product Manager at Animalcare, said: "The key to successful dental care is to start early, both in educating owners and getting puppies and kittens used to brushing or other forms of dental care. If discussions are delayed until the animal is a year old, it is possible that some disease may already be present while the animal may be less receptive to brushing or other efforts to care for their teeth.
"We see the dental sector as important and one that is likely to grow, particularly in the light of the pandemic-induced increase in the number of dogs and cats. We hope that our new Owner Guide will support veterinary teams in initiating early discussions with owners about the importance of dental care, while the addition of an affordable and effective oral gel in Orozyme, to our range will give them a key tool to offer to owners to use as part of their homecare routine."
For more information, contact your Animalcare Territory Manager or visit: www.animalcare.co.uk .
The first is a new formulation of Sustain, which the company says will be the first UK veterinary product for cats to contain a prebiotic, probiotic and postbiotic.
The company has also launched Gomega for Cats, which contains a purified fish oil source of Omega 3 essential fatty acids which VetPlus says supports cardiovascular health and kidney function.
Jackie Marshall, Technical Advisor at VetPlus, said: “The launch of these two products will help our veterinary partners provide the best care for felines from gastrointestinal support through to aiding with renal and cardiac health.
Sustain for Cats and Gomega for Cats are now in stock and available from veterinary wholesalers.
www.vetplus.co.uk
The open day will cover topics including radiography, wounds and TPLO surgery aftercare, hosted by Dr. Michael Hamilton, consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon, Dr Karla Lee, head of soft tissue surgery and Letty Piggott-Delves, physiotherapy team lead.
There will also be an IMHA case discussion with internal medicine nurse Rute Silva, and an interactive quiz on anaesthesia for attendees to take part in, led by anaesthesia nurse practitioner Kimberley Brady.
Rachel Pickles, clinical services manager at Hamilton Specialist Referrals, said: “The open day is a brilliant opportunity for nurses from all over the veterinary profession to build on their existing knowledge base.
"It also presents an excellent learning opportunity for student nurses too, giving them access to educational sessions and workshops with members of our expert team.”
For more information and to RSVP, email info@hamiltonspecialists.vet or call 01494 578 566.
www.hamiltonspecialists.vet.