Supreme Petfoods has published the UK Small Pet Market Report 2024, which offers an insight into the latest trends amongst rabbit and guinea pig owners.

Based on a survey of 1,000 rabbit and guinea pig owners, the report found that amongst other things, 80% of these animals are cared for by women, that there has been an 8% increase in the number of rabbits being kept indoors and that dental disease is the main reason for seeking veterinary advice, followed by gastro-intestinal stasis.

https://supremepetfoods.com/blog/uk-small-pet-market-report-2024/

A new study published in Plos One by the Royal Veterinary College has revealed the most common health disorders of tortoises in the UK¹.

For the study, researchers reviewed the anonymised medical records of 2,040 chelonia on the College's VetCompass database. 

94.26% were recorded as tortoises, 3.63% terrapins and 2.11% turtles.

The most common tortoise species were Hermann’s tortoise, Horsfield’s tortoise and Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise, while the most common terrapin species were musk turtle and yellow belly slider. 

The study found that the most common disorders in tortoises were beak abnormality (17.68%), overgrown nails (11.91%) and shell abnormality (9.67%), while the most common disorders in terrapins were top and bottom shell abnormalities (13.51%).

The researchers say that most of these disorders are externally visible making them easier to recognise and diagnose, however they also often correspond with inappropriate husbandry and can be related to internal diseases that are harder to identify and diagnose.

The average age of death in the study was found to be 7.32 years, which is below the expected lifespan of most species of tortoise, suggesting that many are dying prematurely.

Dr Jessica May Hornby, exotic veterinary surgeon and lead author of the study, said:

“This research has provided us with a base to start to understand what veterinarians are currently seeing in practice and therefore give an insight into the health of the chelonian population.

"People are no longer only keeping the more common species of pets, such as dogs and cats, so this data is vital to understanding where and how owners and veterinarians need further support and training to ensure these brilliant little guys get the veterinary care they need, especially when many should easily be outliving us!”

Reference

• Hornby JM, Hedley J, Brodbelt DC, Church DB, O’Neill DG (2025) Demography, commonly recorded disorders and mortality in chelonia under UK primary veterinary care: A VetCompass study. PLOS ONE 20(4): e0321038. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321038 

Photo: www.depositphotos.com

Tim Hutchinson MRCVS has been elected to serve as the Junior Vice-President of the RCVS.

Tim, who is Managing Partner of Larkmead Vets and also a Director at the independent veterinary community XLVets, graduated from Liverpool Vet School in 1994 and joined Larkmead Vets in 1998.

He said: “I grew up in the South Yorkshire coalfields and worked in a city centre small animal practice in Wakefield before relocating to Oxfordshire to develop the small animal department of a mixed practice.

"First-opinion veterinary practice has been my life since starting cleaning kennels aged 12.

“I am passionate that whilst what we do is work with animals, how we do it is by working with people: our colleagues and the owners who entrust their animals to our care.

"As a first-opinion vet and practice owner I have had the privilege of growing and developing my practice (team and facilities) to meet the changing needs of our local community.

“At a time of great change for the veterinary profession, with the tantalising hope for a new Veterinary Surgeons Act set against the backdrop of the Competition and Markets Authority’s market investigation of the veterinary sector, it is an opportunity to bring this experience to the heart of our College.

“It was an unexpected honour to be elected to the position of JVP and I thank my colleagues on Council for entrusting the role to me.

"I also reflect on my initial university application which saw a clean sweep of rejections and hope that this can inspire others from the grass roots of our profession to get involved in shaping the future.”

Council also voted to confirm Professor Tim Parkin as RCVS President, Linda Belton as Senior Vice-President and reconfirmed Tshidi Gardiner as Treasurer (subject to her re-election), all effective from July.

Tim will take up his post at the College's AGM in July. 

Movement Referrals, an independent orthopaedics and neurology Specialist referral practice, has opened its second centre, in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.

The practice was officially opened by the TV presenter and newspaper columnist, Adrian Chiles, who faced a lot of criticism from the profession a couple of years ago when he wrote an article about increasing veterinary fees and upselling tactics.

Adrian said: “I have never received such a volume of correspondence to one of my newspaper columns.

"One of the people that wrote to me was Movement Director, Professor John Innes, and we had very useful subsequent discussions that made me realise I had unfairly blamed vets for the issues I had felt as a pet owner.”

The new centre is led by Mark Lowrie, Specialist veterinary neurologist, who is joined by orthopaedic surgeons, Kinley Smith and David Thomson and neurology residents, Callum Golding and Rebecca Clark.

https://www.movementvets.co.uk 

The BSAVA has launched a new collection on One Health, including chapters from relevant BSAVA Manuals and resources such as Companion articles and Congress podcasts.

One Health – the symbiotic relationship between human, animal and environmental health – is becoming increasingly important, encompassing things like sustainability, the increase in antimicrobial resistance and the link between human and animal obesity. 

Krista Arnold, Honorary Secretary of BSAVA said: "The complicated relationship between human and animal health has been the subject of scientific investigation since the 19th century.

"Important discoveries and the recognition of disease connections have helped to develop strategies for disease prevention in humans and animals alike.

"This collection in the BSAVA Library will contribute to further understanding and knowledge of this important topic."

The collection can be accessed via the BSAVA Library here: https://www.bsavalibrary.com/content/one-health

It is freely available until the end of December 2022; after this time access is £16.25 for BSAVA members and £25 for non-members.

Biomérieux has launched Vetfire, a PCR kit which it claims makes testing for equine infectious respiratory diseases easier and faster.

Biomérieux says the new test, which is used on the Biofire Spotfire System, detects seven infectious respiratory pathogens (six viruses and/or a strain of bacteria*), from a nasopharyngeal swab, in under 20 minutes.

The company says the new test’s ability to distinguish between viral and bacterial infections is important for ensuring antibiotics are used appropriately to reduce the risk of resistance.

Biomérieux says VetFire can be used to make informed decisions about when to isolate and treat animals when respiratory infections are suspected, to mitigate the impact of an outbreak in a contained area, such as a yard, by allowing rapid quarantine measures, and perhaps in time as a standard test ahead of animals travelling for competition, to ensure they are fit and healthy. 

VetFire is commercially available in United Kingdom, Ireland and France, with possible expansion plans to other countries in the near future.

https://www.biomerieux.com/corp/en/our-offer/clinical-products/vetfire.html 

*Equine Herpesvirus type 1, Equine Herpesvirus type 4, Influenza A, Equine Rhinovirus A, Equine Rhinovirus B, Equine Adenovirus 1, Streptococcus equi equi

Dechra is asking equine vet nurses to circulate a survey about strangles to horse-owning clients.

The survey, which takes about three minutes, will assess horse owners’ experiences of strangles and includes questions on the disease including preventative measures and vaccination.

There will be a prize draw from completed entries and the winner will get two VIP tickets to Your Horse Live 2025.

Rachel Harrison-Osborne MRCVS, equine field manager at Dechra said: “The strangles survey will provide us with a valuable insight into horse owners’ experiences of the disease and will enable us to identify any trends that may exist to help us support owners who wish to put in place preventative measures to help prevent strangles.”

https://forms.office.com/e/85gzEd7J7A 

Photo: Redwings Horse Sanctuary

The BVNA has announced the winners of its annual competition in which pet owners, veterinary teams, friends and family are asked to nominate the nursing diamonds at their practice. 

Jessica Dawe, Deputy Head Nurse of Nine Mile Veterinary Hospital, won the individual award.

Her nomination read: "Every day, she comes in with a smile and puts in 100%, no matter the challenges faced the day before.

"Jess does not give herself the credit she deserves, as she is an amazing veterinary nurse, colleague, manager and friend to everyone.

"Her resilience, modesty, knowledge and clinical skills are admirable and we would be lost without her, and therefore, Jess is very much the diamond in our practice.”

The team award was won by the nursing team at ChesterGates Veterinary Specialists.

The runners up were Claire Mortimore from Caerphilly Veterinary Clinic, and the team at York Vets for Pets

BVNA President Lyndsay Hughes said: “The entries we have received have inspired and energised us, and we hope it’s been a real boost to all those who have been nominated too.

"It was incredibly difficult to judge the entries and shortlist our deserving winners and runners up, and we’d like to thank everyone to took the time to nominate their VN “diamonds”.

“Thank you to everyone who participated and played their part during this year's VNAM, which was especially important to us in 2025 taking place during BVNA’s 60th year.

"Your continued efforts are crucial to raise further awareness of the incredible work that veterinary nurses do, along with the significant impact they have on animal welfare, and in supporting veterinary teams and their clients.”

The snappily named Veterinary Virtual Care Association European Affiliate (VVCA-EA) has published a new map showing how virtual veterinary care is provided across 40 countries in Europe.

The map gives an overview of the regulation applying to virtual care in different countries and it shows how virtual veterinary care is regulated predominantly in Western European countries only. 

For the countries where veterinary virtual care is subject to regulation, the new map shows which countries:

• have a requirement for a physical examination prior to the provision of telemedicine services.
• allow prescriptions to be issued based solely on a virtual VCPR (veterinary-client-patient-relationship).
• only allow advice to be provided by qualified veterinary surgeons.
• require a veterinary professional providing virtual care to be licensed in that country.

https://vvca.org/resources/europe

A study by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) VetCompass Programme has revealed a number of insights into nail clipping in dogs, including the four breeds which may need more nail clipping than others: chihuahuas, beagles, greyhounds and pugs¹.

For the study, researchers from the RVC, University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College analysed data from the RVC’s VetCompass Programme on a random sample of 2,440 nail clipping cases taken from over 2 million dogs under UK primary veterinary practice care during 2019, 5.64% of UK dogs (over one in twenty dogs) were found to have had their nails clipped at least once as part of their primary veterinary care each year.

The nail clipping was the primary reason for attending the veterinary visit for more than half (59.40%) of those dogs.

The most cited clinical reasons for nail clipping veterinary visits were overgrown and/or ingrown nails (12.66%) and broken claws or dewclaws (8.84%).

Of the breeds that were most likely to present for nail-clipping, 13.29% of chihuahuas were clipped each year, 12.58% of beagles, 11.98% of greyhounds and 9.36% of pugs.

Dog breeds with a skull shape that deviated from a typical medium-length skull in either direction also had a higher risk of needing nail clipping.

Flat-faced dogs breeds (e.g. pugs, French bulldogs, shih tzus) were 1.67 times more likely to have their nails clipped, while breeds with long faces (e.g. greyhound, whippet) were 1.32 times more likely to have their nails clipped, compared to breeds with a medium length skull (e.g. Labrador retriever, English springer spaniel).

Dog breeds with shortened and often twisted legs (chondrodystrophic breeds) were also 1.44 times more likely to have their nails clipped compared to dog breeds with straight legs.

Age and body weight also affected a dog’s chances of undergoing nail clipping.

Young dogs aged between 1 to 2 years were the most likely to have nail clipping procedures.

Smaller dogs weighing less than 10.00 kg had higher odds of overgrown nails compared to larger dogs weighing 40.00 kg or more.

The researchers say that frequency of nail clipping in primary veterinary care indicates the need for comprehensive teaching of canine nail care in veterinary and veterinary nursing education, as well as proactive veterinary monitoring, nail care protocols and owner education.

Dr Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor of Companion Animal Epidemiology at the RVC and co-author of the paper, said: “This new VetCompass study shows that some dog breeds have more than twice the need to have their nails clipped compared to other breeds.

"This highlights just how distinct humanity has made each dog breed and suggests we are getting close to the time when we should no longer consider all dog breeds as even being the same species.”

Dr Lavin Ahmed, Veterinary Surgeon, President of Protecting Animals in Kurdistan Organization (PAKO) and lead author of the study, said: “When I was first offered nail clipping by RVC VetCompass as my MSc research topic, I honestly underestimated its significance.

"It seemed like just another routine procedure that we all do every day in veterinary practice.

"However, reading the clinical records made it clear that nail care is more than just a trivial grooming procedure but is a genuine welfare issue that deserves much more attention in both veterinary training and owner education.”

Reference

• Ahmed, L.A., Somarriba, M., Brodbelt, D.C., Church, D.B. and O’Neill, D.G. (2025), Epidemiology and clinical management of nail clipping in dogs under UK primary veterinary care. J Small Anim Pract. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsap.70002 

A new study from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), London South Bank University and the British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society, has found racism continues to be a problem experienced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) members of the UK veterinary sector.

The researcher say their analysis shows more needs to be done within the profession to acknowledge, raise awareness of and dismantle the systemic and often overlooked forms of racism that exist.

For the qualitative study, all BAME veterinary professionals and students in the UK were asked to complete an online questionnaire, containing open questions about their experiences.

The questionnaire was was distributed online, in veterinary schools, veterinary organisations and the media, with responses analysed using inductive and deductive approaches.

The findings identified three main themes regarding BAME people’s experiences in the sector.

The first was alienation and insecurity, ranging from blatant rejection, or being deliberately patronised, such as:

"In practicals in the vet school, I’ve noticed more and more times that students would rather work on other stations and not want to work on stations me and my friends (who are also from ethnic minority backgrounds) are working on, even when the other stations are full. This has happened on multiple occasions."

or

"On work experience, the vet I was shadowing at the time would ask me questions like, “Are you integrated into society yet?”, and “What do you eat?”. I am a British citizen who was born in the UK, and so were my parents, so I found this particularly confusing." 

Through to more subtle forms of "othering":

"People assume that you aren't British and are different, whereas I would say since I was born and grew up in Britain that I identify as British. People ask me if I can speak another language, or like, do I eat my ethnic food all the time?

"An older couple once probed, “Where are you from?”, I said [name of UK city], they asked again, I said I grew up in [name of UK county], and they asked one more time and I said I have Caribbean heritage. I find this is a common form of racism amongst older people and often they’re not trying to be hurtful, but they’re curious and don't understand how it would make someone feel uncomfortable.

The second theme was homogenisation and inferiorisation, for example when BAME people are labelled, often incorrectly, according to perceived ethnicity:

"I've had lay colleagues refer to me as ‘the Chinese vet’ in front of clients and other colleagues rather than address me by my name – and it's weird because I grew up in Australia."

"Clients often asked to book in with the Singapore vet, but commonly referred to him as ‘the Chinese vet’ on the phone instead of his name, or if they forgot his name. I believe the nurses corrected these clients, but sometimes the clients would ‘jokingly’ comment that it's ‘the same thing’."

The final theme was the disappointment and futility felt by many of the participants, and the impact on their job satisfaction:

"Job satisfaction worsens when I learn that my colleagues (nurses or vets) are unaware of the impact of their words and do not understand what constitutes racism, e.g., use of the word ‘golliwog’, even when not used to describe a specific person. The judgement placed on someone due to their ethnicity creates an unpleasant atmosphere which impacts job satisfaction." 

Dr Christine Thuranira-McKeever, Vice Principal (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) and Director of Distance Learning at the RVC, said: “At the RVC, we are committed to fostering equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the sector and have implemented several initiatives – aligned with our Strategic Plan in which EDI is a core component – to encourage participation from underrepresented groups.

"This includes the RVC For All campaign and Veterinary Gateway Programme to broaden access to veterinary education; the RVC's Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Race Equality Task Group to focus on addressing racial disparities and shaping policy; and Animal Aspirations, founded in 2019 by RVC students, to support individuals from minority backgrounds.

“However, there is more to be done, and the findings of this study emphasise a significant need for the veterinary profession to come together and do more to acknowledge and raise awareness of the systemic and often overlooked forms of racism, to challenge and dismantle them, and to empower those who are affected.”

Reference

1. King, N., Cardwell, J.M., Lewis, E.G. et al. “It shreds me from within”: thematic analysis of the impact of racism on veterinary professionals and students in the United Kingdom. BMC Psychol 13, 585 (2025).
   URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02481-x 

The BSAVA and the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund (RWA&F) have published a new guide to responsible use of antibiotics in rabbits.

The BSAVA says there unique opportunities and risks to the use of antibiotics in rabbits.

For example, antibiotic combination therapy, which is discouraged in dogs and cats, can be safe and effective in this species.

Also, careful selection of appropriate antibiotics, in terms of active substance, dose and route of administration, is crucial when treating rabbits due to the risk of enterotoxaemia.

The new guide gives advice on diagnosing bacterial infections, likely causal organisms and appropriate antibiotic and non-antibiotic management.

The guide covers dacryocystitis, ear disease, facial abscesses, enteritis, urinary tract disease, and upper and lower respiratory tract disease.

John Chitty, one of the authors, said: “Choosing an antibiotic for rabbits is not simple.

"Their diseases do not necessarily mirror those of dogs and cats, and they do have gut sensitivities to certain antimicrobials.

"However, like dogs and cats, there are situations where antibiotics are not needed where we once thought they were.

"This is especially important in reducing antibiotic usage in rabbits and, of course, in reducing use of critically important antibiotics in them as well.

"We hope this guide will help practitioners to see when antibiosis is needed, what choices are available and how to sample and select the most appropriate drug if needed.”

The new guide is free to all and can be accessed at bsavalibrary.com/protectme.

The British Equine Veterinary Association has launched the BEVA One To Watch Award to recognise exceptional early-career equine vets, nominations for which open on 26th April. 

Anyone - clients, colleagues or mentors - can nominate a young vet who they think has exceptional clinical skills, a particular passion for equine welfare or great leadership skills. 

To be eligible nominees need to be members of BEVA, have graduated within the past seven years and be a registered professional with the appropriate body (eg RCVS).

BEVA Council Member Gemma Dransfield said: “We all know that one superstar who's brilliant with patients, fantastic with clients, and just an all-round legend in the making."

“This is your chance to give them the recognition they deserve. 

"The BEVA One To Watch Award recognises those who are shaping the future, setting new standards in equine care, and driving the next generation of equine veterinary excellence. 

"Not only will they have the glowing accolade of winning, but they will also win some career-boosting perks.”

To put an individual forward for consideration, a seconder is needed and either the nominator or seconder must be a BEVA member. 

All nominations will be reviewed by a panel of experts comprising a BEVA Careers Committee representative, a senior equine vet, a non-equine veterinary professional and an external industry representative or client.

Up to five finalists will be selected and invited for a friendly online chat with the judging panel.

The winner will be announced at BEVA Congress and will be presented with a trophy, one year of BEVA membership, a fully paid BEVA Congress experience (including a one-day pass, overnight stay, and ticket to the annual dinner) and an exclusive career-boosting opportunities with BEVA to help take their career to the next level.

All finalists will receive a one-day ticket to BEVA Congress.

www.beva.org.uk/About-us/What-we-do/BEVA-Awards/One-to-watch