Boehringer Ingelheim has launched Parassess, an unbranded online dog parasite risk checker which leaves vets to make their own prescribing decision.

The online risk checker, which is available at www.parassess.co.uk, asks pet owners a series of questions to assess their dog's risk from fleas, ticks, lungworm roundworm and tapeworm. 

The test, which has been developed with parasitologists, takes a few minutes and appears to produce sensible results (not every test produces a "Danger, high risk, emergency, get to your vet NOW" result, as you might expect if this had been entirely produced bv the marketing department).

The subsequent report can then be shared with the vet to review it and make a treatment decision. 

Being online, the test can be taken on a smartphone whilst in the practice waiting room, or on tablet or computer at home. 

It might be worth sharing the test with your clients by email or social media, inviting them to book an appointment if their results suggest it is necessary.

To that end, Boehringer Ingelheim has produced a range of communication materials, such as waiting room displays and digital content for web, email, SMS, and social media.

For more information, contact your local Boehringer Ingelheim territory manager or phone 01344 746957 (UK) or 01 291 3985 (Ireland).

TVM has launched Alphazium TT, a new product designed to help with both short and long-term anxiety and stress in cats and dogs.  

Alphazium TT contains alphalactalbumin and magnesium, which, according to the company, targets the three main neurological pathways involved in the regulation of mood and emotional balance.

TVM says  Alphazium TT is highly palatable, so it can be administered as a treat, making the process stress free for veterinary staff, pets and pet owners.

TVM UK’s product manager Will Peel said: "Behavioural problems are becoming increasingly common in cats and dogs and are these problems are likely to get worse with pet owners going back to work as lockdown measures lift, which could cause further stress and anxiety in pets.

"Alphazium TT can help owners address these problems whilst being highly palatable – therefore also reducing the stress of tablet administration all-round."

For more information and support materials, visit: https://www.tvm-uk.com/alphaziumtt/2520/ or contact your TVM UK Territory Manager.

Jurox (UK) Limited has reformulated Buprelieve, its multidose buprenorphine analgesic for cats, dogs and horses to use the preservative benzethonium chloride, which the company says offers reduced injection site pain compared to formulations preserved with chlorocresol.

Jurox says the reformulation will also help reduce waste associated with unpreserved ampule formulations and will help streamline portfolios with a requirement for only one buprenorphine listing.

Dr Dan Cripwell BSc (Hons) BVSc CertAVP (EM) CertAVP PgCert (VPS) MRCVS, Advanced Veterinary Practitioner and senior veterinary technical advisor at Jurox (UK) Limited, said: “I am delighted that Jurox can provide the UK veterinary market with this evolution of our multidose buprenorphine formulation. We constantly strive to provide the veterinary profession with first class clinical and technical support and our ability to perform in-house product research and development is also a great strength; this allows us to remain agile enough to make adaptations in an area where not much has changed in the past few years.

“In this instance, we were able to examine what improvements could be made to our existing drug portfolio and respond to the profession’s feedback with the redevelopment of the commonly utilised opioid analgesic, buprenorphine.  Our hope is that, as well as the recent mixing claims added to the product licence, this development will encourage the best clinical use of the drug and, in turn, improve patient experience and outcome.”

For more information, contact your local Jurox account manager, phone 0800 500 3171, visit www.jurox.com/uk or email customerservice@jurox.co.uk.

CVS reports that after running a clinical improvement project to improve the diagnosis of periodontal disease in cat and dogs, its participating first opinion practices have tripled the number of patients receiving dental x-rays.

The company points to research which showed that 42% of cats and 28% of dogs have lesions which are only detectable on x-ray¹.

Failing to identify teeth with root lesions can have a significant impact on patient welfare, causing ongoing pain and eventual tooth loss.

The first priority for the CVS clinical improvement project was to review how effective its first opinion small animal practices were at using radiography in dental examinations.

In July 2021, only 16.2% of dental cases had radiography performed and clinicians were mostly using visual examination to guide decision making.

The project then identified the barriers to using dental radiography as: a lack of dental radiography equipment in a practice, a lack of clinician confidence in taking and interpreting the radiographs and a belief that pet owners would not want to pay for it.

To address the first issue, CVS installed new dental radiography machines at over 104 sites, at a cost of £615,000 over the course of the year. 

The company then upskilled its vets and nurses in dental radiography - looking specifically at getting good quality radiographs and interpretation.

Finally, the company conducted an audit of each participating practice’s dental radiology data, updating it each month and sharing the results with the practices..

One year on, CVS says the data shows that 43% of dental cases in project practices are now using dental radiography as part of their consultation.

In the best cases, some practices have been using radiography in 100% of cases.

Hub Clinical Lead Deborah Komianos said: “When you open a patient’s mouth and look inside, seemingly normal teeth are oftentimes not normal.

"So vets and nurses can risk missing periodontal disease.

“Dental radiology has historically been underutilised but we believe it adds valuable information to dental consultations and is an important decision-making tool.

“We’re thrilled with the early results in our practices.

"It shows there’s been a real change of mind-set and behaviour towards using X-rays in dentistry – as well as increased confidence in execution."

Reference

1. ‘Diagnostic value of full mouth radiography in cats’, 1998, Verstraete, Kass and Terpak.

Clare Jones RVN has been announced as the winner of the 'Best Poster' in the BSAVA Clinical Abstract Awards for 2024 

Clare won the award for: 'Confidence with CPR within Veterinary Professionals. Would standardised CPR training help confidence within Veterinary Professionals?' 

Clare said: “My goal was to present a clinical abstract at BSAVA Congress to try and share our findings with peers in a creative way.

"To receive the Best Poster Award was a shock and huge honour to be recognised for not only the research but RVN's undertaking research.”

In addition, George Smith MRCVS won the Best Medicine Award for: 'Predictors of clinically significant bleeding in dogs with severe thrombocytopenia'.

Kathryn Patel MRCVS won the Best Practitioner Award for: 'Reflecting on first opinion clinical improvement project across 39 UK vet practices to support diagnosis and management of OA.'

Sebastian Wylie MRCVS won the Best Surgery Award for: 'Complications and outcomes following surgical management of Achilles Tendon injury'

The Best Student Award was won by Michelle Demkova for: 'Lifting the flap on otitis externa in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK – the VetCompass view'.

Submissions for the 2025 Clinical Abstracts will open on 9th September 2024, and will close on 18th October, and those chosen will present their work at BSAVA Congress 2025, in Manchester on 20th – 22nd March.

https://www.bsavacongress.com/register-interest

Dechra has launched a range of resources to provide veterinary professionals and owners with education, tips and support to achieve better clinical outcomes and owner satisfaction for dogs with otitis externa.

The 'Lifelong Ear Partnership' resources, which were developed in conjunction with a panel of vets, are designed to help practice teams improve their owner communication and achieve owner buy-in about otitis.

To that end, Dechra has developed various owner communication tools for use in practice or to refer owners to after the consultation. 

They include an owner website: www.ear-inflammation.co.uk and a postcard with QR code links to educational videos which cover clinical recommendations, treatment options and the importance of revisits. 

There is also a brochure for owners and an online 4D ear model: www.4d-earmodel.com, which demonstrates a healthy ear and an ear with mild, moderate or severe otitis.

Finally, Dechra has also launched an ear cytology webinar series on Dechra Academy: www.dechra.co.uk/academy.

The course consists of tips for everything from greeting the patient to performing and interpreting cytology slides.

www.dechra.co.uk/otitis-externa.

Martin Whitehead MRCVS is calling on the profession to adopt a responsible use of parasiticides after a study he co-authored found UK rivers contaminated with fipronil and imidacloprid. 

'Potential role of veterinary flea products in widespread pesticide contamination of English rivers¹, was carried out by Professor Dave Goulson and Rosemary Perkins MRCVS from the University of Sussex and co-authored by Martin (pictured right) and Wayne Civil from the Environment Agency. 

For the study, they looked at 3,861 samples taken from 20 rivers around the UK between 2016 and 2018. Fipronil was detected in 98% of the samples and imidacloprid in 66%. 

Currently, there are no environmental quality standards for fipronil or the compounds it breaks down into (fipronil sulfone or fipronil sulfide) or for imidacloprid in British surface waters.

The authors therefore used the acute and chronic toxicity limits for fipronil from a report from the Department of Environmental Toxicology at the University of California Davis², and from Morissey et al (2015)³ for imidacloprid. 

They found that the average fipronil concentration across the rivers sampled by the Environment Agency exceeded chronic safety thresholds five-fold. The overall pollution levels in English rivers indicate that fipronil and its toxic breakdown products pose a high risk to aquatic ecosystems.

While, in most rivers, imidacloprid was found to pose a moderate risk, in seven out of the 20 rivers sampled there was a high environmental risk. 

The paper, published in Science of the Total Environment, noted that the highest levels of pollution were found immediately downstream of wastewater treatment works, which the authors say supports the hypothesis that significant quantities of pesticide may be passing from treated pets to the environment via household drains.

Professor Dave Goulson said “Fipronil and imidacloprid are both highly toxic to all insects and other aquatic invertebrates. Studies have shown both pesticides to be associated with declines in the abundance of aquatic invertebrate communities. The finding that our rivers are routinely and chronically contaminated with both of these chemicals and mixtures of their toxic breakdown products is deeply troubling.”

Bathing of pets treated with spot-on fipronil flea products has been confirmed as a potentially important route to waterways for fipronil via sewers. The washing of hands, pet bedding or other surfaces that have come into contact with treated pets are potential additional pathways for entry to sewers.

Rosemary said: “We’ve identified a number of steps that can be taken to minimise or avoid environmental harm from pet flea and/or tick treatments. These range from introducing stricter prescription-only regulations, to considering a more judicious and risk-based approach to the control of parasites in pets, for example by moving away from blanket year-round prophylactic use."

Martin said: "The profession urgently needs to adopt ‘responsible use of parasiticides’ similar to the way it is adopting responsible use of antimicrobials. The VMD needs to strengthen the environmental assessment of pet pesticide products in the authorisation process, and they are currently considering this issue. The VMD should also collate and publish annual sales figures for these pesticides as they do for antimicrobials."

He added: "My veterinary hospital has never had a ‘pet health plan’ to provide year round flea products, because we believe that year-round, intensive treatment for almost all dogs and cats does not constitute responsible use of such powerful pesticides."

References

1. Rosemary Perkins, Martin Whitehead, Wayne Civil, Dave Goulson, Potential role of veterinary flea products in widespread pesticide contamination of English rivers, Science of The Total Environment, 2020, 143560, ISSN 0048-9697,
   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143560.
2. Bower, J.C., Tjeerdema, R.S., 2017.Water and sediment quality criteria report for Fipronil. Final report. Report prepared by theUniversity of CaliforniaDavis for the Central Valley regional water quality control board. Available at. waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/tmdl/central_valley_projects/central_valley_pesticides/criteria_method/fipronil/pest_tmdl_bpa_fipronil_rpt.pdf.

3.  Morrissey, C.A., et al., 2015. Neonicotinoid contamination of global surface waters and associated risk to aquatic invertebrates: a review. Environ. Int. 74, 291–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2014.10.024.

Bristol Vet Specialists has launched a new surgical procedure for dogs with mitral valve disease (MVD).

The procedure, called transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER), is a minimally invasive alternative to open heart surgery.

TEER is performed on a beating heart using a specially designed “V-Clamp” device which brings the mitral valve leaflets together, reducing the severity of mitral regurgitation.

The procedure is guided by real-time 3D echocardiography and performed via a small thoracotomy, typically 6–8 cm in length.

CVS, which owns Bristol Vet Specialists, says dogs undergoing TEER generally experience a rapid recovery, with most discharged within 48 hours and minimal need for intensive care.

The company says that once heart failure is diagnosed, the average survival time is between nine and 12 months, but that after TEER surgery, 95% of dogs are discharged successfully, and 85% survive for two years post surgery. 

The procedure costs £12,000. 

http://www.bristolvetspecialists.co.uk 

Shams Mir MRCVS, Chair of the BVU, has launched a petition to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons which asks that they do not allow remote prescription of POM-V medicines without a physical examination, as was proposed and discussed at the Council meeting held at the end of last year

The petition follows the news that IVC is to launch its own telemedicine service, joining three others already in the game, at least one of which is pushing for a relaxation of the rules surrounding the  prescription of POM-V medicines.

For clarity, veterinary surgeons are currently allowed to remote prescribe medicines for animals that meet the definition of 'under his care' (i.e. seen immediately before, or "recently enough or often enough for the veterinary surgeon to have personal knowledge of the condition of the animal or current health status of the herd or flock to make a diagnosis and prescribe").

In other words, there is nothing to stop bricks and mortar practices offering video consultations and prescribing medicines to those of their existing clients that they have seen recently enough. 

What Shams and the BVU are petitioning against is the idea of allowing companies staffed by veterinary surgeons to prescribe veterinary medicines for animals that they have never seen in the flesh.

They argue that remote prescribing will:

1. First and foremost risk animal patient welfare and herd health

2. Create a two-tier system of care within the profession

3. Break down the practice-based vet-client relationship 

4. Disrupt veterinary services due to complications related to out-of-hours emergency cover, transfer of patient and patient histories etc. of remotely treated patients

5. Cause clients to face increased costs by paying for telemedicine consultations and then requiring examination and treatment in practice

6. Negatively impact the financial condition of veterinary practices and professionals.

These all seem very possible consequences of allowing remote prescribing, indeed some have already come to pass in the world of human medicine following the launch of Babylon.

The counter argument is that remote prescription will improve access to veterinary care as people don’t have to flog down to the practice for a flea treatment and the cost of a consultation is reduced. There is surely truth in that.

The other point that is fundamental to this debate is the type of drug being prescribed remotely. With so many small animal parasiticides having already gone OTC, is it really necessary to talk to a veterinary surgeon before buying a POM-V flea treatment? Perhaps not.

However, that doesn’t necessarily present a case for remote prescribing such drugs; if they don’t need veterinary input, then you could equally argue they just need reclassifying.

So, should you sign this petition? Well, I think so, yes. Remote prescribing will come. It’s inevitable. But given the risks, surely the pragmatic starting point is to trial remote prescribing amongst existing clients of bricks and mortar practices, and only if that is successful to broaden it to non-clients of bricks and mortar practices.

If both those proved successful, and with technology advancing in the background, it might then be sensible to look at whether non bricks and mortar practices could remote prescribe. But that’s quite a big ‘might’.

Meantime, you can sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/royal-college-of-veterinary-surgeons-stop-authorising-prescription-of-pom-v-without-physical-examination-of-the-patient

You can discuss the petition with Shams here: https://www.vetnurse.co.uk/nonclinical/f/5/t/31671.aspx

Dr Ranjit 'Ranj' Singh has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for BSAVA Virtual Congress, 25-27 March 2021.  

The NHS doctor, television presenter, author and columnist will be sharing his insights on the mental health challenges of working within a caring profession under the constraints of the pandemic.

Dr Ranj is the second keynote speaker to be confirmed, the first being Jenny Campbell and the third to be revealed next month. They will be joining a line-up of more than 100 UK and International contributors during the three days of the event.

Dr Ranj is familiar with the intense pressure that many veterinary professionals are facing when juggling working in a sometimes emotionally stressful environment with that of home life. When the pandemic started Dr Ranj took a step back from media work to focus on supporting the NHS in his role as a paediatric emergency medicine specialist. He said: "Maintaining wellbeing is all about doing the basics right.

“We are in a pandemic and people are under intense pressure - from work, from home life, from a health perspective and so much more. So, despite everything going on around you, make sure you have a routine every day.

"Get out and about safely.  Build some physical activity into your schedule. Nourish your body with everything it needs, and make sure you allow yourself some treats too! Take a moment for yourself every day to do something that makes you feel good.

"Take time to connect with others safely and check in on the vulnerable too. Celebrate the little victories and achievements that you have. And at the end of the day, make sure you look after your sleep because that's when your brain and body recover from the stresses of everyday. Everything else we do is a bonus on top of those basics. And if you are struggling, make sure you reach out for help and speak to someone."

BSAVA President Ian Ramsey said: "We are delighted to welcome Dr Ranj as one of our three keynote speakers this year. One of the many advantages of Congress evolving into a virtual event for 2021 is that we can be more flexible and creative with our sessions and how we fulfil the needs and expectations of every member of the practice, from clinical, interactive, wellbeing and social perspectives. Our three keynote presentations are eagerly anticipated.”

Prices for BSAVA Virtual Congress start at £99 +VAT for members. To register visit https://www.bsavaevents.com/bsavacongress2021/en/page/home

Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists has confirmed two more cases of the usually fatal cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV), otherwise known as Alabama Rot. 

The two cases came from Bristol and Kingsbridge, Devon, taking the total number this year to five countrywide.

David Walker, American, RCVS and EBVS European specialist in small animal internal medicine, who leads the team at Anderson Moores, said: “We’re very sad to confirm two further cases of CRGV.

"Unfortunately, we find ourselves at the time of year when cases are most commonly identified."

There were 47 confirmed cases in 2020 and 28 in 2021.

The two new cases bring the total to 284 since the disease was first detected in the UK in 2012.   

Anderson Moores has launched a website dedicated to Alabama Rot, which offers advice and information for owners and veterinary professionals, including a live map of confirmed cases across the UK: www.alabama-rot.co.uk. 

Dechra, the maker of Mirataz, is hosting a free webinar: ‘Feline pawsative about feline inappetence?’, at 8:00pm tonight.

Presented by Sam Taylor BVetMed(Hons) CertSAM DipECVIM-CA MANZCVS FRCVS, the webinar will also be available to watch on demand later, for those who miss it. 

Sam is an Internal Medicine and Feline Specialist and current ISFM Academy lead. 

She recently chaired and co-authored the ISFM guidelines on the management of the inappetent hospitalised cat.

The webinar, which counts for one hour’s CPD, will cover:

• Understanding why inappetence is particularly detrimental in cats
• Why early intervention to improve nutrition is important
• The types of appetite therapeutic and when to use them
• When to place feeding tubes and how to use them

Sarah Musgrave, Brand Manager at Dechra, said: “Inappetence is a common reason cats present to veterinary practices and it can be caused by multiple conditions.

"Management needs to look beyond just treating the underlying disease as factors such as stress, nausea and pain can play a significant role.

"Untreated inappetence has a substantial negative effect on recovery from illness and surgery, makes medicating cats difficult and may even hasten euthanasia decisions. 

"The ‘Feline pawsative about feline inappetence?’ webinar will help educate on feline weight loss, why intervention to improve nutrition is important and the practical steps to treating inappetence.”

https://thewebinarvet.com/webinars/feline-pawsative-about-feline-inappetence.