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.

BSAVA President Julian Hoad is going to go wing walking later this month to raise funds for BSAVA PetSavers.

To mark the end of his presidential year at BSAVA, Julian will be strapped to the top of a vintage biplane while dressed in a full feline (Cheshire Cat) costume, to  support the research that BSAVA PetSavers funds, to improve the health and wellbeing of pets across the UK.

BSAVA PetSavers is one of the UK’s few funding bodies focused solely on clinical research into diseases affecting companion animals.

To date, it has invested more than £2.7 million in vital studies addressing conditions such as cancer, heart disease, neurological and joint disorders, gastrointestinal issues.

Julian said: "Every day, vets face the heart-wrenching task of managing the distress and pain our pets suffer due to disease or poor health.

"With your support, we can ensure that they have access to the latest knowledge and resources needed to provide the best care possible.

“The need for advanced research is more pressing than ever and our pets deserve every chance at a healthy life.

"If dressing up as a cat and flying on the wing of a plane makes people take notice of the vital need for pet health research, then it will be worth it.”

Alison Selby, Fundraising Manager for BSAVA PetSavers said: “No one has ever been quite so daring in their fundraising efforts for us, so we are thrilled that Julian has decided to take this on to raise awareness and funds for BSAVA PetSavers.

“For every grant application that we fund, at least two or more are declined due to lack of funds. Fundraising events like this helps to land more funding in the hands of researchers who make a real difference in the veterinary community and directly impact the lives of countless pets and their families.”

Julian’s wing walk is on the 29th May and his target is to fundraise £1,000.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/julian-hoad-2 

The RCVS is inviting all members of the veterinary practice team to attend one of a series of free CPD events it is hosting to share how it believes veterinary nurses can be more effectively integrated within multidisciplinary veterinary teams, and explore why doing so is essential for the future of veterinary healthcare.

The College points to data gathered from its 2024 VN Vision workshops which showed that many nurses believe their skills and capabilities, and the scope of tasks that can be performed within the current legal framework, are not being fully used.

This new project aims to gather insights and empower nurses to play a more central role in the sector by promoting greater involvement in:

• Direct client engagement and long-term condition management
• Conducting routine appointments, such as post-operative checks and booster vaccinations
• Performing minor surgical procedures, including suturing and wound care

Session dates, times and locations are as follows:

• South Wales (Coleg Gwent, Usk Campus) – Tuesday 5 August, 6.15pm to 9.30pm
• Belfast (Ulster University) – Wednesday 13 August, 6.15pm to 9.30pm
• Scotland (SRUC Oatridge Campus, West Lothian) – Tuesday 26 August, 6.15pm to 9.30pm
• Dorset (Lynwood School of Veterinary Nursing, Dorchester) – Wednesday 24 September, 6.15pm to 9.30pm
• A London session will also be held later in the year, with details to be published in due course.

Julie Dugmore RVN, RCVS Director of Veterinary Nursing, said: “Informed by conversations with professionals across the sector and a deep understanding of current practice, this new project recognises that achieving meaningful change requires a fundamental cultural shift.

"Clear guidance, structured support and open dialogue will be key in empowering veterinary teams to adapt to a new way of working.

“An additional crucial focus will be on enhancing public understanding of the Registered Veterinary Nurse (RVN) role, alongside support for developing stronger interprofessional and public-facing communication.”

Jill Macdonald RVN, VN Futures Lead, added: “These interactive sessions will play an important role in this new branch of VN Vision work, helping to define long term goals, identify the practical steps needed to achieve them, and determine how success will be measured and shared with the wider public.

“We were honoured to have so many fantastic nurses come together last year to help shape the future of the profession, and we’re looking forward to many more engaging conversations with vet team members this time around.

"This is more than just a conversation though – it’s a national effort to strengthen the RVN role through collaboration, clarity and confidence.”

The ‘A vision or a necessity: strengthening the role of veterinary nurses in team-based veterinary healthcare’ workshops are open to all practice team members, including, but not limited to, veterinary nurses, veterinary surgeons, practice support staff, directors, managers, and practice owners.

Workshops will be informal, informative and made up of small groups.

Supper will also be provided.

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/vet-nursing-vision-events-3253639 

https://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/publications/vn-vision-the-future-of-team-based-veterinary-healthcare/ 

CVS has co-presented a Vet Ed workshop with the University of Bristol to explore the teaching of contextualised care during student placements in practice.

Senior educators came from both UK and international veterinary and nursing schools to discuss and agree approaches to teaching contextualised care in first opinion practice for the first time. 

The workshop aimed to give delegates an understanding of what contextualised care is and why it is important.

It also covered the types of clinical training settings that are conducive to supporting contextualised care learning.

Delegates then discussed the challenges associated with contextualised care learning in community-based clinical training settings.

They included: perceived conflicts between educational and commercial interests, a lack of previous formal teaching of contextualised care (during education), and the absence of established culture (and experience) of undergraduate teaching in clinical practice.

Workshop co-presenter and CVS’ Equine Development Lead Charlotte Sinclair, said: “Most veterinary graduates will enter primary care practice upon graduation and we know the majority of new graduates and employers agree that graduates are not prepared to practice contextualised care. The consequences of not being prepared include a tension between presumed ‘gold standard’ and the realities of practice, stress and moral distress.

“We hope that our landmark workshop will go some way towards helping trainers to support graduates in developing authentic communication skills, building client rapport, creating shared decision making, and being outcome focused. As true contextualised care relies on all of these skills.”

New research conducted by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and published in the Equine Veterinary Journal has revealed that Thoroughbred foals that are given extensive turnout in larger pastures during their first six months of life, and those weaned later, are more likely to go on to race, compete more often, and earn more prize money¹.

This, say the researchers, is the first time in a UK field setting that the effect of early-life exposures, in particular exercise and turn out, on later-life milestones and race performance in Thoroughbreds has been comprehensively evaluated.

The findings can be applied at stud farms to help retain Thoroughbreds within the industry and achieve their athletic potential - outcomes that align with priorities of the Horse Welfare Board’s strategy to support the welfare of horses bred for racing.

The research team, led by Rebecca Mouncey MRCVS, a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the RVC, followed 129 flat race bred Thoroughbred foals, born in 2019 and 2020 on six stud farms across the UK, from birth into training for racing.

Each dam’s reproductive history, and details of her health and management during pregnancy were collected, as were daily records of the foal’s health and management from birth until they left the stud farm.

Race performance records up to the end of their fourth year of life were collated from racing industry databases.

The team then used statistical modelling to evaluate relationships between gestational exposures and early-life experiences and whether or not horses entered training and their subsequent race performance.

Findings suggested that the use of more extensive turnout practices during the first six months of life and later weaning benefited the attainment of career milestones, productivity (the number of races) and financial returns (total prizemoney won).

The main findings were:

• Foals that spent more time turned out at pasture in the first six months of life, and foals that were weaned at an older age, were more likely to race at least once by the end of their fourth year of life.
• The older the foals were at weaning, the greater number of race stats they made.
• Foals that were turned out in larger paddocks during the first six months of life earned more prizemoney.

The findings demonstrate that the first six months of life is a critical period of development in Thoroughbreds, during which it is essential that turnout and weaning practices provide sufficient opportunity for positive tissue adaptation and optimal development.

Breeders are therefore encouraged to maximise turnout whenever possible, and to consider weaning after this critical period.

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/research/projects/veeph/early-life-determinants-of-performance-and-the-economics-of-thoroughbred-breeding 

Reference

1. Mouncey R, de Mestre AM, Arango-Sabogal JC, Verheyen KL. Born to run? Associations between gestational and early-life exposures and later-life performance outcomes in Thoroughbreds. Equine Vet J. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.70084

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

Chestergates Veterinary Specialists in Chester is launching a new oncology referral service for cats and dogs in the Northwest of England.

The new oncology department has a dedicated chemotherapy room, access to a variety of chemotherapy drugs and a fully equipped operating theatre – offering soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery services for surgical oncology cases.

The department also has access to high frequency ocular ultrasound, magnetic resonance (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) scan equipment.

The service will be led by residency-trained clinician in Small Animal Oncology, Nina Vigevani DVM MRCVS.

She graduated in 2019 from the University of Milan, completed a rotating internship and worked in general practice in Milan, before moving to the UK to start on an oncology internship at a referral practice in the South of England.

Prior to moving to Chestergates, she completed her Residency in Small Animal Oncology at the University of Liverpool.

https://chestergates.org.uk/referral-services.

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 

Vetlife is calling on all members of the veterinary community to lace up their boots and join the Northumberland Vetlife Day Hike on the 9th and 10th of May.

The two-day event, being held in collaboration with the Veterinary Voices Hiking Group, offers a great opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors, get together, and raise vital funds for this crucial charity.

The event is being led by passionate hiking enthusiasts and Vetlife trustees Robyn Lowe and Paul Horwood.

Each day's route will cover 12-19 miles of stunning Northumberland coastline, but participants can opt for shorter distances.

Robyn said: "The Northumberland hike is more than just a walk – it's about coming together as a community, supporting one another, and embracing the mental health benefits of being in nature.

"We hope to see as many people as possible join us, not only to enjoy the experience but to help us continue Vetlife's essential work."

While fundraising is not compulsory, participants are encouraged to try and raise £365 for the charity, symbolising the number of days Vetlife provides support for the community each year.

To register your interest, email fundraising@vetlife.org.uk.

Photo: www.depositphotos.com

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 

Supreme Petfoods has launched a new range of Science Selective Care supplements for rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas.

The range includes Digestive Care, a supplement formulated with natural prebiotics and fibre to support gut motility and promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, and Urinary Care, which contains dandelion, cranberry, and vitamin C to help reduce the risk of urinary issues, such as bladder sludge.

Skin and Coat Care with antioxidant-rich spinach and linseed, is designed to support skin and coat health, while Vitamin C Care combines vitamin C, cranberry and blackcurrant to support immune function and vitality.

Claire Hamblion, Marketing Director at Supreme Petfoods said: "Over half of rabbit owners take their rabbits to the vet at least once a year.

"They are becoming much more engaged with their pet’s health care needs and want to provide high standards of care.

"Our new range meets the growing demand for products that offer health benefits beyond basic nutrition.”

www.supremepetfoods.com

VetPartners has invested in four new immunoassay analysers at its equine hospitals: Liphook in Hampshire, Rainbow in North Yorkshire and Rossdales in Suffolk, to offer more accurate blood tests for Cushing's.

The new Tosoh AIA 900 analysers have been trialled for the last 18 months at Liphook Equine Hospital, which was the first practice to introduce ACTH testing for horses 25 years ago and gets hundreds of blood samples every week from veterinary practices all over the UK and Europe.

Professor Andy Durham, who heads up the laboratory at Liphook, said the test period has shown that the new machine produces more accurate results primarily because it’s less sensitive to ACTH degrading in blood samples between collection and receipt by the laboratory.

Andy said: “There are several analytic methods available for use in horses, and we wanted to see if this alternative machine had diagnostic benefits over the ones we’d used previously.

"The ACTH molecule we test for immediately begins to break down after a blood sample is taken, even if you handle it carefully and place it in chilled packaging, but this new analyser is able to detect much more of the degraded ACTH molecule, and therefore it gives a more accurate result.

“As a comparison, ACTH values measured using the previous method suffered about three to four times more degradation over 24 hours.

"What this means for horse owners is that it will reduce the risk of false negative results in ACTH tests, so more horses suffering from Cushing’s disease will receive the treatment they need.”

In testing, the new analysers also demonstrated greater accuracy when measuring insulin levels in blood samples.

https://liphookequinehospital.co.uk
https://www.rainbowequinehospital.co.uk 
https://www.rossdales.com