Defra has produced a video offering official advice for pet owners that want to travel with their pet in the event of a no deal Brexit.

The video has now been published on Youtube, from where veterinary practices might like to share it with clients on their own websites, by email or on their Facebook page.

In the video, Cat Henstridge MRCVS explains how from November, in the event of no deal, pet owners will need to have visited their vet 4 months before travel and had their pet vaccinated against rabies. They will then need to return for a blood test 30 days later, wait at least 3 months after that test before travel, and get an animal health certificate no more than 10 days before travel. In addition their animal needs to be microchipped.

Defra says owners should also be advised to visit gov.uk and search 'pet travel' for any updates.

Christine Middlemiss, UK Chief Veterinary Officer, said: "This is a reminder for pet owners of our practical and straightforward advice for pet travel if the UK were to leave the EU in a no-deal situation."

To watch and share the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ckhv5YS7Mw.

Ceva Animal Health has launched new marketing support materials to help practices raise awareness of Adaptil and Feliway in the run up to the fireworks and party season.

The materials include eye-catching waiting room bunting, wall displays, posters, leaflets and leaflet holders which offer hints and tips on how to look after pets while fireworks are going off.

Ceva is also launching a series of eight three-minute fireworks videos which offer advice to owners about how they can 'Help take the fear out of fireworks' and more information about Adaptil and Feliway. The videos are presented by Emma Carr, training and charity key account manager at Ceva Animal Health and are available to download via Vimeo and Ceva’s social media tool kit.

Veterinary practices are being encouraged to use the new materials to take part in Ceva’s annual fireworks waiting room display competition, which offers a £200 voucher for the overall best display and luxury chocolate hampers for 10 runners up (hint: entrants get additional credit if they build a display den and plug in an Adaptil Calm Home Diffuser nearby). 

Practices taking part in the competition can post pictures of their dens and waiting room displays on Ceva Animal Health UK's Facebook page in October.

Abigail King, senior behaviour product manager at Ceva Animal Health, said: "The extensive marketing support we are putting behind Adaptil and Feliway in the run up to the fireworks season will help educate pet owners on the measures that can be put in place to help their pets with firework fears, while highlighting the benefits of our products."

For further information, or to request the new waiting room material, contact your local account manager or email: cevauk@ceva.com.

Southfields Veterinary Specialists in Essex has been given approval by planners to convert a 40,000 sq ft site just down the road from its current premises into what will be one of the UK’s largest referral centres.

The £11m project, which is backed by Mars Petcare, will include a cutting-edge imaging suite, state-of-the-art treatment facilities and a new linear accelerator. 

Plans also include separate cat and dog waiting areas and client walking and comfort areas, seven operating theatres, 15 consultation rooms, recovery suites, lecture halls, a dedicated ICU department and plans for a future hydrotherapy suite. 

Daniel Hogan, operations manager at Southfields (pictured right), said: "This is a really exciting time for Southfields and our relocation will provide the region with one of the largest and best-equipped veterinary centres in the UK.

"The team and expertise have grown significantly in the past 18 months. We are very excited to continue to expand the unique and innovative offerings in patient care at our centre.

"Increasing in size will also enable us to provide a dedicated staff wellbeing area and an education centre and lecture hall, which will offer some very exciting qualifications and courses for the wider profession.

"Since our rebranding in 2017, we pride ourselves on leading the industry as a truly multidisciplinary centre with specialists from across the globe, including one of the most illustrious oncology teams in the country. Once this new site is launched, we will be able to offer an even more comprehensive service to our clients and patients."

For more information about Southfields, visit www.southfields.co.uk.

The BSAVA has opened registration for its 2021 Congress, which is to be held online next year, from 25th –27th March.

The event will deliver more than 130 hours of CPD, including a programme of five simultaneous live streams each day. Delegates will also have opportunities to network and socialise - with peers, colleagues and experts in chat rooms and breakout sessions, and with industry partners - such as event sponsor Hill’s Pet Nutrition - in the online exhibition hall.

Live content will be delivered via 24 content modules and a library of 100 on-demand webinars will support the 80 hours of live programming. Scientific content will be available on the platform for 30 days and then available to attendees via the BSAVA library.

For the first time nursing, clinical and business topics will be blended into modules from which delegates can select the content they need.

Professor Ian Ramsey, President of the BSAVA, said: "On the clinical side, we’re covering everything from chronic pain and neurology to cardiology and orthopaedics – whatever your interests, there will be something for you."

“Most sessions in the live programme will feature two speakers, each delivering short presentations followed by a live, audience-led conversation. This new approach means delegates can explore the multi-faceted disciplines of the small animal veterinary world and see the clinical challenges from different points of view and, most importantly, join in.

“Pre-recorded webinars support the live programme, enabling delegates to dip in at their leisure. We’ve also swapped traditional lengthy notes or MCQs, with practical resources such as client handouts or flowcharts for delegates to take back to their clinics”.

Congress will also be covering an update on sustainability issues through the module titled, ‘can the profession go green?’ On the practical business front, recruitment and retention will be discussed and keynote speaker Jenny Campbell, a former Dragon on BBC’s Dragon’s Den, will be sharing her experiences as an entrepreneur and business leader.

BSAVA Congress prices start at £99 +VAT.  To register, visit www.bsavaevents.com

Three veterinary nurses have won monthly lifestyle subscription boxes up to the value of £150 in a NexGard Spectra parasite training competition.

Sally Rose RVN from Abervet in Aberdeen (pictured right), Jo Fuller RVN from Castle Vets in Farnborough and Gwen Raeburn RVN from Priory Close Vets in Somerset chose subscriptions to an arts and crafts ‘Witch Box’, a Hoppily Craft Beer Club box and a Nectar and Bumble box of bee-themed lifestyle items.

The nurses won the subscriptions after watching a NexGard Spectra online educational competition run in conjunction with BVNA during the association’s This is Us 2020 celebration of veterinary nursing. 

Sally said: "It was great to receive the news that I’d won the BVNA NexGard Spectra competition. I thought it would be a simple task of looking through a few choices of prizes, however I didn’t realise that there were so many! When I came to it, I picked The Witch Box arts and crafts box. Thank you NexGard Spectra for the fantastic prize!"

MSD Animal Health has expanded on the benefits of its move to deal direct with veterinary practices in the UK.

The company announced last month that from 1st January next year, practices will have to order companion animal and ruminant products via either MWI or NVS (who will also fulfil the order), but will be invoiced direct by MSD. 

Pig products will join aquaculture and poultry products to be supplied directly to customers by MSD Animal Health.

In its announcement, the company said that the new structure would allow the company to enhance the customer experience and more quickly adapt to changes in the market to better serve its customers.

VetNurse.co.uk contacted the company for further clarification about how the customer experience would be improved. 

The company explained that the two main benefits of the new structure concern price visibility and stock control.

A spokesperson for the company said: "Currently, customers may get a discount from us and separately a discount from wholesaler. With our new distribution model we will invoice monthly and all discounts will be on one invoice, so it will be easier to determine the actual price paid."

The spokesperson explained that with the old model, once stock was sold to wholesalers it would be allocated to customers, so there would be some held by MSD, some allocated and some in distribution: "The benefit of the new model is we will have full oversight of stock as it will be in our own warehouses or with distribution partners. If there are disruptions in the market, we will have better awareness of in market demand and we can allocate stock appropriately".

Macahl Animal Health, manufacturer of Oralade, is highlighting the need to consider the hydration status of wildlife patients admitted to veterinary practices as we head into the winter months.

The company says there is often an increase in admissions of hibernating species at this time of year, particularly hedgehogs, and it is thought that numbers of sick and injured wildlife handed over by the general public may increase this year as people spend more time in their gardens and local parks due to coronavirus restrictions.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society suggests that if uncertain about a hedgehog’s hydration status, it is always best to assume a degree of dehydration.

Macahl regularly donates Oralade to wildlife sanctuaries where it is in widespread use. One such sanctuary is the Wildlife Aid Foundation, based in Surrey, which says: "We frequently use Oralade to help our patients which are suffering from mild dehydration and are reluctant to eat. It works really well for species such as hedgehogs, foxes and badgers as the smell seems to encourage them to lap. It really does give them a boost and can get them eating solid food again which is critical for their rehabilitation."

Macahl says Oralade GI support is suitable for oral rehydration in many wildlife species, including hedgehogs. The suggested maintenance dose is 50ml per kg per 24hrs, with additional quantities needed to correct a hydration deficit. Identifying dehydration is similar to pet species, and includes assessment of skin tent, gum colour, and capillary refill time.

The government has launched a public consultation on proposals to ban keeping primates as pets in England, which veterinary nurses are invited to take part in before it closes on the 6th February 2021.

The government estimates that up to 5,000 primates are currently kept outside of licensed zoos in the UK. Marmosets are by far the most commonly held primates in the UK, with capuchins, squirrel monkeys, lemurs and tamarins also among the most common species.

The new proposals will mean that specialist primate keepers who do not hold a zoo licence will need to obtain a new specialist private primate keeper licence to ensure they are meeting the required high welfare standards. These plans will also place welfare restrictions on the breeding and transferring of primates.

The BVA has welcomed the consultation. BVA Senior Vice President, Daniella Dos Santos said: “For a long time, we have called for a ban on private individuals keeping primates as pets. As​ ​vets,​ ​we​ ​have​ ​significant​ ​concerns​ ​as​ ​to whether​ ​the health and​ ​welfare​ ​needs​ ​of​ ​primates​ ​can​ ​ever​ ​be​ ​met​ ​under these circumstances.​

“​Primates​ ​are​ ​long-lived, intelligent​ ​and​ ​socially​ ​complex​ ​animals​ ​whose​ ​needs​ ​are​ ​extraordinarily​ ​difficult​ ​to​ ​meet​ ​in​ ​captivity and we can think of no circumstances where a primate would benefit from being kept in this way.​ ​

“We welcome the Government’s move to open a public consultation on this and hope that it does indeed result in a ban. If​ ​the​ ​UK wants​ ​to​ ​maintain​ ​its​ ​reputation​ ​for​ ​some​ ​of​ ​the​ ​highest​ ​standards​ ​of​ ​animal​ ​welfare in the world​ and if the government wants to fulfil its promises of enhancing the welfare of animals as we leave Europe then we​ ​must​ ​put an end to ​the​ ​keeping​ ​and trade of​ ​primates​ ​as​ ​pets.”

To take part in the consultation, visit: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/animal-health-and-welfare/primates-as-pets-in-england/consultation/intro/ 

Fitz All Media, organiser of the VET Festival, reports that a record 1,900 delegates and 60 exhibitors attended the event earlier this month, a 12% and 28% increase on the previous year, respectively.

Founder Professor Noel Fitzpatrick said: "It is a real joy to see the VET Festival growing and growing, not just in physical size, but from the immense goodwill that radiates from it. The weather didn’t get in the way of the wellness and there was nothing rainy about the atmosphere at VET Festival - in fact I think that the rain brought us closer together.

"I set out to build a community of compassion for our profession and I genuinely felt that there was a tangible sense of togetherness. There were loads of great conversations with each other and with the exhibitors. The educational content really was world class and the tents were packed. I hoped that VET Festival would be a breath of fresh air, where having an education event outdoors - combined with a focus on wellness of body and mind for all of us - could help vet professionals to be the very best that they could be - and so serve our patients better. 

"Everyone there was part of something innovative and refreshing I felt – the delegates, the exhibitors, the team who have worked year-round to create the event, and the fantastic speakers. I’m very grateful to all of them and I sincerely hope that this feeling remains strong for each and every one all year round.

"The resonant theme this year was ‘kindness’ – to ourselves, to each other, to the families of animals and the animals we are lucky enough to take care of. Nobody is a nobody at VET Festival, and never will be. In that field, we’re all equal, no matter what we do in the vet profession - we all matter - we all want the same thing, which is wellness for each other and the animals we serve - and importantly, we’re all in it together for the greater good, rain or shine."

The RCVS Council has today announced a 'wide-ranging' review of a number of key provisions of the supporting guidance to the Code of Professional Conduct, following ongoing discussions around trialling the development of telemedicine services, including remote prescribing, in UK veterinary practice.

The review was recommended to Council by its Standards Committee following its exploration of the implications of new technologies for both animal health and welfare and veterinary regulation.

The main areas under consideration are the interpretation and application of an animal being under the care of a veterinary surgeon, and the provision of 24-hour emergency cover.

The College says that during the course of its research, which included numerous meetings and reports, a public consultation and examination of external legal advice, the Committee identified a number of anomalies in the College’s existing guidance that could affect how the Code’s provisions were applied across a range of different scenarios.

Chair of the Standards Committee, Dr Kate Richards, said: "It became clear to us that we could not consider telemedicine and remote prescribing in isolation and that it raised broader questions around the appropriateness of, and justification for, certain elements of existing RCVS guidance. I’m therefore pleased that RCVS Council has decided that the right and responsible approach is first to conduct a full review of these provisions."

The College anticipates that the review will require wide engagement from all relevant sectors, potentially including a Select Committee-style hearing in certain areas. This, it says, would help to ensure any decision to treat different groups differently, in relation to 'under care' and 'out-of-hours', is both reasoned and justified.

In the meantime, the College says that the current provisions of the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct and its supporting guidance remain in full effect.

Further information about the review will be made available in due course.

UPDATE (19/06/2019)

Following a number of concerns raised by members of the profession about this story, the RCVS has issued a further statement as follows:

We would like to acknowledge and address a number of concerns that have arisen amongst the profession following RCVS Council’s discussion last week that followed up queries raised during the previous debate in November, around the provision of telemedicine services, including remote prescribing.

The RCVS Council decision, made unanimously, was to proceed with a wide-ranging review of RCVS supporting guidance concerning 24-hour emergency cover and the interpretation and application of ‘under veterinary care’, and to postpone the proposed telemedicine trial for the foreseeable future and certainly until the conclusion of this review. The review will encompass, but not be limited to, consideration of what restrictions or safeguards to place on remote prescribing in the form of vet-to-client telemedicine.

RCVS Council discussed this paper ‘in committee’ in order to be able to examine the confidential legal advice it had requested at its previous meeting. The decision to hold these discussions privately was purely related to the privileged nature of legal advice and in no way related to any ‘commercial interests’.

We recognise fully that this is a complex issue, with strong views held on all sides. However, it is entirely right and proper for RCVS Council members to be able to discuss and debate such topics in detail, before reaching a decision through a vote. In the course of such discussions, issues may arise that had not previously been identified, and which may alter the original direction of thinking.

We appreciate that Council’s decision was perhaps unexpected, especially as the original topic had been under consideration for some time. This is why we announced it as soon as possible, along with an indication of what Council would like to happen next.

Whilst it is far too early to have worked out the details of the agreed review, it will be open and inclusive in parallel with our previous consultations, which continue to receive considerable levels of engagement across the veterinary professions and wider industry stakeholders.

We will publish full details about our plans for this review over the coming weeks, and will continue to work hard to engage all veterinary professionals in these important decisions.

The British Veterinary Association has launched Brexit and the Veterinary Profession, a report which lays out the association's key recommendations for the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

The report, which was developed in consultation with BVA members, devolved branches, BVA specialist divisions and other stakeholders, outlines the essential role that the UK veterinary workforce plays in not only caring for animals, but in enabling trade, ensuring food hygiene and safety, and undertaking cutting-edge research.

Non-British EU veterinary surgeons are critical to the UK veterinary workforce. Around 50% of veterinary surgeons registering to practise in the UK each year come from overseas, with the vast majority of these coming from the rest of the EU. Yet one-fifth of vets are already reporting that it has become harder to recruit since the EU Referendum.

To secure the best possible outcomes for animal health and welfare, public health, and the veterinary profession, Brexit and the veterinary profession sets out 52 recommendations for the short, medium and long term, including calling on the next Government to:

• Guarantee working rights for non-British EU vets and veterinary nurses (VNs) currently working and studying in the UK, and for British vets and VNs working in the EU, at the existing level and with no time limit, to ensure the need for veterinary services can be met.
• Maintain, and seek opportunities to improve, current animal health and welfare standards and prioritise them in all trade negotiations to ensure that a high standard of animal health, welfare and food hygiene is a unique selling point for the UK.
• Commit to maintaining a single standard for meat produced for both domestic and export markets based on current standards of food hygiene legislation and enforcement, including veterinary certification and controls.
• Negotiate to establish formal links with the EU on disease surveillance, to ensure reciprocal data sharing with Europe is maintained.
• Guarantee the UK veterinary profession ongoing access to all existing veterinary medicines licensed through the EU regulatory systems in order to meet animal health requirements, whilst continuing to play a leading role in tackling antimicrobial resistance internationally.
• Develop a regulatory and legislative framework to ensure the UK continues to be a globally attractive place for research and development (R&D).
• Establish a body to oversee and coordinate animal health and welfare policy across the four administrations of the UK and facilitate partnership working between industry and government to tackle endemic disease and animal heath challenges.  

BVA President Gudrun Ravetz said: "Vets provide the foundation for the UK’s work on animal health and welfare. Veterinary teams up and down the country support the UK’s 11 million pet-owning households; not a penny of the UK’s £13 billion agri-food industry could be realised without vets; and we are an integral part of the international scientific community, annually bringing in over £50 million for research and development projects.

"The veterinary profession is in a unique position from which to offer the next Government evidence-based policy recommendations to ensure animal health and welfare, public health and other standards are at the very least maintained as we exit the EU. 

"We believe Brexit also presents us with opportunities, for example, to develop a strong, competitive food industry with full consumer confidence at home and abroad as well as to position the UK as a world leader in high animal welfare - and a strong veterinary workforce is vital in achieving this."

Brexit and the veterinary profession was developed and written by the BVA Brexit Working Group, under the chairmanship of Alick Simmons, former UK deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, and was agreed by BVA Council in April.

The report builds on BVA’s Brexit Principles, agreed by Council in September 2016, and covers seven areas of public policy: veterinary workforce, animal health, animal welfare, food hygiene and safety, veterinary medicines, research and development, and trade.

Two further sections of the report consider issues relating to devolution and to Northern Ireland’s unique position as the only part of the UK to share a land border with an EU member state.

With a snap General Election due in five weeks’ time, BVA has produced a 20-point manifesto of key recommendations covering both Brexit and wider policy issues, which has been sent to the main political parties’ manifesto-writing teams and to BVA’s Honorary Associates.

Brexit and the veterinary profession and the manifesto for the 2017 General Election are available at: www.bva.co.uk/brexit.

ioLight, the world's first portable high resolution digital microscope, which premiered at the London Vet Show last year, has won a European Product Design Award 2017 and raised a further £320K in equity funding on the Crowdcube platform.

In 2014 ioLight co-founders, Oxford physicists Andrew Monk and Richard Williams, filed a patent application for a pocket-sized digital microscope with a performance that compares with expensive laboratory microscopes. They asked Cambridge Industrial Design to realise the product, briefing them that the device would need to deliver images with one micron resolution (required to view human or animal cells) onto a smartphone or tablet, be pocket-sized, easy to use, and economical to build in medium to high volumes.

One of the biggest challenges was in making the unit pocket-sized, which meant it had to be foldable, something which could have led to a loss in the rigidity needed to achieve high resolution images. This challenge was overcome with the use of a single hinge which the company says makes the ioLight both portable and robust.

Alex Jones, Managing director of Cambridge Industrial Design said: "We recognised immediately this was a great idea but the design brief was certainly a challenge. Fortunately, challenges can sometimes bring out the best in designers. The final design is a real success both aesthetically and ergonomically, and this award is a fantastic acknowledgement for the design process and the final product that we have created together with ioLight."

ioLight is also celebrating another success: closing its second round of equity funding after raising £320k from 335 investors on the Crowdcube platform (128% of the initial target). 

The company says the new funding will allow it to promote the microscope to a wide range of target markets including veterinary surgeons, education, laboratory and field research, museums and public engagement as well as to international markets. 

Andrew Monk, ioLight’s co-founder said: "The product is so simple to use that it is the ideal communication tool for explaining science to the public, students and customers. The microscope lets everyone see the same image so the discussion is about the picture not the tools. It’s a perfect fit for government public engagement campaigns, which are well funded at the moment. We are absolutely delighted that this funding provides us with the opportunity for both product development and to reach out and make microscopy available to so many more people."