Zoetis has announced that Trocoxil, the once-monthly treatment for canine osteoarthritis, is back in stock following a supply shortage.

Ceva Animal Health, maker of Adaptil and Feliway, has launched its popular annual competition in which practices are invited to set up displays about fireworks in their waiting rooms and post a photograph on the company's Facebook page in October.

Additional credit is given if the display includes a den, and the top ten displays win a luxury chocolate hamper. 

Ceva says the aim of the exercise is to highlight preventative steps pet owners can take to manage their pets' firework fears and the benefits of building a den to help calm and reassure dogs during the firework festivities,

Claire Russell, pheromone product manager at Ceva Animal Health, said: "Our display competition is one of the highlights of the veterinary practice year with veterinary professionals creating innovative displays that capture the imagination of their clients and help educate them on the preventative measures that they can adopt at home to help manage their pet’s firework fears."

Ceva has a range of marketing materials for veterinary practices to use in the competition, including waiting room materials.

For further information, contact your local Ceva territory manager.

Recruitment agency Recruit4Vets has published the results of two small surveys it conducted amongst veterinary surgeons and nurses to investigate typical rates of pay for permanent and locum veterinary surgeons and nurses.

251 veterinary surgeons and 124 veterinary nurses took part in the Permanent Salary Survey. 109 veterinary surgeons and 51 veterinary nurses took part in the Locum Pay Rate Survey.

The majority of respondents to the Permanent Salary Survey (69%) worked in the Midlands and south, but the survey didn't make any allowance for experience or qualifications, so it's difficult to read much into the reported figures. However, they were as follows:

The Locum Pay Rate Survey also made no allowance for experience or qualifications, but it may be that locum pay rates are less experience-sensitive than permanent salaries.

The average charge rate for locum veterinary surgeons was £210 per day, and for veterinary nurses, around £13.50 per hour. The majority of the locum respondents (69%) worked in the Midlands and south.

Interestingly, 53.5% of the locums polled said that demand for their services had increased over the year.

If you are a locum, don't forget to complete your profile on VetNurse.co.uk and add your flag to the VetNurse Locum Map.

The successful trial of a new welfare assessment grid for zoological animals, published in the Veterinary Record, is set to improve their welfare, according to the authors.

Researchers from Marwell Zoo, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey, trialled a series of monitoring strategies on primates and birds to help zookeepers ensure the health and safety of animals in their care.

According to the authors, the introduction of the practice over a period of 13 weeks at two zoological collections in the South of England, clearly demonstrated the level of physical and psychological wellbeing of the animals, and the effect of certain interventions.

The welfare assessment grid requires daily monitoring of a range of factors, such as the animals' physical condition, their psychological wellbeing and the quality of the environment, as well as the daily procedures they experience. These factors were not all previously part of the regular health checks that zookeepers were required to assess when they were undertaking animal welfare audits. In each area the primates and birds were scored, helping to monitor their progress and highlight any potential problems.

Although welfare protection of zoo animals is enshrined in both European and domestic legislation, monitoring it comprehensively in zoos has proven difficult due to the absence of clear and consistent guidance.

Sarah Wolfensohn, Professor of Animal Welfare at the University of Surrey, said: "Ensuring a high standard of animal welfare is paramount for any zoo, but it has not always been possible. This innovative system will give zookeepers clear guidance on what they should be looking out for in terms of physical and psychological characteristics in animals, which will help monitor their overall wellbeing.

"Zoos are a key part of educating us all about our environment and the animals we share it with across the world, and we all want to know that the animals we do see in zoos are being given the best possible care for their welfare."

Reference

1. Adaptation of the animal welfare assessment grid (AWAG) for monitoring animal welfare in zoological collections. W. S. M. Justice, M. F. O'Brien, O. Szyszka, J. Shotton, J. E. M. Gilmour, P. Riordan and S. Wolfensohn. Veterinary Record. 181,43.

Photo: Amur Leopard ©2017 Marwell Wildlife

The RCVS has launched ViVet, a new programme designed to ensure veterinary professionals are at the forefront of technological innovation in the animal health sector.

ViVet (derived from the Latin word ‘vivet’ meaning ‘it will thrive’) will, says the College, provide a variety of resources and support to help the professions keep pace with change and remain at the forefront of animal healthcare provision.

Chris Tufnell, RCVS Senior Vice-President, helped develop the scope of the ViVet programme during his presidential year. He said: "This is an ambitious project for the College to embark upon but also very important for the future relevance and survival of the professions. Technology in the animal health sector is developing rapidly, such as the growth of telemedicine, wearable and implantable devices to gather health-related data from our animals, and low-cost genomic sequencing.

"These technologies could have a disruptive effect on the veterinary sector, so it’s important to encourage and support veterinary input at an early stage to enable the professions to shape their development and ensure that animal health and welfare is a foremost consideration.

"ViVet will help veterinary professionals to engage proactively with innovation in animal health, so that they can embrace and drive change and are not side-lined by it."

The Vivet website (www.vivet.org.uk), which was launched simultaneously at the College's inaugural Innovation Symposium in London today, contains a number of resources to showcase new technologies and innovative business models.

Anthony Roberts, Director of Leadership and Innovation at the College, said: "The aim of these resources is to help veterinary professionals harness the immense opportunities that innovation can bring to animal health and welfare by providing practical advice on areas such as launching new products and services and, in turn, encourage innovators to think about how the expertise and knowledge of the veterinary professions could input into new technologies.

"Furthermore, the programme will also help the College gain insights into the animal health market and how it is evolving. This will allow us to develop a regulatory framework that is relevant and adaptable to 21^st century technology, while continuing to foster and support responsible innovation."

ViVet will also continue to organise events like today’s live-streamed symposium, which brought together thought-leaders from across the animal health, technology and business sectors, and provided a forum to discuss the opportunities and threats presented by innovation in the veterinary sphere, the impact it may have on the professions and how they are regulated.

Further details about the RCVS Innovation Symposium, including the full programme and speaker profiles, are available at www.rcvs.org.uk/innovation. Videos of speakers and a written report of the proceedings will be available from www.vivet.org.uk in due course.

The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) reports that at the end of a hotly contested Moral Maze style debate held at Congress last week, only 28% of the 329 delegates agreed with the motion: Corporatisation is inevitable and will benefit vets and their clients.

The debate, which was described as 'robust but good-humoured', was moderated by BEVA past-President Madeleine Campbell, sole partner at Hobgoblins Equine Reproduction Centre.

Keith Chandler, former BEVA President and member of the acquisitions team at Independent Vet Care and Karl Holliman, partner and director at Cliff Veterinary group and past chairman of XL Equine, argued for corporatisation.

Their supporting witnesses were Lesley Barwise Munro of AlNorthumbria vets which was sold to CVS in 2015 and Julian Samuelson a former managing partner of Bell Equine, which was sold to CVS earlier this year.

In the opposing corner were Andrew Harrison, a partner at Three Counties Equine Hospital and Tim Greet, who recently retired as an equine partner at Rossdales.

Their supporting witnesses were Louise Radford MRCVS, who now works in the pharmaceutical industry and Nenad Zillic, partner at the Barn Equine Surgery.

As the moderator called 'seconds out', opinion was relatively evenly divided, with 44% of the audience agreeing with the motion and 56% disagreeing.

The pro corporatisation team advocated that obvious commercial and business advantages, together with the scale and diversity of a corporate, can give vets greater potential for a more flexible career path and advancement within the industry, and a more sustainable working career in equine practice.

Karl Holliwell pointed out that corporates enable greater purchasing power, better health and safety resources, improved career structure and the freedom for employed vets to focus on clinical expertise rather than becoming bogged down with practice management.

Keith Chandler went on to argue that selling to a corporate is a solution to the problem of succession planning. In a climate of unwillingness for younger vets to buy in to practice, selling allows partners to realise the value they've built up and release that equity to do something else.

This is all very well, said Tim Greet, on the anti corporatisation panel, but the good reputation the profession currently enjoys is based on service to clients and above all the animals in our care. Clinical rather than commercial elements drive practice and partners are light on their feet and can respond quickly to decisions without referring to "a ponderous corporate hierarchy".

Tim also argued that clients like continuity and the quickest way to lose them would be to send in different vets. A bespoke approach to client care was needed rather than hard targeting.

Andrew Harrison went on to suggest that the only vets who really benefit from selling out are those who have one eye on retirement. Younger partners may be able to pay off the loan they took out to buy into practice in the first place but are then likely to take a considerable drop in salary and be given a middle management job, moving from the "pilot seat into the passenger seat." He argued that young vets cannot afford to buy into practices because the industry is being "fuelled by the corporates who are falling over themselves competing to buy equine practices and squeezing out our fellow professionals."

Pro corporatisation witness Julian Samuelson maintained that since Bell Equine has been sold to CVS there has been no change to client service, no restrictions on clinical performance and that no targets have been imposed to achieve set revenues.

Anti-corporatisation witness Louise Radford made the point that big corporates could exert pressure on pharmaceutical companies to drive down prices, which would reduce their capacity to invest in research and development trials and CPD, to the ultimate detriment of the veterinary industry.

The session closed with 72% of the audience disagreeing with the motion Corporatisation is inevitable and will benefit vets and their clients.

BEVA President Jon Pycock said: "Whether we like it or not corporatisation of equine practices is on the rise. But it shouldn’t mean that the future isn’t going to be viable for independents too as there is a role for both to co-exist. Importantly, this should mean that vets and their clients will both continue to have choices."

Vets Now, Manchester is hosting a full-day ECC CPD event on Thursday, 20 June 2024, at the Mercure Bolton Georgian House Hotel in Bolton.

The event will offer vets and vet nurses six hours of CPD across five streams, covering topics such as initial fracture treatment, stick injury management, post-op orthopaedic patient care, and handling clinical complaints.

Simon Hagley, an Emergency and Critical Care specialist at Vets Now Manchester, has helped develop the program and will run a session on acute kidney injury.

He said: "We have one of the largest emergency caseloads in the country, therefore we’re well placed to share best practice with the profession to enable vets and vet nurses to feel confident when dealing with emergency cases. "

There will be 23 lectures over the course of the day, across five streams: CPR, Vet Stream, Vet Nurses Stream, Client and Colleague Communication, and Pathology.

The sessions will be delivered by experienced Vets Now clinicians, dedicated nurses, communication experts, and VPG experts. 

Later in the year, the Vets Now 24/7 hospital in Glasgow will be offering free evening CPD events at the Hilton Doubletree, Westerwood, all focussing on ECC.

The first of these events, on 05 September 2024 will see Lead OOH Veterinary Surgeon John Sheppard from Vets Now, Glasgow run an out-of-hours session on ‘What happens after dark, shouldn’t leave you in the dark’. 

The Manchester event is priced at £80+VAT per person, which includes refreshments, lunch, and on-site parking.

https://www.vets-now.com/professionals/vet-cpd-events-courses. 

The RCVS has published a report of the Veterinary Workforce Summit 2021, which includes potential solutions to the workforce crisis that were discussed at the event.

The Veterinary Workforce Summit was held last November, when 80 stakeholders from independent and corporate practices, veterinary schools, charities, government, the food hygiene sector, species associations and industry bodies came together to look at how the profession could address the workforce crisis. 

Prior to the Summit, preliminary research was carried out to assess the profession's views on the workforce crisis and how it was affecting them.

Based on findings from the preliminary research, six themes around the issue of workforce shortages were identified and used to structure the discussions of the day.

These were: readiness for work; work-life balance; workplace culture; client interactions; career development; and return to work.

The day was opened by Lizzie Lockett, RCVS Chief Executive, who focused on the issues underpinning the workforce crisis:

• ‘Recruitment’; despite the number of vet schools and the annual number of veterinary graduates, there are still not enough vets and vet nurses to fill the demand for veterinary services.
• ‘Retention’; high numbers of vets and vet nurses are leaving the profession every year, with many citing unsociable working hours and stress, among other factors.
• ‘Return’; there are significant numbers of vets and vet nurses who had left the profession who could potentially return to it but maybe feel that the culture of the profession may prevent them from doing so.

Later in the day, delegates were divided into groups and asked to develop ideas and pitch a solution to a problem the sector is facing.

Some of the solutions that the professions might use to address the key workforce issues which came out of the pitches included:

• Rebrand the GP role (for both vets and vet nurses) to emphasise its benefits and rewards, which will encourage people to choose general practice as an active career choice that they wished to pursue long term.
• Develop ways for practices to prioritise workload and to ensure that people’s skills are maximised. This could include developing legislation that allows nurses to take on greater responsibility and developing efficiency models which focus on delegation and outsourcing rather than working longer hours.
• Introduce a compulsory curriculum for developing interpersonal, leadership and personal skills to be considered as important as mandatory CPD. This could be achieved through developing a workplace charter and identifying leaders with a passion for personal progression who could spearhead the initiative.
• Create a compulsory communications skills programme which would be introduced in a sustainable way.
• Introduce a professions-wide career framework to help everyone in the veterinary team achieve job satisfaction at the time they wanted it, at a salary that recognised their value and met their needs.
• Create a flexible back-to-work package of support to help them return to the veterinary professions after leaving the Register.

Kate Richards, RCVS President, said: “Although the issues affecting the UK veterinary sector aren’t new, they have been exacerbated over the past few years by factors outside of the sector’s control.

"We know that putting in place solutions to address and solve the issues that the veterinary sector is facing will take time.

"We want to reiterate that the Summit was the first, albeit an incredibly important, first step in co-creating innovative solutions to workforce shortages.

"I look forward to working collaboratively with our veterinary colleagues from across the professions to bring the workforce action plan to life and work on the solutions that come out of it.”

The RCVS says the next steps from the Summit are to consider the feasibility of the suggested solutions and integrate those that seem likely to deliver effective results into an action plan, alongside other activities that are already underway.

The College says it is open to hearing additional ideas for the professions and encourages anyone who has suggestions to get in touch with Sophie Rogers, ViVet Manager, on s.rogers@rcvs.org.uk

The full Workforce Summit report can be found at www.rcvs.org.uk/publications

The RVC has published - open access - the results of a study investigating the effects of the pandemic on puppies bought in 2020. 

The study¹ took the form of an online survey of over 5,500 owners, which exploring the the early socialisation, health and behaviour of ‘pandemic puppies’ purchased in 2020 compared to 2019 puppies.

The study found that puppies bought during the pandemic in 2020, in comparison to pre-pandemic in 2019, were more likely to have been ‘designer crossbreeds’, for example a Cockapoo or Cavapoo, instead of Kennel Club registered purebred dogs.

The 2020 cohort of pandemic puppies were also more likely to already hold a pet passport at purchase, indicating they may have been imported from Europe – perhaps illegally – to meet the greatly increased demand and prices for puppies.

Amongst the positive findings was the fact that many of the health and socialisation experiences examined didn’t vary significantly between puppies purchased in 2019 and 2020.

However, researchers say there was still a concern that 2020 ‘pandemic puppies’ were less likely than 2019 puppies to attend puppy training classes or to have experienced visitors to their homes (under the age of 16 weeks in both circumstances).

This, they say, means pandemic puppies may be more likely to experience stranger-related fear and anxiety and other behavioural problems related to insufficient socialisation, from being unable to attend puppy classes under 16 weeks of age; a critical period for the development of puppies.

In addition, those puppies sourced from Europe may have been transported over long distances without their mother, a stressful experience which the researchers say could cause problem behaviours in the future. 

Pandemic puppies may therefore need extra support from the veterinary profession, particularly those specialising in animal behaviour.

Dr Claire Brand, Researcher in Canine Welfare at the RVC said: “Despite many owners’ concerted efforts to raise their puppies as well as possible, some puppies missed out on key experiences of puppyhood, such as going to puppy classes, or experiencing visitors in their homes.

"This has potential consequences for the future behaviour of ‘pandemic puppies’ and so we are encouraging owners to seek out training and behaviour advice from accredited professionals so that these now adult dogs can learn to live happily in our post-lockdown world.”

Reference

1. Brand, C.L.; O’Neill, D.G.; Belshaw, Z.; Pegram, C.L.; Stevens, K.B.; Packer, R.M.A. Pandemic Puppies: Demographic Characteristics, Health and Early Life Experiences of Puppies Acquired during the 2020 Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the UK. Animals 2022, 12, 629. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/5/629 

The British Association of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (BrAVO) is hosting its annual pre-BSAVA Spring Meeting on 23rd March in Manchester - which all vet nurses are invited to - where there will be a full day of lectures on oculoplastics. 

Registration will start at 9am, with the first lecture from 10am.

As usual, abstracts will be presented during the day, and there's an exhibition to visit during breaks and lunch.

Hot ophthalmology topics such as rhytidectomy and facial reconstruction will be discussed, with lectures presented by renowned veterinary and human ophthalmologists.

The day will end with a Q&A session where all lecturers will take part.

There is a reduced price of £90 for vet nurses to attend. 

For more information, visit https://bravo.org.uk

Virbac has launched two wet diets for cats, formulated to help prevent and manage Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease.

The new Veterinary HPM Adult Neutered Wet with Salmon (a lifestage diet) and Urology Cat Wet (a clinical diet) have a high-protein low-carbohydrate formulation and a high share of animal protein. 

Virbac points to studies which show that FLUTD is diagnosed in 8% of cats seen by vets for non-routine appointments¹ and that there is a 51% risk of recurrence within one year of the initial diagnosis².

Dr Rémi Mandray DMV MRCVS, Product Manager at Virbac, said: "Feline specialists recognise the importance of nutrition and water intake in the management of FLUTD, so we are delighted to be able to add two high quality wet diets to the Veterinary HPM range and therefore offer advanced nutritional solutions to such an important health issue."

Virbac says that both diets have high levels of animal protein to stimulate water intake, increase the volume of urine and stabilise the pH for a healthy urinary system.

The lifestage diets include supplements to limit phosphorus excretion in the urine for improved prevention of struvite crystal formation.

The company also says the Urology diets in the clinical range meet the PARNUT requirements for dissolution and prevention of struvite stones or crystals, and prevention of oxalate formation. 

Virbac claims the new chunks in gravy wet diets naturally increase water intake by up to 50%, due to their high water content.

Dry and wets can be fed together as part of a mixed nutritional programme, to meet pet owner preferences identified in Virbac's market research: 60% of cat owners use wet food, mostly mixed with kibbles⁴. 

For more information, contact your Virbac Territory Manager.

References 

1. Lekcharoensuk C et al. JAVMA 2001; 218(9): 1425-1435.
2. Gerber B et al. J Fel Med Surg 2008; 10(1): 16-23.
3. Technisens study for Virbac -2019

Vetcel, the veterinary buying group, has announced a partnership with Training Progress, through which it will deliver its health and safety training information to member practices.

Training Progress is a training management system designed primarily so that veterinary managers can track their staff training. The company says the system empowers staff to drive their own training, and devolves training responsibility (where appropriate) away from senior team members. 

The tie-up with Vetcel means member practices will be able to access Vetcel's health and safety training in their own own mini Training-Progress site, where they will be able to track their teams' progress and compliance. 

Chris Bainton said: "The Vetcel group are delighted to be working with Training-Progress to provide a further benefit to our membership. We recognise that Training-Progress will help our members ensure that their team’s staff development and training is promoted and, specifically, that both the staff and the practices themselves are protected and enabled by monitoring and recording the health and safety training of the team.”

Training Progress will be at stand O54 at the London Vet Show.

Leading human and animal health organisations – the British Medical Association (BMA), British Dental Association (BDA), British Veterinary Association (BVA) and Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) - have joined forces for the first time to promote a ‘One Health’ approach to ensure responsible guardianship of antibiotics and their proper public use on European Antibiotics Awareness Day tomorrow.

Antibiotics are obviously a vital medicine for both animal and human health, and modern health systems rely on the availability and effectiveness of a range of antimicrobials to treat and prevent infections. Yet inappropriate use – such as prescribing for self-limiting infections, not finishing a prescribed course of antibiotics or habitual prophylactic use in healthy animals to prevent disease - all contribute to the development of resistant bacteria in both humans and animals.

Whilst antibiotic resistance in animals does not perhaps present the greatest immediate existential threat, there is a strong argument for a united message to the public coming from doctors, dentists, chemists and veterinary surgeons.

Quite simply, some 13M households own a pet. Pretty much all of them visit a vet at some stage, and most will be a human patient at some point in their lives. So, what a veterinary surgeon says about the use of antibiotics in animals has the potential to help transform how owners think about them when they come to visit the doctor.

A survey of general practitioner doctors last year found that 90% feel pressured by patients to prescribe antibiotics and 28% have prescribed them several times a week when not sure they are medically necessary. If veterinary surgeons refuse to prescribe them for pets unless medically necessary, explaining that they are a precious resource which can no longer be wasted, it could help relieve the pressure on doctors. The same goes for the importance of compliance; if owners learn the importance of their pet taking the full course, there's a greater chance they'll understand why they need to complete their own course of treatment.

BVA President Sean Wensley said: "Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is too important an issue for uncoordinated approaches amongst the medical professions. We need to work together to share knowledge and successful approaches, as well as taking responsibility for not just the immediate clinical situations before us, but also for our role in supporting the health and wellbeing of wider society. An effective approach to tackling AMR is about professions and patients working together for the greater good."

BMA board of science Chair Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins said: "Doctors have expressed significant concern about the threat of a ‘post-antimicrobial age’. It is vital that we see action to improve antimicrobial prescribing across all disciplines. Only by different professionals working together to improve antimicrobial stewardship will we start to address this major public health issue."

BDA President Professor Nairn Wilson said: "All health professionals have a responsibility to draw a line under inappropriate or unnecessary use of antibiotics. One in ten prescriptions in the UK are provided by dentists, so we’re determined to do our bit. We are facing a clear and present danger to public health, and it will only be overcome if we act together."

For further information about EAAD 2015, visit www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/EAAD  

To mark EAAD 2015, BVA has produced a range of new posters to promote the responsible use of antibiotics for use in veterinary practices or as a source of information for pet owners which can be found on their website www.bva.co.uk/eaad.