Brachycephaly: practices should take care with online imagery
Practices should pay particular attention to the images they post on social media and on their websites to avoid unintentionally promoting brachycephalic breeds. This was the advice given by Sean Wensley, the PDSA’s senior veterinary surgeon for communication and education, during a session at the British Veterinary Nursing Association’s (BVNA’s) congress earlier this month. For example, he said, a practice might post a picture of a brachycephalic patient on social media with a cheerful caption along the lines of ‘Look at this beautiful little fellow that came in today.’ ‘We can inadvert...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
Stand up for wild animal welfare
Vets need to move into the politics of the countryside and become stronger advocates for animal welfare. That is the view of Alick Simmons, former deputy chief vet, who spoke at last week’s British Veterinary Zoological Society (BVZS) conference in London. Giving a keynote address, he called on vets to use their position to make a stand on welfare, particularly of wild animals, whose welfare needs are often regarded as inferior to those of higher value food-producing animals and pets. He said the debate over countryside issues was being dominated by a small number of people whose values are very different to those wi...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
News section
(Source: Veterinary Record)
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News and reports Source Type: research
What are your shared values?
‘DON’T make the mistake of thinking all vets care about animal welfare,’ a vet told me last week. ‘Half the vets I trained with were hunters and if you asked them why they wanted to become vets, they would say they were interested in the technical aspects of work, or the presumed status, but not especially the animals.’ I was a bit taken aback. Up until now, I had rather taken it as read that vets care about animals and their welfare. Why else would you invest five years of your life studying to manage their health needs? Perhaps that is naive. It is probably misguided to think everyone in a s...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Waters, A. Tags: Comment Source Type: research
Diary of a parliamentary intern
Two years ago I started my internship at the House of Lords. It was a leap of faith that took me far away from the familiar world of small animal clinical practice. Now, as I sit to write my final diary piece, I wonder: was it all worth it? (Source: Veterinary Record)
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Vet record careers Source Type: research
Glasgow class of '72: where are they now?
Half the class of ’72 made it for this celebration. Our special guest was Jimmy Armour who taught at Glasgow university during our time there. He has been a major influence on the lives of many Glasgow graduates and a great supporter of our reunions – he and his wife Christine have attended all seven. Coincidentally, 2017 marks 65 years since his graduation. Initially, we got together every 10 years after graduating, changing it to every five years once we made it to the 25-year stage. Now we are considering meeting up every two or three years! The more reunions we have had as a group the closer we have become ...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Vet record careers Source Type: research
Exploring human and animal health
One week studying veterinary public health may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as Cambridge vet student Emma Simpson explains, for the eight students who attended this year’s Veterinary Public Health Association Masterclass in Edinburgh, it ticked all the right boxes (Source: Veterinary Record)
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Vet record careers Source Type: research
Clearer labelling for anthelmintics
Norbrook has changed the packaging on its anthelmintics range by providing new classification labels. The labels should help ensure farmers, vets and suitably qualified persons can easily identify which group of active molecule each product contains. The aim is to support the sustainable use of wormers. Leigh Sullivan, large animal product manager, says: ‘We want to ensure we are helping to delay the development of resistance and preserve optimum animal performance. Independent sheep consultant and SCOPS group member, Lesley Stubbings, says the labels will help increase awareness of the active ingredients present in ...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Products and Services Source Type: research
Horse worming CPD online
Zoetis has announced that more than 1200 people have completed its equine worming online CPD courses since they were launched in February and May this year.
The three courses, written by Wendy Talbot, RCVS and European Specialist in equine internal medicine, are aimed at qualified suitably qualified persons (SQPs).
The company says that the courses cover basic worming, autumn and winter worming and spring and summer worming. Each course is interactive and is rounded off with a quiz; after completion a CPD certificate can be downloaded.
To date a total of 1257 SQP courses have been completed, with around a further 400 cours...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Products and Services Source Type: research
Combined antibiotic and NSAID offers new BRD treatment
Ceva Animal Health has launched a new treatment option for bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Zeleris contains a combination of active ingredients – florfenicol and meloxicam. Ceva says the product has been developed in response to demand from farm animal vets and says the treatment offers: A specific combination of florfenicol and meloxicam for the treatment of BRD; Easy-to-remember 1 ml/10 kg dose rate; Single shot; Hi-tech, shock-resistant vial is ideal for farm conditions; Excellent syringeability, even at low temperatures; Available in 100 ml and 250 ml sizes at launch and 50 ml in early 2018. Ceva says the syrin...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Products and Services Source Type: research
Nurse-led mobility help for dogs and cats
Lintbells is offering veterinary practices a resource pack –Mobility Matters – that can help practices set up nurse-led mobility clinics. An estimated 15 per cent of canine cases presented at first-opinion practices are musculoskeletal in nature, adding that cats are also commonly affected the company says. In many cases a multimodal approach delivers the best results for mobility cases. The Mobility Matters materials aim to help practices communicate the issues to clients in the waiting area, the consulting room and online. There are also resources to help behind the scenes with setting up the clinics, includi...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Products and Services Source Type: research
Advanced diagnostics are key to future success
Veterinary imaging company Hallmarq says it has noticed a significant change in the way practices are improving their capability in offering advanced imaging. Practices are typically purchasing MRI and CT scanners together, wanting a ‘one-stop shop for equipment acquisition and support’. Hallmarq signed an exclusive agreement with Toshiba in November last year and is now providing installation, advice, training, service and support. It believes that buoyant practices see advanced diagnostics as the key to future success and are prepared to invest for the future. The company also says that cost appears to be les...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Products and Services Source Type: research
Michael Alan Wright
Michael Wright was a respected vet who had great pride in his profession. (Source: Veterinary Record)
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Morten, D., Yarwood, J., Taylor, B. Tags: Obituaries Source Type: research
Labelling of meat from non-stun slaughtered animals
John Fishwick, BVA President and Lewis Grant, VPHA President, respond: Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Mr Wilson is correct that the UK is free to ban non-stun slaughter under the derogation in Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 on the Protection of Animals at the Time of Killing. However, the UK government has repeatedly resisted our calls to do so. Mr Wilson is also correct that the UK has the ability to impose changes to labelling. However, given the complexities of labelling legislation and the fact that there have been ongoing discussions in Europe about the issue, UK ministers to date have argued that it ...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Fishwick, J., Grant, L. Tags: Letters and notices Source Type: research
Benchmarking antimicrobial use
Population corrected units (PCU) is a popularly quoted metric used to measure antibiotic microbial use (AMU). I feel that, in some cases, PCU is being incorrectly used for individual producer benchmarking purposes. It is an excellent metric when used to define the AMU on a country basis and the core data used to calculate the PCU (mg/kg) can be accurately collected in an agreed standardised form. However, it even has limitations when measuring AMU in individual countries. PCU is the only metric that can be manipulated downwards by choosing to substitute non-critically important antibiotics with critically important antibio...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 13, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: More, J. B. Tags: Letters and notices Source Type: research
