Students strip off for charity
Students from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh, have taken part in a naked calendar to raise funds for All4Paws. The charity, which is initiated and run by Edinburgh vet students, offers free veterinary care to the pets of people who are homeless or vulnerably housed. All profit from the sales of ‘When Vets Undress’ will be donated to All4Paws. Calendars are available at: www.whenvetsundress.org (Source: Veterinary Record)
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
News in brief
Nominations sought for outstanding animal welfare scientists The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) is seeking nominations for its Young Animal Welfare Scientist of the Year 2018 Award. The award recognises the achievements of a young scientist who has made significant contributions to improving the welfare of animals. It is open to students currently studying for a doctoral degree and those who are within six years of completing their PhD work. The winner of this award will receive a cheque for 1000 and a framed award certificate. The closing date for nominations is December 7. More information at: www.ufaw...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News in brief Source Type: research
Solution for Irish border must be found, says BVA
A significant number of vet graduates from Northern Ireland are trained in the Republic of Ireland, and losing these following Brexit would have serious implications for the veterinary profession. This was the warning from Simon Doherty, BVA junior vice president, at a BVA Northern Ireland dinner last week. He explained that 30,000 people are cross-border workers in Ireland, with a significant number of veterinary surgeons with practices that straddle the border. He urged the government to guarantee the existing rights of all non-UK EU vets and vet nurses living, studying and working in the UK following Brexit. In the spee...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
Disfigured bear cub saved by expert vet team
A bear with a monstrously enlarged tongue has been given a new lease of life after UK vets flew out to Myanmar to amputate it.
Vet Heather Bacon, from the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, and Romain Pizzi from Wildlife Surgery International completed the operation earlier this month, removing three kilogrammes of tissue.
Caroline Nelson, a veterinary nurse at the Animals Asia Bear Rescue Centre in Vietnam has confirmed the bear is now eating and playing as normal.
The team believe the swelling may have been caused by the mosquito-transmitted infection elephantiasis.
The procedure w...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
Bluetongue confirmed in UK cattle
Vets have been urged to be extra vigilant following the detection of bluetongue virus in cattle imported to the UK from France. Post-import tests picked up the BTV-8 strain in cattle brought in from an assembly centre in an area of France, where multiple cases have been confirmed since September this year. A total of 32 animals entered the country on October 10 destined for two farms in England (Preston and Kendal) and two in Scotland (Dumfries and Stirling). Routine post-movement tests picked up the disease in a number of the animals and restrictions have been placed on all four farms. All of the animals that tested posit...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
Farming propped up by antimicrobials 'will have to go says chief vet
The chief vet has blasted the use of antimicrobials when they are not needed as ‘indefensible’. Speaking during a question time session at the British Cattle Veterinary Association congress last week, Nigel Gibbens, said antimicrobial must only be used when needed. And, while sympathetic to different scenarios and pressures on vets, he said it was important for vets to act consistently and for farmers to get a consistent message from them. Robin Brown, a cattle vet practising in Preston, told him vets often faced pressure to prescribe antimicrobials. For example, if they treated individual cows but, subsequentl...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
Vets can be specialists in general practice
‘If we want the RCVS Fellowship to evolve into a truly veterinary learned society, that reflects the breadth of what we can offer, it seems obvious to me that we must attract and embrace all vets – and that includes the majority of vets who are primary care vets.’ That was the opinion of Bradley Viner (pictured), a former RCVS President, during a ‘Fellows in Focus’ session, held as part of the Fellowship Day last week. He said: ‘I believe that that would be good for the fellowship. I believe that that would be good for GP vets. Ultimately it’s going to be good for the profession an...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
News section
(Source: Veterinary Record)
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News and reports Source Type: research
New measures to tackle the 'wild west world of online puppy sales
Unlicensed breeding and the huge rise in online puppy sales will be targeted by new legislation to be introduced in 2018. Government plans will mean tougher rules for dog breeding and sales, and stricter enforcement of licensing and breeder inspections. Details of the proposals were revealed in a Commons debate earlier this month as MPs discussed the sale of puppies in the UK. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food George Eustice said existing laws would be replaced with a stricter licensing regime linked, for the first time, to the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Measures to be introduced will include:Requiring anyone sell...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research
Vets are good for people, too
Next Friday – November 3 – will mark One Health Day. Launched in 2016, the day aims to raise global awareness of the need for One Health interactions across human, animal and environmental health. There are many diseases that affect both people and animals – influenza is a good example. There are also significant issues that threaten future human and animal health – antimicrobial resistance is possibly the most serious global one. Dealing with all of these problems effectively requires a sustained One Health approach. Recently, there has been something of a flurry of One Health-related announcements...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Clark, K. Tags: Comment Source Type: research
People
Davies appoints new finance director Davies Veterinary Specialists has appointed Nick Bayston FCCA as its new finance director. Bayston, a chartered certified accountant, is an experienced finance director with extensive knowledge of accounting and finance, corporate strategy, IT, facilities, risk management, governance, contract and company law. He has worked in the IT services sector for the past 15 years with a diverse range of clients from small healthcare practices to the world’s leading insurance companies. Improve International appoints veterinary operations manager Juliet Pope will help the company deliver it...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Vet record careers Source Type: research
If you can handle vet school, you can handle anything
Jolle Kirpensteijn grew up in The Netherlands and now lives in the USA. He is the most recent recipient of the WSAVA’s President’s Award (Source: Veterinary Record)
Source: Veterinary Record - October 26, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Tags: Vet record careers Source Type: research
Welfare of chickens at slaughter
John Fishwick, BVA President and Lewis Grant, Veterinary Public Health Association President, respond: BVA believes that all animals should be effectively stunned before slaughter on animal welfare grounds, rendering the bird or animal unconscious and insensible to pain. However, in England, WATOK Regulations do not include any parameters for effective stunning of poultry killed ‘in accordance with religious rites’. The omission of parameters for electrical waterbath stunning for these birds leaves them vulnerable to electro-immobilisation rather than an effective stun. Slaughtermen, Official Veterinarians (OVs...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Fishwick, J., Grant, L. Tags: Letters and notices Source Type: research
Applications open for One Health travelling fellowship awards
LORD Soulsby of Swaffham Prior is known by many in the profession for his pioneering role as a champion of the concept of ‘One Health’. He died in May this year (VR, May 20, 2017, vol 180, p 504), leaving an important legacy to both veterinary and human medicine which, together with contributions from friends and family, has been used to establish the Soulsby Foundation. The main activity of the Soulsby Foundation is to provide funding for travelling research fellowships known as ‘Soulsby Fellowships’. The trustees aim to award one or two Soulsby Fellowships each year through a competitive applicati...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Molyneux, J. Tags: Letters and notices Source Type: research
Welfare of chickens at slaughter
In your article, ‘Meat from non-stun slaughtered source "must be clearly labelled" for consumers’ (VR, September 16, 2017, vol 181, p 278), a figure of 18.5 per cent is quoted as the number of chickens killed without pre-stunning in the UK. This figure is completely inaccurate; the number slaughtered without stunning is around three per cent, a figure that has remained stable for several years. What has changed is the legislation associated with stunning, which requires that birds must be stunned to specific parameters detailed in Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (WATOK) licensing, unless for religious...
Source: Veterinary Record - October 19, 2017 Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Parker, D. Tags: Letters and notices Source Type: research
