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If you watched ‘Treating the Large Animal emergency’ a few weeks ago you will pleased to know this follow up webinar directing its focus towards pet sheep and goats has proved itself to be equally as useful. Dr Gayle Hallowell once again led this engaging webinar and delivered a mass of information citing a variety of cases along the way.
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Before I start I would like to make two clear points. First of all I am taking it as read that this audience believes that to slaughter without stunning is actually harmful to animal welfare. And secondly I want to differentiate between religious slaughter and non stun slaughter these are not the same thing and I want to separate them out very clearly right at the start.
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“To arthrodese or not to arthrodese” is the question I asked myself when I tuned into this week’s webinar on carpal and tarsal injuries. As we encounter these injuries relatively frequently in practice it is surprising this topic is not covered more often at CPD events, and I was hoping that some light could be shed on the diagnosis and treatment of these sometimes challenging cases. And after listening to the highly respected speaker, Professor John Innes BVSc PhD CertVR DSAS(orth) MRCVS from Liverpool University, I was not disappointed.
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Did you know that there are more pet tigers in America than there are in the wild globally? I’m not talking about animals in zoos or wildlife parks, but tigers kept as domestic pets. In fact, 94% of tigers in the USA are pets, according to the WWF. The exact number is unknown, but it is believed that across America there is upwards of 5,000 backyard big cats, including lions, leopards and cougars. Yes, somewhere in Texas there’s a crazy cat lady you really don’t want to mess with.
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A cat or a dog in respiratory distress can be one of the most daunting and stressful clinical presentations for any vet in general practice. Last week’s webinar led by Elke Rudloff DVM, DACVECC, CVMA offered practical tips on how to manage these cases efficiently and effectively and is a must see for anyone who wants to alleviate not only the respiratory distress of their patient but also the stress these type of cases can place on themselves.
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This is what I want to cover. You will notice that I have not put legislation on here that’s because I have only got 10 minutes and I could spend an entire 10 minutes winging about the state of legislation and its poor enforcement. So I want to concentrate really on the veterinary aspects of improving pedigree welfare. Little bit of background first. Firstly we can’t even decide how many dogs there are in this country and this I think raises a significant issue about a whole level of surveillance of disease but there are roughly 8 – 10 million dogs.
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One of our favourite webinar speakers Valerie Jonckheer-Sheehy, a behaviour veterinarian, has just received the title “European Specialist in Veterinary Behavioural Medicine” (Veterinary behaviourist). The title was awarded by European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine (ECAWBM).
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The colourful consultation is a concept developed by veterinary surgeon, Brian Faulkner, whose particular interest lies with the science of psychology and its effect on veterinary consultations. ‘The Webinar Vet’ organised Mr Faulkner to lead a veterinary webinar advising vets on how to achieve a successful consultation based on this concept.
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To the people who knew him, Mike Evans was a personable man and a competent veterinary surgeon. Yes, there had been that time when he had botched surgery on a cat, killing it, for which the practice had had to compensate the owner, and it was true that he sometimes seemed a little “rusty” with his fundamentals, but for the employees and clients of the Taunton practice where he had worked for two years he was easy to work with and good with animals.
PETA, the notorious animal rights activist group, likes to stir up controversy from time to time. While they have undoubtedly done good in bringing public attention to animal abuse in various forms, they’ve previously drawn ire for a number of stances that have been misguided at best and underhanded at worst, such as trying to convince people that drinking milk causes autism (and you thought the anti-vaccine people were bad enough).
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I was fortunate to attend the World Dermatology Congress in November 2008 in Hong Kong. These gatherings are always fantastic opportunities to meet with colleagues and learn new ideas in the field of dermatology. I want to report on some of the lectures as well as give my own thoughts on the subject. I am a private practitioner and hopefully my way of doing things is helpful for you in general practice.
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Q34: Is human disease also treated with doxycycline? C: I am not sure if doxycycline is used in all cases, but I was once treated preventively with doxycycline myself (I got the flu shortly after being in contact with a dog with leptospirosis, so I was treated while test results were pending, which came back negative).
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