Conservation trust says Boki ‘not out of the woods’ yet but doing well after operation to drain buildup of fluid
A brown bear that underwent brain surgery in the first operation of its kind in the UK is doing well but is “not out of the woods” yet, a charity has said.
Boki went under the knife on Wednesday after an MRI scan revealed he had hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain.
Continue reading...Staff at a practice in Wales have accused its private-equity-backed owner of poor pay and overcharging customers
Staff working at a chain of commercial vet surgeries have extended their strike, accusing their private-equity-backed owner of underpaying workers and overcharging pet owners as part of the first industrial action to hit the veterinary sector in the UK.
Unionised vets, nurses and support staff at Valley Vets in south Wales, which is owned by one of the largest veterinary corporations in the country, VetPartners, decided last week to stay out until the end of the month, in the latest move in an increasingly bitter dispute.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Pet owners risk contaminating their hands with neurotoxins for at least 28 days after application, scientists find
Vets should limit the use of flea treatments containing pesticides on dogs and cats, scientists have said, after a study revealed the vast amount of toxic substances in them that end up in rivers.
Pet owners using these flea treatments risk contaminating their hands with fipronil and imidacloprid, two insecticides, for at least 28 days after the treatment has been applied, according to research by the University of Sussex and Imperial College London.
Continue reading...Vets receive medication originally meant for people amid virulent feline coronavirus that has killed thousands of cats
Veterinary services in Cyprus have received a first batch of anti-Covid pills, from a stockpile originally meant for humans, as efforts intensify to stop the spread of a virulent strain of feline coronavirus that has killed thousands of cats.
The island’s health ministry began discharging the treatment on 8 August – long celebrated as International Cat Day – in what is hoped will be the beginning of the end of the disease that has struck the Mediterranean country’s feline population.
Continue reading...Requirement for animal medicines to be batch-tested in EU could see products discontinued, BVA warns
Northern Ireland could lose half of its veterinary medicines in a new Brexit row threatening to prolong the political stalemate in the region, it has emerged.
The British Veterinary Association told the Lords committee on Northern Ireland in written evidence that it was “extremely concerned” about the issue even though the Windsor framework sealed between Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, in March was sold as a solution to the protracted saga regarding Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Warm weather and stagnant flood waters have created ideal conditions for mosquito-borne diseases
Veterinarians have warned horse owners to be on the lookout for symptoms of Japanese encephalitis as widespread flooding and warmer days creates “the perfect storm” for mosquito-borne diseases across eastern Australia.
It comes as the Australian Medical Association has urged people to protect themselves against mosquito bites and to get vaccinated for Japanese encephalitis if they are eligible, after a slow vaccine uptake in at-risk communities.
Continue reading...Pedigree livestock breeders in Britain could be forced to spend millions of pounds to build facilities in France for ‘red tape’ checks by vets so their animals are allowed to enter the single market
British farmers are trying to set up red tape and border checks in France costing millions of pounds – and may even pay for it themselves.
Breeders in Britain are unable to export their pedigree cattle, sheep and pigs to the EU because no one has built any border control posts where vets can check the animals before they enter the single market.
Continue reading...Agriculture minister says disinfectant mats will be installed to prevent arrival of the disease, which is spreading in Indonesia
The federal government will install acidic disinfectant mats at airports as part of an expanded suite of biosecurity measures to prevent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) entering Australia from Indonesia.
The new precautions come as viral fragments of the disease were detected in food products arriving from China.
Continue reading...Australian research shows six in 10 have sought professional help for their mental health
New research shows nearly 70% of veterinarians have lost a colleague or peer to suicide and about six in 10 have sought professional help for their mental health.
For those with decades of experience, including former Australian Veterinary Association national president Dr Warwick Vale, the figures come as no surprise.
Continue reading...Ministers are considering another postponement to border controls amid fears of supply chain problems and higher prices
Government plans to waive border checks on goods from the EU – including food and livestock – will put the country at risk of importing devastating infectious diseases such as African swine fever and compound serious damage to UK trade caused by Brexit.
The double warning has been issued by the British Veterinary Association (BVA) as ministers consider yet another postponement of post-Brexit inspections because of fears that checks will slow supply chains, add to bureaucracy and increase prices in shops at a time when UK consumers are already facing a cost of living crisis.
Continue reading...Vets are no strangers to pressure, but Covid and the huge boom in pets means they have never been busier – or experienced so much stress
By the summer of 2020, veterinary practices were beginning to feel the effects of the pandemic pet boom. That was the time that Melanie, a small-animal vet from the southeast of England, realised she no longer wanted to be in the profession. The feeling left her at a loss. All she’d ever done was eat, breathe and sleep veterinary medicine. Like many vets she had been inspired since she was a child: religiously watching TV shows such as Animal Hospital and Vets in Practice, mucking out stables to embellish her university application and completing a five-year degree before finding work at a busy practice. It was a vocation, not a job: she simply loved animals. “Ever since I knew what a vet was, I wanted to be one,” she says. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to do that – until now.”
But for Melanie, the pressure of lockdown was just the start. During the initial mayhem, practices were forced to work within strict Covid restrictions. Many team members were off sick, isolating or furloughed. Melanie worked three shifts on, three shifts off with a skeleton staff, clocking two hours’ overtime every evening out of a sense of duty. The busiest day in the practice calendar was usually Boxing Day. But between March and July 2020, says Melanie, every day felt as if it was Boxing Day “if the toilet was flooded and the lab was on fire”. Staff bounced from the reception to operations, from remote appointments to emergencies, shepherding animals in for treatment from the street while brushing off abuse from stressed-out owners who were unhappy about wearing masks, didn’t want to wait outside or refused to accept that they couldn’t receive a home visit to have their cat’s claws clipped.
Continue reading...Staff attrition, high demand for appointments and enraged human clients have strained vet practices across the US
Early in the pandemic, Dr Monica Mansfield, a veterinarian based in Medway, Massachusetts, became haunted by a recurring nightmare.
“There were these vulnerable kittens in my basement, and I forgot to feed them,” Mansfield recalls. “I’d wake up, terrified. ‘Oh my gosh, the kittens! Where are they?’ I felt like I was missing details and forgetting things that were critical to a case – that were critical to an animal’s life.”
Continue reading...Numbers of the country’s carrion-loving birds dropped by over 97% in the 1990s. Now, a successful breeding scheme is giving them a boost
In February, the doors of an aviary in West Bengal’s Buxa tiger reserve were flung open. Eight critically endangered captive-bred white-rumped vultures cautiously emerged and within minutes were mingling with wild vultures, devouring the meat of carcasses left out by a team of researchers from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
The birds were raised in a nearby breeding centre by BNHS, led by assistant director Sachin Ranade, as part of efforts to save India’s Gyps vultures. Gradually, some of the released vultures perched on trees with their wild cousins, while others returned to the wire-mesh aviary where they had spent the previous few months getting acclimatised to their surroundings.
Continue reading...As cases of blood condition pancytopenia persist, investigators suggest food fungi could be to blame
Cats are still dying in significant numbers from a mystery illness that investigators believe may be linked to widely sold cat food brands, prompting concern that not enough is being done to warn owners about a nationwide product recall.
Vets around the UK are understood to have been swamped by cases of pancytopenia, a condition in which the number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets decreases rapidly, causing serious illness.
Continue reading...Diclofenac was approved in Spain and Italy despite being banned in Asia after it had wiped out millions of birds
A recently approved veterinary drug has been confirmed as the cause of death of a vulture in Spain. Conservationists say the incident could be the tip of an iceberg, and warn that the drug could wipe out many of Europe’s vultures as well as harming related species, including golden eagles.
The anti-inflammatory agent diclofenac has already been banned in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh after it was found to kill vultures that ate the carcasses of cattle treated with the drug. Tens of millions of vultures are believed to have died in this way with some species declining by a staggering 99.9% in parts of south Asia.
Continue reading...With world’s attention on Covid-19, warnings that lack of measures to contain pandemic could lead to culling of record number of pigs
The African swine fever (ASF) pandemic will be even worse this year than in 2019, say experts, warning that the spread of the highly contagious virus, which is fatal to pigs, is unrelenting.
With world attention on the human viral pandemic of Covid-19, concern is growing that countries are not focusing enough on halting the spread of ASF through better biosecurity practices, cooperation on intensive vaccine development, or transparency regarding outbreaks.
Continue reading...World Organisation for Animal Health warns spread of disease has inflamed worldwide crisis
About a quarter of the global pig population is expected to die as a result of the African swine fever (ASF) epidemic, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
Global pork prices are rising spurred by growing demand from China, where as many as 100 million pigs have died since ASF broke out there last year. In recent months, China has been granting export approval to foreign meat plants and signing deals around the world at a dizzying rate. US pork sales to China have doubled, while European pork prices have now reached a six-year high.
Continue reading...In Namibia a country of meat-lovers, vital expertise is needed to stop livestock spreading diseases
Wreathed in barbecue smoke, Vetjaera Haakuria gestures at the men butchering meat and cooking it over hot coals behind his back. “What have you learned about the risks of eating this?” he asks his young audience, spotless in their white lab coats. “It might contain drug residues, right? And what about diseases?”
It’s nearly noon in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, and the market is preparing grilled meat – known locally as kapana – for the lunchtime rush. Everyone comes here, from construction workers to members of parliament. Namibians love to eat meat, and he is no exception: his tribe, the Herero, traditionally eat nothing else.
Continue reading...