Veterinary Voices UK

Merry Christmas from all of us! Thank you to everyone for all your kind words of support since the election almost 6 months ago. It's a huge privilege to serve as your MP, and I have loved meeting and helping so many of you. Our staff are taking a well-earned break, so our office will be closed between Christmas and New Year. We will still be monitoring the inbox for emergencies which we will deal with, but non-urgent queries or general questions about policies and politics will be responded to in the New Year. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. Best wishes from Danny, Emma Taylor, Frank and Moose 🫎

Should pain be better considered as a cause of behaviour issues? Small animal vet and APBC registered behaviourist Sophie White (BVetMed MSc MRCVS) describes her perspective on the relationship between chronic pain and behaviour, giving some great tips to manage behavioural problems in a more simple way. In conversation with our very own Danny Chambers MP, they discuss this fascinating topic, and Danny reflects how this may relate to equine veterinary practice. Sophie describes how she combined her passion for working with dogs experiencing chronic pain with behavioural issues after encountering problems with her own rescue dog. This started her journey to better understand the relationship between the pain and behaviour. Now, years later in her capacity as referral behaviour specialist she reports around 50% of cases sent to her by vets are clinically unwell, with pain the untreated root cause of the behaviour issue. This includes gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal pain. We discuss why this may be, including discussions about how pain can often be masked in the consulting room. We discuss the topic of euthanasia due to behaviour problems, and how a lot of guilt is often felt putting an otherwise healthy animal to sleep. We consider the animal welfare perspective, and how in order to put safe precautions in place for human safety animal welfare may be compromised, making euthanasia a better option for some animals. Sophie discusses the benefit of a pain relief trial if there is even a tiny chance of pain being a factor, ideally before referral to a veterinary behaviourist. Pain is a subjective personal experience and cannot be ruled out. Referral is still an important thing to do, particularly when dealing with aggressive animals for safeguarding purposes, but whilst waiting to see her, patients could be undergoing a pain relief trial so the behaviour issue can be dealt with more quickly. If referral isn’t an option within the context of this client/ patient then a pain relief trial or discussion with a veterinary behaviourist about medications, may also bring some comfort to the client that before euthanasia is considered, they have tried something for their animal. https://lnkd.in/erqycjK9

Are you SURE that your online puppy advert is how it seems? In 2020, Dogs Trust found that 14% of all adverts reviewed were for imported puppies (29% in England), at least 18% of the imported puppies were confirmed by the seller as being under the minimum 15 weeks of age. Although none of the original advert text mentioned that the puppy was an import, many of the sellers were happy to share that the puppies had been imported when questioned further, with some even using this as a mark of quality. When Dogs Trust carried out similar research two years ago (2018), sellers were reluctant to say if puppies had been imported. However, whilst it is legal to import puppies to sell in the UK, this is only the case if they are correctly imported under the commercial movement legislation (the Balai Directive). It is likely that many of the puppies found for sale online had been imported on the Pet Travel Scheme which is designed for family pets. Importing puppies for sale under this legislation is illegal and importers are also evading HMRC by choosing this route. Shockingly, in many cases, the puppies being advertised for sale were too young to have been imported legally under the Pet Travel Scheme or Balai Directive. This has worrying implications for puppies’ welfare and for the control of disease. To travel to Great Britain from countries within the EU a puppy must be a minimum of 15 weeks of age. This means that the puppy receives a rabies vaccine at a minimum of 12 weeks of age, followed by a 21 day wait period after the vaccination date. For a puppy from an unlisted Third Country, such as Serbia, to comply with EU pet travel rules they must be at least seven months of age on arrival. This allows for the additional requirement of a rabies blood (titre) test to be carried out not less than 30 days after vaccination and three months before the date of travel to an EU country. The presence of a passport and on a few occasions a health certificate from a vet in the country of origin was used by sellers to give the impression of legitimacy. Closer examination of the paperwork often revealed anomalies such as dates of birth not matching the story being told, but it is likely that some buyers might not notice this anomaly! Please, research thoroughly into the animals you are buying on on-line adverts - they may not be as they seem and we MUST stop supporting the purchase of low welfare puppies. Please support the Puppy Smuggling Bill, alongside Danny Chambers https://lnkd.in/eEq2mtT8 https://lnkd.in/d9ETV9u3 #puppy #dog #vet #import

Is that puppy advert as it seems? “The available estimates indicate that Europe’s pet trade (cats, dogs, exotic) is the third most profitable illegal trade in the EU, after narcotics and weapons,” The crimes it encompasses are numerous and complex, including smuggling, tax evasion, market fraud, consumer fraud, animal abuse, and danger to individual and public health. The volumes are staggering: some eight million new dogs are required annually to supply the European market, but only about 1.1 million are produced by official breeding facilities. A smaller portion are adopted from rescue shelters or acquired from acquaintances, but that still leaves a vast, secretive supply chain that supplies millions of dogs every year. The sales take place primarily on the internet, and the hand-offs are made in cars parks, highway service stations, and rented houses. The markup value can be no less staggering as that in the drug trade: a Hungarian puppy farm can create a French bulldog for 20-40 euros that, in one month’s time, will sell to a British buyer for 5,000-8,000 euros. https://lnkd.in/dBuBKmC3 The Dogs Trust has been investigating this for a number of years and the information is shocking. Check out the latest report: Key finding include: ❎The total number of imports found was 91 (England 78, Scotland 13, Wales 0)- This works out as 29% of adverts in England, 7% in Scotland and 0% in Wales ❎14% of all adverts reviewed were for imported puppies ❎At least 18% of the imported puppies were confirmed by the seller as being under the minimum 15 weeks of age. Many others were suspected of being underage ❎Adverts for imported puppies were found on all four of the classified websites ❎The youngest puppy advertised was only 7 weeks of age when it entered Great Britain, too young to legally leave its mum ❎None of the puppies confirmed as having been imported could be viewed with mum ❎Only two of the 91 adverts for imported puppies included a photo or video of mum ❎None of the original advert text stated that the puppy had been imported, this was only revealed by further conversation https://lnkd.in/d9ETV9u3 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dmpsmWWb #import #dog #puppy #puppysmuggle #illegal

We’re absolutely thrilled by the incredible support for the Ullswater Way hike, organised by the Veterinary Voices UK Hiking Group! A special shout out to Linnaeus and IVC Evidensia for their generous additional donations of £5,000 each, with the grand total for the hike set to raise £15,000 by the end of #ActiveOctober These vital funds will allow us to keep providing essential services like our Helpline, Health Support, and Financial Support. A huge thank you to every hiker and everyone who contributed—our work is only possible because of amazing supporters like you!

Antimicrobial resistance remains one of the most pressing global health threats and climate change is making it worse. I wrote to the health secretary asking the government to leverage UK expertise on this matter at #COP29 and ensure we do our part to mitigate this global threat. #amr #publichealth #onehealth #medicine

NUTRITION NIGHT on Veterinary Voices UK Chronic Stress in Cats Join Hillary Pearce DVM, MRCVS from Hills and Robyn Lowe for a 1 hour webinar, FREE to access at all times here on Veterinary Voices UK (closed discussion group). Topic: Prolonged Stress in Feline Patients and the impact on health The webinar: ✅Introduces stress in humans and systemic effects caused by chronic stress (cardiac, obesity, GI) ✅Introduces stress in cats: prevalence, systemic effects (GI, skin, urinary, respiratory, behaviour), causes, signs (difficult for pet owners to recognise), stress "ladder" ✅Talks about the Bidirectional gut-brain axis, connection between microbes and brain hormones, potential menta health connection in humans being researched ✅Covers multimodal management of stress, including L-tryptophan and hydrolysed casein ✅Looks into the prevalence of chronic enteropathies, traditional management approaches (probiotics vs prebiotics; what kinds of fibre; hydrolysed vs fibre-responsive nutrition); evidence for ActivBiome+ fibre blend for diarrhoea and constipation in cats; introduce GI Biome Stress product. https://lnkd.in/eCBxMSY7

This week, BVA President Elizabeth Mullineaux and Head of Policy Patricia Canedo were delighted to meet with Danny Chambers at the House of Commons to discuss pressing issues for the veterinary profession, including reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act. We're thrilled to have a new vet MP championing the profession and #AnimalWelfare in Parliament.

It's fantastic to see former #Vetlife Trustee Danny Chambers selected as a #mentalhealth spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats following his election as MP for Winchester. Danny served on Vetlife board for over 6 years, and chaired Vetlife communications committee. He has been a fantastic ambassador, raising awareness and opening the conversation around mental health in the veterinary professions. We wish Danny all the very best in championing this topic in Westminster and beyond.

Vet and MP Danny Chambers said he was “deeply honoured” to be appointed as the Liberal Democrats’ new front bench spokesperson on #MentalHealth, following the party’s annual conference in Brighton.