CAV activities and meeting highlights

WORkINg tO PROmOte AND SuPPORt COmPANION ANImAl PRACtICe IN NeW ZeAlAND

CAV activities and meeting highlights

the CAV executive committee met for their annual 2-day strategic planning meeting in mid-August, at the NZVA offices in Wellington. Discussions included key projects for 2022, catching up with members of the national office Senior Leadership team, and a presentation from otago Polytechnic School of Veterinary Nursing staff on a proposed clinical coaching programme to facilitate a more structured approach to in-clinic training of veterinary nurses.

Vaccination and socialisation of puppies

A survey was conducted to better understand what advice veterinarians are giving puppy owners about vaccination for parvovirus and appropriate socialisation. the survey was part one of a project to better support veterinarians in this area where it is needed. Check out the summary of findings on page 16 of this issue!

Companion animal dentistry

the NZVA veterinary team re-engaged with mPI on the issue of veterinary nurses no longer being able to perform subgingival scaling, subsequent to changes in the Animal Welfare Act in may of this year. mPI has been asked to create a regulation to allow veterinary nurses to undertake this procedure, with urgency. the CAV committee provided their support to this advocacy, along with other representatives from within the veterinary and veterinary nursing professions.

Qualifications for groomers

Also in conjunction with the NZVA veterinary team, the CAV committee supported a submission to Primary Ito as part of their consultation process for developing an NZQA-approved qualification for pet groomers. As mentioned in last issue’s highlights, the committee also recently met with the National Dog Groomers Association to discuss professional standards for groomers. See the summary of these discussions and our submission to the Primary Ito on page 14.

Feline immunodeficiency virus in NZ

A successful webinar discussing the current science around FIV in New Zealand was hosted by the CAV committee in early August. the guest speakers were Dr mark Westman (university of Sydney) and A/Prof Richard Squires (James Cook university and Chair of WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines Group). the evening provided much for participants to consider around prevention and management of FIV in NZ. l

Companion Quarterly – a call for contributions

Do you have a clinical case to share, need to tick off a task on your CPD plan or want to earn some pocket money? CQ publishes case studies, clinical updates, reviews etc. on topics that are of interest to companion animal veterinarians. An award of $300 is paid for all published articles, with the chance to win the Best Article of the Issue and Best Article of the Year (thanks to Eyevet Services). Please send your contributions to the Editor at sarah.fowler@gmail.com microsoft Word format is preferred and photographs/ images are welcome, preferably two megapixels or higher, and sent as a separate attachment (rather than embedded within the Word document).