Healthy pets NZ update

CAt H WAtsON, Chair, Healthy pets NZ

It’s full steam ahead for 2023 at Healthy Pets New Zealand as we come out of the Covid19-induced coma of the last few years. We’re really excited about the increasing numbers of donors showing their support; along with more and more research grant applications each funding round. t he more we raise, the more we can support local, relevant research benefiting companion animal veterinarians in practice. Help us to help them.

Grants

two new grants were approved in march:

1. Professor Carolyn Gates: Strengthening veterinary student communication skills through postadoption preventive care consults (Discretionary grant)

Companion animals need to be provided with appropriate nutrition, health care, and social interactions to prevent medical and behavioural problems that can negatively impact their wellbeing. Veterinarians are in a unique position to counsel owners about preventive care. However, many new pet owners do not seek veterinary advice to develop a good preventive care plan and even when they do, veterinarians are not always skilled at being able to communicate with clients in a manner that encourages them to follow recommendations. In this project, we will develop a novel programme for training veterinary students in motivational interviewing (mI), which is an evidence-based communication style that uses empathy, partnership, and understanding of the clients’ perspective to empower them to make positive behavioural changes.

2. Professor Andrew Worth: Biomechanical equivalency of 3D printed titanium bone plates (Research in Practice grant)

Internal fixation using titanium bone plates is a standard method of providing stability to allow a fracture to heal. Commercially available titanium plates are press manufactured from

Contact: http://healthypets.org.nz/ a billet first reduced from a titanium ore. In medical application both pure titanium and titanium alloys are used. Laser sintering is a form of rapid prototype manufacturing (also called 3D printing) in which a laser melts titanium alloy powder to form a structure from a computer generated data file using a topographic working surface. t his computer-aided design allows a plate to be custom made for any application. In order to design a plate of sufficient strength for a patient specific application a comparison to available equivalents is desired. t he actual loading on any given device in situ is only an approximation based on biomechanical modelling. Surgical guidelines are available which relate the animals mass to the available plate sizes. t hese guidelines only relate to the testing of plates manufactured using billet and press production, not rapid prototyping. t herefore before 3D printed plates can be recommended for use in patients it is vital to ascertain the equivalence of these implants to standard plate recommendations based on patient mass. t his data is not available for laser sintered plates as manufactured in NZ and elsewhere.

Research updates

We’ve added some historical background to our website on the origins of HPNZ. t his came about as part of our contribution to the NZVA Centenary celebrations, which we’re thrilled to be a part of –congratulations NZVA!

It’s been fascinating to look back through the archives at the research funded from the start, and to be able to hear from those involved in the establishment of the trust. t hanks have to go to the efforts of Boyd Jones, Richard Squires, Ross Blanks, Stuart Burroughs, Chris Hutchings, Pieter Verhoek and the many other who have helped to ensure we have access to local funding for research that will directly benefit Kiwi vets and companion animals.

We hope to highlight some of the original research funded over the coming year, but for now we’d like to congratulate Dr Anne Haase and her team from Victoria university of Wellington for completing their project on the fostering of cats for health. t his was the very first project funded under the Human-Animal Bond grant, with the support of Royal Canin. t he research helps fill in some of the big gaps in our knowledge about what motivates fosterers; how they care for the cats, and how they influence the health and wellbeing of both the cats and themselves. t here are some good recommendations from their report, so if you’re interested to know more, you can find the full report on our website.

Partners News

HPNZ is very excited to welcome back PD Insurance as our Principal Partner. PD Insurance have been amazing partners through 2022, helping to raise the profile of HPNZ through events, interview opportunities, insurance bonuses, social media, as well as helping to share our research through their new vlogs. t heir support has meant we have been able to fund some big projects in the past year, so we look forward to bringing you lots more research in the coming years thanks to their ongoing support.

Upcoming Events

Healthy Pets New Zealand plans to be busy for the rest of the year, so we’d love to have at chat at one of the upcoming events. t hanks to the wonderful support from the team at PD Insurance, we’ll once again be at the NZVA Conference ( tākina Events Centre, Wellington, 28–30 June 2023), so come and talk to us and check out the research summaries at stands 214 and 215. t here will be more artwork on offer to, so come and put your bids in.

We’re also thrilled to have the support of the 4Paws marathon team and would like to encourage anyone with a dog in the vicinity of Christchurch on Sunday 1 october 2023 to sign up with your dog for one of the many events on offer. Sign up at https://4pawsmarathon.co.nz/enter/ and show your support to Healthy Pets NZ when you enter.

Dogs Day out will be back again in october too, but this time bigger and better in tauranga. Look out for more details soon on our website, or get in touch if you’d like to help out. l