VetScript September 2020

nzva.org.nz

HUMAN FAD WENDY DIETS NEWS ANDMCCULLOCH VIEWS Are they good Making house calls for pets? in the Big Apple

NEW WAYS TO REDUCE PAIN after velvet antler removal

T H E O F F I C I A L M AG A Z I N E O F T H E N E W Z E A L A N D V E T E R I N A RY A S S O C I AT I O N • S E P T E M B E R 2 02 0

BIT

BLINDNESS

the unrecognised mouth pain caused bySeptember horse2020 bits VetScript –i

Companion Animal

Complementary Veterinary Medicine

Dairy Cattle

Deer

Equine

Food Safety, Animal Welfare and Biosecurity

Companion Animal Veterinary Nursing

Equine Veterinary Nursing

Sheep and Beef Cattle

Veterinary Business

Veterinary Business and Industry Wellbeing Wildlife Epidemiology and Animal Health Management

NZVA workshops will be offered on 26 June

For more information: www.nzva.org.nz T +64 4 471 0484 E vetlearn@vets.org.nz

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL 2 Mirjam Guesgen, VetScript Editor NEWS AND VIEWS 4 Grant McCullough, NZVA President 6 Kevin Bryant, NZVA CEO 8 Helen Beattie, NZVA CVO 9 News 11 Get puzzling with a crossword 12 Massey research update 14 Animal welfare and ethics update 16 NZVJ update 17 Global lab – check out what’s happening in veterinary schools around the world 18 Seton Butler, VCNZ 20 Wounds that never heal IN THE WORLD 22 Meet New York City-based veterinarian Wendy McCulloch

22 IN THE CLINIC

IN THE LAB

36 Human fad diets – are they good for pets?

50 BVD: effective testing for control or eradication

IN THE LAB

OUT THERE VETTING

40 Dairy cow health and welfare: are we there yet?

28 Taking the path that works

42 AMR – more than a treatment issue 44 Resistance? What resistance?

52 Infectious canine hepatitis – it’s still out there VETLEARN 54 Take a look at the exciting opportunities for professional development

COVER STORY 32 Bit blindness – the unrecognised mouth pain caused by horse bits

12

IN THE WORKPLACE 48 Will you be ready to retire?

28

62 CLASSIFIEDS

32

VetScript September 2020 – 1

NEWS AND VIEWS

www.nzva.org.nz

VetScript SEPTEMBER 2020 • VOL 33 • NO 8 ISSN 1170-280X COVER IMAGE Bit blindness (IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM)

VetScript is published monthly (except January) by the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) as a service to its members.

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Bette Flagler M: 021 956 122 E: bette.flagler@vets.org.nz EDITOR Mirjam Guesgen M: 022 099 7734 E: vetscript@vets.org.nz ADVERTISING MANAGER Tony Leggett T: 06 280 3162 M: 027 4746 093 E: tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz CLASSIFIEDS ADMINISTRATOR E: classifieds@vets.org.nz ART DIRECTOR Amanda Trayes NZVA OFFICE Level 2, 44 Victoria Street Wellington Central PO Box 11212, Manners Street Wellington 6142, New Zealand T: 04 471 0484 F: 04 471 0494 E: nzva@vets.org.nz www.nzva.org.nz NZVA BOARD Independent Chair: Flora Gilkison President: Grant McCullough Members: Peter Blaikie, Mark Bryan, Kate Hill, Cath Watson DISCLAIMER VetScript is published by the New Zealand Veterinary Association Incorporated (NZVA). The views expressed in the articles and letters do not necessarily represent those of the NZVA or the editor and neither the NZVA nor the editor endorses any products or services advertised. The NZVA is not the source of the information reproduced in this publication and has not independently verified the truth of the information. It does not accept legal responsibility for the truth or accuracy of the information contained herein. Neither the NZVA nor the editor accepts any liability whatsoever for the contents of this publication or for any consequences that may result from the use of any information contained herein or advice given herein. This provision is intended to exclude the NZVA, the editor and its staff from all liability whatsoever, including liability for negligence in the publication or reproduction of the material set out herein. The entire content of VetScript is copyrighted by the NZVA. VetScript is produced for NZVA members and approved subscribers only. No material from this publication may be reproduced in any form, or quoted from either directly or indirectly in other media, without the permission of the editor.

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Fresh directions with animals at heart In this month’s issue of VetScript, veterinary specialists in New York and New Zealand demonstrate their unique commitments to animal health and welfare.

I’VE NEVER REALLY run into a celebrity. The closest was when I spotted Simon Helberg (who plays Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory) while I was on holiday in Los Angeles. It was a fleeting sighting. He was getting out of his car as my fiancé and I were on our way to get coffee. I only sometimes watch the show and, sorry Simon, Howard is far from my favourite character.

Yet in that moment I fan-girled. I let out an excited “eeeee” to my fiancé, who hadn’t even noticed Simon and didn’t know what the heck I was on about. So needless to say, I don’t handle seeing anyone even mildly famous well.

This doesn’t seem to be the case for Wendy McCulloch, a Gisborne-born veterinarian who lives and works in New York City. In her former life as a caterer, Wendy had the opportunity to work near, and practically for, the rich and famous, including Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, from ELO, Paul McCartney and Tom Petty.

As well as talking about her celebrity encounters, Wendy spoke to VetScript about her winding road to being a veterinarian, and what it’s like to work as a house-call-only veterinarian in a city during COVID-19 lockdown. Imagining her in full personal protective equipment, trying to console an owner who’s about to put down their beloved pet, is truly a sign of the times. Wendy’s life story is fascinating and so too is her approach to her business; it’s straightforward and sustainable.

After reading David Mellor’s article on bit-induced mouth pain in horses, I found myself pressing a pen against my lower gums (read the story on page 32 to find out what I’m talking about!). David eloquently details the physiology, behavioural signs and implications of horse mouth pain. I consider this article a must read. It completely changed my view of bit use and got me thinking about the wider implications for our relationships with animals.

The cover story this month looks at whether ketogenic and intermittent fasting diets are beneficial for dogs. Unlike some other diet trends that have crept over from people to pets – think raw diets that could be behind a string of rickets cases in puppies – keto and intermittent fasting show some promise for dog nutrition. Naomi Arnold speaks to researchers studying the diets’ role in recovery from spinal cord injury and their effects on the immune system.

The story also highlights the need for veterinarians and veterinary nurses to be the go-to sources of information on pet nutrition. As mentioned in other topics VetScript has covered in the past, including last month’s story on cannabis products, client discussions on nutrition need to be open and non-judgemental.

Veterinarians are well placed to provide sound, evidence-based advice, but not if owners feel they’re being criticised.

I hope that this month’s articles, and VetScript as a publication, continue to get you thinking critically and creatively about the future of animal health and welfare, and your business.

Mirjam Guesgen, Editor, VetScript

NEWS AND VIEWS

Letter A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE I address this letter to our President as my message is to him as well as to our board. I hope my message is echoed by other members.

Prior to COVID-19 our society was unsustainable because of climate change – the effect of our consuming society. COVID-19 has provided a brief resting point for society but has not stopped or reversed climate change. Now we are starting the return to normal and I am fearful that we will just go back to our old ways rather than use the resources that are available to review what we have done to our world and develop a sustainable society in every way.

I understand the NZVA supports sustainability and is developing specific policies towards this. I ask that the association continue to quickly develop appropriate policies both for itself and for members to use to ensure that sustainability is the watchword of whatever we do.

Bob Gumbrell, Loburn Response from the NZVA: Thanks for your letter Bob. I thought it would be good for all readers to be aware of the NZVA Board’s and Member Advisory Group’s position concerning environmental issues, as we readily acknowledge that we’re all the environmental stewards for the next generation and generations to come.

The NZVA supports responsible practices to protect and nurture the environment in which New Zealanders live and work, and encourages members to do the same. We support a sciencebased approach to dealing with issues that affect the environment. Recent examples of where a science-based approach has been taken include protecting waterways by minimising nitrogen leaching from farms into waterways, planting native trees and protecting the environment from erosion.

NZVA IN ACTION The NZVA represented the membership in the following ways this past month. » As part of the regional network meetings, members discussed the laws surrounding euthanasia and destruction, significant surgical procedures, as well as the history of animal welfare science and the Five Domains Model. Also discussed was the refined NZVA strategy. » The NZVA’s Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) and other stakeholders, including practising veterinarians, are continuing to review the VCNZ Code of Professional Conduct as part of the VCNZ Professional Standards Committee. They are currently still focused on the code’s animal welfare section. » The NZVA’s CVO attended several meetings of the National Emergency Management Agency’s animal welfare sub-function. The NZVA is a support agency in the national emergency response. » The NZVA’s President, CEO and CVO met with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), VCNZ and Massey University to share information as part of the monthly Veterinary Leaders Meeting. » The NZVA’s CVO attended several Winter Grazing Action Group meetings.

The group is working on farm system maps and meeting short-term industry expectations in all wintering systems. » The NZVA veterinary team met as part of the wider VetScript editorial team to discuss current issues and interests of the profession that could be part of future articles. » The NZVA represented the membership at multiple meetings with regulators and industry to discuss antimicrobial resistance and related issues. » The NZVA’s CVO attended the New Zealand Companion Animal strategic board meeting. » The NZVA’s CVO sits on the National Adverse Events Committee, a crossdisciplinary government group that regularly meets to address current adverse events and ensures wraparound support for affected parties. » The NZVA’s CVO attended the Animal Behaviour and Welfare Consultative Committee meeting. n

However, we don’t have specific positions on such issues unless they have direct animal welfare impacts that could require NZVA members to be consulted as part of wider pieces of work led by suitably qualified environmental experts.

We focus primarily on supporting our members and their prime focus, which is caring and advocating for animals, and ensuring that veterinary businesses remain financially sustainable so they can continue to do this.

Grant McCullough, NZVA President

VetScript Deadlines for November 2020 issue EDITORIAL COPY 20 September DISPLAY AND CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 1 October LATE CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 20 October Contact the editor at: vetscript@vets.org.nz

VetScript September 2020 – 3

NEWS AND VIEWS

Change brings new opportunities NZVA President Grant McCullough welcomes new opportunities for the veterinary profession in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

AS WE’VE ALL seen lately, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have wrought a massive shift in the attitudes of society in general. People have responded by changing their behaviours, changing their mindsets and reassessing what’s important to them at personal, local, national and international levels.

At this stage New Zealand is in a very strong position, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. It’s led me to think a lot about the ‘new normal’ for the veterinary profession and for the NZVA. For example, large animal veterinarians could help New Zealand out of an economic recession through the increased importance of the agriculture sector. The role of veterinarians involved in primary production (eg, as clinicians, with the Ministry for Primary Industries, as participants in market access and industry, and as pathologists) will be even more vital as they help clients achieve higher levels of animal production and performance.

For companion animal veterinarians, I’ve heard anecdotally that pet ownership increased during the lockdown and continues to do so. We certainly haven’t heard reports of pet abandonment, and pet adoptions have continued. The lockdown provided opportunities for people to spend more time with their pets, and many would have gained enormous value from the emotional support their pets provided. There has also been a strong uptake of veterinary services since the lockdown, as practices catch up on non-essential cases that were halted.

I encourage veterinary businesses to consider the ongoing use of digital technology to boost the local veterinary experience and create points of difference in meeting customer needs. Also, online transactions such as local ‘click and collect’ retail are growing. If your practice has products to sell you can put them online. Choose not to, and you risk losing a large chunk of your business as many others make the transition. Don’t be left behind!

I hope that the stronger links between authorising and dispensing restricted veterinary medicines will be part of the ‘new normal’ for veterinarians. The NZVA is working with various stakeholders and consulting members on this issue, so that we can better understand it and decide whether

4 – VetScript September 2020

current laws and regulations are enough to support veterinarians in providing excellence in product stewardship.

Things are also different for NZVA staff. They’ve been hosting more Zoom meetings with members and stakeholders, communicating remotely more often, and working from home for more of the time – all while maintaining efficiency and engagement. They are determined to maintain support for and relevance to members; for example, members have been polled and most have told us that email is their preferred way of getting news from the NZVA. Webinars have also proven to be valuable time- and cost-effective ways of sharing information among members. They will continue, although in measured doses.

An economic recession is almost certain. Veterinary businesses need to plan well and with care, and know that the days of doing budgets on the back of an envelope are over. Business sustainability is a priority for the NZVA Member Advisory Group and therefore one of our key goals. Our team is working closely with the NZVA’s Veterinary Business Branch to support increasing veterinary training for members in this space.

In the short term, the return of Kiwis living overseas will slightly alleviate the shortage of veterinarians in the employment market. However, shortages are possible in the long term, especially given that, in a normal year, overseas veterinarians comprise two-thirds of new veterinarian registrants. The NZVA has been lobbying the Government with a view to ensuring there are enough veterinarians to provide services effectively for all New Zealand.

The NZVA Board is very pleased that the new strategic plan (which CEO Kevin Bryant covers in his column on page six) reflects the needs and priorities of you, our members. I believe its implementation will provide you with ongoing evidence and confidence that your association is here for you. And remember, you also need to be here for your association for it to be able to continue to work for you. I strongly encourage as many veterinarians as possible to become members, as a tangible way of enabling this.

Grant McCullough, NZVA President grant.mccullough@vets.org.nz

Welcome to the NZVA wellbeing hub We recognise that a veterinary career can be stressful and demanding at times and there are periods, such as new and recent graduates and those returning to the profession after a break when veterinarians may be particularly vulnerable.

It is very important for the NZVA to provide members with wellbeing support. The Wellbeing Hub is a new member benefit initiative and will continue to be updated as more useful resources are added to the collection. It will provide access to valuable resources to help veterinarians remain healthy and well, as well as providing support to those who are struggling with stress, anxiety or burnout.

www.nzva.org.nz/edhub-wellbeing

NEWS AND VIEWS

A plan for all of us NZVA CEO Kevin Bryant introduces the NZVA’s new-and-improved strategic plan.

I’M DELIGHTED TO share with you the culmination of many hours of effort: an updated strategic plan, a refocused strategic direction for the NZVA and a road map to help us serve your interests into the future. The updated plan (see the facing page) builds on the extensive work undertaken in the NZVA Board-led change project, which ran from 2017 to late 2019 and involved a wide range of interested and involved members, the board, and the NZVA team.

I’m sure you’ll agree that values are the foundation of any good strategy. So we’ve made

WE ARE FIRST AND FOREMOST HERE FOR MEMBERS. WE HELP EACH OTHER, MAINTAIN HIGH STANDARDS AND PROMOTE COLLEGIALITY

BY TAKING TIME TO ENJOY EACH OTHER’S COMPANY WHILE ALSO HAVING FUN.

sure that underpinning the plan are our core value statements, as agreed by you, the members: » We are first and foremost here for members.

We help each other, maintain high standards and promote collegiality by taking time to enjoy each other’s company while also having fun. » Guided by our shared vision and values, agreed purpose and common goals, our collective leadership will contribute to a highly trusted, valued and progressive veterinary profession. » Our board is our governing body, integrating independent input from our technical and regional networks to set our priorities and drive policy, standards and decision-making. » We facilitate clear career pathways and high-quality CPD so members can have healthy careers and lives and our profession can be the best it can be.

6 – VetScript September 2020

» We listen to each other and we cooperate widely to understand and influence the critical issues for our profession and the wider industry.

It’s our aim to live these values every day, and we want to assure you that we’re committed to converting the many discussions we’ve had with you in the past two-plus years into concrete actions that deliver results and create genuine value for our diverse membership.

Building on our values is a clearly defined purpose and vision that puts members and their needs first. This purpose and vision is particularly important to me as I’ve had feedback from some that these aspects haven’t always been seen as the highest priority.

Supporting our vision and purpose are three strategies – relevance, growth and influence – that chart a direction of travel for us for several years. The strategies are not expected to change often, as they are intentionally focused on the long term. They are closely aligned with delivering against our vision and purpose, and are also intentionally broad in their outlook. This will enable us to change direction in response to developments along the journey, but still maintain our direction of travel.

Our member priorities are by definition specific, and with a more short-term focus are expected to change and evolve as we make progress towards our desired future state. Our business plans, staff objectives and workflows are driven by these priorities and are also linked to the strategies that track how activities and projects the NZVA team is working on, in any given year, are both meeting member priorities and supporting longer-term strategic goals.

I look forward to staying the course, guided by a plan that I believe will help us realise a bright future for the veterinary profession, both in the short term and in the years ahead.

Kevin Bryant, NZVA CEO kevin.bryant@vets.org.nz

NEWS AND VIEWS

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VetScript September 2020 – 7

NEWS AND VIEWS

From reactive to proactive NZVA CVO Helen Beattie outlines a new approach to the NZVA’s guidance materials, developed in response to feedback from members and other stakeholders.

AS VETERINARIANS WE often have to tackle a variety of complex issues as part of our busy professional lives.

One of the NZVA’s jobs is to help members navigate these issues by offering guidance that makes their jobs easier day to day and helps advance our collective interests.

Depending on the issue, we may do this by developing guidance materials such as standards, policies, position statements, guidelines and standard operating procedures. As a rule of thumb, the materials must advance our interests in areas like animal welfare, product stewardship and veterinary wellbeing, and other member priorities.

Until recently we’ve been largely reactive in our approach to drafting position statements, typically by engaging special interest branches to develop them when issues arise. You’ve told us you’d like this changed, so we’ve tweaked our process to include consultation with the NZVA Member Advisory Group and the wider membership. You can see a process map for this in the April issue of VetScript.

The reactive approach has also resulted in a plethora of policies (we currently have 60 policy documents), of which some don’t sit well with all members and others have quickly become irrelevant for one reason or another.

In discussion with the Standards Committee, the veterinary team has streamlined the process to produce a suite of documents that better serve your needs.

We’ve developed three policy headings, extracted from the seven sections of the VCNZ Code of Professional Conduct: animal welfare; veterinary medicines and disease management; and professional behaviour. We plan to repurpose existing documents where it makes sense to do so and write new ones where necessary, including the overarching policies and several of the position statements and technical notes.

For example, a policy on animal welfare will capture existing material extracted from our current policies on sentience and pain and its alleviation, and new material on animal welfare science and the Five Domains Model of animal welfare, among others.

Under the new framework, NZVA policy and position statement documents should mostly be a maximum of two pages in length, with details found in other material such as technical notes, standards and guidelines.

8 – VetScript September 2020

Each policy document will begin with a succinct statement outlining the NZVA’s position on the issue. This will be followed by a brief explanatory statement, relevant guiding principles for practice/behaviour, and any reference material, including the NZVA’s own internal documents.

Another significant difference is that, while most of our policies and position statements will be made public (to allow other organisations to understand the NZVA’s science-based position), our detailed technical notes will be a member benefit.

This reflects the time and effort that goes in to drafting the notes and other guidance material, and our belief that the work should be restricted to those who support our association.

We’re also developing NZVA standards. We note that, as the regulator, VCNZ is legally responsible for veterinary standardsetting under the Veterinarians Act 1995, via the Code of Professional Conduct and associated documentation. Currently the proposed NZVA standards are referred to as guidelines (eg, fitness for transport), but as they’re used to set expected standards of veterinary behaviour (eg, certifying animals for transport), we think it’s appropriate to reposition them as standards, which should be tightly adhered to.

Given that these documents are viewed as reference points by which other parties can objectively measure our behaviour, they’ll continue to be subject to broad consultation, including with external stakeholders such as VCNZ, the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Veterinary Professional Insurance Society, specialists and experts.

Where there’s still a need for detailed supporting information, but not as a standard, technical notes will be developed using the existing documents and, in some cases, recommended best practice information. A good example of this guidance is the extensive vaccination information developed by the NZVA’s Companion Animal Veterinarians special interest branch.

The transition to the new framework will require some effort, but we’re excited to bring it to you and will keep you updated on progress. Once the veterinary team has drafted the initial content, we’ll begin the consultation process to ensure you’re all able to contribute to the development of documents.

Helen Beattie, NZVA CVO helen.beattie@vets.org.nz

NEWS AND VIEWS

FUNDING FOR WILDLIFE PROJECTS AND COURSES

ON THE MOVE

The NZVA’s Wildlife Society special interest branch is offering two grants to support veterinarians and other researchers in improving their skills in, or undertaking projects related to, preserving endangered wildlife.

ASH KEOWN IS ON THE MOOOOVE LAST MONTH ASH Keown moved from his role as NZVA Veterinary Manager (Large Animal) to join Fonterra as its Veterinary Technical Manager – part of Fonterra’s On Farm Excellence team. His role involves supporting farmers to continue to improve dairy cattle welfare in New Zealand.

“I’m really excited to be keeping my ties to the veterinary profession and NZVA members,” Ash says. “I hope to be able to strengthen the link between the dairy industry and veterinarians, and for us to work together to polish the animal welfare jewel in our crown.” Ash was a vital part of the NZVA veterinary team and will be missed. Best of luck Ash! Ash can be reached by emailing ash.keown@fonterra.com. n

WE WANT YOUR CASE STUDIES! We love to publish interesting and unusual case studies in VetScript! Have you had a patient needing an out-of-thebox treatment solution? Treated a species that’s not your run of the mill? Learned something new about a problem you see often? Let us know.

Case studies should ideally be accompanied by highresolution photos. Contact the Editor at vetscript@vets.org.nz for more information. n

PHOTOGRAPHY: BRAD BONIFACE, ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

THE PRACTITIONERS GRANT supports practising veterinarians to take part in CPD in the area of wildlife medicine. It can be used to fund a wide array of activities; previous grants have been used for practical placements, online courses and practice-based wildlife disease investigations.

All practising veterinarians are eligible to apply, and this year’s Practitioners Grant is valued at $2,200.

The Marion Cunningham Memorial Fund is awarded to students undertaking projects that are practicable and relevant to current wildlife concerns. The research should enhance veterinary contributions to the welfare and management of New Zealand’s wildlife and promote communication among both veterinarians and non-veterinarians with expertise in wildlife management and research. It should also encourage conservation, especially by veterinary contributions to the management of threatened species.

Students undertaking scientific research are eligible to apply and this year’s fund is valued at $2,700. If you have an idea that will either improve your skills as a wildlife veterinarian or benefit the profession’s knowledge of wildlife disease, please apply.

Applications for both grants are now open and close on 31 October 2020. Applying is easy – simply fill in the application form telling the Wildlife Society what you want to do with the money!

For more information and the application form, please visit www.nzva.org.nz/ page/wildlife or get in touch at wildlife@vets.org.nz. n

ANNUAL REPORT AVAILABLE THE NZVA 2019 annual report, Their Future, is Our Future, is now available at https://cdn.ymaws. com/www.nzva.org.nz/resource/ resmgr/docs/publications/nzva_ annual_report_2019.pdf. NZVA annual reports dating back to 2008 are also available online. n

www.facebook.com/nzvavets

DAYS OF NOTE ALL SEPTEMBER SAVE THE KOALA MONTH 21 SEPTEMBER INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 22 SEPTEMBER WORLD RHINO DAY 26 SEPTEMBER INTERNATIONAL RABBIT DAY 28 SEPTEMBER CANTERBURY (SOUTH) ANNIVERSARY DAY

VetScript September 2020 – 9

NEWS AND VIEWS

ILLEGAL PRODUCTS REMOVED AGCARM AND THE New Zealand Government are working to remove illegal animal medicines – including flea treatments, drenches and dips – from online auction and sale sites.

These products are being sold by national and international sellers in countries from Australia to the UK. Some are products not ordinarily sold in the relevant country and others have not passed New Zealand’s strict border biosecurity controls.

According to Agcarm, of all the markets notified Trade Me has been the most proactive in removing listings. Sites whose companies are based overseas, such as Facebook Marketplace, Amazon and eBay, have been harder to engage with.

Trade Me is now using a search query function to find infringing listings. It also requires all international sellers of animal medicines and pesticides (excluding Australia) to sign an agreement that prevents them selling unregistered products in New Zealand.

The Ministry for Primary Industries is also monitoring the situation closely and has asked Trade Me to remove listings.

According to Agcarm, there are four major factors to be considered when buying and selling registered agricultural compounds or veterinary medicines online: whether the product is a counterfeit; whether it meets New Zealand’s strict packaging and labelling requirements; whether the company has submitted the relevant data to allow it to be sold; and whether it can be legally sold without a prescription or correct handling.

Agcarm advises veterinarians and others buying such products to be sure they use trusted manufacturers and retailers. For a list of trusted companies, visit http://agcarm.co.nz/ membership/our-members. n

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WHERE YOUR PET GOES, THEIR RECORDS GO Practice management software provider ezyVet has partnered with VetDB to improve the connection between veterinary patients and their medical data.

THE VETDB PLATFORM links patients’ unique microchips with their correct medical data, enabling disparate veterinary services to collect, connect to and share that data. ezyVet customers can now connect directly with VetDB to verify patient details and match vaccination records.

According to VetDB’s Chief Operations Officer, Ross Wyness, around 65% of owners lose their pets’ vaccination certificates, and because the information often isn’t readily available this can lead to delays or repeat costs. “We decided to lock that information to pets’ microchips, forever,” he says.

The integration fits with ezyVet’s goal to speed up practices’ workflow and find new ways to improve the patient experience. “VetDB is a revolutionary platform entering the market that will help us achieve this,” says ezyVet Partner Manager David Chen. n

PRESCRIBING PRUDENTLY THE NZVA HAS published a guide to the prudent use of antimicrobials in pigs.

Written for current New Zealand conditions and practices, the guide aims to help veterinarians decide on courses of treatment for their porcine patients. Topics include: » the antimicrobial classification traffic light system » common diseases of pigs and the ages in which they are seen » authorising guidelines » recommended dose rates for antimicrobials in pigs.

The guide can be found at https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nzva.org.nz/ resource/resmgr/AMR_Guide_Pigs.pdf. n

NZVA BOARD UPDATE CONGRATULATIONS TO MARK Bryan, who has been re-elected as an NZVA Board member for a third term. He stood against one nominee for the only available elected position.

A total of 645 eligible members voted (a 30% response rate).

Retiring board members Peter Blaikie and Cath Watson stood down at this year’s Annual General Meeting on 26 August. The NZVA thanks Peter and Cath for their service to the association. n

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amino acid. It’s sometimes

by depriving them of that amino acid. (12)

11 ______ magna – one of the three principal openings in the subarachnoid space between the arachnoid and pia mater. (8) 14 The bone attached to the tongue, larynx, epiglottis and pharynx. (5) 16 A group of species of large sea ducks known for their soft, warm feathers. (5) 17 Prefix meaning oversized eg, oesophagus. (4)

VetScript September 2020 – 11

MASSEY

NEWS AND VIEWS

UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH UPDATE

Gains in reducing pain Massey University School of Veterinary Science PhD candidate Farzin Sahebjam has developed a novel method for prolonging analgesia among deer after velvet antler removal.

BACKGROUND AND SCOPE The New Zealand deer industry is growing quickly, thanks largely to exports of velvet antler and the production of venison. In the year ending 30 September 2018, the total value of velvet exports from New Zealand was estimated at $65 million (Deer Industry New Zealand, 2018), and demand for velvet antler has led to an increased demand for stag production.

There are still some animal welfare concerns about velvet antler production, in which pain can be as severe as that felt after a limb amputation (Wilson and Stafford, 2002). The current practice is to inject the short-acting local analgesic lidocaine around the antler pedicle, and the drug is licensed to be administered just before the procedure. However, this pain relief can only last for about 90 minutes. In my study I’ve been able to demonstrate that deer regain the sensation of pain as soon as one hour after the procedure.

To date, no licensed protocol or product has been developed to alleviate pain following velvet antler removal in deer.

For this reason my PhD project aims to develop a new analgesic drug for use in velvet antler removal. I used the deer model to figure out how to cover and coat local anaesthetic drugs, causing a slower release than usual and therefore prolonging their effects.

SIMULATION IN THE LAB Initially I faced many challenges and had to work in a multidisciplinary way to bring together all aspects of the research.

A year into my study I learned how to extract and change the structure of biocompatible materials from industrial waste products to make my formulation.

I focused on using waste products to not only reduce cost but also minimise the environmental impacts of the industry.

The next stage involved a series of tests to assess and validate the functionality of the novel formula. My colleagues and I needed to establish first whether our drug could be released from the biocompatible structure, and second

12 – VetScript September 2020

PHOTOGRAPHY: SUPPLIED

NEWS AND VIEWS

how quickly it was released. The best analogy for the structure of the drug is a sponge with tiny holes in it, through which the drug molecules slowly disperse and arrive at the surface to start acting on the tissue.

Before involving any animals I conducted tests in the laboratory that simulated the deer physiology. In vitro studies are not always representative of animal studies, but they can be very helpful in mapping research plans and collecting numbers to interpret and justify products’ effectiveness. In my in vitro study I used an apparatus called a Franz diffusion cell, a gold-standard method, to test the efficacy of the drugdelivery system.

The results from the lab tests were promising, with the drug-release patterns showing an obvious slower release of the drug I had formulated compared to the ones conventionally used without a coating to control release.

TIME TO TRY THE FORMULATION ON DEER We next obtained approval from the Massey University Animal Ethics Committee to trial the new formulation on deer. With the help of my supervision team, we designed a wafer-thin pad that could be easily manufactured and conveniently applied on deer antlers in a farming situation. We then undertook further assessments, such as using

thermal imaging to ensure that our product did not elicit any additional inflammation or adverse reactions and was safe to be used on animals.

Our trial was conducted at the Massey University Deer Research Unit and involved 40 stags divided into four groups, each containing 10 animals.

Each group was treated differently: the animals in the control group were injected with conventional lidocaine before velvet antler was removed; the other three treatment groups each received lidocaine injections before antler removal, then one of three treatment pad types once the antler was removed. It was important to apply the pads instantly to the antler wound surfaces to let the pads absorb blood and release the anaesthetic agents into the underlying tissue.

We observed that the pads stayed attached to the antlers for up to one month after application. Pain was quantified with a force-detection device called an algometer, and measurements were taken at regular time intervals, enabling us to plot the animals’ behavioural reactions to our device.

In my observations, and after statistical analysis, we concluded that up to 10 hours of pain relief was detected.

We had produced a product that could revolutionise animal welfare through more effective pain management after surgical manipulation.

GETTING PREPARED TO TAKE THE PRODUCT TO MARKET My hope is that the product developed for my PhD can be commercialised and made available in the market soon, thus helping animals as soon as possible. Currently the product is in the preliminary stages of patenting.

Along with the animals, veterinarians, farmers and the deer industry will benefit hugely from this innovation, which presents a great step in the betterment of animal welfare and pain management.

Other animal species, both large and small, could also potentially benefit from the product with further development.

I am grateful for all the support I have received from Massey University, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the NZ Leather and Shoe Research Association as well as my supervisors.

REFERENCES: Deer Industry New Zealand. At a Glance Industry Statistics. https://www.deernz.org/about-deerindustry/nz-deer-industry/deer-industry-statistics/ glance-industry-statistics#.XzMxgxMzZTY (accessed 21 July 2020). Deer Industry New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand, 2018 Wilson P, Stafford K. Welfare of farmed deer in New Zealand. 2. Velvet antler removal. New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 50(6), 221–7, 2002

PhD candidate Natalie King compiles research projects underway at Massey University.

VetScript September 2020 – 13

NEWS AND VIEWS

Welfare and ethics UPDATE Virginia Williams, for MPI and the NZVA, provides an update on welfare and ethics.

EXPERT OPINIONS ON ANIMAL WELFARE ISSUES IN THE UK A study has highlighted a number of common welfare issues of high priority in cattle, pigs, poultry and small ruminants in the UK (Rioja-Lang et al., 2020). These include: inadequate nutrition; lack of stockperson skills; inability of farm workers to recognise and/or treat pain or behaviour problems; foot and leg health resulting in lameness; long-term health issues; euthanasia delay and methods; and neonatal mortality.

The study aimed to obtain consensus among 58 experts (practising veterinarians, academics, charity-sector employees, farmer representatives, and policy officials with responsibility for farmed livestock) on the issues that were most important. Welfare issues specific to each species included abnormal behaviours and poor housing in pigs and poultry, a lack of veterinary care in beef cattle and sheep, and poor handling and transport of sheep, beef cattle and poultry.

The study prioritised a mix of animal-, resource- and management-based factors influencing animal welfare. The authors say these factors can be addressed through further research, education, better communication and policy changes that aim to achieve improved farm animal welfare.

REFERENCE: Rioja-Lang FC, Connor M, Bacon HJ, Lawrence AB, Dwyer CM. Prioritization of farm animal welfare issues using expert consensus. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 6, 495, 2020

FRUSTRATED DOGS New research by animal behaviour specialists at the University of Lincoln (UK) suggests separation anxiety in dogs should be seen as a sign of underlying frustrations rather than a diagnosis (De Assis et al., 2019).

The specialists identified four main forms of distress for dogs left home alone: a focus on getting away from something in the house; wanting to get to something outside; reacting to external noises or events; and a form of boredom. The authors state that understanding these root causes could be key to effective treatment.

REFERENCE: De Assis LS, Matos R, Pike TW, Burman OHP, Mills DS. Developing diagnostic frameworks in veterinary behavioural medicine: Disambiguating separation problems in dogs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 6, 499, 2019

BOBBY CALF MORTALITY DECLINE Since 2008, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) veterinarians at processing premises have recorded the mortality rates of young calves as reflective of young calf welfare.

In 2008 the percentage of calves dying, or being euthanased for welfare reasons, during transport to, on arrival at and in lairage at processing premises was 0.68% of the total. Thanks to a programme in which MPI veterinarians and animal welfare inspectors accompanied transport and slink-skin operators when picking up calves on farm, this percentage declined to 0.04% in 2019. In the same year there were no prosecutions for inadequate calf care during transport.

MORE FREEDOM FOR SOWS Germany’s Parliament has announced a ban on sow stalls and farrowing crates, except for five days around farrowing. The Government has offered $520 million (€300 million) to farmers to assist with conversions, allowing a 15-year transition period. Germany’s pig producers’ union is not enthusiastic about the ban, suggesting that the transition time is too short.

However, it has stressed that the subsidy is a positive move.

14 – VetScript September 2020

PHOTOGRAPHY: IMAGERY:ISTOCKPHOTO.COM ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

NEWS AND VIEWS

BRACHYCEPHALIC HEALTH Dogs NZ is collaborating with the UK’s Kennel Club to improve and protect the health of brachycephalic breeds in New Zealand by agreeing to operate, under licence, the Kennel Club/University of Cambridge Respiratory Function Grading Scheme.

This move is part of an evidence-based approach by Dogs NZ to encourage breeders to improve the health of Pugs, Bulldogs and French Bulldogs (brachycephalic breeds) in New Zealand. The scheme will be one of the compulsory health tests for these three brachycephalic breeds for breeders choosing to adopt the organisation’s Litter Registration Limitation Scheme, and will be mandatory for the three breeds for breeders under the Dogs NZ Accredited Breeders Scheme. Dogs NZ also plans to establish a nationwide network of assessors in veterinary clinics.

PRESTIGIOUS MEDAL FOR DAN WEARY Dan Weary has been awarded this year’s Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Welfare Science.

Dan is a Professor based at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems and is an Industrial Research Chair in Dairy Cattle Welfare at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. He has made major contributions to understanding and improving the welfare of animals, including dairy cattle and laboratory rodents, using non-invasive methods to study their behaviour and motivations.

Dan’s research has included using specific vocalisations and other carefully validated indicators of pain and hunger in calves, so that dairy calves are now typically fed to satiety instead of being left hungry, and work that has led to a recognition of the inhumaneness of carbon dioxide as a killing method for laboratory rodents.

The UFAW Medal recognises exceptional achievements of individual scientists who have made fundamental contributions to the advancement of animal welfare for a number of years. David Mellor (formerly from Massey University) was a joint winner in 2015.

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visit: www.digeroproducts.co.nz VetScript September 2020 – 15

NEWS AND VIEWS

Investigation, detection, resolution TRIM SIZE: 210 X 297 mm

New Zealand Veterinary Journal

Volume 68 | Number 5 | September 2020 | ISSN 0048–0169

Volume 68 Number 5 September 2020

In this issue ISSN 0048-0169

• Detection of M. bovis in NZ calves by swabbing palatine tonsillar crypts • Poultry farm biosecurity in NZ • Association of yearling weight and milk production in dairy heifers • Acute and chronic digital lameness in horses: outcomes after MRI • Intrathecal procaine and xylazine for surgical anaesthesia in calves • Association of BCS change before parturition with milk yield in Argentinian dairy cows • Comparison of topical treatments for healing of disbudding wounds in calves

13-07-2020 11:12:05

Sarah Fowler, EditorIn-Chief of the NZVJ, reveals highlights of the September issue.

AS REPRESENTED BY our cover image, there is a strong bovine theme running through the September issue of the New Zealand Veterinary Journal (NZVJ). For readers active in the cattle business we have articles reporting on the association between yearling weight and milk production in dairy heifers, a comparison of treatments for thermocautery disbudding wounds in calves, and the use of intrathecal procaine with xylazine for anaesthesia of calves undergoing umbilical surgery.

For those not into cows, there are articles on disease risk and biosecurity on poultry farms in New Zealand and a comparison of outcomes for horses whose digital lameness was diagnosed with the help of magnetic resonance imaging while they were still acutely lame or once the lameness had become chronic.

16 – VetScript September 2020

Also included in this issue is the first report to be published in the NZVJ stemming from the recent outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis in New Zealand cattle. A clinical communication by Kelly Buckle and colleagues describes the first use of swabs from the mucosa of the palatine tonsillar crypt for the detection of M. bovis DNA. Kelly, a veterinary pathologist and incursion investigator with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), reports that in 2017 (when MPI first detected M. bovis in New Zealand cattle) there were limited tools for detecting infection in cattle that were not showing clinical signs. “Worldwide there is poor understanding of anatomical sites for detection of M. bovis, particularly in non-milking animals,” she states.

To fill this information gap, a small pilot project was initiated to determine the best sites to sample healthy but potentially infected cattle to detect the presence of M. bovis DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Kelly, along with colleagues from MPI and Massey University, focused on the palatine tonsils, as M. bovis had previously been cultured from this location in experimentally infected calves, and, fortuitously, the palatine tonsils are easily visible during the slaughter process in New Zealand, once the head has been removed and hung for inspection.

To test the theory that the tonsil would be a useful site for detecting M. bovis DNA, Kelly took samples from the first lot of cattle slaughtered as part of the M. bovis eradication programme, which were clinically well calves that came from an infected herd. Once the calves had been slaughtered, paired mucosal samples were taken from their tonsillar crypts and the mainstem bronchi. Subsequent tests of these samples using real-time PCR showed that 93% of the calves were positive for M. bovis DNA, and that detection was seven times more sensitive when the palatine tonsils were swabbed than when swabs were taken from the mainstem bronchi.

“IF YOU THINK OF IT A BIT LIKE THOSE COVID-19 TESTS EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT, WE BASICALLY INVENTED A COVIDLIKE TEST FOR M. BOVIS IN CATTLE.”

These results contributed to the development of the surveillance tools that have since been used in MPI’s ongoing efforts to control and eradicate this pathogen. What’s more, and given that this novel detection site has proven so useful in the New Zealand outbreak, the test is also likely to be used in M. bovis control efforts overseas. Kelly explains, “If you think of it a bit like those COVID-19 tests everyone knows about, we basically invented a COVIDlike test for M. bovis in cattle.”

Kelly also hopes that sharing this tool will allow biosecurity-conscious farmers around the world to begin testing cattle entering their farms. She notes that in addition to the article’s authors, a large number of people helped to accomplish this work, including those involved in the 2017 M. bovis response, MPI Verification Services and the abattoir managers. We will await with interest more reports on studies relating to the New Zealand M. bovis outbreak.

Members of the NZVA can access any articles published in the NZVJ by logging in to SciQuest (www.sciquest.org.nz). More information about the NZVJ can be found at www.vetjournal.org.nz.

You can contact the editors at nzvj@vets.org.nz.

NEWS AND VIEWS

CORNELL UNIVERSITY Researchers have discovered that planarian stem cells tailor their regeneration response depending on the type of tissue that’s missing. When researchers injured a planarian’s pharynx, they noted that only pharynx progenitors increased in number, and when they injured the head, only non-pharyngeal progenitors increased.

The team had noted previously that pharyngeal regeneration relies on a burst in proliferation of FoxA+ stem cells, followed by extracellular signal-regulated kinase signalling. This was also the case for the head but not for regenerating the eyes. The authors suggest that stem cells can sense the identities of missing tissues to launch their targeted regeneration.

(Preprint) www.biorxiv.org/ content/10.1101/2020.05.05.077875v1.full.pdf

GLOBAL LAB Mirjam Guesgen showcases research being conducted at veterinary schools around the world.

UTRECHT UNIVERSITY Researchers reported the pharmacokinetics of imidocarb (used to treat haemoprotozoan parasitic infections) in white-tailed deer.

They found that imidocarb injected at 3.0mg/kg intramuscularly has a rapid distribution and relatively slow elimination rate in whitetailed deer, meaning it could remain at therapeutic concentrations for at least eight hours. This is the first pharmacokinetic study of imidocarb in a cervid species. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jvp.12760

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE ONTARIO VETERINARY COLLEGE – UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH Researchers tested on parrots the thermal antinociceptive effects of butorphanol tartrate, either as a solution or as a sustained-release 25% poloxamer 407 gel. They measured the parrots’ thermal threshold via a foot withdrawal response to a thermal stimulus and scored sedation before and after administering the treatment. There was a small but statistically significant thermal antinociceptive effect of butorphanol tartrate lasting for 30–90 minutes, but no antinociceptive effect when delivered as a gel. https://avmajournals.avma. org/doi/10.2460/ajvr.81.7.543

A study conducted by the University of Cambridge, together with researchers from Indonesia and the Philippines, assessed the ONT MinION sequencing method for dengue fever. This gene amplification method works with a longer sequence than traditional polymerase chain reaction and is quicker and more affordable in developing countries such as Indonesia. The method covered 99.5% or greater of the coding region on the first attempt; however, it was less accurate than other sequencing methods. The authors conclude that ONT MinION is a viable option when speed, over high precision, is favoured. https://virologyj.biomedcentral. com/articles/10.1186/s12985020-1294-6

THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY A study published in Zoonoses and Public Health has revealed a 19% seroprevalence of Q fever (caused by Coxiella burnetii) in Australian veterinary workers – including veterinarians, veterinary support staff, animal scientists and administration workers. Those working in remote areas or who had spent more than half their careers working with ruminants were more likely to test positive.

The authors say this study provides more evidence to support Q fever vaccination for veterinary workers. https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/full/10.1111/ zph.12658

VetScript September 2020 – 17

NEWS AND VIEWS

Ready for the road?

VCNZ’s Seton Butler provides a picture of the updated requirements for animal transportation certification.

VCNZ’S STATEMENT REGARDING fitness for transport is “Certifying that in your professional judgement you consider the animal is fit for transport to the destination without suffering unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress”.

VCNZ has recrafted the Fitness for Transport statement and I have interpreted it into a step-bystep process that I think will help veterinarians to navigate the certification safely and comply with the requirements for certifying animals for transport.

RECEIVE A REQUEST FOR A FITNESS FOR TRANSPORT CERTIFICATE

Veterinarians have the discretion to assess, and to decline to sign a certificate for, animals for transport.

STEP 1: Confirm the following prior to examination: » That the visit is for a fitness for transport certificate. » The anticipated transport dates and timeframes. » The preferred slaughter premises (if applicable). » The clinical history and any treatments given to the animal. » The suitability of the facilities available for the examination. » There is a copy of an existing certificate if previously certified.

18 – VetScript September 2020

STEP 2: Examine the animal

STEP 3: Consider seeking

at the time certification is requested – the examination should be suitable to ensure the animal is fit for transport.

To certify an animal for transport, the veterinarian should be reasonably confident that the animal’s condition can be suitably managed and the welfare of the animal will not be further compromised. If their welfare cannot be suitably managed, the animal is not suitable for transport.

Reasonably confident means the judgement that the veterinarian’s peers may make in the same or similar circumstances.

a second opinion and/or more information on a case-by-case basis (for example from a colleague or MPI Verification Services [VS] veterinarian).

DECLINE TO CERTIFY

DEEMED UNFIT FOR TRANSPORT

If declining to certify – it’s useful to document the decision reached, the reasons, and the communication that occurred with the owner or person in charge.

If the animal is deemed unfit for transport, the veterinarian must immediately ensure the animal receives treatment that alleviates any unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress being suffered.

NEWS AND VIEWS

When examining an untreated injury: » consider whether the animal received adequate and reasonable treatment and attention on that farm for the condition. If there is sufficient evidence they did not, contact the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) » a previously untreated injury may not preclude an animal being certified as fit for transport.

The clinical record must: » include a clinical history » note consultation and examination details at the time of certification, and the date » note animal identification » set out the decision-making process and supporting evidence, which may include a differential diagnosis » include details of the communication and instructions given to the owner and/or person in charge » include a copy of the fully completed certificate (including a stipulated expiry date).

Veterinarians should ensure, document and confirm that: » the time and distance travelled is as short as possible » the animal will go directly to the nearest appropriate slaughter premises.

If not possible, they should notify the MPI VS veterinarian (this is strongly encouraged).

STEP 6: Communicating with

STEP 7: If it is appropriate to

owners or the person in charge – ensure they are aware that: » there are requirements and conditions of the certificate that must be met » they must hold a copy of the certificate » certified animals should not noticeably deteriorate before transport and should be capable of travelling such that they arrive at their destination in a state similar to that when they were examined for certification and: » an owner or person in charge of the animal/s must seek veterinary re-examination if the animal’s condition deteriorates from examination to loading date (per the agreement on the signed declaration) » additional travel conditions may be stipulated on the certificate and these must be complied with.

certify – complete the certificate in full and sign and date.

STEP 4: When determining an animal’s fitness for transport veterinarians must: » consider the animal’s welfare – is it appropriate to transport them? should they be certified? » be confident that the animal’s condition will not deteriorate and their welfare will not be further compromised » consider the distance and time of travel » consider priority slaughter » specify the location of the slaughter premises on the fitness for transport certificate » maintain a complete record.

STEP 5: Check owner competence: If a veterinarian believes the owner or person in charge is not capable of recognising early signs of distress, injury or ill-health or deterioration in the animal’s condition, or does not know how to respond effectively, they should decline to certify the animal.

VetScript September 2020 – 19

NEWS AND VIEWS

Wounds that never heal Veterinarian Stuart Bruere lifts the lid on

VETERINARY STAFF RECRUITMENT and retention is a common topic of conversation in veterinary practices right now. In the context of this column, I’m referring to all the staff who make up a veterinary clinic.

In the past decade we have at long last acknowledged the subject of stress and how it affects our mental health and disproportionately high suicide rate. However, workplace bullying and abuse is rarely, if ever, included in the mix. To bring this to light, and after a broadcast on Australia’s Insight programme focusing on suicide and stress in the profession in that country, I added a post to the Massey University Veterinary Alumni Facebook page about my experience of being on the receiving end of workplace bullying and abuse during my lengthy career in New Zealand.

The response via Facebook and numerous private messages clearly supported my contention that bullying and abuse is indeed a widespread problem in New Zealand veterinary clinics. It’s fair to say that many of the comments came from colleagues still working in practice, albeit struggling with remarks made many years ago – but sadly, other remarks came from colleagues who’d left the profession after deciding they were no longer willing to participate if workplace bullying was part of the territory. In the more than 100 comments and likes there wasn’t a single disagreement with my remarks and conclusions.

20 – VetScript September 2020

Workplace bullying is not well defined in law; it’s accepted as a series of repeated behavioural events that cause distress to the recipient (WorkSafe, 2020). There’s no particular time span, but it’s something that will happen over a period of months. During my career I’ve been subjected to workplace bullying and abuse on several occasions, with the behaviours displayed including shouting, overtalking, distraction

had asked me to velvet several wild caught stags, and one developed post-capture myopathy. The farmer rang me to describe the situation, and during the conversation became extremely aggressive and abusive.

I genuinely feared for my safety and was extremely reluctant to visit the deer, who died soon after the phone call.

It didn’t end there: the farmer decided to make a complaint to the NZVA (that’s how it was done until

BULLYING LEAVES YOU WITH A LACK OF SELFWORTH, FEELINGS OF BEING DISCONNECTED FROM YOUR WORKPLACE, EMBARRASSED AND GUILTY…

activities while I was talking, physical intimidation and unrelenting teasing.

The less obvious ones included the bully being uncooperative, sulking and behaving in a passive-aggressive way.

The effects of bullying are profound and can be very long lasting. Bullying leaves you with a lack of self-worth, feelings of being disconnected from your workplace, embarrassed and guilty, and can leave you suffering posttraumatic stress disorder. No matter how you try to rework the logic of an attack, there’s only one conclusion – the bully wants power and control.

I recall a case early in my career of a deer velveting that went wrong. The farmer

about 20 years ago). I was invited to Wellington to explain my side of events to the reviewing committee, after which they gave me a thorough arse-kicking and told me to straighten myself out. I received no professional support from my work colleagues or the profession.

The trauma was real, and its depth became evident to me three years ago when I retold my story to a colleague researching the emotional effects of bad clinical outcomes. The events had happened more than 30 years earlier, but describing them brought the emotions to the surface and I became tearful. The researcher was the first

e, convenient and effective disinfectant tablets for

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ical, agricultural and commercial use. and I’ll always be indebted colleague to validate me,

to him for his care and concern. I can still remember the names of all the people who caused me distress, of whom some were ‘well-respected’ members of our profession.

I’ve also witnessed senior colleagues becoming nient and effective disinfectant tablets for abusive and extremely manipulative on matters such al, agricultural and commercial use. as after-hours rosters and being work lazy (them not me!), trying repeatedly to enforce nonsensical work expectations, and repeatedly lying about personal matters unrelated to work. On most occasions these episodes were what I call ‘ambush events’ – they were unexpected and caused a spike in my adrenalin and the initiation of the fight or flight response. More than 20 years ago I was diagnosed with clinical depression and experienced the associated panic attacks. Fortunately I made a good recovery, but to this day I have occasional panic attacks when exposed to ambush events.

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In essence, our mission is to businesses, making ourare country more comments addedsafer, untilhealthier the pattern of bullying ccess to top-quality antimicrobial technology to all and more productive. behaviour is clear. nd businesses, making our country safer, healthier What would I suggest next, to those experiencing and bullying? more productive.

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Many veterinary practices in New Zealand claim to have a good understanding of appropriate human resources and conflict-resolution practices. My anecdotal observation is that this isn’t the case. Having spoken with people who advise practice principals WORCHEM Limited, in this space, I believe we need to make significant www.worchem.co.nz Waikato, New Zealand improvements. If the problem remains unresolved, good people will continue to exit our profession, never to return. I challenge all practice principals and owners to review their processes and attitudes in this space.

If you believe people are your most valuable resource, it seems logical to place appropriate human resourcing at the top of your business plan.

REFERENCE: WorkSafe. Bullying at Work: Advice for Workers. https://worksafe.govt. nz/topic-and-industry/bullying/bullying-at-work-advice-for-workers/? gclid=Cj0KCQjw9IX4BRCcARIsAOD2OB2oPeYK5bRRC-9grhbI14jsloQb s6LQHmcST41sPnKTMYBUbhtoq1MaAubdEALw_wcB (accessed 6 July 2020). New Zealand, 2017

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IN THE WORLD

Finding a small niche

IN THE BIG CITY

Bette Flagler interviews Wendy McCulloch – a ‘restless soul’ whose desire to help animals took her from caterer to veterinarian.

BETWEEN THE COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest, the past few months have been unusual for New York City.

For Wendy McCulloch, who was born and raised in Gisborne and studied at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, there’s never been a busier time for her Manhattan-based, house-calls-only veterinary practice.

With millions of residents in lockdown and veterinary services following guidelines similar to those of New Zealand’s Alert Levels 3 and 4, Wendy’s services are in high demand. During the height of the crisis she wore full personal protective equipment, coveralls and booties, and required her clients to leave her to examine their animals alone. When euthanasia was required, she typically sedated the animals and left the room so that their owners could say goodbye to their pets as they slept; Wendy administered the euthanasia with clients observing appropriate distancing.

She never stopped working and did a lot of triage; things that could wait, did.

Wendy’s business model is straightforward: it’s her, her Chevy Tahoe and a remote assistant who answers phone calls and undertakes clerical tasks.

22 – VetScript September 2020

“I’ve had a driver, but during COVID-19 I don’t want anyone else in the car,” she says. “I don’t want to risk their health by going in and out of people’s houses and, because I can’t control their contacts, I don’t want to risk clients’ or my health. I’m also much more nimble if I work on my own.”

A lot of people in New York don’t drive, and schlepping pets to a veterinary practice is no easy task at the best of times. As a result, much of Wendy’s client base comprises people referred from veterinarians who don’t make house calls – and yes, she refers clients back for procedures she can’t do in the home.

Likewise, after-hours and emergency cases are referred to the appropriate clinics.

Each of Wendy’s appointments is for 45 minutes to an hour and she has a strict policy of receiving full records in advance, and she allots time before appointments to read and summarise the notes. “The beauty of my approach is that I get to see patterns that I might not notice during a 15-minute consultation. I like to be as efficient as possible, so I do a history and timeline and recount the pet’s history back to the client for verification.

Then we get to the ‘what’s the issue today?’ question.”

PHOTO: FRANCIS LAROS

NEWS PROFILE AND VIEWS

VetScript September 2020 – 23

IN THE WORLD

She has two shopfronts: HomeVetsNYC is for day-to-day veterinary care and Pet Requiem is for at-home euthanasia.

“There are overlaps between the companies. For example, I’ve gone out to euthanase a geriatric cat who hasn’t been to the veterinarian for a long time.

The owners thought it was time to put the cat down, but in fact they were hyperthyroid so I suggest we treat the animal instead. On the other hand, I have euthanased a family’s dog and then I’m the veterinarian they call when they get a new puppy.”

Becoming a veterinarian was not a straight path for Wendy. While she initially considered enrolling at Massey University’s veterinary school, she didn’t fancy her chances of getting in when she finished school in 1978. Instead she went to the University of Otago and studied at the then School of Home Science.

“We were the militant year that lobbied the university to change the name

24 – VetScript September 2020

IN THE WORLD

Wendy sees mainly dogs and cats, and is deft at catching, restraining and treating cats solo. “I spend a lot of time in bathrooms wrangling cats.

It’s like playing the game of Twister.” Her long consults allow time to teach about healthcare and nutrition.

WENDY’S BUSINESS MODEL IS STRAIGHTFORWARD: IT’S HER, HER CHEVY TAHOE AND A REMOTE ASSISTANT WHO ANSWERS PHONE CALLS AND UNDERTAKES CLERICAL TASKS.

from ‘home science’ to ‘consumer food science’,” Wendy recalls.

Her first job was in the laboratory at Corbans Wines, and this was followed by a stint in the company’s sales and marketing team. Next came a ski season at Mt Ruapehu and a catering job on a film. A self-described ‘restless soul’, Wendy went on to train as a teacher, landing a job in Palmerston North, where she didn’t know anyone and the kids terrified her. But the training and experience got her a ticket to teach home economics in the UK, where she eventually met a caterer who offered her a job working on rock tours. She subsequently toured with Tina Turner,

the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson and the Bee Gees.

“It was really hard work and we did long hours. The caterers are the first in and the last to leave. It was great training for being a veterinarian,” she laughs.

It was also really good training for not being star-struck by the rich and famous of New York.

“When I was on a veterinary school break, I was asked back to London to cater the rehearsal for the Concert for George – a memorial concert for George Harrison. It was coordinated by Eric Clapton and all these famous people – Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne from ELO, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty – were there.

To them, I was the lunch lady making Eric Clapton a bacon sandwich.”

While touring with the Bee Gees Wendy met, and then married, guitarist Alan Kendall. During a break between tours they were in Florida and she started rescuing cats. Alan put it to her: if she was so worried about the strays, why didn’t she do something about it? Inspired by the veterinarians at a practice at which she volunteered during the summer – and knowing that touring wasn’t her ‘forever job’ – Wendy decided to apply to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. After 18 months of cramming to get the required credits, she began her study at the age of 40.

After graduating in 2004, Wendy completed an internship at New York’s Animal Medical Center, the world’s largest non-profit veterinary hospital. “It’s a big hospital in a metropolitan area – you see stuff you might never otherwise see in your life,” she says. “It’s run like a big ‘human’ hospital, with attending doctors, residents and interns; we rounded twice a day as you would in a human facility. It was a fantastic way to hone my clinical skills.

“When I finished there, I knew I didn’t want to start my career working for a small practice. I wanted to continue working in a busy teaching hospital alongside specialists practising the latest medicine and researching the latest therapies.”

Wendy next practised clinical and emergency medicine with Red Bank Veterinary Hospitals in New Jersey, and realised she didn’t want to work inside a building all day. She launched a house-call service for the hospital as a community outreach initiative, and managed it as

VetScript September 2020 – 25

IN THE WORLD

SEIZING AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO GOOD ON 12 MAY 2020 a giraffe was born at Ukuwela Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was the second birth since giraffes had been reintroduced to Ukuwela in November 2017, and a sign that Wendy McCulloch’s pet project was succeeding.

The story began when Wendy Hapgood (a New Yorkbased Australian banker) and John Steward (an advertising executive) set up the Wild Tomorrow Fund, a registered wildlife conservation charity. The fund aims to raise money to fight poaching – particularly of rhinoceros – in South Africa, and currently protects more than 900 hectares of nature reserve.

Wendy M joined the Wild Tomorrow Fund board after meeting Wendy H through her work as a veterinarian. Several years earlier, Wendy M had seen how endangered species can thrive when given enough protected space while she was hiking across Kenya’s Tsavo National Park.

In 2017 the Wild Tomorrow Fund learned that a piece of land surrounded by wildlife reserves, and that linked iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the Phinda Private Game Reserve, was about to be sold to a pineapple farmer. “I mentioned it to a few people, and we were able to come up with enough funding to start the ball rolling,” says Wendy M. “We made a deal with the landowner to buy the land, re-wild it and turn it into a reserve; over four years that piece of land became the Ukuwela Conservancy.”

The conservancy (along with neighbouring reserves) protects important ecological areas. The hope, says Wendy M, is to buy more land and combine with an 80,000-acre neighbouring

she would her own business – tracking expenses and income and ensuring its viability. She later attended a symposium on home euthanasia at the University of California, Davis and in 2009 launched and marketed Pet Requiem – a veterinary house-call service providing veterinary care and inhome euthanasia as a separate company.

Two years later, having proven to herself that a house-call-only practice was sustainable, Wendy moved to New York and set up her businesses.

Wendy’s is not the only house-call practice in the city. She sees her fair share of famous people’s pampered pets, but hasn’t limited herself to that market. “Some veterinarians here are

26 – VetScript September 2020

conservancy and create a land bridge that will allow animal access and open an ancient migration route to the 300,000acre iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

To that end, the Wild Tomorrow Fund has purchased a second piece of land, Mfuleni Conservancy, to help close the land bridge.

“We also support the community,” says Wendy M. “We’ve built a school, we hire rangers, and we’ve hired a group of women who call themselves the Green Mambas to remove non-native species from the land.”

The fund is bringing in animals to repopulate the areas and collaborates with other local parks, to fund, for example, a helicopter and veterinarians to aid rhinos who are at risk of poaching. “The rhinos are much safer if we take off their horns; it makes them less attractive to poachers.”

The fund also supports scientific research and employs zoologists and entomologists, including those who discovered the Phinda button spider in 2018. This was the first widow spider to be discovered in 28 years and is potentially the largest.

Funds are raised through donors, annual galas and other events. In 2017 the fund received US$100,000 as a result of the biggest ivory bust in New York State’s history: a Manhattan antique store had been selling illegal elephant ivory.

This year the COVID-19 pandemic has required a different approach, including a virtual fundraiser that raised US$60,000.

Visit www.wildtomorrowfund.org to learn more about the fund and register your interest in a post-COVID-19 volunteer trip.

“THE BEAUTY OF MY APPROACH IS THAT I GET TO SEE PATTERNS THAT I MIGHT NOT NOTICE DURING A 15-MINUTE CONSULTATION.”

referred to as ‘celebrity vets’. Many clients with means have cleared out of the city for their country houses and have taken their pets with them. So while those veterinarians are not seeing as many patients, I happen to be busier than ever.

I’ve lost some seasonal clients but taking on clients of local clinics under quarantine restrictions has made up for it.”

Wendy left New Zealand more than 30 years ago, but Gisborne is still her tūrangawaewae. She’s considered setting up a house-call-only business in Auckland, but now is not the time to leave.

“I have a love-hate relationship with New York. My dream is to have a little place at Wainui Beach. I’m a frustrated surfer girl at heart.”

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OUT THERE VETTING

They’re out there in the provinces and the cities, veterinarians doing the everyday work in neighbourhood and country clinics. In this series, VetScript visits a different small clinic every month.

Taking the path THAT WORKS Mirjam Guesgen speaks to Heather Remnant, the owner of At The Vets in Christchurch, and learns about some of the business’s market-savvy practices.

28 – VetScript September 2020

What kind of practice is At The Vets?

We’re a companion animal practice and we see a lot of rabbits. Rabbits can make up 10–15% of a companion animal business. People seem to want to treat them the same way they would cats or dogs – as part of their households.

We offer a very high standard of rabbit medicine and surgery, thanks in large part to our veterinarian Helen Keane.

Who else do you have working at the practice?

I’m the sole owner and we have four full-time veterinarians and two locums.

We also have 11 veterinary nurses, one receptionist and one cleaner. One of our veterinary nurses, Zoe Hyett, helps manage the practice with me. Having a receptionist is new to us, but we wanted

PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK AND KIRSTY MIDDLETON

NEWS AND VIEWS

to make our veterinary nurses more available for nursing consultations rather than reception duties. We also outsource jobs that are time consuming and take the focus away from the practice; for example, we use a payroll company.

What are the veterinary nurses’ roles?

Our veterinary nurse to veterinarian ratio is higher than average, and it takes the pressure off at busy times.

The veterinary nurses’ responsibilities are split between four key areas. On a typical day, two veterinary nurses are in the reception area, one is with the veterinarian (taking bloods or holding animals), two surgical veterinary nurses help in surgeries, and a hospital veterinary nurse sees all the incoming patients, draws up medications for them

and oversees everything. They also do all the invoicing.

There’s great communication between team members, so we’re all on the same page. Most have worked together for years and have high levels of trust in each other.

How does rostering work?

We try to organise the roster two to four weeks in advance. At least we try! We roster the veterinarians first and then the veterinary nurses, to make sure we have an adequate number of both. Most of the time we end up doing the same shifts each week.

One of the veterinarians coordinates the rosters through an app called Deputy. The app has been really useful – it texts you in the morning to remind

Top (left to right): Receptionist Karla Villela Saez, veterinarian Holly Lee, owner Heather Remnant, veterinary nurses Laura Wildbore, Kerry Browne, Louise De Schot and Maggie O’Brian, veterinarian Zoe Sangster, veterinary nurse Emma Harre and veterinarian Helen Keane.

Bottom left: Helen Keane is upskilling the At The Vets team on caring for rabbits at their weeky meeting.

VetScript September 2020 – 29

OUT THERE VETTING

This page: As well as the routine procedures like vaccinations, the practice offers ultrasonography, endoscopy, bronchoscopy and Holter monitoring for cardiac arrhythmias.

Facing page: Holly and Emma make up part of the all-female practice.

you that your shift is coming up today, and you can log in and out to keep track of hours. One veterinary nurse inputs the roster to our veterinary software, so clients can book appointments with their veterinarians directly.

After-hours is through the Christchurch After Hours Veterinary Centre.

What are At The Vets’ values?

When I took over the practice in 2013, I worked with a business advisor to identify what drives the practice; what makes us, the staff, feel good at the end of the day.

The main thing we came up with is that we need to be proud of what we’re doing.

That’s the bottom line of everything. If you leave at the end of the day knowing you’ve done the best you can, treated people and animals the best you can, there’s an immense sense of satisfaction that goes with the job.

We’ve built a framework around how to achieve that. It comes down to trust, training and making sure you have the skills and the equipment to do your job properly. We invested pretty heavily in a lot of equipment early on.

We also try to foster our staff’s different interests. We ensure our staff are undertaking regular CPD and provide everyone with a budget for that. The veterinary nurses hold monthly education nights where certain topics are discussed.

Pizza is included of course!

Some of the areas in which our nurses have a keen interest are weight reduction

30 – VetScript September 2020

and nutrition, dentistry, palliative care, new puppy and kitten advice, and rabbit advice. Our veterinarians’ interests are dentistry, rabbits and guinea pigs, cardiology and ultrasound.

What’s the vibe of the practice?

It’s an open practice where everyone is encouraged to voice their opinions. We all have the same (dark!) sense of humour, which really helps when you’ve just been sprayed in the face with anal glands.

Our main point of difference is our mental wellbeing programme. All staff take part in an anonymous compassion fatigue survey every three months and discuss the findings with our practice manager, Zoe. Any concerns are addressed

immediately and we provide staff with any help or resources they may need. We want to look after our staff and keep them healthy, so we spend a lot of extra time changing things or making things better for everyone’s mental wellbeing. It’s one of the most important things a practice can do for its staff.

Do you have a succession plan for the business?

Succession planning is really difficult in an independent practice environment.

One thing that worries me is that the younger generation of veterinarians – the ones I’ve spoken to at least – don’t seem to want to own a practice. I set up the clinic to service the people in this area.

OUT THERE VETTING

We know nearly all the people who walk through the door quite well. We want to maintain those relationships by staying independent and not selling to a corporate group.

I’ve tried to make sure the clinic can run without me. If you can set it up like that, you can get a manager in to run it with the same values and standards. I’ve set up key person insurance. It’s a good backstop, so if something unforeseeable happens to me the clinic gets a big lump sum and they can bring in the people they need. You might, for example, need to bring in an accountant for one day a week to teach people that side of the business.

I hope I’ve future-proofed the clinic somewhat by doing that.

ALL STAFF TAKE PART IN AN ANONYMOUS COMPASSION FATIGUE SURVEY EVERY THREE MONTHS AND DISCUSS THE FINDINGS WITH OUR PRACTICE MANAGER, ZOE.

Do you have any tips for independent practices?

We went away from the old idea of owning everything – we lease a lot now. That way we can update technology without it costing us, and when something dies we just get a new one. Leasing is a really good option for those big-ticket items costing $40,000–$50,000. A company may not offer to lease you an item straight off the bat, but if you say, “Well, actually I’d really like to lease that,” it will turn around and talk numbers. We have a set amount each month that we know we have to generate to make leasing worthwhile. We know what it costs to own it and run it. That helps with cash flow.

Another tip is to get a business coach, and an accountant who’s proactive and keeps an eye on how you’re tracking.

Outsource anything you’re not good at.

What are the challenges of having an independent practice?

Our challenges are mainly those of any small, independent business operating in an increasingly corporate and internetdriven environment. When clients ask for their prescriptions so they can buy their products on the internet, they take away the sales that potentially are subsidising their fees. Every veterinarian probably cringes when a client asks them

for a script. The online companies have a huge advantage in that they don’t have premises, large numbers of staff or stock to keep, so they don’t have to mark up their products a whole lot.

However, I find there are more benefits to being a small practice than challenges.

We get to make our own decisions, for example, only stocking products we are 100% confident with and not having to push certain things. We also have our own protocols and procedures, which we can change if needed. We can deal with patients and clients in our own way. I think these days people like to support small, local businesses.

How did At The Vets deal with the COVID-19 lockdown?

We went into COVID-19 very cautiously and were very careful of what we were spending and what we were doing, because we didn’t know how long the lockdown would last. We cut costs wherever we could while keeping staff on. We’re lucky the lockdown only lasted a month. I’m hearing from clinics in the UK that they’re not doing well because it’s still going on.

We worked three days on, three days off so that one team could work an entire day and there were no swap-overs in the middle of the day. We found new ways of reducing administration time for our nurses, so they could spend more time with clients.

Resilience is about feeling that you have a support network. We had a team meeting and we decided the only way this was going to work was if we all pulled together. No complaints from anyone.

I think I also became very open to new ideas in a big hurry! We had installed a new fibre-based phone system in the months before COVID-19, which allowed us to have more phone lines for all the phone consultations we were doing.

I could answer messages easily from home too. We had to upgrade some of our computers so that we had videoconferencing abilities. I’d like to see more consulting done via phone or videoconference in the future.

VetScript September 2020 – 31

COVER STORY

BIT

BLINDNESS Animal welfare scientist David Mellor shows how bit use causes pain in horses and puts forward a case for bit-free bridles.

32 – VetScript September 2020

BITS HAVE HAD a role in human-horse interactions for at least four millennia.

Their use has now been normalised, giving rise to a perception that many bit-associated behaviours are natural to the horse and have little to do with the presence of the bit. The pervasive familiarity of this perception (referred to as ‘bit blindness’) (Mellor, 2020) has understandably influenced the vast majority of equestrians active today.

However, while the term is used simply to draw attention to the situation, it raises a problem that needs to be addressed.

The peer-reviewed literature provides unequivocal evidence that bit use can cause pain in horses (Mellor, 2020) – not in every horse, but in most, and not in each ride or drive, but often enough and at intensities that can be a major concern for the horses’ welfare (see box on page 34). The hard and soft tissues of the mouth (gums, tongue, teeth, buccal mucosa and lips) are exquisitely sensitive to pain caused by compression, laceration, inflammation, impeded blood flow and/or stretching. In competition and other horses, well-documented lesions in these tissues help identify the foci of noxious stimulation. The gums in

COVER STORY

BIT-INDUCED MOUTH PAIN IS CLEARLY A PROBLEM. INACTION CAN BE EXCUSABLE WHEN THE PAIN IS UNRECOGNISED, BUT NOT OTHERWISE...

the interdental space, a common bit location, are especially sensitive to bit pressure, and pain is exacerbated by repeated bit contact with bruises, cuts, tears and/or ulcers wherever they are in the mouth.

The behavioural indications of mouth pain have been identified by comparing responses in: ridden horses wearing bitted bridles; horses changed from bitted to bit-free bridles; unbitted domesticated horses; and free-roaming horses in the wild. Aberrant behaviours are present in bitted horses and absent or much less prevalent when horses are bit-free. They include mouth movements, abnormal head-neck positions, and characteristic facial expressions (‘pain face’), head and body movements and gait (Mellor, 2020). Readers keen to see behavioural evidence themselves – and draw their own conclusions – will find a rich source in YouTube videos. Search for the named activity or event in competition horses, or for documentaries and roundups about bit-free, wild or freeroaming horses.

The second test requires a set of top-loading kitchen scales that can take a weight of at least 3kg. Point an index finger down vertically, then place its tip (not the distal fingerprint surface) on the weighing tray so that the bone of the terminal phalanx bears most of the pressure. Then press directly downward to hold the scale readings successively at 1kg, 2kg and 3kg, taking a break between each level. Note how long you can maintain the scale readings before pain compels a withdrawal – and bear in mind that the fingertip is much less immediately susceptible to pain-inducing pressure than the exquisitely sensitive gums. Finally, compare the scale levels with the values for bit pressure per unit area (see the box) and note that 3kg/cm2 is considerably less than most of them.

In the third test, imagine lying flat on your back on a raised platform that has enough space under it to suspend a small carry-on flight bag. The bag is attached to light reins fixed to each end of a metal bit located directly on the mandibular gums below the front incisor teeth (as with the Mellor pen test). Now imagine that the bag’s weight is increased from 2kg to a 7kg carry-on maximum, then progressively to a 20kg maximum for stowed luggage, and note that this is less than half the 43.7kg/cm2 derived from the observed maximum rein tensions (see the box).

SEEKING A SOLUTION Bit-induced mouth pain is clearly a problem. Inaction can be excusable when the pain is unrecognised, but not otherwise, and transitioning to bit-free bridles is a potential solution.

However, many equestrians worry that without bits horses would be uncontrollable and a danger to themselves and to riders, drivers and bystanders. They also worry that in competitive events horses without bits

GAUGING THE INTENSITY OF BITINDUCED PAIN Readers can gain personal insights into the likely intensity of bit-induced pain through some simple but effective tests.

The first is the ‘Mellor pen-test’, which simulates the effects of bit pressure on the gums of a horse’s interdental space. To do the test, simply press the barrel of a pen directly against the gums below the front incisor teeth of the lower jaw.

The author has already witnessed the responses of least 450 people, and expects most readers to experience intense pain even at low pressures.

IMAGERY: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM, SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

VetScript September 2020 – 33

COVER STORY

could not be controlled safely, or with the agility and/or precision desired in each case.

These are genuine concerns that need to be addressed, and that does not mean starting from ground zero. We can build on the experience of a burgeoning population of riders worldwide, who in the past two decades have transitioned successfully from bitted to bit-free horses for recreational and other riding.

In progressing to a bit-free solution, it is importance to have reassurance of and practical guidance on its effective implementation. That means, firstly, asking and addressing a series of important questions, including:

1

What competitive events have specifically been tested for control and safety using bit-free bridles?

2

Have horses trained from the outset to be ridden bit-free been tested in competition for their ease of control, and whether they can be ridden safely?

3

Can horses trained from the outset to be ridden with bitted bridles be successfully transitioned to being ridden bit-free safely?

4

If this is the case, what proportion of horses cannot be transitioned to bit-free riding?

5

For the horses that can be transitioned, how long does it take?

6

Are any bit-free bridles particularly effective in improving the transition success rate?

7

What are the detailed specifications of the most effective bit-free bridles?

8

Are any particular trainers more successful than others in transitioning horses to bit-free riding?

34 – VetScript September 2020

TRANSLATING REIN TENSIONS INTO BIT CONTACT PRESSURE ON MOUTH TISSUES REIN TENSIONS AS measured in Newtons, reported in at least seven publications (see Mellor, 2020), give little indication of the pressure the bit exerts on the mouth’s soft tissues, because they do not reflect the magnifying effect of the bit’s small contact area (Cook and Strasser, 2003). Two steps are needed to calculate this:

1.

Convert Newtons of rein tension (T) to their equivalent in kilograms of bit pressure (P) by dividing T by gravitational acceleration (9.8m/sec2).

Thus, P = T/9.8kg.

2.

Using the estimated area of contact of 0.387cm2 (from Cook and Strasser, 2003), calculate the pressure per unit area by dividing P by this area. Thus, P/0.387kg/cm2. This represents a magnification factor of 2.58, calculated as 1.0/0.387 (see Mellor, 2020 for more details).

Calculated bit pressures in the seven studies are zero as a ‘loose rein’ minimum, low values of 0.93–1.1kg/cm2, overall means of 2.3–15.5kg/cm2 and a range of maximum values of 13.4–43.7kg/cm2. Note these calculated bit pressures assume that reins are attached to each end of the bit, so that bit pressure equates directly to rein tension.

Note that the same rein tensions applied to shank bits (eg, dressage bits) would underestimate the contact bit pressure in proportion to the relative lengths of the longer ‘lever’ (between the bit and the rein attachment) and the shorter ‘purchase’(between the bit and the bridle’s cheek strap), expressed as lever/ purchase (LP). Clearly the larger the difference, the greater will be the contact bit pressure for a given rein tension.

When the bit is the fulcrum (the pivot point around which a lever turns), an LP factor of 6.0/5.0cm would underestimate the contact bit pressure by about 20%.

An LP factor of 12.0/6.0cm would do so by 200% and an LP factor of 15.0/5.0cm would do so by 300%. However, the fulcrum of some shank bits may be located where the purchase is attached to the face strap, thereby magnifying the leverage and underestimating even these bit contact pressures.

9

If so, what training of trainers is necessary to increase the number who are successful?

10 Can riders be trained to transition

Then it means undertaking scientifically robust study designs and, wherever possible, gaining support – both financially and for policy initiatives – from international and national equestrian organisations.

their own horses to bit-free riding?

11

What is the transition success rate for horses?

12 How do bitted and bit-free horses perform in different types of competitive events?

REFERENCES: Cook WR, Strasser H. Harmful effects of the bit. In: Kells S (ed). Metal in the Mouth: The Abusive Effects of Bitted Bridles. Pp 3–13. Sabine Kells, Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada, 2003. ISBN-10: 0-96859885-4, ISBN-13: 978-0-9685988-5-6 Mellor DJ. (2020). Mouth pain in horses: Physiological foundations, behavioural indices, welfare implications and a suggested solution. Animals 10(4), 572

“When mistakes happen, we’ll be there” Renew your insurance by 30th September to make sure we are

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NEWS IN THE AND CLINIC VIEWS

HUMAN DIET FADS – ARE THEY GOOD FOR PETS? Naomi Arnold interviews two researchers investigating keto and intermittent-fasting diets in dogs.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: MARCEL TROMP

NEWS IN THE AND CLINIC VIEWS

VETERINARIANS KNOW THAT the food clients give to their cats and dogs changes according to human fads and fashions. Recent pet-food trends have included raw, homemade, plant-based, grain-free and organic diets, just like those for humans.

Research backs this up. A Nielsen study shows that trends in wider pet care mirror those of pet owners (Nielsen, 2018), and a recent paper in Vet Record states that feeding pets unconventional (raw, homemade and vegetarian) diets became increasingly prevalent in the 10 years from 2008 to 2018. The paper reports that 64% of dogs and 46% of cats were offered homemade food, and 66% of dogs and 53% of cats were offered raw food (Dodd et al., 2020).

However, some of these diets could leave pets subject to serious nutritional deficiencies, says veterinarian Fiona Esam, Companion Animals New Zealand’s Welfare and Operations Officer. She laments the fact that the scientific process doesn’t have a chance to catch up to the speed at which a fad diet spreads, and that some pet-food manufacturers are quick to take advantage of these developments without evidence that the latest thing is the best thing, or even safe for animals.

“I continue to be disappointed by some owners’ mentality of ‘I think this diet is good for me, therefore it must be good for my pet’,” she says.

That said, there’s one popular human diet that may well have benefits for domestic pets. Associate Professor Nick Cave, a Massey University lecturer in small animal medicine and nutrition

IMAGE: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

(one of the co-authors of the Vet Record paper), and PhD student Becca Leung are investigating keto and intermittentfasting diets in dogs.

Most of us will be familiar with ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting.

A ketogenic (or ‘keto’) diet induces a metabolic state of nutritional ketosis, where the body and the brain are fuelled by ketones from dietary or body fat via fasting or eating a high-fat, very-lowcarbohydrate diet. Those on the diet consume less than 30g of carbohydrate a day, which is about the amount in a banana. Intermittent fasting is where people eat in a restricted window of time.

Keto has become extremely popular among people. It was the number-one Google diet search term in 2018–19 and PubMed references to ‘ketogenic’ have increased by 860% since 2000 (calculated

by Jim McCarter, Adjunct Professor of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine).

There is reasonable evidence that ketogenic diets are helpful in treating epilepsy and neurodegenerative disorders in people (Barañano and Hartman, 2008).

Ketones may be neuroprotective, may modify risk factors for heart disease and diabetes (Dashti et al., 2003; Hussain et al., 2012) and have been shown to speed recovery from head and spinal injuries in rodents (Streijger et al., 2013).

Some people find keto an effective way to suppress hunger and thus stay in a calorie deficit – and it often goes hand in hand with intermittent fasting.

The body then theoretically has time to go into autophagy, where it cleans

VetScript September 2020 – 37

IN THE CLINIC

up damaged cells in order to generate new, healthier ones. According to Nick, intermittent fasting might, among other benefits, help prevent the development of inflammatory disease, slow the progression of neurodegenerative disease, and increase longevity.

Nick and Becca say that keto and intermittent fasting show promise for dog nutrition in some cases, and they are currently studying their role in recovery from spinal cord injury and its effects on the immune system. So far there has been no research to support feeding dogs ketogenic diets or putting them on intermittent fasting programmes.

There’s also only one commercial keto pet-food formula available in the world (Nestlé’s Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets NeuroCare) and it’s not in New Zealand.

Given this, Nick expects that most veterinarians have yet to encounter clients asking about these feeding options.

At this stage of their investigation, Nick and Becca have found that the results of studies involving humans and rodents, which dominate our understanding of the diets, don’t necessarily apply to dogs.

Although dogs produce ketones from their livers at the same rate as humans and rats do, they use them much more efficiently. This perhaps reflects an ancestry with more dramatic swings of feast and famine than the grazing diets of human and rodent ancestors, the latter of which are less well adapted to fasting.

Nick and Becca’s current study involves dogs hospitalised at clinics

38 – VetScript September 2020

around the country, starting with those at Massey’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. It randomly assigns half the number of dogs to eat a conventional high-carbohydrate diet twice a day, which is the normal hospital feeding regime, and half to eat a ketogenic highfat, low-carbohydrate diet enriched with medium-chain triglycerides once a day.

“We can see that the ketogenic diet once a day is much more effective in raising the dogs’ ketone production rate, but we’ll need to study a large number of cases before we know whether it shortens their recovery time,” says Nick. He estimates they’ll need 100–200 dogs to account for natural variations in recovery times, and they have about 22 so far.

Nick doesn’t recommend that owners try replicating the study’s ketogenic diet

– a commercial, high-fat kibble to which is added coconut oil, whey protein powder, a palatant, vitamins and minerals. He also has “grave concerns” about outfits like KetoPet, a US non-profit organisation that encourages owners to design a keto diet.

He and a US-based PhD student offered their nutritional services but were turned down by the non-profit.

“Unfortunately there isn’t a good source of information for owners, and veterinarians have to realise that we’re just unpicking this – it may even not be beneficial in dogs,” he says. “We’ve tried some home-prepared ketogenic diets for epileptic dogs with seizures, and I’ve been unimpressed with the results.”

According to anecdotal and uncontrolled sources, says Nick, the major impediments seem to be getting

IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

IN THE CLINIC

“IT’S GOING TO TAKE A LOT MORE WORK TO ESTABLISH THE LIMITS OF BOTH FASTING AND THE DIET COMPOSITION TO CREATE (OR ENCOURAGE DOGS TO CREATE) KETONES.”

dogs to eat ketogenic diets, getting clients to consistently manufacture them, and managing problems that result from switching low-fat diets to high-fat ones.

“I certainly don’t expect owners to have the ability to create complete and balanced diets, let alone ones that satisfy the requirements for intermittent fasting or a ketogenic diet,” he says. “I don’t expect veterinarians to be able to do it either, and I’m not even sure I could do it myself.

“That’s why we’re doing this research – to determine exactly what’s required.

It’s going to take a lot more work to establish the limits of both fasting and the diet composition to create (or encourage dogs to create) ketones.

“There’s a very high risk that owners will create problems if they go too much off piste. Until we have clear evidence of the diets’ efficacy in dogs, I’d rather that people stay away or consult veterinary nutritionists for good advice.”

On the subject of how often dogs should be fed, most consumer animalfeeding guidelines say twice a day, and the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Dogs Code of Welfare says those over nine months old should be fed at least

once a day. How does intermittent fasting fit with these guidelines? Nick says he’s not yet sure.

“While feeding at least once a day is obviously a sensible recommendation, I start to sit a little uncomfortably in my chair when I consider that strong recommendation,” he says.

“We have increasing evidence that feeding twice a day is not necessarily beneficial, and fasting dogs intermittently could be a healthier approach. In fact we don’t know what the optimal feeding regime is for dogs.”

He doesn’t want to give a recommendation, but feeds his own Border Terrier and Huntaway once a day, and says they also experience periods of intermittent fasting.

The NZVA’s Veterinary Manager (Companion Animals), Lorelle Barrett, says she’s not yet had clients ask her about keto and/or intermittent fasting, nor heard of it from other veterinarians.

Generally, she says, veterinarians and veterinary nurses should ensure they make nutrition part of the conversation when taking an animal’s clinical history.

And it’s important this is done in an open and non-judgemental way.

“A lot of people have set ideas or feel they can’t discuss their choices and therefore shut down. When that happens we lose the opportunity to engage with them and determine how they’ve come to their decisions.”

Royal Canin Scientific Services Veterinarian Corey Regnerus comments that, while the company relies on scientific research related to pet health rather than consumer trends to dictate product development, these alternative ways of feeding are interesting to consider and they will keep a ‘watch this space’ kind of vibe on the topic.

“For example, the introduction to the market of grain-free diets for pets with food allergies is largely consumer driven,” he says. “Published research tells us that regularly fed meat proteins such as chicken, not grains, are commonly implicated in food allergens in both cats and dogs.”

He says that while consumer trends come and go, the company isn’t likely to invest in products that don’t meet pets’ health and nutritional needs and have strong scientific bases.

“Is it healthy for a cat or dog to be in a continuous state of ketosis? Is there a maximum safe level of ketones in cats and dogs undergoing weight loss programmes, or specific disease states?

How do individual breed variations fit with ketone production and metabolism? These are the questions that we at Royal Canin would like to see evaluated to keep the health of cats and dogs as the focus for innovation.”

Corey says owners should still get their nutritional information from veterinarians, while noting that Royal Canin is receiving an increasing number of enquiries from veterinarians about what to feed puppies who’ve developed rickets as a result of being fed raw or all-meat diets, a popular pet-food fad.

“Veterinarians remain the experts in animal health and welfare and are best placed to make nutritional recommendations,” he says. “They should take the opportunity to position themselves as such.”

REFERENCES: Barañano KW, Hartman AL. The ketogenic diet: Uses in epilepsy and other neurologic illnesses.

Current Treatment Options in Neurology 10, 410, 2008 Dashti HM, Bo-Abbas YY, Asfar SK, Mathew TC, Hussein T, Behbahani A, Khoursheed MA, Al-Sayer HM, Al-Zaid NS. Ketogenic diet modifies the risk factors of heart disease in obese patients.

Nutrition 19(10), 901–2, 2003 Dodd S, Cave N, Abood S, Shoveller A, Adolphe J, Verbrugghe A. An observational study of pet feeding practices and how these have changed between 2008 and 2018. Veterinary Record 186, 643, 2020 Hussain TA, Mathew TC, Dashti AA, Asfar S, Al-Zaid N, Dashti HM. Effect of low-calorie versus low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet in type 2 diabetes.

Nutrition 28(10), 1016–21, 2012 Nielsen. Trends in Pet Care Mirror Those of Owners. www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2018/ trends-in-pet-care-mirror-those-of-pet-owners (accessed 21 July 2020). USA, 2018 Streijger F, Plunet WT, Lee JHT, Liu J, Lam CK, Park S, Hilton BJ, Fransen BS, Matheson KAJ, Assinck P et al. Ketogenic diet improves forelimb motor function after spinal cord injury in rodents.

PLOS ONE 8(11), e78765, 2013

VetScript September 2020 – 39

IN THE FIELD

DAIRY COW HEALTH AND WELFARE:

ARE WE THERE YET? Katie Saunders, a developer in the Animal Care Team at DairyNZ, provides insights into animal care practices on 42 New Zealand dairy farms.

CONSUMERS, THE PUBLIC and animal welfare advocates have expressed concerns about how dairy cows around the world are cared for. To address these concerns, the New Zealand dairy sector, through the Dairy Tomorrow Strategy, has committed to developing and implementing a framework by 2023 that demonstrates every animal is valued and treated with care and respect.

This is no small task given that New Zealand has about five million dairy cows on 12,000 farms. However, in autumn 2020 the Dairy Tomorrow working group made a start by undertaking an animal care pilot, visiting 42 dairy farms around the country and using a variety of measures to assess animal care. The goal of the pilot was to find a group of high-level, evidence-based measures that could identify areas for improvement in farm systems, provide value for farmers and assure the public and consumers that the dairy sector is proactively addressing the issue of animal care.

40 – VetScript September 2020

While DairyNZ and Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) members are leading this commitment, the working group has engaged with farmers, the public and animal welfare experts (including veterinarians) to help guide the work to date. Farmer working groups have already developed a set of animal care standards based on the Five Domains Model to ensure an ‘animal-centric’ approach (Mellor and Beausoleil, 2015). This aligns with the position of the UK Farm Animal Welfare

Council (now the Animal Welfare Committee) that good animal welfare implies both physical healthiness and a sense of wellbeing, that all farm animals should have lives worth living, (from the animal’s points of view) and that an increasing proportion should have good lives (Farm Animal Welfare Council, 2009).

Assessing all of New Zealand’s 12,000 farms against these standards is not likely to be feasible, but a group of high-level measures could help identify those farms that would benefit most from a more in-depth assessment.

Several dairy companies already have animal health and welfare programmes, and many veterinary clinics provide services such as animal health plans. This animal care pilot aims to complement and support the hard work already underway, and encourage more veterinarians to take active roles in farm system planning and change to ensure cows’ welfare needs are met.

New Zealand’s dairy farm systems have several features that are different from those of dairy farms in other parts of the world. For example, our herds are comparatively large, most of our cows spend all year on pasture, and our cows calve seasonally. Therefore it’s important to take a close look at our

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IN THE FIELD

farms and consider carefully the animal care measures that would be most relevant for our systems.

The animal care pilot looked at input and output measures: » Input measures record the resources a farmer provides for their animals.

They include self-reported animal care practices, the resources provided for animals (feed, water, staffing, shade and shelter) and National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) weather data. » Output measures record actual animal-related measurements. They include seasonal animal health and production data, point-in-time animal measures (body condition, lameness and tail scoring) and some newer methods of assessment, such as how much time the cow spends doing various activities (also known as a time budget).

Each measure was also considered for practicality (ease of collection) and meaningfulness (how accurately can it be measured? Can a farmer make changes to improve it? And is improvement likely to be beneficial to the cow?).

Statistical analysis looked for relationships between the measures.

However, while they did exist, there were considerable variations between regions and farm systems, highlighting that all farms are unique in how they approach animal care. We can conclude that a collection of indicators and measures is needed to help paint a picture of animal care on farms.

The animal care pilot revealed that self-reported practices did not always align with animal outputs. For example, good mastitis prevention did not necessarily mean a lower incidence of clinical mastitis – a factor that highlighted the potential limitations of relying only on self-reporting.

However, in some cases there may not

be a more accurate way to evidence animal care. Measures will need to include a balance of inputs and outputs that includes both self-reported data and data from second parties such as dairy companies, veterinarians and other rural professionals.

There were variations in the accuracy of recorded data. Measures recorded by second parties, such as bulk milk somatic cell count, milk production, six-week in-calf rate, body condition, lameness and tail scoring, were generally accurate. Farmerrecorded measures that also seemed to be reasonably accurate included mastitis incidence (and other health issues where antibiotic treatments were used), down-cow incidence and cow mortality. Recordings of other measures were more variable, such as those of lameness incidence and calf mortality. Some farmers were recording only lame cows given antibiotics rather than all lame cows treated, and there were variations in the calf ‘deaths’ included in the farm records, ranging from stillbirths to deaths in the first 48 hours, deaths in sheds, deaths in paddocks and bobbycalf deaths.

These measures are often part of discussions about health planning and

interventions, so as trusted animal health and welfare professionals, veterinarians have huge scope to help their clients measure, record, analyse and monitor their animal care. Onfarm animal care can be complex, with multiple factors to consider, and your support will help improve the lives of all cows in your care.

We’ll be piloting these measures on another group of farms this spring, to further refine the process.

REFERENCES: Farm Animal Welfare Council. Farm Animal Welfare in Great Britain: Past, Present and Future. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/319292/Farm_Animal_Welfare_in_Great_ Britain_-_Past__Present_and_Future.pdf (accessed 21 July 2020). UK, 2009 Mellor DJ, Beausoleil NJ. Extending the ‘Five Domains’ model for animal welfare assessment to incorporate positive welfare states. Animal Welfare 24, 241–53, 2015

If you’d like to discuss this topic further, please contact Katie at katie.saunders@dairynz.co.nz.

VetScript September 2020 – 41

IN THE FIELD

AMR

– MORE THAN A TREATMENT ISSUE Phil Stewart interviews Cognosco’s Research Manager, Scott McDougall, about his recent presentation on AMR in dairy cows.

IS ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE (AMR) in our dairy herds? Is it getting worse? And are the available antibiotics dealing effectively with infections?

Veterinarian Scott McDougall, Research Manager at Cognosco, presented answers to these questions at an MSD-hosted

42 – VetScript September 2020

animal health workshop for veterinarians in February, with the theme of ‘Dry Cow Therapy for the Future’.

Scott and fellow presenter microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles addressed an issue the NZVA had raised five years earlier, when it launched its aspirational

statement that by 2030 antimicrobial products would no longer be needed for the maintenance of animal health and wellness. Both highlighted the value of surveillance in detecting AMR trends.

The story of AMR on New Zealand dairy farms is nuanced. Scott says veterinarians need to look carefully at individual farms because there are wide AMR-related variations between them.

AMR isn’t a new issue for the country’s dairy industry. Scott points to work that identified Staphylococcus aureus penicillin resistance in twothirds of isolates (Carman and Gardner, 1997; Elliott, 1971). “Fortunately,” he says, “that level may not have worsened since then and we’re managing mastitis better.” He adds that although cattle account for less than half of all animal antibiotic drug sales in New Zealand, mastitis accounts for 85% of cattle usage. “In preventing clinical infections and reducing dry-cow therapy, there’s an opportunity to cut the amount of antimicrobials going into our cows.”

IN THE FIELD

Other countries are already making good progress. The Netherlands banned blanket dry-cow therapy in 2012, and since then antibiotic use in dairy cows has fallen by a massive 70%.

Data from DairyNZ shows a steady decline in the use of whole-herd drycow antibiotic treatment in the past five years, and an increased use of part-herd (selective) treatment approaches (see the March issue of VetScript). As of this year, dry-cow therapy is only being used to treat existing intramammary infections.

But what about AMR levels? Scott refers to the results of his research in conjunction with MSD Animal Health on the use of dry-cow therapy in 26 New Zealand dairy herds – in which 11 had been treated with ampicillin or cloxacillin, eight had been treated with cephalonium antibiotics, and seven were organic herds (so had had no antibiotic treatment). The treated herds had used the antibiotic classes for at least three years, and at least 50% of each treated herd had been given dry-cow therapy.

Nearly all the cows recruited had received dry-cow therapy at the end of the previous lactation. None had received any lactating therapy during the 30 days prior to the study. All had somatic cell counts of over 200,000cells/mL. Milk samples were taken from all four quarters of the udders at about 100 days into the next lactation, and mastitis-causing bacteria were isolated from those milk samples.

Scott says that about 60% of the samples yielded no growth of bacteria, and the incidence of S. aureus and Streptococci was about what could have been expected.

Rather than using the traditional zone-diffusion test, the researchers used the more precise broth microdilution technique, which provides an estimation of the concentration of antimicrobials required to kill bacteria. The same principle is used in the commercially available Dairy Antibiogram test. Each isolate was tested against 10 antibiotics.

Scott says that, on average, the organic herds had higher somatic cell counts and levels of intramammary infection than the other herds, but there were

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THIS RESISTANCE VARIABILITY IN DIFFERENT PATHOGENS AND ANTIBIOTICS MAKES IT IMPORTANT THAT VETERINARIANS UNDERSTAND THE CIRCUMSTANCES AT INDIVIDUAL FARMS.

wide variations between herds. Overall, isolates derived from dry-cow-therapy herds had higher minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) than isolates from organic herds, but there were variations, and the changes in MICs were unlikely to be clinically important.

“We isolated S. aureus from 22 of the herds. Of these, the S. aureus from eight herds showed no resistance to penicillinbased antibiotics, while two-thirds of the herds had some resistant isolates.”

He says S. aureus resistance to penicillin was found at the same rate in organic and conventionally treated herds. “There was no clear relationship between treatment history and penicillin resistance.” While S. aureus was resistant to narrow-spectrum penicillins, other drugs such as firstgeneration cephalosporins and cloxacillin were still effective.

The narrow-spectrum penicillins worked well for S. uberis, although there was some ‘drift’ to higher MICs for S. uberis for cloxacillin. In terms of coagulase-negative Staphs, there was some evidence of higher resistance in herds treated with dry-cow therapy than in those on organic farms, but no statistical differences between the organic and conventional herds for S. aureus.

This resistance variability in different pathogens and antibiotics makes it important that veterinarians understand the circumstances at

individual farms. Scott points out that there’s a world of difference between MICs starting to drift up and MICs exceeding clinical breakpoints, rendering some antimicrobials ineffective. “In most cases an on-label tube of treatment will get you well above the MICs required,” he says.

“We’re still killing the bugs, even though the MICs might be drifting up by one or two dilutions.”

All this has led to Scott concluding that AMR on any farm is a lot more than simply a relationship between antibiotic treatment history and resistance. He notes that the large AMR variations between herds using the same antibiotic amounts indicate other factors are at play.

These include: » problems with individual farm biosecurity practices in which, for example, resistant bacteria are introduced through brought-in cows » co-selection for resistance » the use of disinfectants » the ability of resistant genes to move between bacteria or host species.

Scott says the presence of AMR on organic farms may be a legacy from preconversion days, but it could equally be sourced via contact with humans or wildlife. He concludes that while AMR is present in dairy herds, treatment history is only one factor causing it.

“It’s clear that blanket dry-cow therapy is associated with higher MICs, so you need to keep the conversation going about reducing the use of antimicrobials and the increased use of internal teat sealants,” he says.

“Use antibiotics where appropriate, but be aware of other factors in resistance, such as not culling chronically infected old cows and the risk of introducing resistant bacteria through poor biosecurity.”

REFERENCES: Carman M, Gardner E. Trends in bovine mastitis and sensitivity patterns. Surveillance 24(4), 13–5, 1997 Elliott REW. Antibiotic resistance among haemolytic Staphylococci isolated from bovine milk samples in New Zealand. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 19, 95–9, 1971

VetScript September 2020 – 43

IN THE FIELD

RESISTANCE? WHAT RESISTANCE? Paul Hughes, Anthony Oswald and Harley Bowsher, of Taihape Veterinary Services, report on investigations into trichostrongyloid drench resistance in sheep in the Taihape district.

BACKGROUND A 2004 report from the Taihape district (Hughes et al., 2004) detailed the resistance of Teladorsagia circumcincta to moxidectin in lambs in February. This was the first recording of a macrocyclic lactone drench resistance in sheep in New Zealand, and the finding incidentally caused a 70% drop in clinic sales of the ivermectinbased drench capsules for use in ewes the following spring.

Another report in 2007, on a survey of 84 farms in Taihape (Hughes et al., 2007), discussed the risk factors associated with the development of ivermectin resistance in the district’s sheep flocks. The table on page 46 summarises that study and indicates that lamb management was the most important factor in determining the development of resistance.

In 2018 a third report (Oswald, 2018) recorded the sudden appearance of triple drench resistance in Trichostrongylus colubriformis on a farm in the Taihape district. This was a serious development, as Trichostrongylus spp. are by far the most clinically significant parasites in the district. The resistance had not been detected on the farm in the preceding three years or in annual monitoring of other farms in the district. In addition, a follow-up slaughter study in 2007 had failed to detect any Trichostrongylus spp. resistance to ivermectin.

44 – VetScript September 2020

This update details the current state of triple drench resistance and the situation regarding the effectiveness of monepantel/abamectin (Zolvix Plus) and derquantel/abamectin (Startect). It also suggests an approach to mitigate, at least theoretically, the development of further resistance to these newer drenches.

THE CURRENT STATE OF MULTIPLE DRENCH RESISTANCE The drench effectiveness tests reported below were part of routine surveillance carried out between 2017 and 2019.

None was initiated because of concern about clinical disease due to drench resistance, and in all cases larval cultures were undertaken.

The double drench gun – for applying two drenches to sheep at one time.

NEWS AND VIEWS

To date, few farms in the district have used the monepantel and abamectin combo (Zolvix Plus) or the derquantel and abamectin combo (Startect).

Two types of test were conducted on different farms: faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRTs) and drench checks. FECRTs were carried out using procedures described in Hughes et al. (2007). Drench checks measured follow-up faecal egg counts (FECs) 7–14 days post-drenching while the pre-treatment counts were unknown.

We carried out FECRTs on 22 farms using triple active drenches.

Twelve returned resistant results (55% prevalence) at the species level: all involved Trichostrongylus spp. and some also involved Teladorsagia spp. Interestingly, six of the 10 negative farms used long-acting drenches regularly in their ewes, while nine of the 12 positive farms did so.

We gathered drench check data from a total of 31 farms using triple actives. Of these farms, 12 had detectable strongyle eggs (at the level of 100 eggs per gram) and a further eight farms had larvae detected that returned a zero FEC. Trichostrongylus spp. dominated this profile on 17 farms and Teladorsagia spp. on three.

Of the eight farms where the derquantel and abamectin combo was used in FECRTs, one showed a 67% reduction for Trichostrongylus spp., one just exceeded the 95% threshold, and the other six had larvae cultured. As a result of a laboratory testing protocol error the property with the 67% reduction was calculated on composite FECs not the normal individual FECs. In the author’s opinion this would not materially change the resistance status (McKenna, 2007). The larval profile overall was evenly split between Trichostrongylus spp. and Teladorsagia spp.

The one case of a drench check for the derquantel and abamectin combo returned a zero FEC; however, Trichostrongylus spp. larvae were cultured.

Of the eight farms where the monepantel and abamectin combo was used in FECRTs, one showed a 94% reduction for Trichostrongylus spp., another had an egg count detected, and another four had larvae cultured.

The double drench gun application on conveyor drenching lambs.

Due to a computation error the figure of 94% is different from the original published in the New Zealand Society for Parasitology 2019 Proceedings.

The monepantel and abamectin combo was tested on eight farms using drench checks, with one returning a positive egg count and three further cases returning a positive larval culture. Trichostrongylus spp. tended to dominate the larval culture profile over Teladorsagia spp.

While acknowledging that only a small number of farms were tested and that larval leakage per se does not qualify in establishing the presence of resistance, these results are very concerning for both newer actives.

RECOMMENDATIONS In response to these findings, we now recommend that, strategically, each of the two newer active drenches be used in combination with another drench administered at the same time: the monepantel and abamectin combo with an ivermectin, oxfendazole, levamisole combo (Iver Matrix); and the derquantel and abamectin combo with a moxidectin, albendazole, levamisole combo (Trimox).

This approach is especially important when the drenches are used for quarantine or ‘knock-out’ purposes and could also be considered as an aid in preventing resistance developing to the two newer actives.

GRAPH 1: Updated FECRT data 2019 14 12 10 8

Resistant

6

Ok

4 2 0 BZ/LEV

ABA

MOX

TRIPLE

BZ/LEV = BENZIMIDAZOLE/LEVAMISOLE; ABA = ABAMECTIN; MOX = MOXIDECTIN; TRIPLE = ABAMECTIN/BENZIMIDAZOLE/LEVAMISOLE

VetScript September 2020 – 45

IN THE FIELD

Summary of drench effectiveness 2019 Triples – FECRT: 55% of farms resistant + drench checks, 62% leaking larvae Derquantel/abamectin combo – FECRT: 12% of farms resistant + drench checks, 100% leaking larvae Monepantel/abamectin combo – FECRT: 12% of farms resistant + drench checks, 50% leaking larvae

Summary – quarantine and/or ‘knockout’ drenches Combination of Zolvix Plus and Ivermatrix • Three FECRT on farms leaking larvae with Zolvix Plus • All returned clear results Combination of Startect and Trimox • Five FECRT on farms leaking larvae with Startect • Two returned results leaking larvae

Factors associated with macrocyclic lactone (ML) resistance (<95% faecal nematode egg count reduction (FECR) following treatment with a half dose of ivermectin) on sheep farms in the Taihape area, analysed as single explanatory variables.

Risk Factor

No. Farms n Total

P-value

Odds ratios (95% CI)

Categorical Bought-in lambs 18 84 0.09 2.60 (0.81-8.39) Lambed early (Aug) vs late (Sept/Oct) 24 80 0.07 3.00 (0.92-9.75) Relied on accuracy of drench gun 24 79 0.06 3.11 (0.95-10.15) Weaned more than half of lambs onto paddocks not grazed by lambing ewes since 01 June 16 79 0.04 4.19 (1.07-16.51) Used visual signs to assess "worminess" 58 79 0.03 3.08 (1.01-9.40) Always returned lambs to the same paddock after 14 80 0.002 0.9 (0.01-0.44) drenching Months FECR test conducted 84 Jan-Mar 27 1 Apr-Jun 32 0.04 0.25 (0.07-0.96) Jul-Sept 25 0.02 0.19 (0.05-0.77) Ostertagia sp. Found in test sample 62 84 0.001 6.64 (2.09-21.11) Resistance to levamisole (LEV) present 18 49 0.02 15.94 (1.55-164.0) Resistance to benzimidazole (BZ) present 41 76 0.02 3.63 (1.19-11.01 Resistance to BZ/LEV combination present 2 42 0.47 ND Mixed grazing of sheep with cattle or deer 73 80 0.54 1.62 (0.33-7.88) Sheep lambing as hoggets 27 79 0.50 1.46 (0.48-4.40) Treatment of ewes pre-lambing with ML capsules: in any of the previous 5 years 63 80 0.68 1.27 (0.41-3.89) in >3 of the previous 5 years 41 80 0.46 1.48 (0.51-4.31) Treatment of ewes pre-lambing with moxidectin injection: in any of the previous 5 years 27 80 0.30 1.79 (0.59-5.43) in >3 of the previous 5 years 14 80 0.38 1.69 (0.52-5.50) Continuous Sheep:Cattle/Deer ratio 82 0.42 Stocking density 77 0.44 Lambing percentage 75 0.73 Ordinal No. drenches given to lambs (4-8) 78 0.49 No. drenches given to ewes (0-3) 79 0.54 Year tested (2004, 2005, 2006) 84 0.29 CI = confidence interval; ND = not determined (due to inadequate numbers for meaningful comparison)

SOURCE: HUGHES ET AL., 2007

46 – VetScript September 2020

To date, three FECRTs on farms with larvae cultured after the monepantel and abamectin drench have returned clear results after monepantel and abamectin/ivermectin, oxfendazole and levamisole double drenches.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case for the derquantel and abamectin/moxidectin, albendazole and levamisole double drench, with two out of five cases returning positive larval cultures (both Trichostrongylus spp. and Teladorsagia spp. have been identified).

We have developed a double drench gun to allow the two drenches to be administered with a single pass, making administration easier in a drenching race where lambs tend to turn around irregularly after drenching. It also speeds up the application process when lambs are drenched on a sheep conveyor.

In the future, drench effectiveness will need to be monitored more carefully and farm-specific programmes based on resistance profiles will be required, to avert clinical parasitism.

This will obviously need to encompass management techniques as well as drench usage.

This article was originally presented at the 47th annual meeting of the New Zealand Society for Parasitology in Dunedin, October 2019. It has been edited since its initial publication.

REFERENCES: Hughes PL, Dowling AF, Callinan APL. Resistance to macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics and associated risk factors on sheep farms in the lower North Island of New Zealand. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 55(4), 177–83, 2007 Hughes PL, McKenna PB, Murphy A. Resistance to moxidectin and abamectin in naturally acquired Ostertagia circumcincta infections in sheep. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 52, 202–4, 2004 McKenna PB. How do you mean? The case for composite faecal egg counts in testing for drench resistance. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 55(2), 100–1, 2007 Oswald A. Triple resistant T. columbriformis.

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society for Parasitology 2018 46, 2018

ONLINE

The 10 behaviours of success Add practical skills to your tool kit to thrive in your work and at home.

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NEWS AND VIEWS

WILL YOU BE

READY TO RETIRE? www.sorted.org.nz to help you determine the retirement you want, how much it’ll cost, and the savings plan you’re going to need. Then be sure to speak to your advisor so they can help you meet those goals.

Colin Thomson, Head of Investments at MAS, has some sage advice for NZVA members thinking ahead to their retirement.

PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT What are you going to do with your retirement? Travel? Take up some new hobbies? Maybe even continue to do a little work in a less structured way?

Retirement means different things to different people, but whatever you have in mind, you need to plan for it.

Retirement planning is even more important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had major impacts on international financial markets.

Investors who kept their investments ticking over have generally emerged in more financially secure positions than those who panicked at the prospect of plummeting returns and sold out of fundamentally sound investments.

But of course retirement can seem a long way off – even when you’re in the middle of your career – and planning for it can be pushed down the to-do list by more immediate priorities.

48 – VetScript September 2020

2.

What can you afford to save now?

The good news is that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Getting in touch with a qualified financial advisor is a great place to start, and the personalised guidance they provide can help you get the sort of retirement you want.

In general, though, there are four basic questions you need to think about.

1.

What kind of retirement do you want?

Are you imagining six-month travels through Europe every other year? Or will you be spending your retirement a little closer to home?

Are you going to downsize the family home, or splash out on a new car?

Different retirements have very different price tags, and one of your first jobs is to work out how much you’ll need to save. Use tools such as the online calculators at

3.

You’re going to have to pay for your retirement somehow, and New Zealand Superannuation will unlikely provide enough by itself.

While it’s important to put away some of your pay each month to build up your retirement fund, you also want to be able to enjoy life in the here and now. So how do you strike the balance between saving and spending?

A basic budget is essential to help you get a sense of what you need to put away for a comfortable retirement. The younger you are, the more you can take advantage of the wonders of compound interest. If you’re able to boost your monthly contributions to your retirement fund now, it’ll be well worth it in the long run.

What’s your risk profile?

How long do you have until you hit retirement age? If you still have 20–30 years to go, you have plenty of time to ride the ups and downs of the sharemarket – like those

IMAGERY: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

IN THE WORKPLACE

we’ve just experienced thanks to the pandemic – and still come out on top. If you’re nearing retirement, you’ll want to make sure your money is more secure in lower-risk funds to ensure no nasty surprises.

To make sure you’re in the right fund, check out Sorted’s Fund Finder (www.fundfinder.sorted. org.nz) or the MAS risk profiler (www.mas.co.nz/risk-profiler).

4.

Are you a responsible investor?

Responsible investment is a hot topic right now, and savers are becoming much more interested in where their money is being invested. KiwiSaver and other investment funds vary dramatically when it comes to their investment

ethics. While recent controversies have led to many divesting armaments and tobacco, many funds still invest in fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.

Consider your own values and, if you care about how your money is invested, think about choosing a responsible investment fund.

SEEK PERSONALISED, QUALIFIED ADVICE These are some of the basic questions you need to think about when it comes to saving for your retirement. But nothing beats specialist advice from a financial advisor. They can take your specific circumstances into account and help design a personalised savings and investment plan that will give you the retirement you want.

Finding the right advisor is also important when times get tough. Having a clear plan prevents kneejerk responses to market downturns and keeps you focused on your long-term savings goals.

Be sure to find a qualified financial advisor who’s working in your best interests. They’ll be an advisor such as those at MAS who aren’t incentivised to sell by receiving commissions or remuneration if they meet sales targets.

So if you’ve been putting off your retirement planning, book an appointment with an advisor today.

The sooner you get a plan in place, the better off you’ll be in the future.

This article is of a general nature and is not a substitute for professional and individually tailored financial, business or legal advice. © Medical Assurance Society New Zealand Limited 2020.

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VetScript September 2020 – 49

NEWS AND VIEWS

of gestation, the fetus will recognise the virus as part of itself, and be born as a ‘BVD carrier’ or a persistently infected (PI) calf.

Unlike TI cattle, PI cattle never develop immunity to the virus. They go on to excrete enormous amounts of BVD virus during their lifetimes, which makes them the most important sources of new infections for naïve animals on dairy and beef farms. The early detection and immediate removal of PI animals is therefore an essential step in any BVD control programme.

BVD: effective testing for control or eradication Andrew MacPherson, Medical Affairs Veterinarian at IDEXX Laboratories, reports on research into using earnotch samples to test calves for bovine viral diarrhoea.

INTRODUCTION Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) is a disease affecting cattle that is caused by the BVD virus. The virus is endemic in most cattlefarming countries and causes significant economic losses worldwide (Yarnall and Thrusfield, 2017).

BVD manifests on dairy and beef farms.

As it is immunosuppressive it can present in many ways, including as ill-thrift, reproductive losses and/or decreased milk production, with a predisposition to concurrent infectious disease. These variations in manifestation often impede management efforts and rapid diagnosis.

In addition, and despite its name, the absence of diarrhoea does not rule out

50 – VetScript September 2020

the presence of the BVD virus on farm, as acute infection can be subclinical and cause mild or undetected disease.

When a cow first becomes infected with the virus, no matter what their age, an acute transient infection (TI) occurs.

These animals do not have a significant role in the ongoing transmission of BVD on farm, as they excrete only small amounts of the virus in a period of a few days (Evans et al., 2019).

When a pregnant cow who has never been infected with BVD (and therefore hasn’t developed antibodies against the virus) is infected during gestation, the fetus will also become infected. If the dam is infected between day 30 and 125

THE BVD ANTIGEN-ELISA EARNOTCH TRIAL Maternal antibodies against BVD have been reported to have a half-life of 21 days and to persist for up to 30 weeks after birth. In New Zealand this has been thought to result in a ‘diagnostic gap’, where PI calves test negative via serum soon after birth. As a result, testing using antigen-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has not been recommended before calves are 35 days old. However, other studies have found that the use of tissue samples (eg, by ear notching) reduces the amount of maternal antibody interference (Kuhne et al., 2005; Hill et al., 2007).

In response to these studies, Cognosco conducted a trial in spring 2019 to assess the sensitivity and specificity of calves’ earnotch samples from day 38 postpartum back to as close to their birth as possible.

TRIAL METHODS The study enrolled 1,030 calves from a total 11 dairy herds where the BVD virus had been detected in bulk tank milk and/ or where individual animals had been confirmed as BVD-virus antigen-positive before the 2019 spring calving season.

IMAGERY: SUPPLIED

IN THE LAB

All herds had evidence of multiple years of exposure to the virus associated with high or very high antibody titres in bulk tank milk.

Ear-notch samples were collected from all replacement calves at approximately 3, 10, 24 and 38 days of age. The day 38 ear-notch samples were submitted for antigen-ELISA (BVDV Ag/Serum Plus ELISA, IDEXX Laboratories) and realtime polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing (IDEXX RealPCR BVDV, IDEXX Laboratories). If they were positive, all previous samples (ie, days 3, 10 and 24) were also tested using antigen-ELISA and real-time PCR. Blood samples were collected from calves who tested positive by antigenELISA or real-time PCR at day 38, at an average of 102 (standard deviation 13, range 76–127) days of age (day 100), to determine the antibodies to the BVD virus and the presence, or not, of BVD virus antigen. The results were reported as test positive or negative based on the manufacturers’ cut-off points for real-time PCR (cycle threshold) and antigen-ELISA (sample to negative control values).

Calves were defined as PI if they were positive to the antigen-ELISA or real-time PCR test at day 38 and positive to the antigen-ELISA in serum at day 100. Calves were defined as TI if they were positive to the antigen-ELISA at Day 38 and negative to the antigen-ELISA in serum at day 100.

Animals who tested negative at day 38 using both antigen-ELISA and real-time PCR assay were defined as not infected.

Calves with serum immunoglobulin concentrations of <10g/L (based on samples from 10–15 calves in the herd) were defined as having not received adequate amounts of antibodies via colostrum from the dams (failure of passive transfer [FPT]).

RESULTS Of the calves with test results on day 38, 26 (2.5%) were positive for the BVD virus by real-time PCR. However, only five of the 26 were defined as PI. For the PI calves, all ear-notch samples at all time points tested positive on both

antigen-ELISA and real-time PCR. One calf was subject to euthanasia on farm before the final sampling, having shown symptoms consistent with BVD. The other four PI calves tested positive for serum antigen-ELISA on day 100, and three of the four also tested positive for antibody by antibody-ELISA at this time (likely due to the persistence of maternal antibodies in circulation).

Results showed that PI calves tested positive with the antigen-ELISA and the real-time PCR at all time points, while TI calves tested negative at all time points with the antigen-ELISA in contrast to the real-time PCR, which did not differentiate between PI and TI calves.

FPT was found in 30.3% of the calves, but the within-herd prevalence varied from 13% to 53%. This figure correlates to the estimated percentage of FPT in other trials in New Zealand.

DISCUSSION Contrary to previous recommendations about the age of testing, this trial concluded that using ear-notch samples on calves aged up to and including 38 days provided no evidence that the age of the calves at testing affected the test results for either the antigen-ELISA or the realtime PCR assay.

The diagnostic gap may occur in calves of this age when serum, rather than ear-notch samples, is used or where an antigen-ELISA targets NS3 rather than Erns antigens (Fux and Wolf, 2012).

This study confirms a method for identifying and removing PI calves while avoiding the removal or unnecessary retesting of TI calves.

Thirty percent of calves sampled had FPT, conversely suggesting that 70% of calves did in fact receive effective amounts of colostrum. This indicates that the effect of maternal antibodies will likely vary both within and between herds.

However, for the small number of PI calves detected in the current study, there was no evidence of a consistent change in the negative control or cycle threshold values with increasing calf age at sampling. The five PI calves were first

sampled at two, two, three and seven days old (one calf did not have a calving date but was less than a week old when sampled).

CONCLUSION The control or eradication of BVD from New Zealand bovine herds can only be made possible through a combination of effectively testing all animals and using appropriate diagnostic tests for a specific, predetermined objective.

At the farm level BVD can be controlled by testing for and eliminating PI animals combined with imposing strict biosecurity measures to prevent reintroduction.

From an epidemiological point of view, slaughtering TI animals has little benefit.

Therefore, it is important to consider the test method carefully.

When the goal of BVD testing is to identify PI calves rather than TI calves, the antigen-ELISA (using ear-notch tissue) has been shown as superior as it achieved 100% sensitivity and specificity for the detection of PI calves. The PCR test could not differentiate between PI and TI; doing so would require an antigen test 28 days later.

REFERENCES: Evans CA, Pinior B, Larska M, Graham D, Schweizer M, Guidarini C, Decaro N, Ridpath J, Gates MC. Global knowledge gaps in the prevention and control of bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) virus. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases 66, 640–52, doi:10.1111/tbed.13068, 2019 Fux R, Wolf G. Transient elimination of circulating bovine viral diarrhoea virus by colostral antibodies in persistently infected calves: A pitfall for BVDV-eradication programs? Veterinary Microbiology 161, 13–9, 2012 Hill FI, Reichel MP, McCoy RJ, Tisdall DJ. Evaluation of two commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for detection of bovine viral diarrhoea virus in serum and skin biopsies of cattle. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 55, 45–8, 2007 Kuhne S, Schroeder C, Holmquist G, Wolf G, Horner S, Brem G, Ballagi A. Detection of bovine viral diarrhoea virus infected cattle: Testing tissue samples derived from ear tagging using an Erns capture ELISA. Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series B 52, 272–7, 2005 Yarnall MJ, Thrusfield MV. Engaging veterinarians and farmers in eradicating bovine viral diarrhoea: A systematic review of economic impact. Veterinary Record 181(13), 347, 2017

VetScript September 2020 – 51

IN THE LAB

Infectious canine hepatitis – it’s still out there Michael Hardcastle, Veterinary Anatomic Pathologist at Gribbles Veterinary, Auckland, discusses the prevalence and diagnosis of ICH, and its persistence despite the availability of vaccination.

FIGURE 1: Intestinal serosal haemorrhage and a peritoneal effusion.

DOGS AND CATS in New Zealand are fortunate to be relatively free of contagious diseases, with many viral diseases preventable or minimised by vaccination.

Disease due to canine parvovirus-2 is probably the most significant of these.

However, our laboratories occasionally diagnose other viral diseases, and it is worth highlighting that these organisms are still in circulation despite the availability of vaccination.

A one-month-old, cross-bred puppy from north Auckland presented collapsed,

52 – VetScript September 2020

with cold extremities and a temperature of 35.6°C. They had reportedly been clinically normal the previous evening.

An in-house haemogram showed anaemia with a haematocrit of 21.1% (reference interval 37.3–61.7) and possible thrombocytopenia (26K/µL, reference interval 148–484 with a caution to check the blood film). Biochemistry showed increased alanine transaminase (357U/L, reference interval 8–75). The puppy died despite supportive care. At postmortem examination, there were

areas of intestinal serosal haemorrhage and a serous peritoneal effusion (Figure 1), a few strands of fibrin adherent to the liver and pancreatic oedema.

Two other puppies from the same litter died suddenly. In-house laboratory testing of the three surviving litter mates showed variable haematocrits (28.6%, 30.8% and 22.8%) but no thrombocytopenia. Their mother was a rescue dog with neonatal puppies when adopted; she had no known vaccination history.

A range of fixed tissues submitted from the postmortem of the first puppy was processed for histopathology. It showed a range of lesions; the most significant were prominent intranuclear inclusion bodies in most hepatocytes and some endothelial cells, often filling the nucleus (Figure 2, white arrow), along with multifocal necrosis of hepatocytes (Figure 2, blue arrow). Intranuclear inclusion bodies were also seen in macrophages or endothelial cells of the bone marrow, spleen, lymph node, lung, kidney, heart and small intestine, where they were associated with mesenteric vasculitis and haemorrhage. Other findings included lymphoid necrosis/apoptosis in the spleen and lymph nodes consistent with a viral infection.

The first puppy was diagnosed as a case of infectious canine hepatitis (ICH), caused by canine adenovirus-1 (CAV-1).

In a puppy with haemorrhagic lesions, canine herpesvirus-1 could also have been considered; however, it tends to affect younger puppies than this one, mainly presents with renal haemorrhages, has fewer and smaller inclusions and does not target hepatocytes.

Clinically, diagnostic options for ICH in New Zealand are limited as serology, polymerase chain reaction or other tests are not readily available through commercial diagnostic laboratories or the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Animal Health Laboratory, according to Laboratory Technical Officer for Diagnostic and Surveillance Services Danni Thornton. Therefore the diagnosis is typically based on a consistent history, clinical signs, antemortem clinical

IMAGERY: SUPPLIED

IN THE LAB

FIGURE 2: Histopathology showing prominent intranuclear inclusion bodies in most hepatocytes and in some some endothelial cells (white arrow); multifocal necrosis of hepatocytes (blue arrow).

pathology and postmortem examination with histopathology.

ICH is spread by direct or indirect contact with infected urine, faeces, saliva and respiratory secretions (Hornsey et al., 2019). It causes viraemia after oronasal exposure and initial localisation in the tonsils. It mainly affects young dogs and tends to be seen sporadically or as small outbreaks in kennels.

The severity of disease seems to be dependent on neutralising antibody titre (Greene, 2012). It can present as sudden death in peracute infections. In less acute diseases, clinical signs may range from vomiting, melaena, fever, tachypnoea, tachycardia, abdominal pain, hepatomegaly, non-specific nervous signs, mucosal petechiae, pallor and mild icterus to mild pharyngitis, tonsillitis, coughing (pneumonia), cervical lymphadenomegaly and dependent oedema, or inapparent infection. Convalescing dogs may

develop corneal oedema (‘blue eye’), considered a hypersensitivity reaction to immune-complex deposition. In animals who survive, it seems that the liver can regenerate rapidly (Cullen and Stalker, 2016), although some sources suggest that partially immune dogs may develop chronic hepatitis (Greene, 2012).

Clinicopathologic findings include leukopaenia with lymphopaenia and neutropaenia, progressing to neutrophilia and lymphocytosis during recovery.

Thrombocytopenia is common and clotting times are variably prolonged. Liver enzymes (alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase and aspartate transaminase) increase proportionate to the degree of hepatic necrosis, but hyperbilirubinaemia is uncommon. Proteinuria and hypoglycaemia may be identified.

Hepatocellular intranuclear inclusions might be found antemortem on cytology or in liver biopsies (Greene, 2012).

At postmortem there may be lymph node oedema or haemorrhage and blotchy/‘paint brush’ haemorrhages on the gastrointestinal tract or serosa, or haemorrhage in other organs such as the kidney, lung, bone and brain. There may be slight icterus. The liver may be large and friable; there may be ascites

with fibrin strands; and the gall bladder may also be enlarged and oedematous.

Haemorrhages are considered to be largely due to a consumptive coagulopathy, since endothelial damage initiates the clotting cascade (Cullen and Stalker, 2016).

Treatment options are supportive and include fluid therapy (crystalloids, plasma or whole blood), glucose infusions and strategies to reduce ammonia production (eg, enemas) (Greene, 2012).

ICH is seen sporadically in New Zealand, with cases reported anecdotally every few years and occasionally mentioned in Surveillance magazine (Anonymous, 2010). It is interesting that it persists in New Zealand despite our lack of wild carnivores (overseas, reservoirs for ICH and other infectious diseases such as canine distemper). According to Massey University Associate Professor Nick Cave, possible reservoir species in New Zealand include mustelids (Nick Cave, personal communication, July 2020). However, ICH frequently causes subclinical infections, is shed for months in urine and is robust in the environment, resisting disinfectants (Greene, 2012). This makes its persistence in the New Zealand canine population, despite the availability of vaccination, probably not surprising – especially since the prevalence of vaccination is unknown but certainly less than 100%.

REFERENCES: Anonymous. Surveillance 37(4), 19–29, 2010 Cullen JM, Stalker MJ. Liver and biliary system. In: Maxie GM (ed.) Jubb, Kennedy and Palmer’s Pathology of Domestic Animals. 6th Edtn. Pp. 310–2. Elsevier, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, 2016 Greene CE. Infectious canine hepatitis and canine acidophil cell hepatitis. In: Greene CE (ed). Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat. 4th Edtn. Pp. 42–8.

Elsevier, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, 2012 Hornsey SJ, Philibert H, Godson DL, Snead ECR. Canine adenovirus type 1 causing neurological signs in a 5-week-old puppy. BMC Veterinary Research 15, 418, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-019-2173-5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to thank Mark Anderson of Vets North, Helensville, for providing the clinical information and gross images relating to this case.

VetScript September 2020 – 53

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54 – VetScript September 2020

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Check out www.nzva.org.nz/educationhub 56 – VetScript September 2020

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VetScript September 2020 – 57

ADVERTORIAL

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With zero pushback from clients and 100% buy-in from the team, Northern Southland Vets (NSVets) is one of two regional practices that, in spring 2019, decided to stop using eCG hormone treatment. NSVets is using a new synchrony programme, Pro-M8, instead.

veterinarians have to be on farm to administer prostaglandin injections two days in a row.

“It has made some weeks a bit busier,” Morgan says. “But it’s only for a few weeks of the year and our people have been really good about going to inject cows in the evening if need be.

“We’re dealing with reasonably large herds so the non-cyclers can basically be run in their own mob. Our whole team is behind this. I’ve heard others say that it’s going to be difficult but we didn’t find that.”

NSVets cares for approximately 60,000 dairy cows in Gore, Te Anau, Dipton and Five Rivers. The average herd size in the area is 650 cows. Farm ownership is a mix of family businesses and corporates.

Almost all are spring calving.

Reproductive performance is similar to national results. Six-week in-calf rates average 66–68%. A handful of the very best farms, which are once-a-day milking, reach 80-81%. Similarly, average not incalf rates are 15–17%, with 3% this year’s lowest, again a once-a-day herd.

“IT WASN’T A HUGE OVERALL CHANGE FOR US. AS A PRACTICE, WE HAVE ALWAYS KEPT FULL CONTROL OF OUR REPRODUCTIVE PROGRAMMES, DOING ALL THE INJECTING FOR NON-CYCLERS. WE WANT THAT PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP...”

NSVets Director Morgan Greene says that, even though Pro-M8 entails an extra farm visit, logistics have not been an issue for them.

“It wasn’t a huge overall change for us.

As a practice, we have always kept full control of our reproductive programmes, doing all the injecting for non-cyclers.

“We want that product stewardship – to make sure the programme is adhered to appropriately and to know that we’re happy with the integrity of the programme.”

Having already developed a workable system of three farm visits for every client herd being synchronised, it was a small step to add a fourth.

A fourth visit is required on day eight of the Pro-M8 programme, meaning

58 – VetScript September 2020

The change to Pro-M8 was first communicated to clients via email.

The clinic later followed up with more explanation during routine restricted veterinary medicine (RVM) consultations.

“Again, it was very simple. We didn’t apologise, we didn’t give them a choice, we didn’t say we might change. We said we’re changing and here’s why.

“We also explained the science to farmers, showing them that the change was not going to have a negative impact on the programme or on our treatment success rates.”

Not one farmer objected and some even congratulated the practice for making the decision, which was driven by potential ethical concerns.

One thing all farms share is a long, intense history of public and regulatory oversight. Most recently, this has focused on winter grazing management.

Morgan says farming under such scrutiny has helped sensitise NSVets’ dairy farmers to public perception and the importance of doing everything to a bestpractice standard.

That contributed in no small part to his team’s decision to review, then discontinue, eCG treatment.

NSVets had, in previous years, implemented traditional synchrony programmes using injections of both prostaglandin and eCG to help some clients improve the reproductive performance of their herd.

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However, in addition to dairy and beef clients, NSVets also has a significant equine reproduction business working with large stud breeders. “We spend four months of the year here trying to get mares pregnant and foals on the ground.

We just weren’t comfortable with the ethics of eCG potentially being sourced from pregnant mares. This is a potential risk to the dairy industry in terms of negative views of the industry.

“We already have public perception issues around intensive winter grazing, welfare and the environment. We asked

ourselves ‘at an industry level, did we really need to be putting our clients in this position?’ And we decided not. The decision was unanimous.”

Herd reproduction results from one full season with Pro-M8 have been no different from what would have been expected using previous synchrony programmes, Morgan says.

As the 2020 mating season approaches, another Southland veterinary practice says it will make small changes to its planning and logistics to implement Pro-M8 this year.

Northern Southland Vets veterinarian Morgan Greene

In all respects the clinic’s experience with the new programme has been very similar to that of NSVets.

Foremost in its decision to discontinue eCG was what it felt was the unacceptable reputational risk for farmers.

“At the time, our farmers were being attacked from all angles for winter grazing,” explains one of the clinic’s practice directors.

“It was extremely wet here and farmer morale was not high. People don’t realise how hard it was for farmers personally to keep being told they didn’t care about their animals, when in fact most of them do care very much.

“We decided on their behalf they did not need another rod to be beaten with.”

Again, communication was transparent. Clients accepted the change to Pro-M8 without question and some thanked the practice for making the move.

Instead of charging per veterinary visit, as with previous synchrony programmes, the second Southland practice introduced an all-inclusive package fee for Pro-M8 – making it easier for farmers to budget.

“We also made a policy of not starting synchrony on a Friday, so we didn’t have a day eight injection on a Saturday.

Where possible we would try to do neighbouring farms together to cut the travel costs.

“It did increase the workload at a tricky time of year but I think we can manage that better this spring by using technicians and organising runs to make the process even more efficient.”

Results have been good. Farmer resistance to the extra yarding for a fourth injection has been minimal.

No clients have indicated they won’t synchronise non-cyclers this season because of the change.

“I think sometimes we as veterinarians are guilty of underestimating how much our farmers care about these things.

“It’s easy to assume that farmers always want the cheapest option but the vast majority of people we work with actually do care.” n

VetScript September 2020 – 59

NEWS ADVERTORIAL AND VIEWS

A LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION THANK YOU FOR the care you give all your patients.

Thank you for the compassion, support and teaching you give your clients.

Thank you for your contribution to the health and wellbeing of animals who provide the world with quality meat, milk and fibre.

Thank you for entering a profession that doesn’t come without its difficulties.

Thank you for staying when the reality wasn’t as idyllic as a James Herriot novel.

60 – VetScript September 2020

Thank you for continuing to learn so you can serve your community well.

Thank you for your patience when you tell a client how to solve their problem yet they continue to do the same thing, then get upset when they get the same result.

Thank you for showing up every day (and sometimes at night) to do a job that’s often full of stress and challenges.

Thank you for your personal sacrifice.

Thank you to your husbands, wives, partners, children, family and friends for

their sacrifice – whether they’re woken in the night by the phone or have to go to an out-of-town birthday party without you, because you’re on call.

Thank you for doing your best – especially on those days when you’re busy from the moment you walk in the door to the time you leave. You barely have five minutes to pull yourself together after an emotional euthanasia before consulting with an overly anxious client and an overly excited puppy. Those days where you’re lucky to get a break for lunch, and when, by the time you go to bed, you’re mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. You know those days happen often.

I’ve noticed a common theme among people in caring professions: they are nurturing, loving and kind, yet they have a hard time extending that care, kindness and compassion to themselves.

Our inner world affects our outer world.

If we’re not aware of how we’re feeling or why we’re feeling that way, life can

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become overwhelming. Chronic stress can become our norm. We’re inherently strong beings and we keep going, and going, until it becomes too much, and then we hit burnout.

Self-care and self-awareness can help you to find the ability (and courage) to connect with yourself and explore how much of your inner world is affecting your outer world.

I have created a guided course that will help you to explore your inner world so you can self-care, and be selfreflective without being judgemental.

Once you have that awareness you can then choose how you respond to things instead of just reacting.

The Wellbeing and Resilience for Veterinary Professionals course on the NZVA Wellbeing Hub helps to guide you through this very personal journey.

It is a foundation on which to continually build both emotional intelligence and emotional wellness.

There is a lot of concise information contained within the course. The course

might just serve as a reminder to some, but simplistic does not mean that it is easy. We can gather all the information in the world but it is pointless unless we take action.

We have to practise self-care, practise self-awareness and practise resilience.

That is why this course was created. I have been actively studying this for more than 20 years and still need constant reminding, especially when life gets a bit challenging.

So join me on this short journey where we look at self-care, thoughts and beliefs, the stories we tell ourselves, self-awareness, self-worth, how to manage difficult emotions, control and acceptance, stress management, mindset and mindfulness.

Given everything that’s happening in the world, there has never been a better time for the NZVA to launch this course as part of the Wellbeing Hub. The Hub is full of information – but it only becomes wisdom if you put it into practice.

Kindly, Belinda n

START YOUR JOURNEY TOWARDS BETTER WELLBEING NOW with Wellbeing and Resilience for Veterinary Professionals, a course designed to teach you the fundamental skills required to thrive in the complex veterinary environment.

This two-module course is designed with one intention – for you to connect with yourself – professionally and personally and is available to start anytime. Through a series of recorded presentations, exercises and resources Belinda Noyes will guide you towards having a different relationship with stress and resilience through self-care and awareness.

As an NZVA member you can access the course for free directly from your VetScholar page as part of your NZVA membership.

Go to www.vetscholar.org.nz to start your journey now!

Non-members can register for the course at www.nzva.org.nz/ event/20well. Price: $100 including GST.

Belinda Noyes is an inspirational writer, counsellor, mindset coach and mindfulness teacher, who is married to a small animal veterinarian. After being an observer of the challenges that veterinarians face for almost two decades, she is a huge advocate for increasing the wellbeing of those within the veterinary profession.

VetScript September 2020 – 61

BESTPRACTICE NEWS CLASSIFIEDS ANDCLASSIFIEDS VIEWS

MASTERTON

WELLINGTON Companion animal veterinarian

Exciting opportunity for experienced production animal veterinarian Are you looking for a chance to reach your full potential in a production animal role? Would you like to work in a wellestablished mixed animal practice with great collegial support but with enough autonomy to develop the role to optimise your work-life balance while fully utilising your strengths and talents?

With our senior production animal veterinarian moving into a teaching role after 23 years at the practice, we have an opportunity for an experienced production animal veterinarian with a particular interest in sheep and beef, to join our team in a permanent position based at our Masterton clinic.

Are you a highly motivated individual who is: • a great communicator with excellent people skills • passionate about all aspects of production animal practice but particularly sheep and beef • able to demonstrate a high standard of veterinary skills with a solid understanding of different farming systems • experienced with at least one to two years in a production animal role • friendly and enjoys being part of a team-oriented clinic • committed to maximising provision of animal health advice, clinical case management and retail opportunities to farm clients?

If you tick these boxes then you’ll fit right in!

We can offer a large BESTPRACTICEaccredited mixed animal clinic, with access to modern diagnostic technology (digital X-ray computed and digital radiography, ultrasound, full range of in-house laboratory equipment).

You will benefit from working with motivated, team-oriented colleagues and having enough job flexibility to enjoy all the beautiful Wairarapa region has to offer.

If you really want to progress your career, be well supported in your continuing professional development and are committed to providing excellent service to our clients, we look forward to hearing from you.

Please contact: Nicola Haglund Email: nicola@vswai.co.nz Vet Services Wairapapa 24 Lincoln Road Masterton 5810

62 – VetScript September 2020

Are you looking to work and live somewhere special?

Somewhere beautiful, safe, modern? Then look no further as we have a full-time companion animal veterinarian position becoming available soon at Rappaw Veterinary Care in Wellington, New Zealand.

New Zealand is a fantastic place to live and Wellington is one of the best places in New Zealand to work and live, especially in these COVID-crazy times.

Wellington is a medium-sized city of approximately 450,000 people. It was ranked the best city in the world to live in a 2017 Deutsche Bank study. It’s modern and cool with the great natural beauty of two harbours and nature on its doorstep. Being a true city, it has wonderful cultural, sports, entertainment and educational facilities without the chaotic traffic and high cost of living of larger cities.

Wellington is renowned as a cosmopolitan city with two excellent universities, great schools, a creative and vibrant IT and film industry, the centre of New Zealand’s government and some of the best entertainment you can get.

Great mountain biking, boating, kayaking and hiking are part of living in this city, as are film, music and fashion festivals. The cafés, coffee and restaurants are world class. Wine country is one hour away and skiing or snowboarding are only four hours away by car.

Come and live in this safe, modern, beautiful city with a progressive, thriving veterinary profession.

Rappaw Veterinary Care is a locally owned and operated multi-veterinary, multi-clinic companion animal only practice. Our clinics are to the north of Wellington city in four locations around beautiful Porirua Harbour. The clinics are only 20 minutes from Wellington’s CBD, with excellent rail and motorway networks.

We are looking for a full-time companion animal veterinarian. We would like an experienced veterinarian but will consider recent graduates. We are a progressive practice that is looking to build a new purpose-designed veterinary hospital next year. This position includes rostered 1:4 weekend work but no after-hours call-out work, as we are serviced by Wellington After Hours Veterinary Clinic.

Why work for us?

• New Zealand is awesome! We are awesome!

• Our practice is BESTPRACTICE-accredited (New Zealand’s only independent quality standards programmme for veterinarian practices).

• We are members of the Wellington After Hours Veterinary Clinic (no after-hours on-call work).

• We are a dedicated companion animal only practice with 18 of our staff now Fear Free certified.

• We are progressive and the fastest growing independent practice in greater Wellington.

• We are locally owned and operated by a veterinarian who works in the practice (no corporate key performance indicators to stress about).

• The practice has fantastic support staff, including 12 fully qualified veterinary technicians and veterinary nurses.

• We have excellent equipment and facilities.

• We are a multi-veterinary practice with the most experienced veterinarian team in all of Wellington (five senior veterinarians, each with more than 15 years’ experience).

• We deliver a high standard of care to clients and patients, being highly regarded in our community and by our profession in New Zealand.

• Our clinics are about 20 minutes from central Wellington, a city that is cosmopolitan yet without the traffic headaches and property price issues of larger cities.

We are looking for someone to start in October 2020. You must be VCNZ registered or able to register as a veterinarian to work in New Zealand, and have excellent interpersonal skills and leadership qualities. We provide excellent remuneration with a great work-life balance in our community-based, private veterinarian practice.

If this sounds like you and want to enjoy working in a great practice, please send a covering letter and CV with references to: Ian Schraa Email: ian.s@rappaw.co.nz Phone: 027 452 4978

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

TE AWAMUTU

ELTHAM

NORTH SHORE AUCKLAND Emergency and critical care veterinarian

Full-time companion animal veterinarian, parental leave locum We require an experienced full-time companion animal veterinarian to provide cover for up to one year from mid-October 2020.

VE Vets is an established owneroperated mixed practice employing nine veterinarians based in the busy town of Te Awamutu and is BESTPRACTICEaccredited.

The companion animal practice is well equipped with IDEXX, a digital radiology system, a dental machine and monitoring equipment for surgery and hospital care.

We have a varied and steady caseload of medical and surgical presentations.

We have qualified veterinary nurses to assist and a senior veterinarian to work alongside daily.

There is no requirement for after-hours work to cover companion animals but there is a Saturday morning clinic that is shared. Remuneration will be competitive and consistent with experience.

To apply for this position, send your CV to our administrator, Sandra Roders, at vet@vevets.co.nz.

VetStaff – 100% Kiwi Dedicated to finding permanent and locum veterinary staff for Kiwi veterinary clinics.

To apply, contact: Julie South Phone: 0800 483 869 or +64 27 282 4155 Email: jobs@vetstaff.co.nz

www.vetstaff.co.nz

Full-time veterinarian Due to the unexpected departure of an experienced veterinarian for family reasons, we have a position available from November for an experienced dairy/mixed practice veterinarian.

If you’re looking for a change of environment, or perhaps you’re trying to escape the global pandemic and return to New Zealand, take a look at Eltham Vets.

We are a 10-veterinarian mixed dairy practice in central Taranaki, under the shadow of our beautiful mountain.

We encourage the pursuit of special career interests and will finance your CPD to reach your goals.

We have recently earthquakestrengthened and renovated our historic practice building, added an extra consulting room and dispensary and have plans to modernise and upgrade our companion animal surgery as that side of the practice continues to grow.

Being in rural Taranaki, dairy will always be the biggest component of the practice, but we have enough companion animals, sheep, beef and horses to keep things interesting. So, if you just want to be a dairy veterinarian, we can oblige, but if you want more variety, we can offer that too.

We own a house next door to the clinic that is available for veterinarians to stay in when on call; it is also used by Massey University veterinary students when they are seeing practice with us. We recently became a Massey Externship practice, so if you like passing on knowledge there’s plenty of opportunity for that as well.

A practice vehicle is supplied along with a competitive salary package including profit share and medical insurance, in which you have the opportunity to enrol your family members at greatly reduced premiums.

If you enjoy rural practice, like the great outdoors and want to work in a friendly team environment with people who enjoy their jobs and also enjoy a good laugh, give us a call.

Please send all enquiries to: Alistair McDougall Senior Veterinarian Eltham Vet Services Email: al@elthamvetservice.co.nz Phone: 027 497 4717 www.elthamvetservice.co.nz

FILLED N O I T I POS

About us Animal Referral Centre (ARC) is a busy, growing, private small animal specialist/ emergency practice established in 2016. We are independently owned and operated and have specialists in small animal surgery, internal medicine, cardiology and diagnostic imaging. We have all the equipment you would expect in a modern veterinary hospital. Check us out at www.arcvets.co.nz.

We strive to have a cohesive, friendly work environment and encourage collaboration between our specialist and emergency teams to achieve the best patient outcomes.

About you • You have a minimum of two years’ experience in small animal practice (or completion of an internship).

• You are passionate about emergency and critical care (ECC).

• Your experience in an emergency clinic is advantageous but not required.

• You are a team player with excellent communication skills and a commitment to providing outstanding patient care.

• You are motivated, adaptable and have a positive attitude.

The position This position is for a permanent, full-time ECC veterinarian. The roster will involve rotating shifts, including nights, weekends and weekday daytimes. During the weekday shifts there is the opportunity to work alongside our specialist team to improve your skill set in an area or area(s) of your choice. Relocation assistance is available for the right applicant.

Why work for ARC? • You will have the opportunity to provide outstanding patient care.

• We have a friendly, supportive team with medical and surgical back-up available 24/7 as well as teleradiology support.

• In-house and external CPD opportunities.

• Support to attain membership of the ANZCVS in emergency and critical care (if desired).

• A roster designed to help achieve worklife balance. You work no more than 1:2 weekends.

• Competitive remuneration.

How to apply To apply, please send a cover letter and CV to Rachel.gebbie@arcvets.co.nz or for more information phone 09 281 5815.

VetScript September 2020 – 63

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

TAURANGA

MORRINSVILLE

Part-time veterinarian

This is a unique opportunity to make a real difference.

Are you passionate about helping animals and approaching healthcare with compassion and consideration for animals, people, our community and our environment?

Award-winning Holistic Vets, leaders in integrative veterinary care, combining the best of conventional veterinary medicine and surgery with complementary therapies, has a vacancy for a part- or full-time veterinarian. We have full hospital and surgical facilities, digital radiography, ultrasound, in-house blood testing and a hyperbaric oxygen therapy unit which helps us to achieve fabulous results with some difficult cases.

To facilitate our growth we require a veterinarian who is capable of providing a high standard of quality veterinary care, has excellent communication skills to give our clients options and value, and who will work efficiently and practically as part of our dedicated and dynamic team in a warm and friendly environment.

Our current workload is largely dogs and cats, 10% wildlife (we work closely with ARRC Wildlife Trust, taking in more than 800 birds annually) and one percent large animals. Prior training in the field of complementary therapies is an advantage.

The position involves participation in our after-hours roster therefore competency in emergency medicine is essential.

To apply, please send your CV to sue@holisticvets.co.nz.

CANTERBURY Mixed animal veterinarian

We have an opportunity for a mixed animal veterinarian to join our team in a busy privately owned practice. All levels of experience will be considered.

Excellent remuneration for skill set.

Please contact us to discuss this further or send your CV to jonathanc@canvet.co.nz.

64 – VetScript September 2020

CANTERBURY Full-time veterinarian

Veterinarian Looking for a work-life balance? Maybe you shouldn’t have been a veterinarian then… but if you want to get close to that Holy Grail of loving work and having a life, then come work with us at MVP Vets in Morrinsville. It’s a way better town than it’s ever given credit for.

We boast a generally wonderful client base and a fantastic work environment. We try to enrich our clients’ lives not only with wonderful service and conversation but also through great cow management. We mostly treat dairy cows but occasionally there is the odd moment of small animal work.

We have some flexibility regarding hours and days to suit your life. After-hours is one night each week and 1:4 weekends during the busy season, which can extend out during the quieter months.

You will be compensated well for working in a job that is your life calling, and if you are keen and interested then there is also the possibility of buying in to the clinic.

Send your CV to mvpvets@gmail.com or call Scott on 027 439 9955.

CHRISTCHURCH Ferry Road Veterinary Services Companion Animal Veterinarian We are looking for an experienced full-time veterinarian to join our team.

Established in 1977, the practice is locally owned with a sense of community at its heart. We would also welcome interest from part-time or locum veterinarians.

The practice is well equipped with: • ultrasound • dental suite • IDEXX blood analysing suite • Vetlink database • dental X-ray unit • CPD resources: Veterinary Information Network and VetEd. The clinic operates six days per week and is a member of the Christchurch After Hours Clinic. Saturdays (9am–3pm) are shared on a 1:4 or 1:5 rota. The 13-strong team is a very supportive one, including a sturdy backbone of experienced veterinary nursing and office staff. There is excellent collegial support readily available and the practice ethos is mindful of work-life balance.

To apply, please send your CV and references to Nicola Broad at n.broad@hotmail.com www.yourpetvet.co.nz

Our team is seeking a fulltime, permanent veterinarian to join our enthusiastic and skilled clinical team in our purpose-built facility. We offer a high standard of patient care and are able to offer advanced diagnostics, as well as surgical and medical treatments in a clinic that has been practising for 20 years. The clinic provides a variety of diagnostic equipment including endoscopy, ultrasound, ECG, radiography, fluoroscopy and arthroscopy, and has access to advanced imaging modalities.

The role will be predominantly small animal work (80%) with some large animal and equine practice, including a 1:3 Saturday halfday shift doing small animal consults and 1:5 week large animal on call. A practice vehicle will be available for work-related use.

Suitable applicants will have a high standard and progressive clinical outlook, ideally with a minimum of two years’ clinical experience but all applicants will be considered, including sole small animal veterinarians. Professional development is encouraged to provide the best possible standard of care and some training and development is available in house.

An initial three-month trial period would apply to assess suitability for the role, for both parties.

Send expressions of interest to: Nick Page Rolleston Veterinary Services 5 Brookside Road Rolleston 7614 Canterbury Email: info@rollyvets.co.nz

VETERINARY LOCUM AGENCY

(Veterinarians and veterinary nurses) For locum enquiries and information on permanent positions, please contact: Ms P Currall PO Box 12147 Beckenham Christchurch 8242 Phone: 03 337 1051 Email: paddy.currall@xtra.co.nz www.vetsolutions.co.nz

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

DUNEDIN Green Island Veterinary Clinic Companion animal veterinarian We require a companion animal veterinarian for our busy, 100% small animal clinic in Dunedin commencing in January 2021.

Our aim is to provide excellent, first line veterinary services to our clients and to give staff the equipment and supportive environment they need to do a great job.

One of our veterinarians is heading overseas and we will be looking for a capable veterinarian who has good work habits and who enjoys working well in a team environment. We have shared values of excellent service, care, attention to detail and enjoying our time at work. The current colleague works 1:2 Saturday mornings and has a long weekend (Fridays off) every other weekend. After-hours requirements are minimal. Currently the position involves no week-night duty and 1:8 or 1:9 weekend night duty. A commission is paid on after-hours call-outs that the veterinarian attends.

The veterinarian will be working with three experienced colleagues. The practice owner (this is a non-corporate, owneroperated business) has 30 years of experience. One current associate has been with the practice since 2011 and the other associate has seven years of experience so the new veterinarian will have a lot of professional support. The position would suit a practitioner with two to five years of experience; however, applications from any veterinarians interested in the position would be welcome.

The veterinarian would also be supported by five experienced veterinary nurses.

The clinic is well equipped with IDEXX and Vetscan diagnostic lab equipment, DR dedicated dental X-ray and CR general X-ray, Olight fibreoptic otoscope and HD monitor, Easote ultrasound, Olympus endoscopic equipment, IM3 dental cart, ECG, ezyVet practice management and more.

Dunedin offers an affordable lifestyle with great access to a variety of recreational and cultural opportunities. Schools and tertiary institutions are excellent and you can drive anywhere across town in 20 minutes. Lakes, mountains and ski fields are a few hours’ drive away in Central Otago.

Please check us out at www.greenislandvets.co.nz.

Please also check out this reference for the clinic from the departing veterinarian: “The clinic has an amazing team with various backgrounds and experiences. The successful applicant will find both mentorship and flexibility to pursue specific areas of interest. I can be contacted at kristen.martin.dvm@gmail.com for further feedback.” (Please allow a few business days for response.)

We will offer the successful candidate: • a salary to match skills and experience • paid VCNZ registration and NZVA membership • CPD development to suit interests and skills.

If this enjoyable position with an interesting and variable caseload appeals to you, please contact: Scott Drummond Green Island Vet Clinic 185A Main South Road Green Island Dunedin 9018 Phone: 027 234 4190 or 03 488 2690 Email: scottdrummond@xtra.co.nz

Join the veterinary company that CARES. Due to expansion, we are looking for veterinarians at all levels to join our established teams at one of our 23 clinics around New Zealand and additional advisory services.

VetEnt is one of New Zealand’s largest veterinary groups, with integrated brands that support the health and wellbeing of farm and companion animals at our mixed and single practice clinics.

Our vision is to provide Kiwi farm and pet owners with highly skilled staff who are passionate about proactive healthcare, and we underpin this with a commitment to breakthrough research, technology and future thinking.

Staff benefits include: + career advancement opportunities and pathways. + CPD support. + clinic exchange programmes. + involvement in our subsidiaries such as FarmCare and PureMilk. + collaboration with other clinics and veterinarians around New Zealand. + latest technology access and well-equipped clinics.

Request an information pack and hear what it’s like to work at VetEnt by scanning the QR code with your phone or email us at careers@vetent.co.nz.

Skill + Tech + Heart = Care ENT

VET ENT

VetScript September 2020 – 65

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

CHRISTCHURCH

SOUTH WAIRARAPA

Hornby Veterinary Centre Veterinarian “Providing Lifelong Service, Expertise and Compassion” We have a rare opening for a veterinarian to join our well-established companion animal practice.

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic clinician to join our highly regarded and experienced team who pride themselves on providing outstanding pet care services.

We are a busy clinic of seven veterinarians each with complementary areas of special interest, eight skilled and qualified veterinary nurses and a friendly and efficient administration team.

Our premises are purpose-built, well managed and contain a comprehensive arsenal of up-to-date equipment. This includes the IDEXX in-house laboratory suite and SediVue, iM3 dentistry with radiography and Vet-Tome, a full orthopaedic kit, ultrasound and digital radiography, endoscopes, electrocardiogram, Tono-Pen, a range of monitors, fluid pumps, warmers, syringe pumps and the Smart Flow patient management system.

Plans to develop and extend the centre to accommodate our growth are in progress.

We are a privately owned and operated clinic with the veterinarian and owner working in the practice. The clinic is open from Monday to Saturday and is a member of the Christchurch After Hours Clinic.

We are an integral part of our local community because our staff strive to form exceptional client relationships and always ensure that patient care is paramount.

We encourage all staff to pursue professional development both in house and externally. We are able to offer a great work-life balance and an extensive range of benefits, subscriptions and real collegial support.

The ideal candidate will be a dedicated team player. Be proficient in general surgery and confident with everyday consultations. Be willing to provide and receive support from other staff and will provide exceptional patient care.

Newer graduates will be considered as training and mentorship are available.

An enjoyment of home baking would be useful together with a good sense of humour!

Please see our website, clinic tour and Facebook page for more about us.

If you would like to join a growing, non-corporate practice within a family team environment please get in contact for a confidential chat, or send a covering letter and curriculum vitae with, where possible, authorised referee contact details.

All applications will be treated in strict confidence.

Send applications to: Hornby Veterinary Centre – Veterinarian Position Attn – Julie Gray 7 Tower Street Christchurch 8042 Phone: 03 349 5311

66 – VetScript September 2020

Two companion animal veterinarian positions available: Fixed-term maternity position full- or part-time Permanent full- or part-time position suitable for new or recent graduate Make a great career move and join our dynamic team today!

These roles would suit applicants with strong clinical and interpersonal skills to join our team in one of New Zealand’s fastest growing regions.

• Work with energetic and motivated colleagues.

• Progress in an environment providing a high level of care and service.

• Enjoy your lifestyle in beautiful Wairarapa.

We are a mixed practice, with clinics in Masterton, Carterton, Martinborough and Featherston. We promote collegiality and ensure our veterinarians have support across our four locations.

We have our own Practice Health workplace wellness programme, including structured veterinarian-to-veterinarian mentoring.

South Wairarapa Vets offers: • an exciting career opportunity working in a friendly, skilled team environment. We value our people and our culture • all the modern conveniences including digital X-ray and full IDEXX in-house laboratory at each site, extensive surgical equipment with tibial tuberosity advancements and major orthopaedics being performed in top quality surgical facilities • encouragement for our veterinarians to develop in their areas of special interest and provide a CPD allowance. We pay for NZVA membership and VCNZ registration • a high ratio of experienced, skilled veterinary nurses to veterinarians.

Wairarapa offers: • beautiful scenic surroundings based in the heart of the lower North Island • stunning coastline and rivers that are a playground for fishing, swimming, diving, camping, biking and scenic views. The Tararua Ranges are a hive of activity for tramping, hut stays and a series of short walks • its famous balloon and wine festivals, community-based produce markets, many gourmet and locally sourced foods • affordable real estate, great schools and a rural lifestyle. Our region attracts many families and has strong social and sporting opportunities • a short, one-hour trip to Palmerston North and Wellington.

Our mission statement – South Wairarapa Veterinary Services is a caring team of veterinary professionals focused on excellent client service. We support lifelong learning with collegial support to strengthen and grow both individuals and the business. We strive for a vibrant and fun workplace.

We offer a competitive remuneration, based on experience. The start date is negotiable.

We look forward to receiving your application.

Why not come join us?

Please send your CV and cover letter to: Dinah Cox Human Resources Manager dinah.cox@swvets.co.nz

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

AUCKLAND

WAIROA Coast Vets Veterinary partner

Dental residency Auckland Veterinary Dentistry and Oral Surgery is an American Veterinary Dental College approved residency site. The residency position can be either three years full-time or five years part-time at our practice in Auckland.

Russell Tucker is the residency director.

Applicants must have completed a oneyear internship or have at least two years’ experience in companion animal practice.

The successful applicant will receive the necessary training to be able to submit their credentials to the AVDC. The full details of the full-time and part-time residencies are available on the college’s website, www.avdc.org.

Please forward a letter of intent, CV and references to: Russell Tucker Board Certified Veterinary Dentist russellt@aucklandvetdentist.co.nz

OREWA Orewa Vet Hospital Companion Animal Veterinarian required for our 100% small animal practice We are in a modern, purpose-built clinic that has recently had a significant upgrade.

We are an independent practice and as such would give you plenty of scope to pursue your special interests and foster your own clientele.

This is a full-time, permanent position but we would consider part-time for the right person.

Orewa is an exceptionally beautiful coastal area just north of Auckland which can cater for all lifestyle requirements.

Check out our website www.orewavethospital.co.nz.

Email Brett Finlayson at brettfinlayson@hotmail.com or call him on 027 291 5515 to have a chat.

We are a mixed animal practice looking for a working veterinarian to buy in to the practice. Variable buy in options are available for the right person. We can be flexible on days and hours worked to ensure a good work-life balance.

Based in Wairoa, Northern Hawke’s Bay, we are a family friendly clinic with good support staff. We share weekend afterhours with a neighbouring clinic, meaning a 1:4 after-hours roster.

Our clients include a few dairy farms, small to large sheep and beef farms, some deer farms, and a cross-section of lifestyle blocks with a multitude of different species. We do some equine work – primarily reproduction and dentistry – and small animal work, including a grooming and boarding component (managed by support staff), as well as SPCA work. Working dogs are a significant component of the small animal work.

If you are looking for a position you can shape to fit you, where you can follow and develop your interests and have the opportunity to determine your own clinic culture, then take the plunge into clinic ownership.

We would prefer someone with at least a couple of years’ experience under their belt but would also work with a newer graduate with the right attitude.

New Zealand’s East Coast has a mild climate in general, with easy access to beaches (including surfing), large lakes and bush less than an hour away, and mountains for skiing during winter approximately 3.5 hours away.

To apply, or for more information, please contact: Theresa Hoyle coastvet@hotmail.com

TO FIND OR FILL A JOB IN NEW ZEALAND Contact Kookaburra Veterinary Employment Permanent and locum veterinarians, plus free veterinary nurse service.

Email: jobs@kookaburravets.com Phone: +61 266 509090 Fax: +61 266 509091 www.kookaburravets.com More than 15,000 visitors per month.

SOUTH ISLAND Veterinarians

We have some exciting opportunities to join our team. Are you ready to take the next step?

Vetlife is a privately owned veterinary practice based in the South Island of New Zealand. We currently have 19 branches from Culverden through to Wānaka. Due to increasing demand and expansion, we need to further increase the size of our team of veterinarians and have a range of exciting opportunities on offer.

The role As a Vetlife veterinarian you will work within a team of passionate professionals dedicated to providing high-quality, leading-edge service to our clients. You will have the opportunity to network and share expertise with colleagues to develop your own knowledge and skills and to drive the thinking of the practice forward. You will have access to formal development opportunities – both within the practice and externally – to extend your career, learning on the job by contributing to projects, research and through mentoring.

The ideal candidate We have a range of opportunities for graduates through to experienced practitioners. You may wish to maintain a broad range of skills and experience or you may have decided to specialise in an area of clinical practice. As a larger practice with branches that each have their own personality and demographic, we can match your career and lifestyle goals to a role that will best suit your needs. What all candidates will have in common is the strong desire to reach their full potential as a veterinarian, build a progressive and satisfying career and develop a proven track record in client engagement and satisfaction.

Strong interpersonal skills both with clients and within your team will be a must.

The location Vetlife branches are located down the east side of New Zealand’s South Island, from Culverden in North Canterbury through North Otago, Mackenzie Country and into Central Otago. Whatever your preference in terms of climate, lifestyle and leisure interests, you will be able to create a satisfying work-life balance as part of one of our branch teams.

We currently have opportunities in Ashburton, Culverden, Fairlie, Mosgiel, Oamaru, Temuka and Timaru.

To apply If you think a career with Vetlife could be the next step in your development, please make your application in writing to nicola. williams@vetlife.co.nz.

VetScript September 2020 – 67

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA Arabian Kennel Club Two veterinarians – overseas short term We are looking for one or two veterinarians to come work in sunny Saudi Arabia.

The contract term will initially be for six months, with the possibility to extend after this period.

The position would best suit someone that is comfortable with all aspects of medicine and surgery. The capability to perform routine orthopaedic work (cruciates, plating, luxating patellas) would be a big advantage. The clinic is fast paced and we see a large range of surgical and medical cases. Approximately 10% of the clinical cases are equine therefore the ability to do some basic equine work and after hours as required would also be advantageous.

We have most of the routine gear: ultrasound, digital X-ray, dental kit, orthopaedic equipment, electrocardiogram, blood pressure monitor, in-house complete blood count and biochemistry.

The working week consists of five days (Sunday-Thursday) and 2:3 Fridays. Fridays will either be paid for separately or can be taken as days in lieu. Typical hours worked in a week are 35-40 hours. On call will be required, which amounts to 1:3.

The salary will range between $195,000 and $240,000 (US$130,000–$160,000) per annum, as well as an additional on call rate. There is no tax on salary in Saudi Arabia however you may be liable for taxes in your home country depending on your residency or citizenship status or depending on how long you stay overseas.

Accommodation and a car will be provided.

You will live on the Aramco compound in Dhahran, where dayto-day life is extremely safe. The normal rules and regulations of Saudi Arabia are generally absent on camp and there is a friendly, relaxed atmosphere here. Single females manage fine here. There is also a range of activities and clubs to keep you occupied in your spare time such as golf, tennis, swimming, CrossFit, touch rugby and football.

The ideal candidate(s) will have a minimum of five years’ experience and the capability to perform routine and more advanced surgeries. Orthopaedic and/or equine experience is a plus. A positive attitude and the capacity to work well under pressure are essential. A minimum of six months’ commitment is expected, although there is potential for a more permanent position thereafter.

If interested please email arabiankennelclub@yahoo.com with the subject heading ‘Attention Talitha’.

Box 2418 Dhahran 31311 Saudi Arabia Phone: +966 138 763 517 Fax: +966 138 761 927

MARKETPLACE CHRISTCHURCH Practice for sale We are seeking interest in an impressive practice that is for sale in Christchurch on behalf of our client.

The practice has a rich history and the current owner is seeking retirement after more than 37 years in practice. It is proposed to be sold as a going concern and an appropriate transition period is available with the vendor.

The present owner has been working reduced hours and supplementing this by hiring more staff. A motivated purchaser may choose to absorb some of these hours themselves or enjoy a more passive income style.

The practice is well established and works mainly with family pets utilising a wide variety of services. The practice is currently open Monday to Friday and half a day on Saturday.

In terms of key numbers, annual accounts have been prepared and management numbers are available. The vendors appreciate any business’s true value is relevant as to what a willing purchaser and a willing seller can mutually agree.

The clinic enjoys a strong owner’s discretionary cashflow and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.

The plant and equipment have an independent valuation from approximately a year ago. This can be updated if desired.

A full information memorandum will be provided following signing a non-disclosure agreement and a basic validation process and discussion. We welcome any general enquiries also.

Enquiries should be directed in the first instance to: Martz Witty Shi Martz Chartered Accountants PO Box 13-010 Armagh Christchurch 8141 Phone: 0800 389 0777 Email: martz@martz.co.nz

FOR SALE Fibreglass cages Currently installed in more than 300 practices nationwide, our cages are clean, warm and visually appealing in a range of colours with all stainless-steel fittings.

Jim Grayson Email: jim.l.grayson@gmail.com www.creaturecomfortcages.co.nz

2020 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Deadline The booking and copy deadline is the 1st of the month preceding publication.

Enquiries and bookings For enquiries, bookings and to submit copy, please go to www.nzva.org.nz and click on ‘Jobs’ or contact the NZVA office.

68 – VetScript September 2020

Phone: 04 471 0484 Email: classifieds@vets.org.nz Fax:

04 471 0494

Post: NZVA Classified Advertising

PO Box 11212

Manners Street Wellington 6142

ONLINE

On-farm parasitology skills Develop effective and sustainable parasite control programmes.

SHEEP AND BEEF CATTLE VETERINARIANS Sustainable control of helminth parasites of grazing ruminants is a key concern for veterinarians in production animal practice.

DATES 28 September – 18 December

TUTORS

This course covers the key biological factors of helminth parasites, the latest developments in helminth control and ensures participants develop a sound understanding of the current state of the science around these issues.

Ginny Dodunski BVSc MACVSc Clive Bingham BVSc BPhil MACVSc

The course is aimed at veterinarians in rural or mixed practice who want to improve their knowledge and skills in parasite control programmes for sheep and beef cattle and offer a superior service to their farming clients.

Trevor Cook BVSc Andrew Dowling BVSc Jeremy Leigh BVSc Rochelle Smith BVSc MANZCVS Sara Sutherland BVSc MSc BSc (Agr) MANZCVS

Upon successful completion of the assessment, this course provides five credits towards the following Massey University postgraduate qualifications: » Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology. » Master of Veterinary Medicine. » Master in Agriculture.

CONTRIBUTORS

PRICE NZVA member: $725 Non member: $1,450 Prices are in NZD and include 15% GST.

CPD POINTS Up to 50 CPD activity hours.

Register at nzva.org.nz/event/20parasitology For more educational resources and courses visit www.nzva.org.nz/educationhub

Protected or infected?

Get 12 months fetal protection.

Unborn calves infected with BVD prior to approximately 120 days gestation can become persistently infected (Pl) and spread the virus to other cattle throughout their lives. So fetal protection is key to breaking the cycle of BVD transmission.

Vaccines in New Zealand provide varying durations of fetal protection, meaning unborn calves could become PIs if BVD exposure happens at the wrong time.

Bovilis BVD is the only vaccine that has demonstrated 12 months fetal protection after the 3rd dose – the longest coverage available. Booster cows and heifers with Bovilis BVD and this season’s pregnancies will be protected no matter when they are conceived.

So why risk it? Ask your vet for Bovilis BVD by name and get 12 months peace of mind.

BoviIis® BVD

NZ’s LEADING BVD VACCINE*

AVAILABLE ONLY UNDER VETERINARY AUTHORISATION. ACVM No: A8237. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Phone: 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz NZ-BOV-200700004 ©2020 Intervet International B.V. All Rights Reserved.

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*Baron Market Data Q2 2020.