Pfizer Animal Health has launched Dexdomitor, a new, advanced form of the popular sedative /analgesic Domitor (medetomidine).

According to Pfizer, Dexdomitor contains only the right-handed enantiomer (dexmeditomidine) which is responsible for the beneficial pharmacological effects of the meditomidine molecule. By removing the left-handed enantiomer (levomedetomidine) from the original racemic mixture the same sedative and analgesic effects can be achieved with a lower metabolic load, less potential for interaction with other drugs and half the active substance.

According to Dr Jo Murrell, Senior lecturer in veterinary anaesthesia in Bristol Vet School, the use of dexmedetomidine has a number of advantages in terms of veterinary use:

"Because dexmedetomidine had to undergo a lot of safety studies to get market authorisation in humans, we have a huge amount of cardiovascular data about the effects of dexmedetomidine in dogs," she said. "That means we know very precisely the effects of dexmedetomidine on cardiac output, on organ blood flow and the changes in blood flow to vital organs such as the heart and brain."

Dr Murrell recommends that practices that are currently using Domitor should consider switching to Dexdomitor when it becomes available. "You won't notice any disadvantages as a result of the switch, but you may well notice that the effects of dexmedetomidine are more reliable compared to medetomidine, and you may notice some benefits in terms of recovery from anaesthetic combinations."

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is calling for candidate nominations for its Veterinary Nurses Council, the body that deals with issues such as VN regulation, professional conduct and continuing professional development within the College.

VN Council includes elected veterinary nurses, lay people, RCVS Council members, a Lantra representative and veterinary surgeons.

“With the introduction of the non-statutory Register and recent developments in veterinary nursing training, the VN profession is going through an exciting period of change,” according to VN Council Chairman Andrea Jeffery. “We are looking for VN Council members with enthusiasm, vision and commitment to help take the profession to the next stage.”

There are two vacancies for elected veterinary nurses on Council, each to serve for a four-year period. Candidates must be Registered or Listed Veterinary Nurses and be supported by two proposers, also Registered or Listed VNs.

Candidates need to be prepared to spend at least six days per year on VN Council business - potentially more if they are co-opted onto other working parties and subcommittees - and be able to travel to meetings in London. Recompense for loss of earnings is offered to employers and travel expenses are paid.

Nomination packs are available from Annette Amato on 020 7202 0713 or a.amato@rcvs.org.uk and must be completed and returned by 29 February.

Election papers will be sent with the March issue of RCVS News and voting will close on 28 April. The newly-elected members will join VN Council at RCVS Day in July.

Phil Sketchley, chief executive of the National Office of Animal Health, today called for more veterinary practices to get involved with National Pet Month (5th April to 5th May).

Speaking at the annual conference of the Veterinary Practice Management Association in Bristol, he said: "Last year nearly 100 practices held events - but there are around 2000 small animal practices out there. It's a fantastic opportunity to open your doors and show your clients - and potential clients - the high level of expertise your practice has and what goes on behind the scenes.

"Last year some event holders reported that new clients joined after their NPM event. And these were not clients from the practice down the road - these were owners whose pets had not previously been registered with a practice - real proof that NPM can work to improve the health and welfare of pets. "Other practices chose to go and talk to schools about pet care. This is a great way to demonstrate to children the importance of keeping their pet healthy, and the role the vet and vet nurse can play," he added.

The theme for this year's National Pet Month is Great British Pets. To get ideas and promotional advice for your event, and to register it free, visit: http://www.nationalpetmonth.org.uk/

Veterinary nurse Catherine Marsh (pictured right) from Eastgate Veterinary Group in Bury St. Edmunds has become the 1000th nurse to complete the Royal Canin Pet Health Counsellor course.

The three day residential training course for nurses in practice takes place four times a year, and provides training on running clinics in practice as well as canine and feline behaviour, nutrition and preventative medicine. Up to 30 delegates at a time meet to share their experiences and work together, providing a real forum for exchanges of opinion on the role and experience of vet nursing today.

For more information about the Royal Canin Pet Health Counsellor scheme, please contact your Veterinary Business Manager.

An English entrepreneur, Alison Vaughan, has just launched Muksak, a new product to make it easier to clear up dog mess when you're out walking the dog.

I was about to poo poo this idea (sorry). Having been brought up in the countryside, and stepped in countless 'meadow muffins', I find it difficult to understand why so many people seem to get themselves into such a froth about canine offerings. But I suppose it's a question of context, and even I have to agree that people should clear up after their dogs in places where children play, like parks and beaches.

Then I was thinking 'what's wrong with the existing solution to the problem, the plastic poo bag?' Well, I don't have much experience of handling dog mess, but if my 10 month old's nappies are anything to go by, bags are singularly ineffective at containing smells. Besides which, handling faeces through thin plastic is never a particularly enjoyable experience.

So perhaps these things are a good idea after all. In fact, I think I'm going to order one for my wife. For veterinary practices, they could offer quite a good marketing opportunity: brand them with your practice logo, and sell them at cost (or perhaps even below cost). The PR value of all those pet owners out strolling with practice-branded Muksaks would be worth its weight.

For more information please phone Alison Vaughan on 01209 890696 or email alison@muksak.com

In response to a national shortage of qualified veterinary nurses, the Royal Veterinary College has announced its new combined vet nursing programme. From September 2008, the college will offer a newly developed BSc programme in veterinary nursing in addition to the Foundation Degree in Veterinary Nursing that the college currently offers.

The foundation degree takes two and a half years, and on completion, allows graduates to register with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RVCS) and practice as veterinary nurses. The advantage of the new scheme is that all students study for the foundation degree and then if they are successful, have the opportunity to top up to a BSc.

"There is a significant need for more qualified veterinary nurses," said Hilary Orpet, Veterinary Nursing course leader at the RVC. "We have made changes to our vet nursing programmes in order to help meet industry's needs by attracting more students, and the current shortage of vet nurses means there are lots of opportunities for them upon graduation.

"Both courses provide an intense, thorough, practical education in vet nursing. The advantage of studying to BSc level is that the qualification can open doors into other related careers like academia, research or work in the pharmaceutical industry."

The programme includes 70 weeks practical training at a range of veterinary practices, including the RVC's own world-leading hospitals. "The hands-on experience ensures that students gain a real insight into the day-to-day role of vet nurses," said Ms Orpet. "They get the chance to put their knowledge into practice and gain experience in common vet nursing activities."

Will Stevenson, BVetMed MRCVS, a graduate of the RVC and now director of his own practice, sees the importance of attracting more vet nurses into the industry. "Veterinary nurses are an essential part of any practice team," he explains. "They undertake the intensive nursing care of hospitalised patients, are heavily involved in surgical and medical procedures from start to finish, and take care of the everyday running of the practice. All of this, combined with client communication, means any practice would be unable to function without its nurses."
Students can apply now for 2008 entry. Candidates must be at least 18 years old and hold a minimum of 5 GCSES, an A-level or equivalent qualification and have two weeks work experience at a veterinary practice.

To compliment the existing veterinary nursing provision on offer at the RVC, from summer 2008 NVQ qualified veterinary nurses will have the opportunity to enroll on a Graduate Diploma in Professional and Clinical Veterinary Nursing to enhance their skills and qualifications.

For more information on the vet nursing courses offered at the RVC please see http://www.rvc.ac.uk/Schools/VetNursing/Index.cfm.

CPD Solutions has announced the winners of the competition held on vetnurse.co.uk to find the best nursing stories.

The overall winner was Alison Devonshire from the Orwell Veterinary Group, who wins a free place on CPD Solutions' Nursing Exotic Animals course. The runners up were Carrie Apps from South Beech Veterinary Surgery, and Donna Lewis from Pet Care Veterinary Surgery. Both win a luxury champagne and chocolate gift box.

The stories were:

Winner: Alison Devonshire. "Superpug, Superpug!"
It was only a few weeks ago that during a particularly hectic morning surgery me and my colleagues were in the prep room, gasping for a cuppa, after a morning of dentals, dematts and dog castrates, that a flustered receptionist called through to say that a client had phoned in on her way to the practice, with her dog who had just fallen from a second floor window.

Cups of tea were put on hold and the crash box was positioned ready, with trainee nurses squabbling over who would get to use the case for a fist aid procedure in their portfolio.

The duty vet and I waited at the reception to help the client in. She arrived soon after and appeared to be hysterical with concern over the bundle in her arms (who was proudly wagging his curled tail and trying to get down to check out the waiting room!) It was only at this point did myself and the vet notice, that the Dog, a large fawn pug, was wearing a lycra "Superman" suit! After gleaning some history from the client (yes, he had fallen from a second floor window and she found him lying on the lawn, motionless) we took the dog
through to the prep room for a full clinical examination leaving the client with a sympathetic receptionist and a box of tissues.

Once in the prep room, realising that the poor pug was certainly in no imminent danger, did we allow ourselves a fit of giggles! Altogether now: "Superpug, superpug, does whatever a superpug does. Can he fly through the air? No he can't, he's a pug!"

I removed the offending costume and after a full clinical exam, superpug was evidently fit as a flea, infact he appeared to be quite excited by the whole debacle. We opted to keep him in for observation for a few hours to be safe and let him and his owner calm down.

Of course superpug was sent home and seen the next morning for a recheck, again he was absolutely fine. Again he was wearing his superpug outfit!

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Runner Up: Donna Lewis
My story takes us back to winter almost two years ago now. It was a busy morning surgery, the same as most and I was duty nurse. Our receptionist came through to the cattery carrying a cat basket and plonked it on the table in front of me and said the Cats Protection League would like a normal cremation!!

I picked up the basket and carried it through to another room, opened the basked and had a look at what appeared to be a dead black and white cat. I removed it from the basket and
my goodness it was frozen, absolutely never in all my years (almost 25 of them) have I seen a frozen body (well not one that hasn't been in the cold storage). The poor thing I thought, as I looked a little closer, I saw the slightest chest movement!! I couldn't feel a heart beat he really did appear to be frozen solid, then I thought I saw another very slight movement. I called for backup, this frozen cat that laid before me wasn't dead......well not yet anyway.

I then proceeded to defrost him. I wasn't really 100% sure if I should do it fast or slowly, so I warmed heat pads and got reflector beds and with the help of a hairdryer that I use to circulate warm air around the kennel, this cat started to defrost. By 5pm that very same day he was sitting up and eating.

This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. This cat stayed with us for a while and was taken home to live with my boss and his family. His name is very suitably "Frosty".

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Runner Up: Carrie Apps
I always knew there would be exotic patients at South Beech. I often sat in the waiting room with my own animals and figured that one out. Parrots and lizards were quite normal and I was expecting a few on my first day. I wasn't expecting Elvis.

Elvis was fairly small, about the size of a small dog, he was skinny and had gone bald. His owner had bought him in at the weekend, as Elvis was diabetic and had collapsed. Over the weekend Elvis was stabilised and was much stronger and, although he was still very weak from muscle wastage, he was still strong enough to need two nurses to pin him down, with another to hold an arm and a vet to take a blood sample, to measure his glucose.

Halfway through my first day the head nurse Rachel, asked me ‘have you seen Elvis yet?' I had no idea who she was talking about. ‘Elvis?' I replied. ‘He's in Consulting Room 1'. Rachel and Linda, another nurse, started telling the horror stories; ‘Elvis was nearly dead at the weekend but has perked up a lot now, he's very strong, it takes two of us to hold him, he bit his owners finger off and he had to have a blood test they have horrible diseases'. ‘Yeah' finished Rachel, ‘you can help us soon, we need to take blood for a glucose test. You can hold the arm.' After this, I was thinking, me? I have been here for 4 hours, I've never even seen blood being taken and you want me to help you get a raving Elvis out of his cage and hold an arm while you take blood. Well I suppose they wanted to see what I was made of, and I wanted to help them.

The two nurses prepared me well, explaining exactly what would happen. I was nervous when Linda and Rachel took him out. We were all done up to the eye balls in PPE (I was thinking, people keep these as pets?!? Rachel and Linda held Elvis down, wrapped in a towel, the vet pulled me out an arm and showed me where to raise the vein. He took the blood and I applied pressure to the injection site, to prevent haemorrhage. Safely back in his cage Elvis was being all sweet again, taking food from us and chatting.

It was definitely a first day to remember and 2 years on Elvis is doing well and still visits us, although he is much stronger now (we can't remove him from his carrier, it would probably take 4 nurses) and he is much hairier (we occasionally shave his arm through the cage so the owners can administer the insulin). But 2 years on I am still enjoying my job as a student veterinary nurse. Even though I learn something new every day, I will never ever forget my first day meeting Elvis, the Capuchin monkey.

AMTRA has cited a study by the Veterinary Poisons Information Service as highlighting the value of the SQP qualification.

The study found that 97% of cats wrongly treated with permethrin-based flea treatments for dogs showed signs of poisoning, with 10.5% being put down.

There are probably very few veterinary nurses in the land who aren't already aware of this problem, SQP-qualified or not. But it is a good example of a reason to get the C-SQP add-on qualification for VNs.

Litter Kwitter has launched a new training system to teach cats to use your loo, rather than a litter tray.

No, it's not April 1st. Click here to see a video of the system in action.

The company says that training a cat to use a loo could save owners £2000 in litter and 500kg in environmental waste over the lifetime of the cat.

Wonder whether you can get them to flush afterwards.

Molar Ltd has carried off the award for Best Dog Health Product 2007/2008 for ProDen PlaqueOff^TM Animal, at the Your Dog and Your Cat Product Awards in London.

John Leonard, Product Manager at Molar Ltd., said: "This is a great achievement for Molar Ltd and it is wonderful that readers of this magazine recognise how effective ProDen PlaqueOff Animal is at reducing plaque, tartar and bad breath in both cats and dogs."

ProDen PlaqueOff Animal is made from a specially selected seaweed and is so easy to use, just add to wet or dry food once a day. When used daily results can usually be seen within just 3 to 8 weeks and can be used pre or post scaling.

ProDen PlaqueOff Animal is available in 3 sizes; 60g, 180g and 420g. Point of Sale material is also available for practices, direct from Molar, so that clients can be made aware that the practice is stocking the product.

ProDen PlaqueOff Animal is available from Centaur, Dunlops, NVS and VSS (N. Ireland). For more information contact Molar Ltd on 01934 710022.

Pedigree® is launching a nationwide initiative in January 2008 to help raise money and awareness to benefit dogs in rescue centres.

Launching on 1st January 2008, The Pedigree Adoption Drive^TM will be supported with a £4.5 million campaign, demonstrating Pedigree's commitment to raising money and awareness about the issue of homeless dogs in the UK.

For every Pedigree product sold the brand will donate money, raising up to £500,000 in the first three months. The campaign, fronted by a high profile television personality (to be announced), will create nationwide consumer excitement and awareness via TV advertising, press, outdoor poster sites, direct mail, in-store point of sale, promotional deals, and PR activity including show-casing the campaign at Crufts.

The Pedigree Adoption DriveTM campaign is the biggest ever brand initiative for Pedigree and is the first campaign that Pedigree in the UK will use packaging that carries the campaign messaging across the majority of the items in its range.

Consumers can engage and interact with the campaign by visiting http://www.pedigreeadoptiondrive.com/, a website inviting dog lovers to pledge their support for the campaign by purchasing a campaign T-shirt and follow the journey of the abandoned dogs featured in the advertising that are being cared for at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. The site also hosts a search facility to help people who are looking to give a loving home to an abandoned dog, find local re-homing centres.

Creature Comforts has this week announced plans to roll out its dog sitting brand nationwide.

The company was set up in 2005 by Ailsa Price to offer dog owners in Chester, Wirral and Wales an alternative to placing dogs in kennels whilst on holiday. Many people are not at ease with leaving their pets in kennels and many also would rather not go on holiday than
do so. Creature Comforts enables owners to leave their dogs in the comfort of a loving home environment with a designated host family who will care and love their pet as they do.

The expansion of the business is to be spearheaded by the appointment of a network of franchises throughout the UK. Franchisees will be offered a defined geographical area with
guaranteed exclusive rights to operate under the Creature Comforts name.

The company says that its franchise offers a number of attractions over many other franchise systems, none less than the low start up cost totalling just £8750, and the high projected
return on investment. In addition, the business is home based, cash positive, and requires no stock to be purchased.

For more information about becoming a franchisee, visit: http://www.petsittinguk.co.uk/