VetScript June 2020

nzva.org.nz

WVAC 2020 DIAGNOSTICS NEWS AND VIEWS Catch up on what in pet wellness you missed! checks?

NEW NZVA BOARD Meet who’s leading the charge

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 • J U N E 2 02 0

TAKING ON THE CHOOK

CHALLENGE VetScript June 2020 – 1

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The New Zealand Veterinary Association and World Veterinary Association have partnered with The Webinar Vet to deliver 100+ hours of continuing professional development direct to your computer!

A subscription to the virtual congress gives you access to recorded lectures from over 54 speakers until the end of September for you to watch and learn at your own pace.

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NEWS AND VIEWS

EDITORIAL 2 Mirjam Guesgen, VetScript Editor NEWS AND VIEWS 4 Grant McCullough, NZVA President 5 Kevin Bryant, NZVA CEO 6 Helen Beattie, NZVA CVO 8 News 12 Congratulations to the 2019 and 2020 NZVA award winners!

15 Global lab – check out what’s happening in veterinary schools around the world 16 Massey research update 18 Animal welfare and ethics update 20 Switch your brain into gear with our crossword 21 Seton Butler, VCNZ

48 WVAC 2020

IN THE WORKPLACE

34 Catch up with some of the speakers you may have missed

56 Stronger than yesterday

PROFILE

36 The differences of donkeys

22 Read about the NZVA’s new board structure, and the people leading the charge

40 The client experience matters, now more than ever

VETLEARN

48 Getting ahead of the future

26 Meet McMaster & Heap Veterinary Practice’s diverse team

58 Wellbeing tips in uncertain times

42 Solving the world’s food crisis 46 Tackling a meaty subject

OUT THERE VETTING

WELLBEING

60 Take a look at the exciting opportunities for professional development

IN THE LAB 52 Sneaky Salmonella

COVER STORY 30 Taking on the chook challenge

16

54 Diagnostics in pet wellness checks: yes or no?

22

66 CLASSIFIEDS

26 VetScript June 2020 – 1

NEWS AND VIEWS

www.nzva.org.nz

VetScript JUNE 2020 • VOL 33 • NO 5 ISSN 1170-280X COVER IMAGE Backyard chickens.

(IMAGE: AMANDA TRAYES)

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.

2 – VetScript June 2020

The rare birds VetScript Editor Mirjam Guesgen pays tribute to veterinarians’ skills and award-winning excellence.

MUCH TO MY disappointment, I was never allowed a dog when I was young.

The place where we lived wasn’t suitable and Mum and Dad had never been ‘dog people’. After much nagging they said I could have a pet bird instead. At first I wasn’t too keen, but my love for avian friends was sparked soon after I was given my first cockatiel.

We bought him from a breeder who was extremely knowledgeable; she taught us about the importance of a balanced diet and how to spoon-feed the chick, housetrain him and keep him mentally stimulated. For 10-year-old me it was a lot more work than I’d anticipated, but also a lot more fun.

Hooch (named after Madam Hooch, the flying teacher from the Harry Potter series) was a great companion and immensely protective of me, directing evil stares at anyone who came near, including new boyfriends! However, after many years of companionship he became seriously ill and had to be put down.

I later found a new friend in Bird – a beautiful, white-faced, pied cockatiel with an even feistier attitude than Hooch had and a habit of chewing up my homework and whistling to get my attention whenever I talked on the phone. When I flew the coop to Canada, Bird flew the coop too, and she now spends her days with a lovely new owner in Feilding.

While I was a bird parent I found it hard to find veterinarians who understood companion birds’ needs and how to care for them when they fell ill. On one occasion Hooch was so spooked by a cat outside that he crashed into a window and broke a toe. Luckily I found a veterinarian who could problem-solve, as birds weren’t her special interest; she skilfully amputated Hooch’s toe and he had to wear the tiniest of makeshift Elizabethan collars around his neck.

This month’s cover story is about another flock of feathered animals: backyard chooks. Like other companion birds, these chooks require a special kind of veterinary expertise that’s unfortunately in short supply. As the number of chook owners in New Zealand grows, veterinarians are under pressure to learn how to treat them in a way that recognises they’re more akin to pets than production animals. Naomi Arnold (a recent chook owner herself) asks veterinarians who work with birds to provide advice for others looking to expand the range of species with which they work.

We also have a special section in this month’s VetScript: articles from speakers at the World Veterinary Association Congress, which moved online in April. These speakers are leaders in their respective fields and offer insights into topics as diverse as donkey veterinary care, small ruminant farming, pig production and customer service. If you’d like to catch up on anything you missed, recordings of the presentations will be available at https://wvac2020.thewebinarvet.com for another few months.

Finally, we honour those veterinarians whose willingness to go above and beyond for animals, their clients and the profession has been recognised in the NZVA awards. Massive congratulations to all the winners!

I hope this month’s articles and award winners inspire you to push your boundaries and maybe branch out to working with new species or learning different techniques.

Mirjam Guesgen, Editor, VetScript

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NEWS AND VIEWS

Working together in times of crisis COVID-19 has put huge pressure on veterinarians, their staff, the NZVA and others in the veterinary landscape. NZVA President Grant McCullough has many to thank.

I WRITE THIS column near the end of the COVID-19 Alert Level 3 response, with some personal reflections that, to me, speak volumes about who we are as people and as a profession.

I would like to thank the talented, dedicated professionals I’ve had the pleasure of working with at my practice, which has continued to provide essential veterinary services during the March and April lockdown and beyond.

We needed frequently to change the way we operated in lockdown so that we could keep up with constant adjustments to the Level 4 rules. While the measures we introduced enabled us to operate within the rules, new protocols such as closing waiting rooms meant business-as-usual operations took twice as long as usual to complete.

Veterinarians are people of action, and we’re also problemsolvers. These attributes were clear to me while I worked (at a safe distance of course) with the dedicated professionals at my Auckland practices. My team has risen to this unprecedented challenge and I would like to thank them all. From the outset, the response to COVID-19 has been about virus control and saving human lives. Because of the team’s efforts, my clinics have been able to continue offering veterinary services that provide a high standard of animal care and treatment, while at the same time keeping humans and animals safe.

It seems long ago now but the first week of lockdown was the most difficult. We had so little time to make changes to our standard operating procedures before any restrictions came into force. But we got there. It was a case of communicate, and communicate again. We had to think laterally. We brought in changes such as closed waiting rooms, instructed clients to leave animals by the door so that we could communicate verbally with them from a safe distance, and delivered a higher level of nursing care with our veterinary nurses staying with animals at all times. We reduced contact between staff by putting our teams in their own ‘bubbles’, and further minimised contact between staff during the transition between shifts. Like many other workplaces, my team has also increased the number of phone and video calls with clients, which has

4 – VetScript June 2020

helped to reduce the need for some clients to visit in person.

I’m truly grateful to my people for their understanding, flexibility and positive approach. These qualities, which I know the vast majority of New Zealand veterinarians possess, have been key to enabling my clinics to operate, albeit at a reduced capacity and with increased costs.

I’m told that our business continuance success has largely been mirrored in clinics around the country. I use the word ‘success’ because, in the context of what could go down as the most remarkable month in the history of business in this country, it is the appropriate term.

Having said this, I would like to acknowledge the hardship that is being experienced by veterinary professionals and business owners, who have seen reductions in practice revenue of 90% or more. The gravity of the situation was not lost on key stakeholders at the Ministry for Primary Industries, VCNZ, Massey University and my NZVA colleagues, whom I would like to thank for their support during this difficult time for us all.

I would also like to thank the staff at the NZVA national office, and in particular the senior leadership and veterinary teams, who have worked tirelessly for hours on end to communicate important information to members. This has been appreciated by all of us who have several times looked to the NZVA for guidance on how best to operate, and for new information on the virus as it becomes available.

Coming out the other side of lockdown and beginning a new phase, Level 2, which seems somewhat more normal, it’s hard to say now what the future holds. Something that I hope was already clear to members has become much more evident to me: the benefits of a national body representing the best interests of our profession go far beyond the important work the NZVA does on a daily basis. Our profession will be much better placed to meet the challenges of today, and those that undoubtedly lie ahead, if we continue to support each other in this way. We are stronger together, whatever the future brings.

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

NEWS AND VIEWS

Reacting now while planning for the future NZVA CEO Kevin Bryant outlines the next steps after months of heavy COVID-19 restrictions.

ANYONE WHO KNOWS me knows I’m a people person.

I’m a believer in the potential of people to achieve great things when contributing to a team where everyone’s pulling together and where each member of the team is valued for their contribution. The upside of this is high levels of job satisfaction, high trust and loyalty between employer and employee, high staff retention rates and ultimately great business performance.

One of the keys to achieving these outcomes is the quality of the leadership in the business, as opposed to management. It’s relatively easy to be a manager but it’s a whole lot harder to be a good leader, day in and day out.

As I write this we’ve come out of two weeks in the ‘waiting room’ (Alert Level 3), and all our thoughts are tuned in to transitioning to Level 2.

The NZVA team has been totally focused in the past month on bringing you information that’s as up to date as possible on what’s in and out of scope under the various alert levels as well as assisting with human resource-related enquiries and supporting collegiality via Zoom meetings. Internally we’ve been working hard to support our own team as everyone came to grips with working from home offices, dealing with the wide range of challenges associated with supporting members – who in turn have a wide range of expectations – and keeping the NZVA as a business going.

As we move into the next phase of what I’ve heard some people say is “the new ‘C’ word” – COVID-19 – the priority for the NZVA is to continue what we’ve been doing and focus on supporting business recovery and sustainability, for without our businesses we have no veterinarians and without veterinarians we have no association. This has been a crippling time for many and not limited to clinical practices – we’re all suffering.

I hope that by the time you read this we’ll have a number of initiatives rolling out in the business support space, similar to our efforts in the past months in the wellbeing space. These are likely to include ongoing

Zoom meetings to share experiences with business owners, workshops to assist those seeking support to rebuild businesses, Q&A sessions with experts, the establishment of an owner/manager mentoring scheme, and targeted CPD offerings on topics such as business models, leadership, coaching and mentoring.

We need members to support each other, with business owners being honest and frank about the ‘state of play’ in their businesses, and employees being open to being part of whatever solution keeps the businesses going. I recall discussing with a business owner the torment he was going through in having to tell his staff that they needed to work seven days a week to ensure the survival of the business, followed by his joy when most of the team said, “We get it and we support you.” It’s this sort of collegiality that we need going forward.

Unfortunately some businesses interpreted the scope of Level 4 – in terms of the services they could provide to clients – inaccurately, and this resulted in business being poached from those that were following the guidelines more strictly. While competition has its place, I believe that in this environment we can achieve far more positive results (and have done in the past few months) by focusing on the challenges we all face, namely clients’ expectations, their views on costs, and our ability to deliver quality services for the animals in our care.

Having said all this, it’s even more clear to me now that our veterinary profession really is a champion team. I know many members hold the view that their profession is undervalued by others in this country. It’s my hope that the amazing contributions of veterinary teams in the pandemic response will help bring a sea change in perceptions of the value that veterinarians bring to communities throughout this land of ours.

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

VetScript June 2020 – 5

NEWS AND VIEWS

Doing the right thing through science NZVA CVO Helen Beattie describes the association’s science-based approach to assessing and discussing animal welfare.

YOU MAY RECALL that in the April issue of VetScript we discussed draft processes for the NZVA to use in dealing with new issues and media queries. As many of these issues relate to animal welfare science, I thought it worthwhile to outline how my veterinary team develops and provides advice on these matters.

In its inaugural meeting, the Member Advisory Group identified that the public sees veterinarians as animal welfare experts – and that if we don’t advocate for animal welfare, we put our reputation as a profession at risk; veterinarians may be seen as uncaring, or unaware of the issues. The group also acknowledged that veterinarians are often reluctant to speak out about animal welfare issues without evidence.

People interpret the term ‘animal welfare’ (an animal’s physical and mental reaction to their environment) in different ways, and it is sometimes confused with ‘animal rights’ (the idea that animals should have the same rights as humans and that people shouldn’t own animals at all). This confusion also leads to a misconception that advocates for animal welfare are the same as animal rights activists.

It’s critical to take a science-based approach to assessing and talking about animal welfare, and the Five Domains Model is an excellent tool for doing just that. It takes into consideration an animal’s nutrition, environment, health, behaviour and mental state (see the example for horses on the facing page) and notes that welfare can be both compromised and enhanced.

The model is widely accepted by animal welfare scientists around the world who no longer use the Five Freedoms model of animal welfare.

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Just as we keep up to date with the latest pharmaceutical and surgical advances, so should we know about the latest advances in animal welfare, so that we can confidently educate fellow New Zealanders about this too.

The NZVA veterinary team uses the Five Domains Model and peer-reviewed literature as a framework for formulating our stance on animal welfare issues. This ensures we advocate from a position of scientific evidence rather than an emotive one that may erode our professional credibility.

As the NZVA considers how the profession can maintain the position veterinarians have as ‘animal experts’ regarding animal welfare, the Five Domains Model must be front of mind.

Veterinarians are trained primarily in animals’ physical health, and more recently in the foundations of animal welfare science. This must continue and be strengthened. New Zealand is considered to have some of the best animal welfare legislation in the world, and we were the first country to introduce the word ‘sentient’ in law (in the Animal Welfare Act 1999 – see the October 2017 issue of VetScript).

Codes of welfare will soon be updated to provide people with direction on considering sentience in their engagement with animals.

To conclude, it’s critical that the profession understands the scientific basis on which animal welfare is determined, and is confident in communicating this to clients and the public – giving them confidence that veterinarians, alongside animal welfare scientists, are best placed to give expert advice on animal welfare. We’ll provide more information on the model, and its application, in the coming months.

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

HORSE WELFARE ASSESSMENT ASSESSMENT GUIDE HORSE WELFARE GUIDE This guide is an adaptation of the Five Domains Model of Welfare Assessment and Monitoring

This guide is shows an adaptation ofapplied the Five Domains of Welfare Assessment and Monitoring that how it can be to achieve goodModel horse welfare.

The model has four physical or that shows how it can be applied achieve good welfare. model has four physical or functional domains and atomental domain thathorse acknowledges theThe horse’s experience. functional domains and a mental domain that acknowledges the horse’s experience.

The aim for providing good welfare is to achieve physical and functional well-being, as well horses the opportunity to experience positive emotions in all areas: nutrition, health, The aim as forgive providing good welfare is to achieve physical and functional well-being, as well environment, behaviour and interactions with humans. as give horses the opportunity to experience positive emotions in all areas: nutrition, health, environment, behaviour and interactions with humans.

Nutrition

Health

Nutrition

The physical domain

The physical domain Restrictions:

Opportunities:

Not enough water Not enough food Poor quality food Lack of food variety

Drink enough water Eat enough food Eat a balanced diet Eating correct quantities Minimum Eat a variety of foods standard of

The physical domain Restrictions:

Minimum standard of

Care

Opportunities:

Care

Not enough water Drink enough water Not enough food Eat enough food Poor quality food Eat a balanced diet The mental domain Lack of food variety Eating correct quantities Negative experience: Positive experiences: Eat a variety of foods Thirst Hunger (general) Hunger (salt) Malnutrition, malaise Bloated, over full Colic (gastrointestinal pain), gastric ulcers

Welfare

Wetting/quenching and the pleasure of drinking The pleasure of different tastes, smells and textures The pleasure of salt taste The pleasure of chewing for long periods Post prandial satiety (comfortably full) Gastrointestinal comfort

The mental domain

Signs of ill-health:

Health

Signs of health:

Disease (acute, chronic) Little or no disease Injury (acute, chronic, surgery) Little or no injuries Functional impairment (due Little or no dysunctional to limb, lung, heart, kidney, body systems neural or other problems).

Well nourished Disease (acute, chronic) Body condition Little Poisons is or no Obesity/leanness appropriateLittle or no Injury (acute, chronic, surgery) Poor physical fitness (muscle (dueGood fitness level Functional impairment Little or no de-conditioning)

The physical domain Signs of ill-health:

Care Signs of health:

disease injuries dysunctional to limb, lung, heart, kidney, body systems neural or other problems).

Well nourished The mental domain Poisons Body condition is Negative experience: Positive experience: Obesity/leanness appropriate Welfare Breathlessness Comfort ofGood good health Poor physical fitness (muscle fitness level Pain (many types) and a high functional de-conditioning) Debility, weakness Sickness, malaise Nausea Dizziness Physical exhaustion

Minimum standard of

Care

capacity Vitality and fitness

The mental domain

Negative experience:

Positive experiences:

Thirst Hunger (general) Hunger (salt) Malnutrition, malaise Bloated, over full Colic (gastrointestinal pain), gastric ulcers

Wetting/quenching and Negative experience: the pleasure of drinking Breathlessness The pleasure of different Pain (many tastes, smellsAs andwell textures as providing for the physical and types) behavioural Debility, weakness The pleasureneeds, of salt taste how many positive experiences can you make Sickness, malaise The pleasure of chewing for long periods availablefull) to your horse onNausea a daily basis?

Post prandial satiety (comfortably Dizziness Gastrointestinal comfort Physical exhaustion

Welfare

Minimum standard of

Positive experience: Comfort of good health and a high functional capacity Vitality and fitness

Welfare

Behaviour and human interaction

Environment

The physicaland domain As well as providing for the physical behavioural Opportunities: Agency is impeded: Agency: needs, how many positive experiences can you make Thermally tolerable Barren environment Varied, novel, available to your horse on daily basis?engaging Suitable footing Choicesamarkedly restricted

The physical domain Restrictions:

Thermal extremes Unsuitable footing Confinement Pollutants and odours Noise Monotony - ambient, lighting

Minimum standard of

Space for free movement Fresh air Noise acceptable Normal environmental variety

Care

Environment

The physicalThe domain mental domain Restrictions:

Constraints on environmentfocused activities (exploration, grazing) Constraints on horse-to-horse interactions.

Sleep/rest deprivation Training confusion Inconsistent human interaction

Minimum standard of

environmental challenges Free movement Exploration Foraging Bonding Rearing young, sexual behaviour Sufficient sleep/rest Consistent, clear training

Care

Behaviour and human interaction

The physical domain

Negative experience:

Positive experience:

Discomfort due to:

Comfort:

The mental domain

Opportunities:

Agency is impeded:

Agency:

Negative Positive experience: Barrenexperience: environment Varied, novel, Welfare Minimum Frustration, Calm, engaged, in control Choices loneliness markedly restricted engaging standard of Boredom, helplessness Affectionate sociability Constraints on environmentenvironmental challenges Care Depression Maternally rewarded, sexual Care focused activities (exploration, Free movement Sexual frutstration gratification, playfullness grazing) Exploration Anxiety, fear, panic, anger Secure, protected, confident, Neophobia likes novelty, energised Constraints on horse-to-horse Foraging Exhaustion interactions.

Bonding Sleep/rest deprivation Rearing young, sexual behaviour Training Sufficient sleep/rest Adapted by Cristina Wilkins, Horses and People Magazine, from Mellor, D.J. (2017).confusion Operational details of the Five Domains Model and its key applications to the assessment and management of animalInconsistent welfare. Animals 7(8),interaction 60. doi: 10.3390/ani7080060 human Consistent, clear training

Thermal extremes Thermally Thermal tolerable Chilling, overheating Physical pain, skin Physical Unsuitable footing Suitable footing irritation, muscle stiffness Respiratory Confinement Space for free movement and tension.

Olfactory, visual Pollutants and odours Fresh air Herd living Breathlessness, auditory Noise impairment, eye Noise strain acceptable Variety related comfort Malaise from unnatural Monotony - ambient, Normal environmental constancy lighting variety

Welfare

Minimum standard of

The mental domain

The mental domain

This resource may be reprinted and Negative experience: Positive experience: distributed in this exact form for educational purposes, in print or electronically. To share

Discomfort online due orto: on a website pleaseComfort: link and credit to https://horsesandpeople.com.au Chilling, overheating Thermal Physical pain, skin Physical irritation, muscle stiffness Respiratory and tension.

Olfactory, visual Breathlessness, auditory Herd living impairment, eye strain Variety related comfort Malaise from unnatural constancy

Welfare

www.horsesandpeople.com.au

Negative experience:

Positive experience:

Frustration, loneliness Boredom, helplessness Depression Sexual frutstration Anxiety, fear, panic, anger Neophobia Exhaustion

Calm, engaged, in control Affectionate sociability Maternally rewarded, sexual gratification, playfullness Secure, protected, confident, likes novelty, energised

Welfare

Adapted by Cristina Wilkins, Horses and People Magazine, from Mellor, D.J. (2017). Operational details of the Five Domains Model and its key applications to the assessment and management of animal welfare. Animals 7(8), 60. doi: 10.3390/ani7080060 This resource may be reprinted and distributed in this exact form for educational purposes, in print or electronically. To share online or on a website please link and credit to https://horsesandpeople.com.au

www.horsesandpeople.com.au VetScript June 2020 – 7

NEWS AND VIEWS

NATIONAL OFFICE UPDATE The veterinary team has represented the membership in various forums, workshops and conferences, including: » Regional network meetings » COVID-19 meetings » Animal Welfare Practice Group meeting » Companion Animal Veterinarians Branch of the NZVA Executive Committee meeting » National Winter Grazing Action Group meeting » VCNZ Professional Standards Committee » NZVA Antimicrobial Resistance Committee » Otago Rural Advisory Group – COVID-19 response » Animal welfare emergency management meeting » Visionary Veterinary Group (Pāmu) meeting » National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee (NAEAC) » Standards Committee meeting » National Wildlife Coordinating Group (US) meeting. n

M. BOVIS UPDATE The Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI’s) goal to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis is continuing, with the number of active properties sitting at 26 as of 1 May. ACCORDING TO JOHN Roche, Chief Science Advisor to MPI, the disease still isn’t widespread and there’s only one strain of M. bovis present in New Zealand, making eradication a feasible goal. In addition, the estimated dissemination rate (the number of herds that become infected from an infected one) is below one and continuing to decline.

“As long as that’s the case, we’re actually winning the war on Mycoplasma bovis,” John told Farmers Weekly.

More than 150,000 animals have been culled, exceeding the initial estimate. To date, farmers have been paid more than $145 million in compensation for their culled herds. John says that although this number is higher than estimated, there was very little information available when the estimates were made because New Zealand was the first country to attempt to eradicate the disease.

“150,000 sounds like a huge number of animals, but that’s because our industries are so large. It’s only approximately one per cent of the animals that we would have culled in that period of time anyway,” he told Farmers Weekly.

Work is underway to develop more sensitive tests for the disease, so that cases can be picked up as the prevalence drops even lower.

At the time of sending this issue of VetScript to print, MPI had not released any new results from its National Beef Survey. As of 24 November 2019, more than 11,000 farms had been screened and 45,000 ELISA tests conducted. Of those farms, 68 had a ‘detect’ result and two new cases were confirmed.

For the latest figures, visit www.biosecurity.govt.nz/protection-andresponse/mycoplasma-bovis/situation-report. n

GET A TASTE OF BALINT GROUPS THIS JUNE BALINT GROUP LEADER and medical doctor

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

8 – VetScript June 2020

Renske van den Brink and her colleagues Prue Bonifant and Cathy Warburton are offering veterinarians the chance to try a form of wellbeing workshop, called Balint groups, at a heavily discounted price.

Balint groups are a form of reflective practice where small groups of 8–10 clinicians discuss challenging encounters in their work life, such as difficult conversations with owners, angry clients or disappointments.

Renske’s team will be holding a Balint group taster session on 7 June from 1–4pm.

The session will be either via Zoom or face to face in Auckland, depending on the current COVID-19 Alert Level. Attendance is $60.

You can find more information about Balint groups in the April issue of VetScript.

To register, email Renske at renske@connectcomm.co.nz. n

IMAGERY: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

NEWS AND VIEWS

MASSEY PREPARES TO CONTINUE VETERINARY SCHOOL REBUILD MASSEY UNIVERSITY HAS applied for government funding to enable the next phase of the veterinary school rebuild to go ahead without delays.

The Government’s ‘shovel-ready’ funding is for projects that will be ready to go within the next 12 months, and will aid New Zealand’s economic revival after the COVID-19 downturn. There are no specified amounts.

The next phase of building includes the construction of a new production animal hospital, a clinical teaching laboratory complex, a postmortem facility and a multipurpose teaching and research laboratory complex. Already complete is the school’s veterinary science building, which houses the main administrative complex, new equine and Wildbase hospitals and other teaching facilities.

Jon Huxley, the head of the School of Veterinary Science, says fast-tracking the work will strengthen the university’s capability and national contribution in veterinary and animal sciences, provide a significant boost to Manawatū’s economy and support employment. n

MOVING DAY GETS THE GREEN LIGHT

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE Damien O’Connor has announced that the annual movement of dairy farming families, sharemilkers and contract milkers – known as Moving Day – will go ahead as planned on 1 June, but with strict controls to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“Dairy is an industry that will play a critical role in New Zealand’s economic recovery after COVID-19, so it was vital that Moving Day went ahead,” the Minister said in a statement.

“The Government has been working with sector leaders from organisations including DairyNZ, Fonterra, Federated Farmers and FMG to find solutions that work for those in the sector and protect the economy without jeopardising anyone’s health and safety.

The Ministry for Primary Industries then worked with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and found solutions that allow Moving Day to proceed under any alert level.”

Activities will be restricted to those that are absolutely necessary and any movement around New Zealand must ensure people’s ‘bubbles’ are maintained.

Minister O’Connor said that New Zealand farmers are no strangers to disease eradication programmes with strict movement controls, and that there are already strong precautions in place around Moving Day as a result of the M. bovis programme. n

DAYS OF NOTE 1 JUNE QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY 4 JUNE HUG YOUR CAT DAY 5 JUNE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 7 JUNE WORLD FOOD SAFETY DAY 16 JUNE WORLD SEA TURTLE DAY

VetScript June 2020 – 9

NEWS AND VIEWS

GENOME MAPPING GETS SMARTER A PAPER PUBLISHED in big data journal GigaScience details the process by which a global team of researchers decoded 19,000 genes and 2.8 billion base pairs of DNA to sequence the genome of a German Shepherd named Nala.

The new genome provides a more complete biological snapshot of the dog species in general, and offers a reference for future studies of the typical diseases that afflict this breed.

University of New South Wales Professor Bill Ballard – an evolutionary biologist who sequenced the genome of the Australian dingo in 2017 – said in a university press release that a lot of money had been spent looking into the causes and predictors of hip dysplasia in German Shepherds.

“Now that we have the genome, we can determine much earlier in life whether a dog is likely to develop the condition. Over time, it will enable us to develop a breeding programme to reduce hip dysplasia in future generations.”

Nala was selected because she was free of all known genetic diseases, including hip dysplasia. This gave researchers a reference point for dogs who might have health issues.

Nala wasn’t the first domestic dog to provide a sample for mapping the dog genome. In 2003 a sample from a Poodle named Shadow resulted in a genome that was 80% complete, and two years later Tasha the Boxer provided a sample that led to the first complete mapping of the genome.

In the decade and a half since then, technology has enabled dramatic reductions in the unreadable sections of DNA, and the mapping of Nala’s genes is the most complete yet. n REFERENCE: Field MA, Rosen BD, Dudchenko O, Chan EKF, Minoche AE, Edwards RJ, Barton K, Lyons RJ, Tuipulotu DE, Hayes VM, Omer AD, et al. De novo chromosome-length genome assembly of the German Shepherd dog (Canis lupus familiaris) using a combination of long reads, optical mapping, and Hi-C. GigaScience 9(4), giaa027, 2020

To report suspected exotic land, freshwater and marine pests, or exotic diseases in plants or animals, call:

0800 80 99 66

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TIME TO DITCH THE CONE OF SHAME? AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED in Animals earlier this year covered a study of the effects of rigid plastic Elizabethan collars on pets. The article reported that 77.4% of pet owners believed companion animals wearing the collars had a poorer quality of life.

The study’s conclusions were based on an online survey of owners whose pets had worn the collars during the previous 12 months.

Owners reported that the collars interfered with their pets’ ability to eat, drink and play. Twenty-three percent said their pets bumped into walls or fell down stairs while wearing the collars, and about one-tenth said their pets were less responsive to them while wearing the collars.

The authors concluded that Elizabethan collars might have negative welfare impacts in a range of domains including nutrition, environment, health, behaviour and mental state – despite the collars’ usefulness in mitigating other welfare impacts posttreatment. They recommended that owners be informed about the collars’ potential negative impacts and that alternatives such as flexible or inflatable collars be used instead. n REFERENCE: Shenoda Y, Ward MP, McKeegan D, Fawcett A. ‘The Cone of Shame’: Welfare implications of Elizabethan collar use on dogs and cats as reported by their owners.

Animals 10, 333, 2020

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU Please contact us at vetscript@vets.org.nz and tell us what types of stories and information you’d like to find in VetScript. Are you interested in profiles of the range of jobs veterinarians do? Or maybe you’d like to read more about running a successful business.

How about more clinical reports? Please let us know.

We’ll take brickbats and bouquets alike – but we really do like the bouquets more.

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NEWS AND VIEWS

Book Thomas Foster, age 3, with help from his mum (veterinarian Anita Breyholtz), reviews The Midnight Adventures of Ruru and Kiwi, Penguin Random House New Zealand.

THE BOOK IS about a kiwi and an owl who decide to throw a party for their friends. They send out invitations, and at midnight all their friends turn up and join the party.

I liked all the characters, but especially Ruru the morepork.

I really liked the last page of the book, which is an overview of all the book’s night creatures, with interesting little facts about them. I thought the pictures were funny and that it was cool that the whole story happened at night. I liked the story and how it rhymed.

I don’t know The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, but my mum says people who know this story will recognise that this book is a cool New Zealand twist.

I think everyone would enjoy this book, both kids and grown-ups (and my mum thinks so too). n

FOCUSING ON FELINES IN A RECENT study in the city of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, 130 people who between them owned a total of 223 cats responded to a questionnaire on separation-related problems in their pets.

The questionnaire was developed by scientists and is described in a recent issue of PLOS ONE. It was based on scientific literature about separation anxiety syndrome in dogs and a few papers on cats.

Of the 130 cat owners, 13.5% reported signs of separation-related problems in their pets. They most frequently reported destructive behaviour (66.7%), followed by excessive vocalisation (63.3%), urination in inappropriate places (60%), depression or apathy (53.3%), aggressiveness (36.7%) and agitation or anxiety (36.7%).

The questionnaire’s authors say that separation-related problems in domestic cats are hard to identify due to a lack of literature on the topic, but they hope the questionnaire is a starting point for future research. n REFERENCE: de Souza Machado D, Oliveira PMB, Machado JC, Ceballos MC, Sant’Anna AC. Identification of separation-related problems in domestic cats: A questionnaire survey. PLOS ONE 15(4), e0230999, 2020

CHANGES TO ANIMAL WELFARE ACT DELAYED DUE TO COVID-19 the new criteria for defining a significant surgical procedure (in the 2015 Animal Welfare Amendment Act) will now come into effect on 9 May 2021, instead of the same day 2020 as was previously planned.

The introduction of the new criteria has been postponed because the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has been unable to discuss the changes with affected communities, including through workshops and roadshows for farmers and veterinarians. The NZVA and VCNZ have also not been able to provide feedback on some parts of the regulation development process.

MPI says that postponing ensures that people fully understand the new rules and what they need to do, as well as giving people time to deal with the impacts of COVID-19.

Until the changes to regulation take place, the status quo applies.

NZVA CVO Helen Beattie says, “The NZVA advocated for a delay, because it means we can do a thorough job of reading the proposed regulation wording and provide feedback. While it isn’t ideal in the short term for animal welfare, it will be best in the long run – making sure we don’t miss anything, and that affected parties are fully informed and ready for the change.”

The NZVA will keep members informed and as soon as any news becomes available, it will be communicated via email, the NZVA website and the NZVA member Facebook group. n

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NEWS AND VIEWS

Recognising EXCELLENCE Each year the NZVA recognises significant accomplishments, exemplary leadership and tireless commitment to the veterinary profession through its awards. Here are the winners for 2019 and 2020.

2019 winners OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD –

Wayne Ricketts

The Outstanding Service Award recognises individuals who deserve special acknowledgement for voluntary service. All volunteers help to ensure the profession’s contribution to the country’s economy and animal health and welfare, and the NZVA Board highlights those who have acted over and above normal expectations.

Wayne Ricketts has contributed to the New Zealand veterinary profession in several significant ways, particularly in relation to animal welfare, emergency management and his compassion for fellow veterinarians.

Wayne graduated with a BVSc from Massey University in 1981. He is currently the Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI’s) National Animal Welfare Coordinator. Until recently he was employed by VCNZ as a professional veterinary advisor. Wayne is a Councillor on the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists and holds a membership in Animal Welfare.

After working in mixed veterinary practice in New Zealand and the UK, Wayne joined the then New Zealand

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Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in the import and export of animals in 1986. His interest in animal welfare during transport led to a role in the animal welfare directorate as technical advisor to the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, where he was closely involved with developing codes of welfare. During his time at the Ministry of Agriculture he was an advisor to two Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries.

He followed this with a seven-year period at the NZVA as veterinary resources manager.

Wayne joined World Animal Protection in March 2014 as programme manager for disaster management for the AsiaPacific region. In this role he assisted countries with emergency planning to protect communities and their animals from disasters.

Wayne also has a large role in the wellbeing of veterinarians. He is an active member of the NZVA wellbeing committee and provides support through the NZVA mentoring scheme to all veterinarians, especially young and recent graduates experiencing personal and professional problems. Wayne has worked closely with the Veterinary Professional Insurance Society and has provided support for veterinarians struggling with complaints.

He is well known and respected in the veterinary profession.

HONORARY LIFE MEMBER –

Ron Jackson

Honorary Life Member status is awarded sparingly to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the NZVA. These may be in the form of service to the affairs of the NZVA, special interest branches (SIBs), regional networks, standing committees and the profession at large. The individual may have brought public honour to the veterinary profession through their activities, shown outstanding leadership or had an exceptionally positive impact on animal, human or public health.

Ron Jackson has shown professional competence in both clinical practice and his worldwide epidemiological work.

Ron started practice as a veterinarian in 1958 and spent his first five years at the Edendale Veterinary Club. His next three years were in Queensland after which he returned to New Zealand and became a principal in an extensive veterinary practice in Alexandra. This practice is now part of the VetEnt group.

In his mid-50s Ron decided to work with countries that had less developed veterinary and animal health infrastructures than those in New Zealand.

He helped many low-income countries with veterinary matters and helped several countries to restructure their veterinary services. He has been a leader in the One Health movement. Many New Zealand and overseas veterinarians and scientists have testified to the impact his work has had on human and animal health and the systems supporting it.

Ron sold his practice and, in 1994, completed a PhD at Massey University then gained specialist registration as a veterinary epidemiologist. His research project led to a more effective tuberculosis control scheme in cattle and deer in New Zealand. He has been a strong advocate for science in all its forms and has authored or co-authored around 70 peer-reviewed papers.

Ron has contributed greatly to the NZVA. He was intensively involved in regional networks and SIBs, including

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NEWS AND VIEWS

holding office in the Otago regional network, the NZVA’s Society of Sheep and Beef Cattle Veterinarians SIB and the NZVA’s Epidemiology and Animal Health Management, and Food Safety, Animal Welfare and Biosecurity SIBs. He was also an elected member of the Veterinary Surgeons’ Board (the precursor of VCNZ) and the Veterinary Services Council, the organisation charged with establishing and fostering rural veterinary practice in New Zealand. He was president of the NZVA in 1979–80.

Ron has been a member of many veterinary expert groups in New Zealand and has received several awards.

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD –

VetPlus

The Business Excellence Award recognises individuals or organisations that support employee wellbeing, workplace innovation, entrepreneurial flair, professional leadership and collaboration and/or customer service in a way that reflects positively on the veterinary profession.

VetPlus’s website states its company core values are integrity, care, loyalty, excellence, enjoyment and leadership.

These values are the backbone of its excellent customer service and team care.

All employees complete the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment to identify strengths in the team and to help make sure new team members are the right fit. Employees also complete a ‘Love Languages’ quiz to identify how they like to be praised. This helps team leaders know how to best show appreciation to different staff members and create a sense of value.

The company has a clear leadership structure that involves multiple business unit managers, a business manager and a board of directors. This gives employees a pathway to follow for any questions or concerns and helps to ensure smooth dayto-day running. Business Manager Jenni Hill is a key part of this model and says she lives and breathes the values of the organisation. Her energy and passion help

create and maintain an enjoyable work environment, which is shown in the longstanding service of many employees.

The business takes time to focus on leadership and understands that its employees will provide beyond-expectation veterinary care and customer service if they are given an inspiring, supportive environment in which to work.

VetPlus’s employees are treated with kindness and compassion and are supported through any challenge they may face. Staff mental wellbeing is a priority to the practice.

2020 winners PRESIDENT’S AWARD –

Alex Walker

The President’s Award recognises meritorious service to the veterinary profession in the broadest sense.

Individuals are chosen based on their professional competence, outstanding contribution to the NZVA, positive impacts on animal, human or public health, veterinary organisations and the profession, outstanding leadership and contribution to SIBs or regional networks, or bringing public honour to the veterinary profession through their activities.

Alex Walker has a special interest in applying new surgical techniques in veterinary practice in the New Zealand setting. He is also dedicated to advancing the veterinary profession in New Zealand and creating a path for New Zealand graduates to gain specialist training and qualifications.

After graduating from Massey University with distinction in 1978 and completing his surgical residency at the University of Missouri at Columbia, Alex returned to New Zealand. In 1998 he was registered as a specialist in small animal surgery, and in 1999 he became an adjunct lecturer in surgery at Massey University.

In 2000, along with two other veterinary specialists, Alex founded the Veterinary

Specialist Group in Auckland, the first stand-alone veterinary specialist referral practice in New Zealand. Three years later he was appointed president of the surgery chapter of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists.

He also worked with veterinary colleague Steve Fox (from Massey University) to introduce canine total hip replacement to New Zealand.

Several veterinarians have given testament to their internships with the Veterinary Specialist Group. They describe it as an excellent bridge from veterinary school to practice and a great programme for veterinarians to pursue specialisation or become exceptional general practitioners. The internships have provided many students with a way to build their skills as competent veterinarians through diverse caseloads, fantastic support, mentorship and emergency work.

Alex has been lauded as having a gift for consolidating knowledge and teaching other veterinarians in a practical and effective way. He teaches students to think ahead, prepare for surgeries, read and research effectively, do thorough physical examinations, monitor patients throughout their stay in hospital, check the positioning for surgery, check equipment, and think about what to do if things go wrong.

Alex is known as an extremely skilled and caring surgeon, who gives his best in every surgery and situation and expects all around him to do the same.

He demonstrates a commitment to excellence and inspires others to push themselves, have sound ethics and achieve their best.

HONORARY LIFE MEMBER –

Jim Edwards

During his long career as a veterinarian Jim has made a significant and constant contribution to the NZVA, the veterinary profession in New Zealand and internationally, and New Zealand’s primary industries and biosecurity.

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NEWS AND VIEWS

After graduating from Massey University in 1972, Jim worked in clinical practice in the North Island for 14 years, gaining experience in sheep and cattle farming, dairy farming, deer, pigs, horses and working dogs.

He then filled the role of national secretary of and technical advisor to the New Zealand Romney Sheep Breeders’ Association, where he developed his skills in lobbying the Government.

In 1986 Jim joined the then Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries as a veterinary officer, working in animal health and welfare in New Plymouth then Palmerston North. During this time he led the supervision of the quarantine of new breeds of sheep arriving into New Zealand.

Jim headed the development of animal export certification in the ministry of Agriculture and Forestry by negotiating with the quarantine agencies of foreign governments. He later became leader of the International Animal Trade Section, which included developing health standards used to manage disease risks during the importation of animals and animal products into New Zealand.

Jim also co-led the development of Part 3 Animal Exports in the Animal Welfare Act 1999. This legislation provided an avenue to improve welfare in animal exports. It was of particular importance to New Zealand because of the long distances across which animals are exported, the country’s economic reliance on export trade and the good reputation needed for the country to maintain market access.

In 2001 Jim moved into a role as special advisor for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry biosecurity authority, completing 11 projects on importation policy, the control of animal diseases, operational research and animal welfare.

Since 2014 he has been Managing Director of his own international veterinary consulting company, World Veterinary Consultants. Although now retired, Jim holds positions as Independent Chair of the Greyhound

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Racing New Zealand welfare committee, Independent Chair of the Animal Trade Advisory Council and Lecturer in food safety at Massey University. He also teaches animal welfare to slaughter plant staff in New Zealand and is a tour leader for agricultural, technical and business tours to and from New Zealand.

Throughout his career Jim has been a committed supporter of the veterinary profession and the NZVA. He served in various leadership roles in NZVA branches for more than 30 years, including as president in 1992– 94. In 2002 Jim received the NZVA Outstanding Service Award.

Jim has made many contributions both at a national level – including nine years as a ministerial appointee to VCNZ – and internationally as the former president of the World Veterinary Association and the Federation of Asian Veterinary Associations.

Jim was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2010 New Year’s Honours, for services to the veterinary profession and to the community.

VETERINARY IMPACT AWARD –

Liza Schneider

The Veterinary Impact Award is given to an individual who has had a considerable positive impact on the veterinary profession, animal health or welfare, or public health during the past two years.

That impact may have been made through any field of veterinary endeavour, including clinical practice, research, education and veterinary politics.

Liza Schneider’s nominator says her core values and underlying principles are an utter regard for the sanctity of animals and people.

In 2003 Liza established Holistic Vets in Tauranga. It was the first practice of its kind in New Zealand and has gone on to win several prestigious awards since its inception.

Liza is the founding trustee of the Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation

Centre (ARRC) Wildlife Trust, a charitable trust providing veterinary care and services to rehabilitate wildlife.

Its mission is “leading by example and through education we assist our wildlife, helping to cultivate an attitude of respect and responsibility towards our animal co-inhabitants as well as our natural heritage”.

She has had a number of educational roles, including providing educational support and material to Massey University students, holding pet education seminars, speaking at numerous NZVA and international conferences, writing for various veterinary publications and featuring in local television productions. Liza was also instrumental in producing a series of books based on real-life cases at ARRC Wildlife Trust, designed to help children understand why the environment is an increasingly dangerous place for wildlife and teach them how to prevent or reduce injury to native birds and wildlife.

Through her education roles, Liza has taught others about the critical role of veterinarians in promoting the health and wellbeing of pets and their owners and the environment.

As President of the NZVA’s Complementary Veterinary Medicine SIB for 10 years, Liza has provided leadership, guidance and support for her colleagues, the public, businesses and veterinary students. She has also won numerous awards, including the 2013 Westpac Tauranga Business Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (for Holistic Vets) as well as a finalist in the Community Organisation Category (for ARRC Wildlife Trust), the 2013 Canon Environmental Award (for ARRC Wildlife Trust), the 2008 Bloom Outstanding Business Citizenship Award and 2008 Westpac Tauranga Community Services and Social Responsibility Business Award (for Holistic Vets).

Her compassion is widely recognised, alongside her strong sustainablebusiness principles.

NEWS AND VIEWS

ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE Researchers from the Royal Veterinary College, together with other researchers from the US, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand and the UK, have developed a functional welfare assessment tool for wild cetaceans. The tool was based on the Five Domains Model of animal welfare. The study presented how the tool can be applied to measuring the impacts of human activity on Southern Resident killer whales. The tool generated good withinscenario agreement between assessors and could differentiate between the welfare impacts of different scenarios. www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ fvets.2020.00057/full

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

VETSUISSE FACULTY BERN AND ZURICH Researchers have documented the diversity and global distribution of viruses that infect western honey bees. They note that the most prevalent viruses were also the most widely distributed worldwide. As well as natural transmission routes, global trade appears to contribute to their spread. The authors say this information is crucial because the risk of viruses on western honey bees represents a risk to the beekeeping industry as well as the pollination services the animals provide. www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/11/4/239

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY A paper published in the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care reviewed the literature on healing and complications associated with equine celiotomy. The authors focused on anatomy and physiology, risk factors for incisional infection and hernia, and treatment. The risk of site infection was based on factors associated with the patient, surgical lesion and procedures, anaesthesia and recovery. The authors note that prompt treatment, incisional support, and limiting risk factors for surgical site infections may help celiotomy healing and ensure horses return to function promptly. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/abs/10.1111/vec.12936

THE ROYAL (DICK) SCHOOL OF VETERINARY STUDIES

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have described three canine cases of endogenous lipoid pneumonia associated with lung neoplasia, including clinical, imaging, cytological findings and outcomes. The authors hope that by describing these cases, they can contribute to a better understanding of endogenous lipoid pneumonia in veterinary medicine, which they say is currently poorly understood. https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/abs/10.1111/ jsap.13101

Researchers searched for a genetic component to chronic progressive lymphoedema in Friesian horses, but found no significant differences in the single nucleotide polymorphisms between affected and unaffected animals. The authors suggest that, because of a high incidence of chronic progressive lymphoedema in draught horses, there is a genetic component to the disorder. However, it may be more complex than first thought. https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/abs/10.1111/ vde.12831

VetScript June 2020 – 15

MASSEY

NEWS AND VIEWS

UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH UPDATE

Future-proofing our poultry industry against disease threats A recent study by School of Veterinary Science PhD student Sabrina Greening provides new insights into the spread of diseases in New Zealand’s commercial poultry industry.

BACKGROUND New Zealand’s poultry industry can be vulnerable to disease incursions, as highlighted by the rapid spread of a novel antimicrobial-resistant strain of Campylobacter jejuni in 2014 (Muellner et al., 2016) and the appearance of infectious bursal disease in 2019 (Ministry for Primary Industries, 2019).

To help the industry to prepare for and respond to future disease threats more effectively, it’s important to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms and pathways through which pathogens spread within and between farms. This will facilitate the design of timely and more cost-effective targeted control strategies.

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New Zealand’s commercial poultry farms have many routine contact points that could enable the spread of disease.

These mostly relate to the processes that are essential for production, including movements of live birds, hatching eggs, feed, poultry waste, personnel and vehicles. Other mechanisms, such as movements of wild birds and other vector species, enable local spread between farms.

In addition, the rapid increase in the number of New Zealand households keeping backyard poultry presents a disease risk to commercial poultry producers (Pohjola et al., 2016) – especially given the current lack of regulatory oversight of the backyard poultry

sector and the generally poor uptake of biosecurity measures in all poultry sectors.

AIMS C. jejuni was used as a model pathogen in this research. The aims were to: » determine the contribution of different transmission pathways to the spread of C. jejuni in the commercial poultry industry using whole-genome sequence data » examine the risk of disease introduction and spread from both backyard poultry trades and migratory wild birds » investigate the influences of multiple transmission pathways on disease dynamics and pathogen evolution by constructing an infectious disease simulation model.

METHODS In the first study, whole-genome sequencing was performed on 167 C. jejuni isolates sampled from 30 New Zealand commercial poultry farms, to estimate the degree of genetic relatedness between isolates from different farms. A variety of statistical models was used to test the hypothesis that farms with more closely related C. jejuni isolates would also be more closely linked either geographically

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or through the movements of vehicles transporting feed, live birds, hatching eggs, poultry waste and litter than farms with less closely related isolates.

The second study explored the spatial overlap between commercial poultry farms, backyard poultry trades and wild birds. Choropleth maps were made with data extracted from the online auction website Trade Me and the citizen science bird-monitoring project eBird to identify locations in New Zealand with high potential risks of disease transmission between these three poultry populations.

In the final study, a novel computer simulation model was developed to replicate the spread of C. jejuni within and between commercial poultry farms during a disease outbreak, through the movements of transporting vehicles and other local transmission mechanisms.

Mutations within the genetic code of C. jejuni were also simulated over time to investigate whether patterns in the genetic relatedness of isolates from infected farms could be used to make inferences about which transmission pathways were responsible for spreading C. jejuni between farms.

RESULTS The genomic analysis revealed two distinct genetic clusters of C. jejuni that were associated with different poultry suppliers. After controlling for this effect, a significant association was found between the pairwise genetic relatedness of the C. jejuni isolates and both road distance and connections through transporting feed vehicles. This suggests that the transportation of feed within

the commercial poultry industry, as well as other local contacts between flocks (such as the movements of wildlife and personnel), may have a significant role in the spread of C. jejuni.

An analysis of the Trade Me data revealed a highly active backyard poultry industry, with more than 13,000 traders and 16,000 trades occurring each year through the Trade Me website alone. There was also a large spatial overlap in backyard poultry with both commercial producers and wild bird populations. Overall, this suggests that the trade of backyard poultry presents a significant risk for disease introduction and spread.

Lastly, the results from the computer simulation model showed that analysing genetic sequence data alone was not enough to accurately infer how disease was spread during the simulated outbreaks.

This highlighted the importance of having good data on contact patterns between farms to support outbreak investigations.

NEXT STEPS This research has shown that although understanding disease transmission pathways is essential for implementing prevention and control measures, the poultry industry’s ability to accurately capture disease transmission dynamics is limited.

The major limiting factor here is the lack of good-quality data on the demographics of, and contact patterns between, commercial poultry, backyard poultry and wild bird populations.

As a result of this research, a new study, funded by Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures, the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand, the Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand and Massey University, aims to engage with producers and stakeholders in the poultry industry. Using structured interviews and workshops, it will explore how they currently capture and use data to support poultry health management, their opinions on sharing data to inform disease research, surveillance and response activities, and their ideas for building a better data system.

The resulting qualitative findings will be used to develop a nationwide quantitative survey of a wider cross-section of commercial and non-commercial poultry producers. The results will contribute to the development of a national poultry data system with decision-support tools, designed by producers for producers, to help the industry prepare for and respond more effectively to disease threats.

REFERENCES: Ministry for Primary Industries. Protection & Response: Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington, New Zealand, 2019 Muellner P, Kells N, Campbell D. Risk profile: The emergence of Campylobacter jejuni ST 6964 in poultry in New Zealand and its associated antimicrobial resistance. Ministry for Primary Industries Technical Paper No: 2016/16, Wellington, New Zealand, 2016 Pohjola L, Nykäsenoja S, Kivistö R, Soveri T, Huovilainen A, Hänninen ML, FredrikssonAhomaa M. Zoonotic public health hazards in backyard chickens. Zoonoses and Public Health 63(5), 420–30, 2016

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

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NEWS AND VIEWS

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

DO RABBITS NEED EACH OTHER? A recent study in the journal Animal Welfare compared the welfare of single versus paired rabbits, after several surveys revealed that more than half of all pet rabbits were housed singly.

The authors predicted that singletons would show more abnormal or escape behaviour than pairs, as well as greater stress responses to handling and reduced body temperatures (as they would be unable to huddle with other individuals when cold). Conversely they thought that pairs might show aggression.

The study was conducted during winter at a rabbit-only rescue centre,

with 45 rabbits – 15 housed singly and 30 in pairs – housed either outdoors or in unheated outbuildings. Home-pen observations in a 40-minute period revealed cage-bar biting in eight of the 15 single rabbits, compared with none of the 30 paired ones. No other behavioural effects of social housing reached significance, and enclosure size showed no significant effects.

Body temperatures were significantly lower in singletons than in pairs, with at least a 0.5°C mean difference.

On colder days rabbits adopted compact postures more often and relaxed postures less frequently.

After handling, pairs resumed normal behaviour significantly more quickly than singletons. Aggression was never observed.

The results indicate that social housing reduces bar biting, aids thermoregulation and may help buffer stress. Rabbit owners should be encouraged to house rabbits with appropriate conspecifics in a suitably large, sheltered enclosure.

REFERENCE: Burn CC, Shields P. Do rabbits need each other?

Effects of single versus paired housing on rabbit body temperature and behaviour in a UK shelter. Animal Welfare 29(2), 209–19, 2020

NEW ZEALAND SLIPS IN WORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION INDEX RANKINGS World Animal Protection published the first edition of its Animal Protection Index in 2014. The index assesses 50 countries according to their animal welfare legislation and policies.

The first edition gave New Zealand, alongside the UK, Switzerland and Austria, an overall ranking of A (from a possible A to G). However, the recently released second edition has downgraded all countries that were previously rated A, with New Zealand now having a C rating. This downgrade appears to be due to its receiving an E for allowing rodeos and racing (horses and Greyhounds) and a D for companion animals on the grounds that a breach of a code of welfare is not a prosecutable offence with regulations not yet in place. Protection was noted as best for farm animals (C) and animals in science (B).

Unfortunately New Zealand’s new animal welfare regulations do not rate a mention.

The index can be found at https://api.worldanimalprotection.org.

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TAIL DOCKING LENGTH GUIDELINES Most farmers in New Zealand routinely dock lambs’ tails. However, while there are clear recommendations in codes of welfare for appropriate tail lengths, many farmers are still removing shorter lengths, with some lambs even appearing tailless. A paper by Fisher (2020) includes the following key messages: » The length to which lambs’ tails are usually docked is frequently much shorter than the recommended length. Farmers may be unaware of the recommended length or favour lengths most suited to shearing and other husbandry practices. » Influencing the behaviour of people interacting with animals and, therefore, the success of interventions aimed at improving animal welfare requires an understanding of the knowledge, experience, attitudes and norms of those working with animals. Education and intervention initiatives promoting the use of recommended tail lengths may be more efficacious if they address these factors. » Looking to understand the different motivations people have for handling and treating animals in certain ways may pave the way for more effective interventions to bring about behavioural change. However, social science’s undoubted role in helping maintain and improve animal welfare has yet to be fully realised.

REFERENCE: Fisher MW. Rethinking traditional husbandry practices – changing the lengths to which lambs’ tails are docked. Vet Record 186(10), 317–8, 2020

ANIMAL WELFARE COMPLIANCE STATISTICS RELEASED New Zealand’s animal welfare compliance statistics for 2019 have been released, revealing that 1,835 cases were investigated during the year (including referrals from Ministry for Primary Industries Verification Services [MPI VS]).

In 867 of these cases it was found that offences had been committed, and for the remainder there either had been no animal welfare issues or the issues had been above minimum standards but below industry best practice.

At 37%, beef cattle made up the largest species group for referrals and complaints from the public. The number of beef cases has increased year on year since the introduction of the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations in 2018. Back rub caused to beef cattle during transport is a significant non-compliance issue.

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(5)June 2020 20 – VetScript

cord prepared from the intestinal

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NEWS AND VIEWS

Second (and third and fourth) opinions VCNZ’s Seton Butler assesses the challenges and benefits of referrals, and suggests there’s much room for improvement.

SECOND OPINIONS ARE covered very well in the Professional Relationships section of the Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinarians; nevertheless it can be a major cause of angst among members of our profession.

The Code reads: Veterinarians must interact with colleagues honestly, with respect and in a way that fosters good relationships and communication.

A client seeking a second opinion without a referral (for any reason, as is their prerogative) establishes a new relationship with the new veterinarian. It’s generally accepted that a second-opinion veterinarian should never seek to take over a case unless the client has chosen to change practices. This applies whether they are seeing Fluffy for lameness or a herd of dairy cattle for a dry-cow second opinion (as distinct from consultancy services). In fact, I imagine that ‘second opinion’ applies whenever there is new and overlapping veterinary involvement where specific veterinary advice is being given about the treatment of an animal/s.

The issue that I think causes significant frustration in the lives of veterinarians is when the process is not conducted in a professional or constructive way, where Veterinarian #2 takes over primary care of the patient from Veterinarian #1 without informing them. While it’s certainly possible for a client to have more than one veterinarian, it’s better for everyone involved if they share information.

Why might information sharing not happen? Possibly because professional courtesy gives way to a combination of economic pressure, greed and vanity.

What should happen during a second opinion and why? Where more than one

veterinarian is providing services to the same client the general principle is that the veterinarians concerned, with the client’s consent, liaise and share relevant information.

As a first step, Veterinarian #2 must, with the client’s consent, contact Veterinarian #1 to share medical information and ideas, and potentially opposing opinions. Ultimately the patient and the client will benefit because Veterinarian #2 will be well informed when it’s time to examine the patient. They will have what we call a ‘complete medical history’, something they could not reliably get from a client even at the best of times.

Next up, if the client is returning, Veterinarian #2 must share their findings and ideas with Veterinarian #1 so that they both know what’s going on. We can assume that the client will likely seek further opinions from Veterinarian #1 at some stage, and the hope is that one or both of the veterinarians will have learned something from each other.

Of note, Veterinarian #1 must not prevent or delay the transfer of relevant clinical records to a managing or treating veterinarian, and not try to discourage the client from seeing another veterinarian.

This provides clients with reassurance that they shouldn’t expect to be contacted by a previous veterinarian and discouraged from using the secondopinion veterinarian’s services. This seems completely reasonable and would not prevent Veterinarian #1 contacting the client at some later stage to explore how their services could be improved.

The production animal space can pose some challenges, as it may not be clear whether other veterinarians are involved or who the primary veterinarian is.

Importantly, veterinarians must, during their consultations, gather sufficient information to support their decisions and have enough current knowledge of the health status of the animal(s) and before authorising RVMs for future supply and veterinarians should request and review information from the farmer about what stocks of products are already on farm.

The question I would expect any veterinarian to ask a farming client is, “Are any other veterinarians involved with this farm?’’. This should start the conversations necessary to ensure the veterinarian can satisfy a code expectation: When it is known that a number of veterinarians are involved with the same client, the veterinarians concerned have particular responsibilities to communicate with each other as set out in the Professional Relationships section of the Code.

Clients are entitled to second opinions – and third and fourth ones – but these opinions will not always be the same.

For example, we may not have all the information we need, the cause of the condition may become more obvious as it progresses, or we simply may not get it right. But the outcomes of varied opinions can also be good. Ultimately, a process in which veterinarians reflect and work together creates more informed veterinarians, leads to better patient outcomes and client satisfaction, and generally ensures better animal welfare.

I’m not saying that veterinarians should ‘stick together’, because that in itself causes another host of anticompetitive issues, but veterinarians should communicate about cases. If they did so more, I think we’d see more collegiality, better sharing of after-hours and happier work and home lives.

VetScript June 2020 – 21

NEWS PROFILE AND VIEWS

Grant McCullough wants future generations to have veterinary careers that are as rewarding and enjoyable as his has been.

22 – VetScript June 2020

PROFILE

Focus on

GOOD GOVERNANCE

Matt Philp asks new NZVA President Grant McCullough and inaugural Independent Chair Flora Gilkison about their plans under the organisation’s new governance structure.

TALK ABOUT A baptism of fire.

Newly minted NZVA President Grant McCullough and Independent Chair Flora Gilkison had barely got their feet under their desks when the COVID-19 crisis hit. As it was for all sectors of society, the veterinary industry was blindsided by the meteoric impact of the novel coronavirus, with veterinary professionals looking to the association for leadership. So has it been a daunting time in which to get to grips with their new roles?

Not at all, replies Grant. “This is a time when the NZVA as an organisation as well as myself, Flora, the board and the entire senior leadership team can really make a difference. We’re seeing everyone stepping up to that challenge.”

The change process that began in 2018 has produced a leaner NZVA Board structure, with dual leaders who are focused on helping the organisation to be ‘fit for the future’.

No-one would have predicted a pandemic as the first order of business for the new-look board, but the underlying driver of the change in governance structure – that veterinarians

PHOTO: BRAD BONIFACE

want more efficient, effective and responsive decision-making from the top – certainly seems apt in these times.

Former president Peter Blaikie says the board reform was overdue. “We had a classic not-for-profit model. The lines between governance and operations were blurred, and this resulted in a constipated organisation that found it difficult to do a lot.”

Compounding the case for change was the fact that many veterinarians couldn’t see an argument for belonging to the NZVA. “The key question people asked me when I took over was, ‘What does the NZVA do for me?’ The whole change project was based on demonstrating and adding value to members – and we had to start from the top.”

The result is a streamlined body of seven members, as opposed to the previous nine, with a new Member Advisory Group established to help the board better understand what members want. In addition, Flora has been appointed to the newly coined role of Independent Chair, responsible for leading the board.

Those governance duties were previously handled by the president. It was a lot, says Peter. “You had to be both the face of the profession and leading the governance.”

Workload issues aside, the change project also identified an urgent need to inject some seasoned governance professionalism into the NZVA Board.

Flora clearly fits that description. The Wanaka-based professional director has more than two decades of experience in both management and governance in various sectors, including tertiary vocational education (having been the head of faculty at Weltec and Wintec), sustainable forestry and human health.

She was on the Taranaki District Health Board for 15 years and is the current Chair of the New Zealand Hair and Beauty Industry Training Organisation.

Probably of most relevance is her fouryear stint to 2016 as CEO of the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association. It’s an organisation with plenty of similarities to the NZVA, and a model for how she’d like the NZVA to work.

“I see a lot of connections between the professionalism of veterinarians and that of orthopaedic surgeons.

They’re both autonomous decisionmakers, caring for others’ welfare, with registration bodies whose rules they abide by,” she says, before noting that around 97% of orthopaedic surgeons belong to their association. “NZVA membership is only about 65%, and the aim in the next three years is to bring that up. Ninety percent would be great.”

Her role is very much performance orientated. It’s about managing the board, she says, enabling it “to function at the highest level possible and helping it to craft the vision. The chair’s role is to ensure we work collectively to make really strong, important and positive decisions”.

Flora brings practical skills such as good communication, a ‘guide by the side’ leadership style and an adeptness when chairing meetings at drawing out everyone’s views, as well as experience in strategy development and financials.

VetScript June 2020 – 23

NEWS AND VIEWS

Flora Gilkison says she wants her and Grant’s leadership to be transformational.

She’s also done plenty of thinking about and research into what makes for effective governance. The thesis of her PhD, achieved through the University of Phoenix, was on ‘group efficacy’ – or how a group gets to feel good about its decision-making so that it will take on harder issues.

Already she has established a good rapport with Grant and NZVA CEO Kevin Bryant. “We respect and trust each other, and I think that’s pretty important,” she says.

Grant’s on the same page. There are some serious challenges facing the veterinary profession, he remarks.

Salaries rate poorly. Corporatisation is contributing to making practice ownership an increasingly tough goal.

Veterinarian wellbeing is challenged and he’s concerned about the trend towards specialisation, where even relatively simple procedures are beginning to be seen as best left to ‘the experts’. It’s a development that not only makes a general practitioner veterinarian’s job less stimulating, but puts treatment beyond the reach of some clients.

24 – VetScript June 2020

The NZVA has a key role to play in tackling these issues, he says, and the new board structure should make it more effective. “It was too big and cumbersome and messy in the form it was. We were trying to do too much and not achieving anywhere what the organisation could or should.”

Grant joined the board initially because he wanted to “give something back to a profession that’s been so good to me and that I have enjoyed so much”.

To his new role as President Grant brings more than 30 years of experience as a veterinarian. He’s also a business owner, having grown a single Albanybased clinic into the Veterinary Hospital Group with 10 practices in the greater Auckland area. For ‘R&R’ he runs a 50-hectare beef farm.

“I’ve been in the industry a long time, so I have a fair bit of knowledge and networks. And as a business person and owner of a moderately sized group of clinics I’ve developed a reasonable set of business and leadership skills,” says Grant, who sees the post-reform presidency as more of an outward-facing

role than previously. “[The role involves] interacting with our members and supporters in terms of industry partners and the other organisations we liaise with, such as the Ministry for Primary Industries, VCNZ, industry bodies and Massey University.”

His goals? “The main one is for the NZVA to be seen as an organisation that every veterinary professional wants to be a part of, one that is delivering value for money and providing the things that our members want and need. I’d also like the veterinary profession in New Zealand to be seen as offering challenging, rewarding and varied careers. The third thing I want to see is veterinary practices becoming more financially viable entities.”

For Peter Blaikie, who will leave the board later this year, the new set-up looks promising. Grant and Flora bring a lot of experience and a good balance of strengths, he says.

“With the board focused on good governance, it will greatly enhance the ability to select a few but very important things to focus on for the profession.”

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OUT NEWS THERE ANDVETTING VIEWS

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 clinic every month.

21 YEARS OF

GROWTH

Mirjam Guesgen talks to Michele McMaster and Steve Heap, owners of McMaster & Heap Veterinary Practice in Christchurch, about their business’s impressive growth.

Tell me a little about the history of your practice.

Michele: We purchased the practice on April Fools’ Day in 1999. It was an existing practice running out of an old house. We started with a team of five and that’s grown to a team of 28. We knew we would grow so we bought the house next door in 2003 and built a new practice on that site in 2008. Then in 2019 we expanded again, with a 280-square-metre extension.

26 – VetScript June 2020

Steve: It’s just grown organically. We haven’t done a lot of advertising. Word of mouth has been the best form of advertising for us. It’s just grown steadily and at times rapidly.

How did you know what you’d need in terms of facilities in the future?

Steve: I designed the premises. It took three or four years and I had two goes both times. Things just became clearer over time in terms of what we needed.

I visited some practices to see what they looked like and did some searching online, but it was quite a specific build for us. It was just seeing the growth and trying to look into the future and what we’d be like in five or 10 years’ time.

I didn’t think we’d ever outgrow the original practice, but we did.

Michele: When we first moved in we didn’t know how we’d fill the space with pets and equipment, but we did! Now we can’t imagine not having that much space available.

How do you keep things running smoothly?

Michele: We’re a family-owned and -operated business. Steve and I are the sole owners and we’re both equally involved in different aspects of practice management.

Steve is the big-picture thinker, always planning ahead to where we need to be positioned and what our business will look like. I deal with the day-to-day running in terms of looking after our staff and recruiting new staff. I also

PHOTOGRAPHY: SUPPLIED

OUT NEWS THERE ANDVETTING VIEWS

do most of the practice management including marketing, advertising, staff appraisals and the bookwork side. We each have our areas to manage but we also collaborate and discuss the big questions frequently. Our three sons are also involved in different ways and we listen to them about moving forward with technology and how to cater to the younger generation.

Above, from left to right: Veterinarian Sara Hodgson, owners Steve and Michele, veterinarians Kirsty Thompson, Helen Milner and Richard Lucy.

Below: Steve’s usual ophthalmology cases are cats or dogs but he recently performed a cataract surgery on a rabbit.

How do you organise your veterinarians’ time and who they see?

Steve: If it’s an ophthalmology case and I’m going to be available, the nurses put that in for me straightaway.

Same with referral surgery and ultrasonography. The nurses and receptionists do a lot of the organising during the initial phone calls or contacts

How many staff do you have?

Michele: We have nine veterinarians in total, who deal with different aspects of veterinary care, including internal medicine, ultrasonography, endoscopy, dermatology, surgery, imaging, chemotherapy and dentistry.

Steve does all our ophthalmology and primary work. He’s offered ophthalmology referrals from the word go after completing his certificate in the UK. We’re bringing a new veterinarian on board in a month or so. We also have three receptionists and 17 veterinary nurses.

Steve: As we’ve grown we’ve been able to add more skills. Every veterinarian in the practice has their area of interest.

Once we got to that critical mass, we could provide a wide range of services and excellent-quality care.

VetScript June 2020 – 27

NEWS AND VIEWS

with owners. It’s very common for the veterinarians to liaise with each other.

Communication is key. It’s a collegial atmosphere. There’s a lot of talk and exchanges of information.

Do you roster after-hours?

Michele: Thankfully, we’re all shareholders in the Christchurch After Hours Veterinary Centre.

Sometimes Steve needs to go in to do an ophthalmology surgery. Eyes often can’t wait.

Steve: We were in on Good Friday for an eye case. Michele was acting as stand-in nurse and our son Connor [a third-year veterinary student] helped. It was a descemetocele so I needed to do a conjunctival pedicle flap to save the eye.

There is a global veterinary shortage.

Has that affected you?

Michele: Thankfully, we have great staff retention. We have had the same bunch of veterinarians for years and we just keep adding to the team. Our veterinary nurses mostly leave to have babies and then return to us after parental leave.

Steve: The staff are the most important things we have. Without our staff we just couldn’t do what we do. I’d like to think we look after our staff well and really care about them. That’s going to become more and more important [if there’s a shortage].

It’s hard to build continuity in a team if

28 – VetScript June 2020

WE EMPLOY OUR STAFF AND WE TRUST THEM TO DO A GOOD JOB. THERE’S NO PRESSURE TO SELL ANYTHING. WE JUST TRY TO PROVIDE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE THEY CAN MAKE DECISIONS TO DO THE BEST JOB THEY CAN.

there are changes all the time. We do work hard at keeping our staff.

Michele: Sometimes getting the right veterinary nurse for our team can be a challenge. We’re a large practice and always busy – it wouldn’t suit every veterinary nurse. I know what I’m looking for now and that’s personality and work ethic. We have the experience, support and skills in our practice to teach new veterinary nurses everything they need to know, so skill sets and experience aren’t such a concern.

How would you describe the ‘vibe’ of the practice?

Michele: Our people are undoubtedly our biggest asset. Everyone tries their best and works so hard for our clients and their pets, often staying very late to get their cases sorted. Many Friday nights there are exploratory laparotomy surgeries and no-one complains – we all pitch in and help each other out. There

is no hierarchy or egos at all. We’re all as special and important as each other and are relaxed with each other. We share stories and have laughs. I’d say there’s a huge amount of respect and trust among our staff in what the veterinarians do.

Steve: Our organisation style is a little more free, a bit more organic. We respond to things. We employ our staff and we trust them to do a good job. There’s no pressure to sell anything. We just try to provide an environment where they can make decisions to do the best job they can.

That’s the way we run it.

What sets McMaster & Heap apart from other practices?

Michele: Our business model is very different from those of corporates.

We’re flexible and can tailor a treatment option easily to accommodate a client’s and their pet’s needs. We’re not sellers; food and over-the-counter products are a very

NEWS AND VIEWS

small part of our bottom line. We’re also fully equipped to handle any emergency.

After the Christchurch earthquakes our cattery became particularly useful!

Steve: At the moment we’re seeing primary cases and some referrals. We’re really focused on solving people’s problems on an individual basis. Everybody’s an individual, everybody’s different and everybody’s problems are different. The way you manage one person is not the way you manage another person. People don’t want the same things, they can’t afford the same things, they feel differently about their animals.

What is Christchurch like as a community to work in?

Michele: I grew up in Christchurch and I love it. I grew up in the community that our practice is in. Everyone knows each other and lots of people have pets. It’s pretty close-knit – I guess more so after the tragedies that Christchurch has suffered in the past nine years. I feel we’re very cemented in this community and we’re widely known. Steve looks after the Urban Search and Rescue dogs, we support many cat charities and we try to do our best for everybody who wants to be seen.

Do you look forward to going to work each day?

Michele: As mad as it sounds after 30 years of being a veterinarian, I still can’t

wait to go to work each day and see my team and my clients and help solve their pets’ problems. I never get sick or tired of being a veterinarian. I’m very proud of all the work that’s done in our practice and I feel so fortunate I can discuss cases with my colleagues and come up with the best treatment plans together.

What are your thoughts on the future of the profession?

Steve: There’s a real opportunity to keep pushing forward and finding new ways to solve our clients’ problems better and individually. I think we want to keep on improving and keep on offering a better level of care and a better level of service.

Michele: Clients expect a lot and rightly so. They are more educated thanks to Dr Google. Their pets are so important to them and are actually family members, and clients require great communication, honesty and compassion from us. I feel we have to genuinely like people and pets to succeed in this business. I want McMaster & Heap to continually grow, be innovative and be open to ideas from the younger veterinary generation. We want to listen to and look after our people and our clients to the best of our ability and always put pet health and welfare first.

We also need to offer more support to our new veterinary graduates and younger veterinarians as they are the future – we oldies can’t work forever!

Far left: Megan Charles is part of the 17-strong veterinary nursing team.

Left: Richard Lucy recently joined McMaster & Heap and is an asset when it comes to ultrasonography.

This page clockwise from left: Veterinary nurse Jamie Marriott; veterinarian Olivia Barron and veterinary nurse Elaine Drayton in the newly built ICU cat treatment area; veterinarian Catherine Morganti with one of her favourite felines.

VetScript June 2020 – 29

NEWS COVER AND STORY VIEWS

TAKING ON THE CHOOK CHALLENGE Having unexpectedly acquired a flock of backyard chickens, Naomi Arnold discovers a whole new world of responsibility.

WHEN WE BOUGHT a house on a few hectares of land last November, the property came complete with oldfashioned apple and pear trees, stacks of firewood and two brown shaver hens. My mother quickly saw a chance to offload her own three hens, and Ruby, Lucy and Hazel joined Lizzie and Flossie. Having only ever owned dogs and cats before, I was now suddenly responsible for an instant backyard flock. I liked their homely presence, gentle clucks, vigorous scratching and general air of busyness, and of course the fresh eggs. But I knew nothing about how to care for them.

It’s not an uncommon story and, sadly, nor are cavalier attitudes to the health and wellbeing of these most useful of domestic pets. So how many veterinarians have the expertise to advise on the care of chickens, when it’s often sorely needed?

“The answer is probably not enough,” says Dawn Mills, who along with Neil Christensen, a registered specialist in poultry medicine, will soon hold an NZVA CPD course on backyard chickens.

“Hopeless, not to put too fine a point on it,” Neil says in relation to the veterinary advice and treatment offered to the poultry fancy (people who show

30 – VetScript June 2020

their birds) and small commercial flock owners. Neil spent 14 years at Massey University lecturing on poultry. “Some former students have told me they wish they’d paid more attention.”

Both Dawn and Neil lament that some veterinary clinics have to say “We don’t do poultry” when clients with crook chooks come calling. Large commercial poultry businesses in New Zealand have their own veterinarians, and can source expertise from overseas. But Dawn says there are a lot of smaller, semicommercial egg-laying flocks of 99 or fewer whose owners sell eggs at farmers’ markets and the like – and they definitely need veterinary expertise (100 hens is the number at which the Ministry for Primary Industries [MPI] requires you to have a registered risk management programme for poultry food safety).

Chickens have lived close to humankind for more than 8,000 years, and in the modern context having chickens in backyards has been trending around the world for some years now. Although statistics on New Zealand’s backyard flocks don’t seem to be kept by anyone, including Stats NZ, MPI, SPCA, Poultrynz and the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand, a 2012 poultry industry report

PHOTOGRAPHY: AMANDA TRAYES

NEWS COVER AND STORY VIEWS

VetScript June 2020 – 31

NEWS AND VIEWS

make a helpful contribution to composting and weed control, and are a valuable part of a locavore, no-waste ethos. Along with domestic skills like sourdough-making, knitting, pickling and heritage-vegetable growing, backyard chicken-keeping has become the grandmotherly skill that many people wish hadn’t skipped a generation.

Some, of course, never forgot the skills in the first place.

In this environment, chickens are increasingly becoming companion animals rather than production animals, and some clients are demanding high levels of care for them.

“There’s definitely a lack of expertise for attending these people,” Dawn says, although she points out that not all poultry owners are interested in going down the high-cost road for easily replaceable birds.

She also has a warning: if New Zealand encounters an exotic disease of poultry, it’s very likely to be in a backyard or sub-commercial flock. According to an unpublished study from Massey University (see page 16) backyard poultry, commercial producers and wild bird populations overlap geographically and, with so much trading of birds going on, the risk of disease introduction and spread is significant.

to MPI (then the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) estimated that up to 10% of the national egg-laying flock of more than three million comprised backyard and small semi-commercial flocks.

One very rough estimate of the size of the national backyard flock can be found in the New Zealand Feed Manufacturers Association’s production figures. In 2018 it provided bagged feed for approximately 600,000 non-commercial birds per year, which included backyard chickens and

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small commercial operators. That figure has nearly doubled since 2004. There are also more than 13,000 backyard chicken traders and 16,000 trades happening through the Trade Me website every year.

Backyard chickens have become more popular and there are a lot of chickens strutting around. Younger people, often with families, find hens a pleasant addition to the garden. They provide good examples when teaching children about where their food comes from,

CHICKENS ARE INCREASINGLY BECOMING COMPANION ANIMALS RATHER THAN PRODUCTION ANIMALS, AND SOME CLIENTS ARE DEMANDING HIGH LEVELS OF CARE FOR THEM.

NEWS AND VIEWS

WANT TO LEARN HOW TO TREAT POULTRY EFFECTIVELY? Check out the NZVA’s upcoming backyard chooks and other feathered friends CPD course!

THIS COURSE WILL cover a wide range of topics to help you increase your knowledge, shift your practice to preventive medicine and achieve better welfare for your poultry clients’ birds! Whether you are treating one chook, a small flock or even a semi-commercial flock, this course will equip you with the essential skills you need to be an effective poultry veterinarian.

The course will be run by poultry medicine specialist Neil Christensen and Dawn Mills. It will take place online from 6 to 19 July. n For more information and to register visit www.nzva.org. nz/event/20avian.

“Commercial flock businesses do a lot of surveillance testing and they’re going to know right away if they have something they shouldn’t. In contrast, a backyard chicken owner might say, ‘I’ve lost 10 chickens in two weeks – why do you think that could be?’ Veterinarians should know how to approach that situation; it could be an exotic disease presentation,” Dawn says.

She cites two reasons for veterinarians steering away from poultry, and indeed caged birds in general. One is an historical lack of interest in these animals.

“Massey University has visiting poultry medicine lecturers, like Neil, but I don’t think the poultry industry is pushed as a career path.”

Secondly, she says, birds are different and people are uncomfortable with them.

Because of their incredibly high metabolic rates, they can also cost a lot more in drugs than animals like cats, and that can put many clients off. However, chickens are good practice for more exotic birds.

“Unlike an Amazon parrot or a bird that’s worth $5,000, chickens are common and they don’t have serious weapons; they can peck but it won’t do damage like parrot bites do. They’re also a good size, you can see their veins and they have a reasonable blood volume, you can open their beaks, and they’re replaceable. It’s not nice when a chicken is someone’s pet, but you can get another one tomorrow.

“Philosophically there’s no reason that the same complicated and expensive procedures we do on cats, say, can’t be done for chickens or other birds.”

Dawn believes upskilling on chickens can be a simple matter of learning about common husbandry – topics such as managing internal and external parasites, diets, welfare, cytology, worm egg counts, taking bloods and faecal exams, and learning how to do in-house postmortems.

“It’s not difficult, not like doing complicated orthopaedics. A lot of it is quite basic.”

Laura Schwerdtfeger of The Lifestyle Vet in Auckland once avoided chickens “like the plague”. She’d had several bad experiences with birds early in her career, when she’d take a sick budgie out of their cage only to have them die in her hands – pretty much every veterinarian’s nightmare. But she had to improve her knowledge when she started focusing on lifestyle blocks, and clients wanted their beloved chickens treated as well as their cats and dogs.

“The one thing that was really surprising was how many people actually wanted to treat their birds like their dogs and cats,” she says. “They wanted them hospitalised, medicated.”

She now works on difficult cases of bumblefoot, sees a lot of lead toxicity (from old lead paint), has worked out how to do chicken anaesthesia, hospitalises some birds and treats species such as emu

– who can certainly do a lot more damage to your viscera than chickens.

Getting there took a change in mindset followed by self-education.

“I went from deciding not to do any avian medicine to deciding to help my clients by providing the quality veterinary care that I do for other lifestyle-block animals,” she says.

Laura consulted the Veterinary Information Network (VIN), talked to colleagues, contacted people who did a lot of bird work, and found Massey University “extremely helpful” with advice.

“It really came down to spending extra time studying so that I felt comfortable with what to do and could provide a high level of care. I didn’t want to provide an average level of care for animals I knew nothing about.”

Another veterinarian who’s happily taught herself about chicken care is Charleen Baker of Town and Country Veterinary Services in Drury Village, Auckland. Charleen owns chickens and ducks herself, and chickens are frequent ‘calf club’ pets in the region. She agrees with Dawn that good husbandry is one of the best tools available.

“A lot of problems that chickens get are husbandry related, and you can tick off about five diseases that you’ll see chickens for.”

The highly contagious viral infection Marek’s disease is her number one diagnosis for lame chickens. If it’s not that or trauma, it’ll be ulcerative pododermatitis or bumblefoot. Others are egg yolk peritonitis, coccidiosis and other internal and external parasites.

Before sending a bird on for a referral, Charleen tries to do as much as she can herself by taking a thorough history and physical exam, then trawling VIN for an answer or a plan. She particularly enjoys making protective chicken jandals for cases of bumblefoot. “You can become conversant in chickens pretty quickly,” Charleen says.

“I love the fact that it’s something different; it’s just outside your everyday cats and dogs and you have to think outside the box.”

VetScript June 2020 – 33

WVAC 2020 INTRODUCTION

NEWS WVAC AND 2020 VIEWS

Beginning on 26 April, the 36th World Veterinary Association Congress (WVAC) was delivered online as a three-week virtual festival. Now that it’s wrapped up you can learn about some of the exciting topics speakers presented in this two-month long, 34 – VetScript June 2020

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NEWS WVAC AND 2020 VIEWS

Veterinary professionals OF THE WORLD UNITE! WVAC-dedicated section of VetScript. You can also catch up and watch all the presentations by registering at https://wvac2020.thewebinarvet.com.

Recordings are available for up to six months after the start of the congress.

VetScript June 2020 – 35

WVAC 2020 DONKEYS WITH JOE COLLINS

NEWS AND VIEWS

The differences OF DONKEYS Joe Collins, Chief Veterinary Advisor for The Donkey Sanctuary in the UK, proves that donkeys are far from being small horses with big ears.

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NEWS WVAC AND 2020 VIEWS

DONKEYS MAY SHARE ancestral origins with horses, but they have evolved differently over millions of years. As well as being relatively shorter-legged, which makes standing surgical castrations awkward, they have clear behavioural and physiological differences that veterinarians need to consider when providing them with veterinary care.

A donkey’s response to a predator’s attack (or a perceived predator’s attack in the case of veterinarians!) is more likely to be fight than flight; they can’t outrun you and are the only prey target in the environment, so they must instead make a stand. Some label this response as ‘stoicism’ and think it means the donkey has a low sensitivity to pain and distress.

Not so – it is more properly labelled as ‘masking behaviour’, a show of strength that makes the donkey less likely to be singled out by the predator as ‘weak’ or ‘injured’.

Colleagues familiar with horses will know about the range of clinical signs they present when they are truly sick – for example, a Thoroughbred horse will roll and kick when afflicted with relatively mild abdominal pain. In contrast, donkeys use the masking strategy, and even when suffering the significant pain associated with gastric impaction and distention can appear to be relatively well.

The first sign of serious disease in a donkey may be a non-specific ‘dullness’.

In these situations the veterinarian needs to be more ready than they would be for a horse to conduct laboratory analyses of samples as an aid to diagnosis (while being mindful of the animals’ differences in physiology).

The masking instinct also means that donkeys are less overt than horses in showing clinical disease, such as coughing when infested with lung-worm or exercise intolerance when afflicted by haemolytic disease. They’re more likely to slip under the clinical radar and be labelled as ‘carriers’. Donkeys are considered reservoirs of infections (such as for African horse sickness) that represent risks to the more highly valued horses.

They’re also more prone to the adverse effects of stressful situations and often pair-bond strongly. If you euthanase one of a pair, the loss may have lifethreatening consequences for the other.

Keep the surviving donkey with the remains of its companion and allow it a few hours to adjust to the loss. During this time they’ll often be noisy and seemingly violent.

Donkeys are usually less valuable in monetary terms than horses. That can have consequences for the type of care donkeys receive, in that their owners/ keepers may pay less attention to or disregard their needs. Needs can include: » shelter from inclement weather – donkeys require more protection from wet weather than horses

VetScript June 2020 – 37

NEWS AND VIEWS

THE FIRST SIGN OF SERIOUS DISEASE IN A DONKEY MAY WELL BE A NONSPECIFIC ‘DULLNESS’. IN THESE SITUATIONS THE VETERINARIAN NEEDS TO BE MORE READY THAN THEY WOULD BE FOR A HORSE TO CONDUCT LABORATORY ANALYSES OF SAMPLES AS AN AID TO DIAGNOSIS.

» routine dental care – donkeys can suffer from painful dental abnormalities such as diastema, often concurrently with obesity and with few clinical signs » farriery – especially if the underfoot conditions are wet. Donkey hooves are more sponge-like than horses’ hooves and soak up ambient moisture readily.

The hooves are also more elastic, so tend to grow and curl rather than crack and break.

Paradoxically, in low- and middle-income countries donkeys are often essential to human livelihoods, but their owners lack the means and sometimes education to understand and meet their essential needs. The global trade in donkey skins for use in traditional medicines has raised their prices in some poor countries but not to the benefit of donkey welfare.

People do the work their donkeys once did, children don’t go to school and livelihoods suffer.

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HORSE

DONKEY

Temperature

37.8–38.1°C

36.2–37.8°C

Pulse

32–36bpm

36–52bpm

Respiration rate

8–12/minute

12–20/minute

The typical physiological parameters for a donkey compared to a horse.

Donkeys are less likely than horses to be vaccinated against preventable equine diseases such as influenza.

Commercial equine vaccines, like therapeutic medicines, are not manufactured or efficacy tested for donkeys. The animals are also less likely

than horses to be included in herd health management programmes for equine infectious diseases such as strangles or piroplasmosis. In addition the laboratory tests used are unlikely to be validated for donkeys. All this affects how quickly veterinarians are likely to be consulted

FURTHER READING

The Donkey Sanctuary. The Clinical Companion of the Donkey. Evans L, Crane M (eds.) www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/for-professionals/clinicalcompanion-of-the-donkey (accessed 22 April 2020). UK, 2018

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WVAC 2020

and the fees they are likely to be paid for any investigation and treatment.

Conversely, donkeys are often regarded with great sentiment. Rural folk in many countries, including my own (Ireland), traditionally hate having donkeys die on their land or in their care. So when veterinarians show they care and can help, donkey owners are often the most loyal and appreciative of clients.

Adult donkeys have lower dietary metabolic needs than horses; they have adapted to extract nutrients from highfibre, low-quality foods so can produce more work (for humans) per unit input and lay down more adipose tissue if work is not expected. Their gastrointestinal tracts and microbiota are not suited to high-carbohydrate diets; they are browsers as much as grazers, are prone to insulin resistance, fatty liver and obesity, and are relatively thirst-resistant.

Life-threatening hyperlipaemia and gastrointestinal impactions (both gastric and colonic) are relatively common.

Donkeys differ in how (and how quickly) they metabolise the medicines that veterinarians commonly use. For example, phenylbutazone needs to be administered orally twice, not once, daily.

My own anaesthesia regime of veterinary products with standard concentrations for a 200kg donkey to get 15–20 minutes of surgical anaesthesia for castration (+/local anaesthetic agents) is: » time zero, a mix of 3ml romifidine hydrochloride solution and 0.5ml butorphanol tartrate solution IV » 1,000mg phenylbutazone solution separately IV » time + five minutes when visibly well sedated, a mix of 5.5ml ketamine solution and 4ml diazepam solution (two vials). It is essential that all are given intravenously.

The blood supply to a donkey’s scrotum and testicles is relatively rich, so veterinarians undertaking surgical castrations must pay additional attention to haemostasis – for the scrotum by taking care in placing the initial skin incision and in clamping, and for the testicles by performing cord ligation

An example of the haematological and biochemical parameters for the adult donkey.

as well as emasculation. Scrotal fat is also relatively generous, and unless it is carefully and assiduously trimmed it will protrude and provide a nidus for postoperative infection; scrotal ablation and primary closure are not recommended.

Another important anatomical feature in which the donkey is different from the horse is the cervical region. A donkey’s short neck and more pronounced cutaneous coli muscle development make intravenous injection and jugular catheterisation more challenging.

IN SUMMARY Donkeys are not small horses with big ears! There are significant species-specific

differences in behaviour and thus in the clinical signs they demonstrate.

Physiological parameters such as temperature, pulse and respiration differ from those of the horse, as do haematological and biochemical markers of disease. As the specifics of drug metabolism also differ – donkeys have generally lower biological half-life and more rapid drug clearance rates – veterinarians must adjust doses and dosage regimes accordingly. There are also anatomical variances of veterinary significance that require surgeons to adapt their techniques, such as by being more careful to excise scrotal fat during surgical castration.

VetScript June 2020 – 39

WVAC 2020 CLIENT CENTRED PRACTICE

NEWS AND VIEWS

At the time of publication, New Zealand was in Alert Level 3 and VCNZ permitted veterinarians to use telemedicine for the purposes of authorising veterinary medicines. We acknowledge this may have changed by the time of reading.

The client experience matters, NOW MORE THAN EVER

Alison Lambert is the founder of Onswitch, a UK-based business that promotes clientcentred practice in the veterinary profession. She provides some tips for doing business in the COVID-19 environment.

IN ANY SERVICE industry people buy from people, so if someone in your team makes clients feel undervalued, ignored or patronised, those clients won’t come back. They’ll also tell their friends and before you know it you’ll have a reputation you don’t want and that’s hard to shift. Excellent client service isn’t a ‘nice to have’; it’s essential for attracting and retaining clients for the long term.

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant we couldn’t (and in some places still can’t) see our clients and patients face to face. Instead we relied on using other communication routes and consulting methods – highlighting how vital it is to stay focused on providing an excellent client experience.

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For example, by posting regular updates on practice websites and social media, we can stay connected and engaged with our clients and local communities, and remain a reassuringly professional source of advice and help.

This holds true even when we return to ‘normal’ and people will remember the businesses that were there for them during the toughest times.

PRINCIPLES OF CLIENT CARE Those working in veterinary practices must always remember that clients have choices in who’ll care for their animals. Research consistently shows that their decisions are primarily based on how a practice feels rather than what it does or how much it charges.

Clients’ decisions are driven by emotions, even in (and perhaps more so because of) this digital age of online communication and transactions.

According to the book The DNA of customer experience (Shaw, 2007) half of any purchase decision is emotional.

This means that how your clients feel about doing business with you is equally as important to how many times they’ll come back as the range of services you offer or what price you offer them for. That also goes for how many friends they’ll tell about you!

If you provide a personal, welcoming, professional and convenient experience from start to finish – long before a client sets foot in the door – you’ll ultimately win and keep them.

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WVAC 2020

ATTRACTING CLIENTS – WHY SHOULD THEY CHOOSE YOU? Clients understand that they get what they pay for, and will pay well for a client experience they believe is worth it.

Remember, they’re driven by emotion – they want a local service where they feel they belong, a team they really like and a practice that’s liked by people whose opinions they value (friends, family and other animal care businesses).

Of course you should have a vibrant website and a buzzy social media feed, but they must be backed up with outstanding service. Don’t mistake digital marketing as the saviour of modern practice – it really does come down to how your clients feel when they’re interacting with your team. Remember, 50% of purchases are driven by emotion.

PEOPLE MAKE OR BREAK THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE The ultimate client experience is human, personal, warm and engaging – a real person listens to your requirements and attends to your needs with empathy and understanding.

Every potential client should be able to speak and interact with someone from your team who can bring to life what your practice is about. So a locum who’s helping to reduce your workload by delivering vaccinations and prescribing medications must do it in a way that mirrors your practice ethos; any other approach could be damaging.

THE TRUST EQUATION

C R I T= S Credibility

Reliability

Intimacy

Trustworthiness

Self-orientation

DELIVERING CLIENT CARE WHEN YOU AREN’T FACE TO FACE With medical services becoming more and more digitised, remote communication skills and protocols are more important than ever.

Here is a suggested structure for those who handle phone calls, so they can be confident in dealing with callers who are more worried and confused than usual.

There are five steps:

1 Give a great greeting.

2 Get the client’s and the animal’s name or description – and get the picture.

3 Demonstrate love, value and price (in that order).

4 Give extra information (opening hours, special arrangements etc).

5 Offer a remote consultation or emergency visit.

It’s important that veterinarians and veterinary nurses resist the urge to begin triaging symptoms and consulting there and then. Use the five steps to structure the call, remembering that step two is the most crucial. Listen carefully to what the client tells you, and ask for (and use) both their and their animal’s names to build empathy. End the call with a time agreed for the remote consultation.

If the consultation will be a video call, there are some important things to remember: » Make sure you look professional.

If you wear a scrub top and a name badge you’ll come across as knowledgeable and reassuring, even if you’re not in the consulting room. » Consider the backdrop – make sure there’s nothing confidential in view and nothing too busy and distracting behind you. » Frame the shot so your full face is visible and you’re close to the camera. » Ask open and generalised questions to collect information and, if there are several issues, ascertain which are a priority for the client. » Remember, it’s more important to listen to answers than it is to ask questions.

BRING STRUCTURE TO YOUR REMOTE CONSULTING: THE ONSWITCH SEVEN STEPS Many of you will be familiar with the Seven Step Consulting Framework, which was developed from the Calgary-Cambridge model used in medical and veterinary schools around the world. The seven steps are:

1 Prepare yourself.

2 Create rapport.

3 Ask open questions.

4 (Obvious animal examination).

5 Make recommendations.

6 Check and signpost.

7 Au revoir.

As a robust communication tool, the Onswitch Seven Steps can be very useful for remote consulting. Even step four can be possible, as with advance notice a client can send pictures of their animal’s condition, capture visual data by moving their camera or device around the animal (as instructed by you), and record heart and respiration rates so that at least you have some clinical information to work with.

The veterinary sector has proven itself to be resilient, flexible and professional during these most challenging times. And while being kind and doing the right thing come naturally to many working in caring professions, it’s good to remember that they’re attributes clients value highly when choosing a practice.

Providing a warm, empathic and convenient service is the bedrock of a strong, successful business.

REFERENCE: Shaw C. The DNA of Customer Experience: How emotions drive value. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2007

VetScript June 2020 – 41

WVAC 2020 GLOBAL FARMING

NEWS WVAC AND 2020 VIEWS

Solving the world’s FOOD CRISIS

Neil Sargison, Professor of Farm Animal Practice at the University of Edinburgh, calls on New Zealand to help ensure global food security for the long term.

THE FARMING OF small ruminants such as sheep and goats is widely considered a solution to the challenge of achieving socioeconomically and environmentally sustainable global food security (Lalljee et al., 2018). Different small-ruminant breeds and production systems have been developed to suit

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local resources and exploit seasonally biodiverse environments around the world. In those environments, production is influenced by complex, interrelated regional considerations such as the availability of natural herbage, contemporary agricultural production, economics, local environmental

priorities, access to equitable markets and contemporary finance.

Integrated small-ruminant farming (a mixed system combining small ruminants with crop production) could help meet the global need for food security in a range of agricultural systems (Sargison, 2020). Smallruminant farming has become the main livestock economic resource in impoverished regions because small ruminants are manageable in size, and have relatively low maintenance requirements, low capital investment costs and short generation intervals.

It’s also easy to market the animals and products, therefore making small ruminants a suitable, short-term economic reserve.

In developed agricultural regions, small ruminants (mainly sheep) are

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NEWS WVAC AND 2020 VIEWS

kept to convert managed pastures to meat and to a lesser extent fibre and milk. They are well suited to marginal grazing and harsh conditions where they are also exploited for environmental conservation. In developing agricultural regions, small ruminants (mainly goats) are important in both peri-urban smallholder and village communities. They are adaptable to management in a variety of systems, and are well suited to seasonal variations in forage availability.

Humanity is now challenged to meet the rapidly increasing food security needs of the world’s growing population (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009). In the fight against hunger and unemployment in rural areas, it is essential that we greatly increase the domestic production of food in a way that is socioeconomically and environmentally sustainable. This demands radical improvements in the efficiency of production from small-ruminant livestock together with producing other livestock and crops.

New Zealand is widely considered a world leader in the development of efficient pastoral sheep production methods, agribusinesses and supply chains to meet global requirements.

While progressive approaches have been adopted elsewhere, smallruminant production remains traditional in most of the world. It is inherently inefficient and frequently uneconomic to different degrees, or fails to alleviate poverty in an animal welfare-friendly way.

The production of human food from ruminant livestock is inefficient when compared with vegetable or cereal farming and it is currently not a sustainable solution to the challenges of alleviating poverty and global food security in the face of rapid urbanisation.

However, ruminant livestock are essential in regions and environments better suited to herbage growth than cereal or vegetable crop production, and as sustainable sources of manure in integrated agricultural systems.

It is also necessary to make food and fibre production from small

ruminants more efficient while at the same time reducing environmental footprints, improving animal welfare and achieving social acceptability.

All of this demonstrates the need to look to sheep farming in New Zealand as a model for small-ruminant production efficiency on a global scale.

However, many schemes employed in developing countries aimed at improving livestock production efficiency have failed because they applied solutions that worked in developed agricultural economic regions in the wrong political, environmental or social contexts.

New Zealand’s sheep-production efficiency has been enhanced by genetic improvements through breed substitution, breed crossing heterosis and within-breed selection.

Historically there have been attempts to emulate these successes in developing agricultural regions, where selection criteria have tended towards particular traits such as milk production, carcass quality or growth rates. However, these attempts have

VetScript June 2020 – 43

WVAC 2020

often failed to consider the suitability of individual animals to their target environments with reference to local nutritional and disease constraints. In the meantime, global interdisciplinary research has led to advances in animal breeding and genetics in conjunction with new technologies, such as automated electronic data recording systems and reproduction management tools.

Genetic improvements will only redress the failures of smallruminant agriculture if steps are first taken to keep animals alive and productive through measure such as sustainable husbandry and the development of pragmatic, problem-

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NEW ZEALAND IS WIDELY CONSIDERED A WORLD LEADER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EFFICIENT PASTORAL SHEEP PRODUCTION METHODS, AGRIBUSINESSES AND SUPPLY CHAINS TO MEET GLOBAL REQUIREMENTS.

focused approaches to diagnosing and managing infectious diseases.

The precise environmental, climatic and animal-management risk factors are poorly understood for infectious livestock diseases in most developing countries; therefore there is a need for applied research to identify practical solutions. A pragmatic and relatively achievable first step would be to better manage the known animal husbandry and health problems, where treatments and preventive measures already exist (even if they are imperfect).

Knowledge and understanding of the animal husbandry and health challenges facing livestock keepers in many parts of the world are

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WVAC 2020

constrained by a lack of veterinary infrastructure that inevitably accompanies under-resourced rural development in poor countries.

Impoverished people often live in close contact with the animals, who they depend on for subsistence and wellbeing. People in these areas therefore face high zoonotic disease risks. Improved small-ruminant production efficiency, if achieved through better animal health management, will aid human wellbeing by addressing food security, ensuring healthy diets, delivering socioeconomic and environmental benefits and improving health standards by controlling zoonotic diseases.

The need for sustainable smallruminant production efficiency must be addressed through individual

producers or keepers applying planned animal health programmes on a local basis (see the accompanying article on page 48).

Small ruminants can be afflicted with a range of production-limiting pathogens, so it’s important to ensure good productivity by developing practical, problem-focused approaches to diagnosing and managing infectious diseases, and by controlling the production losses they cause. Farmers are aware of simple hygiene practices and colostrum management, but uptake of those practices is poor.

In summary, we need tools and systems to translate New Zealand agribusiness’s expertise in good animal husbandry, herd health planning, disease control and the zoonoses mitigation to farmers, villagers and

landless small-ruminant keepers throughout the world (Hopker et al., 2020).

REFERENCES: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Global Agriculture Towards 2050. www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/ Issues_papers/HLEF2050_Global_Agriculture.pdf (accessed 21 April 2020). Rome, 2009 Hopker A, Pandey N, Goswami J, Hopker S, Saikia R, Jennings A, Saikia D, et al. Colostrum provision and care of newborn calves among smallholder farmers in the Kaziranga region of Assam, India. PLOS ONE 15(3), e0228819, 2020 Lalljee SV, Soundararajan C, Singh YD, Sargison ND. The potential of small ruminant farming as a means of poverty alleviation in rural southern India. Tropical Animal Health and Production 51, 303–11, 2018 Sargison ND. The critical importance of planned small ruminant livestock health and production in addressing global challenges surrounding food production and poverty alleviation. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 68, 136–44, 2020

We’re here to help.

COVID-19 Response If you use MAS for your insurance or investments, then we have a number of ways we can help you and your loved ones at this time. Your mental, physical and financial wellbeing is important to us.

To learn more about our response to COVID-19, options for financial support, and the free wellbeing and counselling resources available to all Members and their families, please visit mas.co.nz And if you’re one of our nation’s frontline heroes in this crisis, you and your families have our deepest gratitude.

VetScript June 2020 – 45

WVAC 2020

WVAC 2020 MEAT INSPECTION

» The modifications would only apply to finishing pigs raised under controlled housing conditions (with high levels of on-farm biosecurity).

Using the World Organisation for Animal Health’s approach, Denmark undertook its risk assessments between 2006 and 2020 in a collaboration between academia, industry and veterinary authorities. Each assessment involved an initial hazard identification followed by an assessment of the modification’s release, exposure and consequences.

These factors were then integrated into a single risk estimate.

Tackling a

MEATY SUBJECT Lis Alban, from the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, describes Denmark’s modernised meat-inspection process and its benefits for society as a whole.

AS PART OF a project to update its meat-inspection processes, Denmark completed a series of risk assessments before implementing any changes.

Changes to the inspection process should lead to less food waste, lower carbon footprints and a greater focus on meat safety assurance systems, by targeting the hazards that make people fall ill. In pig meat, this mainly refers to Salmonella infections.

This article provides details of that project and what’s happening now in Europe in regard to meat inspection.

BACKGROUND Denmark’s traditional meat-inspection process – which involved palpation and incisions of various organs –

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was not providing value for money.

There were suggestions that crosscontamination with foodborne hazards such as Salmonella could be reduced if unnecessary handling and manipulation were omitted and inspections were done visually, and that this would also make inspections cheaper. But could the relevant clinical lesions in slaughtered animals still be detected by visual inspection alone?

In 2004 the former European Union Meat Inspection Regulation allowed for changes to the meat-inspection process.

There were two conditions to approval: » A risk assessment was to be undertaken to address the impacts of any modifications and to ensure that food safety would not be jeopardised.

ORGAN ASSESSMENT The first assessment comprised three studies dealing with the mandibular lymph nodes and the heart (Alban et al., 2008), the intestinal lymph nodes (Alban et al., 2010) and the lungs and liver (Pacheco et al., 2013).

Each study looked at what would happen if routine incisions and palpations were no longer undertaken.

It included addressing what would be missed, how often and the possible consequences. This allowed us to document – in a transparent and evidence-based way – the safety of the new system to authorities, trade partners and meat inspectors.

EMBOLIC PNEUMONIA Slaughtered animals with embolic pneumonia may be missed at inspection if the lungs are not palpated routinely and lesions are not detected in other organs.

To study the risk related to this, we took samples from the hearts, livers, spleens, kidneys, lungs, joints and muscles of finishing pigs with embolic pneumonia and subjected them to standard microbiological investigation.

The study showed that bacteria were seldom present in muscles and, if they were, the numbers were low (Kruse et al., 2015). A comparison of the results from all samples showed that, in most cases, the animals had cleared themselves of the original infection and the bacteria were not meat-borne.

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WVAC 2020

SEPTICAEMIA Purulent lesions indicative of prior septicaemia may be caused by tail bites months before the inspection process.

According to the Danish meat-inspection rules at the time, acute cases had to be condemned and chronic cases de-boned.

De-boning had been introduced in Denmark in 1994 to ensure the detection of osteomyelitis. Twenty-one years later, 40,000 finishing pigs and 5,000 sows were subjected to de-boning in Denmark because of such lesions. The associated costs amounted to about $5.4 million (€3 million).

The questions addressed in the risk assessment included: » is meat from these pigs fit for human consumption? » can inspectors find what they should in the rework area if they know that de-boning is not taking place? » what practices could replace de-boning?

We undertook two studies, one involving finisher pigs (Bækbo et al., 2016) and the other sows (Pedersen et al., 2017), all with purulent lesions indicative of prior septicaemia. For each case samples were taken from abscesses present and muscle on the distal part of the right foreleg. We used finishers and sows who had been fully approved at meat inspection as control groups, collecting muscle samples from the right foreleg.

In general, de-boning did not lead to additional abscesses. The bacteria present in abscesses were not considered food-borne hazards in fresh meat and if bacteria were present in meat they were in very low numbers.

There was no association between the presence of bacteria in abscesses and those in meat.

Finally, we studied the locations of abscesses not found during the mandatory, detailed examination of slaughtered animals with lesions indicative of prior septicaemia. This led to an update of the official way of examining these animals (Petersen and Alban, 2019).

CHANGES TO LEGISLATION In response to these studies, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration changed the legislation in 2019 (Anonymous, 2019).

Abattoirs can now undertake targeted inspections at rework areas instead of de-boning carcasses with lesions indicative of prior septicaemia. This involves focusing on particular sites for abscesses, because they tend to be in specific locations rather than located randomly in the body.

In 2011 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published an opinion piece on the hazards that should be covered by meat inspections of swine (EFSA, 2011). In that piece it stated that traditional swine inspections could safely be replaced with visualonly inspections. In June 2014 the new EU meat inspection regulations came into force, stipulating that meat inspections of all swine – irrespective of age and production system – should use a visual-only approach. The exception was if food chain information, including geography, or other information from ante- and postmortems indicated otherwise.

Initially the new regulation posed a problem for many EU member states, mainly because they were not ready for it. They did not have food chain information systems, which exchange basic information between livestock producers and abattoirs. In addition, export requirements meant that most export-oriented abattoirs had to continue using traditional inspection methods (ie, palpation and incision) of sows and pigs from non-controlled housing, including outdoor systems.

EFSA is undertaking risk assessments at a Europe-wide level.

Sometimes they are not detailed enough for particular member states and national risk assessments are needed. This was the case for Denmark, because bilateral negotiations on equivalent standards were underway with trade partners outside the EU.

The next step might be to undertake a risk assessment for inspections of finishing pigs raised under noncontrolled housing conditions. At the moment the EFSA opinion piece from 2011 is not considered detailed enough to be used in addressing this question in future trade negotiations.

REFERENCES: Alban L, Steenberg B, Petersen JV, Jensen S. Is Palpation of the Intestinal Lymph Nodes a Necessary Part of Meat Inspection of Finisher Pigs? Internal report. https://lf.dk/aktuelt/ publikationer/svinekod (accessed 15 April 2020).

Danish Agriculture & Food Council, Denmark, 2010 Alban L, Vilstrup C, Steenberg B, Jensen HE, Aalbæk B, Thune-Stephensen F, Jensen S. Assessment of Risk for Humans Associated with Supply Chain Meat Inspection: The Danish Way. Internal report. http://lf.dk/aktuelt/ publikationer/svinekod (accessed 15 April 2020).

Danish Veterinary and Food Administration/ Danish Meat Association, Denmark, 2008 Anonymous. Instruction No. 9334 to Meat Inspection. www.retsinformation.dk/pdfPrint. aspx?id=208692 (accessed 15 April 2020).

Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark, Denmark, 2019 Bækbo AK, Petersen JV, Larsen MH, Alban L. Food safety value of handling chronic cases of pyaemia in finishing pigs by use of de-boning.

Food Control 69, 177–84, 2016 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Scientific opinion on the public health hazards to be covered by inspection of meat from swine.

EFSA Journal 9(10), 2351, 2011 Kruse AB, Larsen MH, Skou PB, Alban L. Assessment of human health risk associated with pyaemia in Danish finisher pigs when conducting visual-only inspection of the lungs. International Journal of Food Microbiology 196, 32–9, 2015 Pacheco G, Kruse AB, Petersen JV, Alban L. Assessment of Risk Associated with a Change in Meat Inspection: Is Mandatory Palpation of the Liver and Lungs a Necessary Part of Meat Inspection in Finisher Pigs? Internal report. http://lf.dk/ aktuelt/publikationer/svinekod (accessed 15 April 2010). Danish Agriculture & Food Council, Denmark, 2013 Pedersen TØ, Bækbo AK, Petersen JV, Larsen MH, Alban L. Evaluation of the food safety risk associated with de-boning of Danish sows: Investigations on sows with chronic purulent lesions indicative of prior septicaemia.

Fleischwirsschaft International 2, 66–70, 2017 Petersen JV, Alban L. Handling of Lesions Indicative of Prior Septicemia in Sows. www. safepork-conference.com/fileadmin/user_upload/ MAIN-dateien/web_safepork.pdf, SafePork Conference, Berlin, Germany, 26–29 August 2019

VetScript June 2020 – 47

WVAC 2020 FARMING PLANS

NEWS WVAC AND 2020 VIEWS

Getting ahead OF THE FUTURE Neil Sargison, Professor of Farm Animal Practice at the University of Edinburgh, suggests change is needed if we’re to meet the forecast global demand for human food.

THE AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES that are currently available must be used more efficiently if we are to meet the projected expansion in global demand for human food that will accompany population growth, urbanisation and greater affluence.

It is widely perceived that this will be underpinned by the use of ‘computational genetics’ to improve livestock and plant cultivars and exploit advantageous production traits

48 – VetScript June 2020

such as disease resistance. Genetic improvements in farmed livestock have been most successful in large, enclosed and precisely managed groups of cereal- and by-product-fed animals, in association with appropriate nutrition and animal health management.

These conditions are more challenging to deliver in pastorally managed ruminant livestock, so genetic improvements alone will not provide an immediate solution for

all developed agricultural settings – nor will they in developing countries where smallholder agriculture is critical but natural resources for livestock production are only available seasonally. In these contexts, the best way to improve ruminant livestock production efficiency is to better plan animal health management with the aims of keeping animals alive then managing them in ways that enable them to meet their genetic potential.

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WVAC 2020

High rates of neonatal mortality, poor growth rates and poor reproductive performance in ruminants can only be addressed by applying scientific health planning principles to identify and manage the primary causes, rather than the common practice of deferring to pattern recognition. It’s also unhelpful to examine individual animals at veterinary clinics. Instead, it’s better to examine them in their normal environments.

The philosophy behind veterinary medicine must also change. Health planning approaches should be applied scientifically to address suboptimal production in groups of animals within the overall context of their environment, husbandry, management and contemporary agriculture. The concept of flock or herd health management should extend beyond a document outlining procedures for controlling favourite diseases. It

should consider production targets, management, surveillance and disease control as well as animal welfare, environmental impacts, productivity and responsible medicine use.

Figure 1 illustrates the principles of small-ruminant health management in commercial flocks but the information is equally valid for ruminants of all sizes. As the health planning process advances, diagnostic tests become more important. Diagnostic tests allow us to apply state-of-the-art scientific research (relating to genetic selection for production or resistance to disease constraints for example), or use genomic markers to monitor and develop treatment or management strategies.

The main components of an animal health programme are effective biosecurity, good nutrition, protection from infectious pathogens and endemic disease management. Each programme must be tailored and

relevant to the needs of the farmer or livestock keepers.

The impacts of animal health management are strengthened when they are underpinned by relevant research. Such research helps us to: » determine and demonstrate the key animal health challenges and which of them can be addressed using existing knowledge and simple management tools (without unaffordable levels of financial investment) » understand societal attitudes and the potential constraints to better managing animal health challenges » develop delivery routes for education that aims to alter behaviour and therefore address various animal health challenges.

Ideally, we would unequivocally answer research questions that address these aims before starting any animal health management programmes. However, the enormity

VetScript June 2020 – 49

WVAC 2020

of providing irrefutable proof for each point would result in unacceptable delays to educational interventions in support of animal health management.

Conversely, any success gained from implementing interventions without first understanding the principles underpinning the research questions could be unsustainable.

A compromise is therefore necessary, conducting quantitative and clinical research on the animal health needs of livestock keepers and the barriers to constructive change, while at the same time implementing education programmes. Mistakes resulting from this approach don’t need to be disastrous. If they are identified early, through appropriate record-keeping and monitoring, it’s possible to identify alternative solutions.

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FIGURE 1: The iterative principles of planned small (and large) ruminant health management.

The first priority for individual farmers or ruminant keepers is to ensure they have adequate living standards, gained through profits or subsistence from their animals. Farmed-animal management is constrained by both the economics of production and the need to ensure good welfare standards.

The value of products is determined by market supply and currency exchange rates. Opportunities to produce higher-value products or reduce fixed costs are limited for most producers.

The most tangible way for individual farmers or keepers to improve ruminant productivity is through health, welfare and nutrition management, with the aim of converting primary forage and cereal crops into marketable meat, milk, wool and pelt products in the most efficient ways possible.

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WVAC 2020

THE MAIN COMPONENTS OF AN ANIMAL HEALTH PROGRAMME ARE EFFECTIVE BIOSECURITY, GOOD NUTRITION, PROTECTION FROM INFECTIOUS PATHOGENS AND ENDEMIC DISEASE MANAGEMENT. EACH PROGRAMME MUST BE TAILORED AND RELEVANT TO THE NEEDS OF THE FARMER OR LIVESTOCK KEEPERS.

While individual animal medicine and health planning for single herds or flocks is important, it will only have a small role in meeting global food security needs. It is therefore necessary to consider the whole agricultural system that individual farmers and keepers belong to, whether that’s on a village, economic, geographical, regional or national basis. How sustainable a ruminant production system is depends on how well it positively contributes to regional or national economies – either directly through profitability or indirectly through social or environmental benefits.

Health planning at regional and national levels needs to address threats to ruminant production as a whole, such as viral disease plagues, as well as those potentially zoonotic infections that affect trade. The control of both endemic and exotic diseases at these levels depends on biosecurity, surveillance and disease prevention or eradication strategies. This means that appropriate diagnostics and tools, vaccines or therapeutic drugs and epidemiological expertise must be available for national food security.

From a global perspective, the primary consideration is the efficiency of food production and therefore the ability to feed the world’s human population. Here, each of the priorities for individual, regional and national ruminant production is important, which means there is a global need for supportive, impactful education programmes and applied animal health and production research.

Education addresses known problems for which we already have solutions, while research must focus on unknown problems or where we haven’t yet identified sustainable solutions.

Given that improved animal health alone will not be enough to meet humanity’s needs and improve

global productivity, livestock genetic improvements and adopting new breeding technologies are needed. The current genetic basis of the ruminant sector affords enormous potential for improvement, building on a platform of good health, nutrition and animal welfare management.

FURTHER READING Bessell PR, Sargison ND, Mirende K, Dash R, Prasad S, Al-Riyami L, Gammon N, Stuke K, Woolley R, Barbaruah M, et al. The impact of anthelmintic drugs on weight gain of smallholder goats in subtropical regions.

Preventive Veterinary Medicine 159, 72–81, 2018 Hopker A, Pandey N, Dhamorikar A, Hopker S, Gautam P, Pandey S, Kumar S, Rahangadale N, Mehta P, Marsland R, et al. Delivery and evaluation of participatory education for animal keepers led by veterinarians and paraveterinarians around the Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. PLoS ONE 13(8), e0200999, 2018 Jack CM, Hotchkiss E, Sargison ND, Toma L, Milne C, Bartley DJ. A quantitative analysis of attitudes and behaviours concerning sustainable parasite control practices from Scottish sheep farmers. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 139, 134–45, 2017 Leahy E, Bronsvoort B, Gamble L, Gibson A, Kaponda H, Mayer D, Mazeri S, Shervell K, Sargison N. Proof of concept of faecal egg nematode counting as a practical means of veterinary engagement with planned livestock health management in a lower income country. Irish Veterinary Journal 70, 16, 2017 Sargison N. Chapter 10. Maintaining sheep flock health: An overview. In: Greyling J (ed). Achieving Sustainable Production of Sheep. Burleigh Dodds, Cambridge, UK, 2017 Sargison ND. Sheep Flock Health: A planned approach. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford, UK, 2008 Wong F, Sargison N. Assessment of gastrointestinal nematode infection, anthelmintic usage and husbandry practices on two small-scale goat farms in Malaysia. Tropical Animal Health and Production 50(3), 581–7, 2017

VetScript June 2020 – 51

IN THE LAB

Sneaky Salmonella Rob Fairley, from Gribbles Veterinary Laboratories Christchurch, educates us on the hows and whys of salmonellosis outbreaks.

WHENEVER THERE IS an outbreak of salmonellosis on a dairy, beef or sheep farm, we often get asked where the Salmonella came from. The standard answer is that carrier animals within the herd or flock were the likely source.

Of course at some point in time a particular Salmonella serotype needs to gain entry to a herd or flock. For example, Salmonella Brandenburg has progressively spread throughout the South Island and it seems likely that, with the widespread movement of animals in New Zealand, it has been transported there by carrier animals and lives in several herds and flocks in the North Island – even though the disease has occurred there much less commonly. It’s likely that Salmonella is present in nearly every dairy herd in the country (Fossler et al., 2004).

If Salmonella is present in carrier animals in a herd, why is clinical disease not more common? What factors determine whether disease occurs? It’s not just the presence of an organism that causes disease; it’s the presence of an organism and other factors. For epidemiologists this is standard stuff to do with the interaction of the agent, the host and the environment.

Farmers often think that an outbreak of Salmonella comes from an external source rather than the affected herd or flock itself and any other factors on the farm that might predispose to infection (ducks are a favourite target!).

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However, an outbreak is more about factors or stressors in relation to the stock that allow the bacteria residing in the herd or flock to proliferate and cause disease. Having said that, farmers are well aware of the spread of Salmonella Brandenburg throughout the South Island in particular, and are quite right to ask how the bacteria came to be present on their farms.

The notion of Salmonella living quietly in animals in a herd or flock is no different from the situation for many other bacteria that live in animals and that under the right circumstances may subsequently cause disease. Think Mycoplasma bovis for a start; many owners of farms with infected stock had no idea of its presence. Organisms like Histophilus somni and Mannheimia haemolytica are normal residents of cattle’s upper respiratory tracts, yet when provided with the right opportunity may proliferate and cause disease.

The factors that lead to salmonellosis may not be obvious when looking at an individual farm. For example, there have been many outbreaks of Salmonella Typhimurium infection in North Island cows in the past, but a veterinarian investigating a single farm would struggle to work out why. One epidemiological study found that outbreaks were highly associated with the use of a magnesium supplement (not contaminated with Salmonella) (Stevenson et al., 2016).

If the use of that supplement was the precipitating factor, it presumably altered the physiological conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, allowing Salmonella to proliferate. In this situation farmers were applying what they thought were good management practices. This example shows that it’s not simply stress from poor management or inclement weather that leads to disease outbreaks.

But stress can be important.

Experimental work has shown that even when horses were given very high doses of Salmonella, the disease failed to appear (Smith et al., 1979). However, when food was withheld for 24–48 hours in another group, even small doses of Salmonella resulted in illness. This study illustrates that it’s not just the presence of an organism that causes disease; it’s the combination of the presence of an organism and other factors.

If animals are a prime source of new serotypes in a herd, what about in a country? There are various means by which a new serotype could come into New Zealand, but live animals are a risk and one serotype we would do well to keep out is Salmonella Dublin. This organism is present in Australia, so if imports of live cattle were to occur (resume) from Australia they would be a potential source of this serotype.

Salmonellosis outbreaks can’t be attributed to a single factor. It’s important to consider animals, people and the environment.

REFERENCES: Fossler CP, Wells SJ, Kaneene JB, Ruegg PL, Warnick LD, Bender JB, Godden S, Halbert L, Campbell AM, Zwald AG. Prevalence of Salmonella spp on conventional and organic dairy farms. Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association 225, 567–573. 2004 Smith B, Reina-Guerra M, Hardy AJ, Habasha F. Equine salmonellosis: experimental production of four syndromes. American Journal of Veterinary Research 40(8), 1072–7. 1979 Stevenson MA, Morgan PL, Sanhueza J, Oakley GE, Bateman RS, McFadden A, MacPherson N, Owen KL, Burton L, Walsh S, et al. A case-control study to identify risk factors for acute salmonellosis in New Zealand dairy herds, 2011–2012. Epidemiology & Infection 144, 2154–64, 2016

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When mistakes happen, we’ll be there

VP S VETERINARY

Professional Insurance Society Incorporated.

Insurance by veterinarians, for veterinarians, since 1987. www.vpis.org.nz | claims@vpis.org.nz | 04 405 1143

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NEW ZEALAND’S OWN

IN THE LAB

Diagnostics in pet wellness checks: yes or no?

Graham Swinney, Medicine Specialist and Medical Affairs Veterinarian at IDEXX Laboratories, explains the value of, and research into, including diagnostic tests in wellness checks.

VETERINARIANS ARE NOW offering preventive care protocols to clients in their clinics in the form of annual wellness checks for their adult and senior pets.

These checks may include vaccinations based on the patients’ individual needs, and may or may not include diagnostics.

For some veterinarians, the decision to not include diagnostics in a wellness check reflects a consideration of whether there is value in doing so when a patient has an unremarkable history and physical examination. However, the evidence for doing so is mounting and compelling.

Several professional bodies have produced guidelines on the care of dogs and cats at different life stages,

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including the American Association of Feline Practitioners (Vogt et al., 2010; Pittari et al., 2009), the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) (Epstein et al., 2005) and the Australian Veterinary Association (the guidelines are available on request). All recommend regular health checks with diagnostic testing included (annually for adults and every six months for seniors and geriatrics), especially as animals age.

Add to this a series of published studies evaluating the results of diagnostic testing in apparently healthy adult and senior pets, and you start to draw evidence-based conclusions on the value of diagnostics in a preventive care setting.

In a study of 100 cats (Paepe et al., 2013) and one involving 100 dogs (Willems et al., 2017), significant numbers of patients were found to have changes on blood and urine screens, and a more recent study in Australia involving 406 dogs and 130 cats showed that 6.2% of the dogs and 19.2% of the cats had significant changes that warranted further investigation (Dell’Osa and Jaensch, 2016).

The AAHA was interested in using the enormous amount of data the industry produces each year to understand the issue on a much larger scale. It took a different approach to data collection in its ‘Big Data’ study – evaluating more than 268,000 patients, but not necessarily in the same detail as the previous studies (AAHA, 2018).

Here are some details from the study that are relevant to all veterinarians: » Data was gathered and extracted from 5,016 consenting practices’ practicemanagement software. » Investigators evaluated patient profiles that were classified as ‘wellness examinations’ in the practice information-management systems. » A patient visit needed to include a complete blood count, a full chemistry profile including IDEXX symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), and ideally a urinalysis. » For some parameters the reference interval was widened slightly to a critical threshold before a result was abnormal (for example, for liver enzymes the lower range was set to zero, and in dogs the upper end of phosphorus was increased by 25%). » For most biochemical parameters, at least three or more results had to be abnormal before the findings were considered significant. » A single abnormal SDMA result was considered significant. » For haematology, only numerical values were assessed; changes on blood film reviews were not included.

The abnormalities identified included anaemia, reticulocytosis, leucocytosis, stress leucogram (lymphopaenia and eosinopaenia) and eosinophilia.

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IN THE LAB

PROFESSIONAL BODIES RECOMMEND REGULAR HEALTH CHECKS WITH DIAGNOSTIC TESTING INCLUDED (ANNUALLY FOR ADULTS AND EVERY SIX MONTHS FOR SENIORS AND GERIATRICS), ESPECIALLY AS ANIMALS AGE. In many ways the approach was conservative and meant that potentially significant changes were under-reported, with not all the haematological parameters evaluated and no comparisons made to previous results. We now recognise the benefits of assessing the health status of pets by using an individual reference interval (comparing current results to past results obtained for a patient) for some

routine parameters, creatinine being a good example.

In the AAHA study, the results were as follows for results that warranted further investigation.

The addition of SDMA made a significant difference to the number of patients warranting further evaluation.

In the adult and senior populations, an extra six per 100 patients required further investigation along with 13 per 100 geriatric patients.

Animal Medicines Australia’s 2019 pet ownership report showed an increasing percentage of clients bringing their pets to veterinarians to keep them well, and doing so more often than for illness (Animal Medicines Australia, 2019). The study also showed an increase in the rate at which people sought preventive care advice from their veterinarians.

In conclusion, and as we seek to enhance the health and wellbeing of pets, people and livestock, I would suggest that studies such as the ones discussed here provide supporting evidence for including diagnostic testing in discussions on wellness and preventive care.

In fact, observation suggests it is something that clients have come to want and expect.

REFERENCES: American Animal Hospital Association. Promoting preventive care protocols. www.aaha.org/globalassets/05pet-health-resources/promoting_preventive_care_ protocols.pdf (accessed 28 March 2020). US, 2018 Animal Medicines Australia. Pets in Australia: A national survey of pets and people. https:// animalmedicinesaustralia.org.au/wp-content/ uploads/2019/10/ANIM001-Pet-Survey-Report19_ v1.7_WEB_high-res.pdf (accessed 26 February 2020).

Australia, 2019 Dell’Osa D, Jaensch S. Prevalence of clinicopathological changes in healthy middle-aged dogs and cats presenting to veterinary practices for routine procedures. Australian Veterinary Journal 94, 317–23, 2016 Epstein M, Kuehn NF, Landsberg G, Lascelles BD, Marks SL, Schaedler JM, Tuzio H. AAHA senior care guidelines for dogs and cats. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association 41(2), 81–91, 2005 Paepe D, Verjans G, Duchateau L, Piron K, Ghys L, Daminet S. Routine health screening: Findings in apparently healthy middle-aged and old cats. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 15, 8–19, 2013 Pittari J, Rodan I, Beekman G, Gunn-Moore D, Polzin D, Taboada J, Tuzio H, Zoran D. American Association of Feline Practitioners: Senior care guidelines. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 11, 763–78, 2009 Vogt AH, Rodan I, Brown M, Brown S, Buffington T, LaRue Forman MJ, Neilson J, Sparkes A. AAFP-AAHA feline life stage guidelines.

Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 46, 70–85, 2010 Willems A, Paepe D, Marynissen S, Smets P, Van de Maele I, Picavet P, Duchateau L, Daminet S. Results of screening of apparently healthy senior and geriatric dogs. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 31(1), 81–92, 2017

VetScript June 2020 – 55

INNEWS THE WORKPLACE AND VIEWS

STRONGER THAN YESTERDAY Shaun Phelan, National Manager of Business Advisory Services at MAS, thinks about the emotional impacts on our workers due to COVID-19 and its spinoffs.

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has within a very short time forced an enormous number of changes to the way we live and work. It hasn’t been easy, and a full economic and social recovery may take years. But for many individuals and workplaces the lockdown has provided an opportunity to review the way they work.

Like most essential service providers, veterinary practices have had to adapt quickly to provide services in a different way and meet the expectations of their communities. These pressures can take their toll on practice staff and affect their resilience and wellbeing. Take a look at some strategies you can apply to support them in these challenging times.

RESILIENT STAFF TAKE THEIR LEAD FROM RESILIENT MANAGERS Good leadership is a key factor in building resilient teams. Team leaders and managers need to be strong and committed to getting the job done, but also be open, honest and compassionate in their dealings with their teams. It’s important to remember that tough times are tough on everyone, and your staff will only be able to do their jobs

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well if they’re feeling confident in themselves and the practice.

Ultimately staff need to take responsibility for their own mental health and wellbeing, but a well-timed word or thoughtful gesture from a colleague can work wonders. At the very least, you need to be aware that your staff deal with stress in different ways and may need extra support at work. This may include directing them to the appropriate agencies for mental health support.

From a business perspective, your practice also needs to have a management and financial structure that can survive setbacks. This can be built through thorough planning and risk assessments. Every practice should undertake a regular budgeting and planning process, have a business continuity plan, and review its insurance cover to make sure all contingencies are covered should the worst-case scenario eventuate.

SMALL THINGS MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR STAFF WELLBEING Say thank you for a job well done, regularly One of the most effective things you can do to improve staff wellbeing and resilience is to regularly show your appreciation for their work. It sounds simple but it makes a huge difference –

even if it’s spending a few minutes at the start of team meetings to highlight four or five positive things that have happened in the practice since the previous meeting.

If a staff member isn’t happy about their progress in a certain area, focus on the positive – remind them how much they’ve achieved, rather than commiserate over what they haven’t.

Think about what could be done differently, rather than who was at fault Problems are always going to crop up from time to time. Rather than apportioning blame to an individual, it’s a good idea to step back and see whether the problem could be a fault in your systems and processes or could be avoided in future by tweaking your processes.

Communicate often, and remember it’s a two-way street It’s also important to communicate well with your staff and ask them regularly how they’re getting on and whether they need help with anything. Your staff may then feel comfortable about speaking up when things get difficult, allowing you to head off problems before they become insurmountable. In return, make sure your staff know what you expect of them.

Provide clear position descriptions with expected outcomes, give them achievable

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IN THE WORKPLACE

ULTIMATELY STAFF NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING, BUT A WELL-TIMED WORD OR THOUGHTFUL GESTURE FROM A COLLEAGUE CAN WORK WONDERS.

goals and make sure they have the resources they need to attain them.

MAS HAS RESOURCES TO HELP A good place to start is the MAS Wellbeing Portal, which was launched in collaboration with Synergy Health to help MAS members and their families get through difficult times. It’s a free resource centre for MAS members that provides tools and simple, pragmatic advice on how to improve your physical, nutritional, mental and financial wellbeing.

To find out more about the portal and how to register, visit www.mas.co.nz/ mas-wellbeing-portal.

It’s also worth remembering that MAS offers members three free counselling sessions through EAP Services, an independent counselling service. The counselling is available 24/7 and EAP Services can work with you remotely

if you’d prefer not to go into one of its offices. All you need to do is mention you’re with MAS and EAP Services will invoice MAS directly. Your privacy is guaranteed – MAS doesn’t receive any information about members who’ve used the service.

To make an appointment, call EAP Services on 0800 327 669 or visit eapservices.co.nz.

MAS staff are happy to answer any questions on practice issues or dilemmas. You can get in touch by calling 0800 800 627 or emailing business@mas.co.nz.

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

SIGNS OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER A N T E M O RT E M I N S P E C T I O N

Skin discolouration: Cyanosis, erythemia, ecchymotic or petechial haemorrhage

Piling or huddling

Sudden, high mortality (farm or yards)

R E P O RT A N Y S I G N S O F A F R I C A N S W I N E F E V E R

TO M P I: 0800 80 99 66

For more info: nzpork.co.nz/asf/ OR biosecurity.govt.nz/african-swine-fever

High temperatures

Diarrhoea, possibly bloody

Information and images courtesy: US National Pork Board and USDA:APHIS Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at the Plum Island Animal Disease Centre (PIADC).

WELLBEING

WELLBEING TIPS

in uncertain times Nadine Hamilton, of veterinary wellbeing practice Positive Psych Solutions, passes on her tips for coping in times of uncertainty.

TIMES OF CHANGE and uncertainty can leave us feeling scared or overwhelmed, and lacking control. During such times it is important that we look after ourselves as best we can, so that we have the best chance of maintaining our psychological and physical wellbeing.

Below are some of my favourite tips for dealing with challenging and uncertain circumstances.

As a first step, do a ‘self-check’ of your wellbeing. Ideally you will be able to notice any changes and address them as soon as possible. Note the situations listed below are not exhaustive or diagnoses, but the more of them that you can relate to, the more you may be at risk and should consider speaking with a healthcare professional.

2 Appetite changes – have you noticed any changes in your appetite, such as not eating or eating more, or comfort eating?

1 Mood changes – have you noticed you are feeling irritable (such as snappy, short-tempered, easily annoyed or frustrated) or emotional (such as being more reactive, crying more or easily, having feelings of anger, or being stressed, anxious or depressed)?

Even if you are feeling just a little overwhelmed and unsure what to do, remember there is always help available – you just need to ask. I am a firm believer that speaking up and reaching out for support is a sign of strength, and not as some believe a sign of weakness.

To maintain your self-care, here are some of my top resilience and wellbeing tips. Despite popular opinion, resilience does not come naturally after a traumatic event, nor is it only built from trauma.

We can become more resilient through positive events as well.

2 Insomnia or sleep disturbances – are you finding it difficult to get to sleep or stay asleep, and/or waking earlier than usual and not being able to get back to sleep?

1 Alcohol or other substances – are you drinking/consuming more alcohol or other substances than usual, or perhaps have started to consume these substances for the first time?

58 – VetScript June 2020

1 Thoughts – are you aware of your mind racing? Take notice of your thoughts – are they catastrophic or do you find yourself ruminating over the same things constantly? Are your thoughts negative or more pessimistic than usual?

2 Behavioural changes – have you noticed any changes in your behaviour? Are you more aggressive than usual, feeling more withdrawn than usual, or even less motivated than is normal for you?

RESILIENCE QUICK TIPS » Watch your self-talk – are the words or stories your mind is telling you negative and unhelpful, or positive and realistic?

» Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, switch your mindset to looking at what you do have. » Recognise your symptoms, such as feeling stressed, anxious, depressed, burnt out or overwhelmed, and take action when you first notice them. » Recognise your individual ‘stressors’ (the things that make you feel stressed or overwhelmed) and establish ways to cope with them effectively. » Practise effective communication by being assertive – saying what you want to say in a way that is respectful to yourself and the person or people you are speaking to. Generally this involves making ‘I’ statements to reduce accusations (eg, ‘I feel really angry when you…’). ‘I’ statements can reduce the likelihood of the receivers reacting defensively. » Accept yourself as well as others, and recognise you are all trying to do the best you can. » Be compassionate with and understanding of yourself and others.

IMAGERY: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

NEWS WELLBEING AND VIEWS

Note this does not mean taking another person’s problems or issues on board as your own. » Focus on your successes rather than failures. Notice what you do well and the successful outcomes you have had, instead of the things that have not gone so well. » Develop self-control and selfdiscipline. Being surrounded by uncertainty does not mean it is time to let go of some of your healthy routines, such as exercising, eating well and relaxing.

It is very easy to get caught up in the drama that often goes with a time of change or crisis. Maintaining your wellbeing should be at the forefront of your day-to-day life. The following tips are my personal favourites for keeping occupied and psychologically healthy.

WELLBEING TIPS » Reduce your time on social media – try not to get caught up in everyone else’s dramas or negativity. If you find

»

»

»

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yourself checking your social media often, make sure you have some positive and helpful pages to follow to keep things balanced.

Only watch/listen to accurate and reliable sources of news. Do not believe everything you read or hear; quite often these stories are sensationalised and not accurate.

Maintain your daily routines as best you can, as long as they meet the basic rules of being safe, healthy and legal! If you cannot work due to social isolation, self-quarantine or lockdown, try to use the time you would normally spend at work constructively.

Take part in activities that help you feel relaxed. This does not necessarily mean you have to sit quietly and meditate or read a book (although that can be relaxing for many people); you may find it relaxing to dance, listen to music, do some gardening or go for a short jog.

Practise gratitude. Keep a gratitude diary and list all the things you are

grateful for each day. Reflect on these when you need a little ‘lift’. » Make a note of three good things about you each day, then notice three good things you have seen, heard or done each day. » Practise kindness to yourself and other people – it costs nothing to be kind, so try to get creative! » Learn and apply evidence-based coping strategies (such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). » Keep in touch with family and friends digitally – there are many online platforms available, as well as emails and the phone. » Spring clean the house. » Catch up on CPD – if you have a tonne of online courses or webinars you have not watched, now could be a great time to take a look. » Research or study something you are interested in, at both personal and professional levels. » Continue with or take up new hobbies. » Watch or listen to something funny. » Listen to your favourite podcasts. » Spend some time setting your short-, medium- and long-term goals, making sure they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based). » Do some gardening or exercise or make the most of sleeping in or having a nap. » Prepare some blogs for your practice’s website, update your website or create a new website if you do not already have one. » Prepare a series of email newsletters for your clients. » Create some social media posts for your practice’s pages. » Speak with your general practitioner or health professional about getting professional support if you need it.

There will always be things (sometimes big!) that we cannot control and that create uncertainty. Focusing on what you can control – healthy routines, what you spend your time doing – can go a long way towards maintaining a sense of psychological and physical wellbeing.

VetScript June 2020 – 59

NEWS AND VIEWS

COMPANION ANIMAL VETERINARIANS

Veterinary refresher scheme A self-directed course for veterinarians returning to companion animal practice.

ONLINE | WORKSHOP

ONLINE

» Start now! » Authors: Sandra Forsyth | Kate Hill | Andrew Worth » Register now at nzva.org.nz/event/cavrs

COMPANION ANIMAL VETERINARIANS

Get your teeth into best practice dentistry Improve your techniques in oral surgery and obtain better clinical outcomes with this comprehensive online course. » Online: 31 August–13 September 2020 | Due to COVID-19 workshop dates will be set later » Online tutor: Tony Caiafa | Workshop: Craig Hunger, Janine van Dam and John Wood » Register now at nzva.org.nz/event/20caden

COMPANION ANIMAL VETERINARIANS

Practical echocardiology course WORKSHOP

An introduction to obtaining and interpreting diagnostic echocardiograms. » Location: Palmerston North | Due to COVID-19 workshop dates will be set later » Tutors: Jacqui Huxley | Mark Owen | Sarah Pemberton » Watch this space! More information coming soon!

ALL VETERINARIANS

Backyard chooks and other feathered friends ONLINE

Increase your confidence and skills diagnosing and treating common pet poultry and small flock problems. » Date: 6–19 July 2020 » Tutors: Neil Christensen | Dawn Mills » Register now at nzva.org.nz/event/20avian Check out www.nzva.org.nz/educationhub 60 – VetScript June 2020

ONLINE | WORKSHOP

ONLINE | WORKSHOP

NEWS AND VIEWS

DAIRY CATTLE VETERINARIANS

Bovine ultrasound Learn the latest techniques in bovine ultrasound and improve your confidence. » Online: December 2020 | Due to COVID-19 workshop dates will be set later » Tutor: Steve Cranefield » Watch this space! More information coming soon!

SHEEP, BEEF CATTLE AND DEER VETERINARIANS

On-farm consultancy skills Improve your ability to engage with farmers to improve their farm businesses. » Online: 29 June 2020 | Due to COVID-19 workshop dates will be set later » Tutors: Graeme Dixon | Lab Wilson CPD Pathway | Awaiting final review for 5 Massey University credits.

» Register now at nzva.org.nz/event/20consult

SHEEP, BEEF CATTLE AND DEER VETERINARIANS

On-farm parasitology skills ONLINE

Latest diagnostics and treatment for internal parasites of sheep, cattle and deer. » Date: October 2020 » Tutors: Clive Bingham | Ginny Dodunski CPD Pathway | Under development for 5 Massey University credits.

» Watch this space! More information coming soon!

LARGE ANIMAL VETERINARY TECHNICIANS

Fundamental skills and procedures

branch of the nzva

ONLINE

Increase skills and knowledge on commonly encountered diseases and procedures. » Date: November 2020 » Tutors: Kate Gloyn | Ben Hodgson » Watch this space! More information coming soon!

Check out www.nzva.org.nz/educationhub VetScript June 2020 – 61

ONLINE | WORKSHOP

NEWS AND VIEWS

EQUINE VETERINARIANS

Introduction to race day and competition duty Learn the important skills required for race-day duty and other equine events. » Online: 27 July–9 August 2020 | Due to COVID-19 workshop dates will be set later » Tutors: Leigh de Clifford | Róisín Mc Quillan | Fred Pauwels | Jenny Sonis | Michelle Logan Tony Parsons » Register now at nzva.org.nz/event/20eqfa

EQUINE VETERINARIANS

Upper airway endoscopy roadshow WORKSHOP

Learn the basics of equine respiratory endoscopy. » Due to COVID-19 course format and dates will be confirmed as soon as possible » Tutor: Brian Anderson | Andrea Ritmeester » More information at nzva.org.nz/event/20eqendo

ALL VETERINARY PERSONNEL

2020 Leadership ProSkills programme

CRAMPTON

Consulting Group

Effectively lead your team and manage your practice.

ONLINE

» Start now! » Tutors: Sue Crampton | Mark Hardwick | Rosie Overfield | Deb Render » Register now at nzva.org.nz/event/2020ldpro

ALL VETERINARY PERSONNEL

2020 Leadership intelligence programme Contemporary and relevant leadership training.

ONLINE

» Start now! » Optional coaching support and implementation programme available » Register now at nzva.org.nz/event/2020ldint

Check out www.nzva.org.nz/educationhub 62 – VetScript June 2020

CRAMPTON

Consulting Group

NEWS AND VIEWS

ALL VETERINARY PERSONNEL

CONFERENCE

2021 NZVA Conference Save the date for the 2021 NZVA mega conference! » Date: 22–24 June 2021 | Location: Christchurch » 11 different lecture streams | Workshops offered on 25 June 2021 » Watch this space! More information coming soon!

CPD ACCREDITATION

ALL VETERINARY PERSONNEL

Looking at CPD from another organisation?

Be sure to check for the NZVA accreditation tick! » Quality CPD guaranteed » Animal ethics and welfare standards assured » More information available at https://www.nzva.org.nz/mpage/edhub-accreditation

NZVA would like to thank our Education Partners

VetScript June 2020 – 63

VetCPD

Online ALL VETERINARIANS

Backyard chooks and other feathered friends Increase your confidence and skills diagnosing and treating common pet poultry and small flock problems.

ADD POULTRY TO the list of species you know how to treat effectively with this

COURSE DETAILS DATES: Online: 6–19 July 2020

TOPICS: » Clinical examination of the individual bird

comprehensive course all about pet and small flock chooks! As well as being a popular pet in many urban settings, there has been an increase in the number of semi-commercial flocks in New Zealand. This means that veterinarians are increasingly expected to have a working knowledge of disease conditions in chickens and other poultry in order to best serve their current and potential clients.

This course will cover a wide range of topics to help you increase your knowledge, shift your practice to preventive medicine and achieve better welfare for your poultry clients’ birds! Regardless of whether you are treating one chook or a flock, this course will equip you with the essential skills you need to be an effective poultry veterinarian.

Diversify your practice and feel comfortable tackling cases that previously may have been too challenging. With support from experienced tutors you can make a real difference to your clients’ poultry with this online course!

» Diagnostics in the individual and flock situation

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

TUTORS:

» » » »

Neil Christensen BVSc, Registered Specialist in Poultry Medicine

Expand the range of patient species you feel confident caring for.

Learn how to more effectively treat your poultry patients.

Enhance the welfare outcomes for your poultry cases.

Make more rational antibiotic and therapeutic choices.

Further information is available at nzva.org.nz/event/20avian.

This course is worth eight hours of CPD activity. NZVA members get access to the MyCPD record. n

» Postmortem examination » Internal and external parasites » Marek’s disease » Egg problems » Systemic bacterial disease » Salmonellosis » Medication and vaccination » Anaesthesia and surgery

Dawn Mills BVSc, MANZCVS (Poultry Health)

PRICES: NZVA member Non-member

$460 $920

Prices are in NZD and include GST of 15%.

Proudly sponsored by

Brought to you by the NZVA. More events at: www.nzva.org.nz/educationhub 64 – VetScript June 2020

Wellbeing for our veterinarians nzva.org.nz/wellbeing Just as veterinarians encourage clients to seek their help early, the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) encourages veterinarians to do the same when it comes to emotional/ mental health. Three ways in which the NZVA can help you:

Wellbeing Hub We recognise that a veterinary career can be stressful and demanding at times and there are periods when veterinarians may feel 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 become available.

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

Vitae: Free counselling for veterinarians All veterinarians in New Zealand can get free, confidential counselling (up to three fully funded face-to-face sessions with a trained psychologist) and a 24-hour phone service that’s open seven days a week.

This is offered through Vitae and is funded by the NZVA and the Veterinary Council of New Zealand.

Appointments can be made via the 24-hour free phone service. Phone 0508 664 981 or complete the self-referral counselling form, which can be found here: www.vitae.co.nz/ contact/counselling-form.

Vitae provide the NZVA with confidential reports quarterly. These provide us with a valuable snapshot of current issues, early warning of potential hot spots, and will allow us over time to track trends and highlight workplace health and safety issues that have a direct impact on veterinarians, such as stress, financial problems and depression.

www.vitae.co.nz

NZVA Mentor Scheme The NZVA Mentor Scheme partners veterinarians (who are NZVA members) with experienced practitioners, to provide collegial support at any career stage. Whether you are a new graduate, returning to practice, or just feel like you would benefit from advice and support, we can help.

Read more about how mentoring works in the article below, published in VetScript

by Dianne Gardner from the School of Psychology at Massey University: www.nzva.org.nz/mentorarticle.

Also see our information booklet “Vets wellbeing, resilience and managing in a complex environment”, which gives tips on how to ensure a healthy work/life balance (www.nzva.org.nz/wellbeingbookl).

www.nzva.org.nz/mentor

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

MASTERTON

Experienced production animal veterinarian Exciting opportunity available!

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 also: • 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 and a 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 CPD 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

66 – VetScript June 2020

MORRINSVILLE

WAIRARAPA

Veterinarian

Mixed animal 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 with not only 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 one weekend in four 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.

An opportunity for a mixed animal new or recent graduate veterinarian is now available for our quickly growing private practice. All levels of experience, either part- or full-time, will be considered.

Our leadership team includes a small animal veterinarian with 20 years’ experience in all aspects of small animal medicine and surgery, and a large animal veterinarian with 15 years’ experience with a particular interest in dairy medicine.

Are you after strong mentorship with an above-average salary package?

The clinic actively encourages open learning with a strong, friendly and rewarding team environment.

Keinzley Agvet is a progressive clinic with a purpose-built companion animal clinic in Masterton and a production animal clinic in Carterton, which currently employs three veterinarians and 20 support staff, including seven technical advisors. We are a family-based company celebrating 25 years in business.

You will receive an above-average salary package, 4WD vehicle (with all clinical equipment), laptop and smartphone for professional and private use. Upskilling is also encouraged with a generous provision of CPD. We are based in stunning Wairarapa, which provides a variety of recreational activities with close proximity to the Tararua and Ruahine Ranges and extensive coastlines including the popular holiday destination Castlepoint. It’s a beautiful part of the country to live in with affordable house pricing.

The ideal candidate would be a mixed animal veterinarian with a focus on client relations, who is flexible and able to fit into a team environment. For the right candidate there are opportunities to develop in areas of interest due to the future growth of the company.

If this sounds like you, please send your CV to pkeinzley@xtra.co.nz or to: Keinzley Agvet PO Box 95 Carterton 5743 For further enquiries please feel free to contact Craig Dickson on 027 282 7016.

AUCKLAND

Dental residency Auckland Veterinary Dentistry and Oral Surgery is an American Veterinary Dental College (AVDC) approved residency site and is offering a full- or part-time residency position at our practice in Auckland.

Applicants must have completed a one-year internship or have equivalent experience in small animal practice.

The successful applicant will receive the necessary training to be able to submit their credentials to the AVDC. Full details of the residency requirements are available on the college’s website at https://avdc.org/resident-services.

Please send a letter of intent, CV and references to: Russell Tucker, Residency Director Email: russellt@aucklandvetdentist.co.nz

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

ASHBURTON

Lead companion animal veterinarian We are looking for an experienced companion animal veterinarian to roll up their sleeves and join our Ashburton clinic. This is a full-time position, starting immediately.

We are looking for an energetic team player who will complement our team well. Our clinic is well equipped with everything you would expect. We have a team of excellent support staff and veterinary nurses, and great veterinarians who you will be working alongside.

To succeed in this role you will have: • two or more years’ veterinary experience • a positive ‘can-do’ attitude, be organised and self-motivated and enjoy learning on the job • excellent communication skills, both verbal and written • a strong customer service ethic.

If you are an experienced companion animal veterinarian ready to step up to leadership, this could be the perfect role for you! You will oversee our busy small animal practice as well as immerse yourself in the day-to-day clinical caseload. You will lead a team of veterinary nurses and other companion animal veterinarians to continue to grow and develop our modern, well-resourced clinic. Treat it as your own.

Relish the challenge.

Excited about the possibilities yet?

You should be, because you’ll be joining one of New Zealand’s largest veterinary groups, so you can expect plenty of support to do your best work in the role, in terms of both resources and people, and a range of benefits. You’ll step into a highly collaborative work culture that values innovation and future-focused thinking.

There’s never been a better time to take the next step in your career. You’ll grow your skills beyond clinical practice and work and live in a location most would envy.

Are you ready for a refreshing change of scene – in more ways than one? You’ll be working in one of the most stunning areas of New Zealand. There’s a huge range of off-the-clock activities available in the region, from snow sports to hiking and fishing.

Has your time come?

Apply by emailing your CV and covering letter to careers@vetent.co.nz.

FERRYMEAD

LEESTON

Companion animal veterinarian

Large animal veterinarian

We are seeking an enthusiastic and friendly companion animal veterinarian to join our team in Ferrymead. This is a part-time position of approximately 27 hours per week, excluding rostered Saturday clinic.

The successful candidate will work a full day on Mondays and will work on Friday afternoons; the other days and times can be negotiated. This is also a great opportunity to develop your skills by being mentored by a senior veterinarian.

We are looking for an energetic team player who will complement our team well.

Ferrymead is a perfect location for anyone who wants the best of both worlds with access to countless outdoor recreational activities. It is a great area for families and keen outdoor enthusiasts.

Our clinic is well equipped with everything you would expect. We have a team of excellent support staff and veterinary nurses, and great veterinarians who you will be working alongside.

To succeed in this role you will have: • a minimum of two years’ veterinary experience • a positive ‘can-do’ attitude, be organised and self-motivated and enjoy learning on the job • excellent communication skills, both verbal and written • a strong customer service ethic.

Veterinary Enterprises Group is one of New Zealand’s largest veterinary companies with more than 280 staff based in 20 locations across New Zealand. Our mission is to provide exceptional service to the communities which we serve.

To maintain our vision to be New Zealand’s leading provider of animal health and productivity services we need you!

If you have a passion for providing innovative animal health solutions and are client focused and results driven, then this is the right role for you.

Please apply by emailing careers@vetent. co.nz.

More information about VetEnt can be found at www.vetent.co.nz.

We are looking for a large animal veterinarian to roll up their sleeves and join our team. You will be based at Leeston but you will also work with our clinics in Lincoln and Darfield. This is a full-time position and requires a candidate who is a team player that is willing to get involved in large animal veterinary work.

To succeed in this role you will have: • two or more years’ veterinary experience • a positive ‘can-do’ attitude, be organised, self-motivated, and enjoy learning on the job • excellent communication skills, both verbal and written • a strong customer service ethic.

Excited about the possibilities yet?

You should be, because you’ll be joining one of New Zealand’s largest veterinary groups, so you can expect plenty of support to do your best work in the role, in terms of resources and people, and a range of benefits. You’ll step into a highly collaborative work culture that values innovation and future-focused thinking.

There’s never been a better time to take the next step in your career. You’ll work and live in a location most would envy, and you’ll be able to make a professional impact on the veterinary industry.

Has your time come?

Apply by emailing your CV and covering letter to careers@vetent.co.nz.

VetScript June 2020 – 67

NEWS CLASSIFIEDS AND VIEWS

MARKETPLACE

TO FIND OR FILL A JOB IN NEW ZEALAND

FOR SALE

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.

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

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

2020 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING The classified section is a great place to advertise for help wanted and to list items and practices that are for sale or that you want to buy. VetScript accepts classified ads for veterinary technicians, veterinary nurses, practice managers and veterinary office staff, as well as for veterinarians.

Web-only advertising is available in the Classified Advertisements section of the NZVA website: $204 for 200 words; $31 per extra 20 words

Positions at BESTPRACTICE-accredited practices are placed at the beginning of the classified section on a BESTPRACTICE-branded background, so be sure to identify if your practice is BESTPRACTICE-accredited.

Deadline for booking and copy

All rates are exclusive of GST. Rates General classifieds (minimum charge $132 = 4cm): $33 per column cm Marketplace advertising of items for sale up to $5,000 value (Marketplace is not for employment opportunities); maximum 25 words: $72 for NZVA members, $97 for non-members Relist at 50% off initial fee (continuous relisting only).

For special features, including borders and screens, please contact the NZVA (details below).

Website All classified advertisements are placed on the NZVA website (www.nzva.org.nz) at no additional cost.

Early placement on website (prior to VetScript publication date): $92

Relist at 50% off initial fee (continuous relisting only).

The 1st of the month preceding publication.

Late classifieds Printed on loose, coloured insert and placed on the NZVA website for one month.

Only distributed to New Zealand subscribers. Deadline is the 20th of the month preceding publication.

Quarter page (83 x 115mm): $528 Half page (170 x 115mm): $815 Full page (170 x 230mm): $1,095 Overseas advertisers (in NZ$) Per column cm (minimum charge $152 = 4cm): $38 Advertisements section of the NZVA website: $240 for 200 words; $36 per extra 20 words Relist at 50% off initial fee (continuous relisting only).

Enquiries and bookings For enquiries, bookings and to submit copy, please contact the NZVA Membership Coordinator: Phone: 04 471 0484 Email: classifieds@vets.org.nz

68 – VetScript June 2020

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