Clinical

Rehabilitation and recovery times for canine patients post hemilaminectomy

Zidan et al (2018) conducted a randomised, blinded, prospective clinical trial, evaluating the difference that basic and intensive rehabilitation had on the time to ambulation. The population...

Initial Assessment and Stabilisation of the Head Trauma Patient

The brain, along with cerebrospinal fluid and intracranial blood, make up the cranial space, which is all enclosed by skull (Elias et al, 2019). The pressure within the skull, the intracranial...

A Practical Guide to the New Feline Cardiomyopathy Consensus Statement

Cardiomyopathy is the main cause of cardiac morbidity and mortality in cats, and hyper-trophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most commonly diagnosed form (Payne et al, 2015). Cats can often have...

Educating clients about raw diets and the associated parasitic risks

All puppies and kittens are infected with Toxocara canis and T. cati respectively, at, or shortly after birth (Overgaauw and Van Knapen, 2013). This occurs through transplacental (puppies) and...

CPD article: Poisons affecting the cardiovascular system

Many different types of substances found in the home can have adverse effects on cardiac and cardiovascular function. If uncontrolled, these can lead to complications of cardiac damage and tissue...

Nutrition in critical care

Nutrition is described as the processes of food utilisation by a plant or animal (Merriam-Webster, 2020). The terms macro and micronutrients refer to the volume of each that is required....

The veterinary nurse's role in the management of wound drains

Once a wound is created, whether this be as a result of a surgical incision or trauma, the body's response will be to commence wound healing. The normal wound healing process occurs in three phases:...

How to place a FreeStyle Libre in veterinary patients

The registered veterinary nurse (RVN) has a large role to play in helping manage and monitor diabetic patients. A sound understanding of the disease itself, common clinical signs and the treatment...

Complications of diabetes mellitus in canine and feline patients

Traditionally, classification of diabetes mellitus has mirrored that of the human disorder and is categorised into type-1 like and type-2 like diabetes mellitus..

Feline idiopathic cystitis: what to suggest

Because of the wide range of symptoms and presentations it is likely that FIC has multiple causes (Forrester and Towell, 2015)..

Anaesthetic management of paediatric and neonatal patients

Although young patients are capable of rapid repair, it was stated by Rigotti and Brearley (2016) that these patients have a reduced capacity to compensate in response to physiological changes that...

Acute pancreatitis in canine patients

Pancreatitis is described as the most common exocrine disease affecting both canines and felines (Steiner, 2020). Premature activation of digestive enzymes results in pancreatic autodigestion, leading...