Clinical

The veterinary nurse's role in recognising sepsis

The Rule of 20 is a list of parameters that are recommended to be evaluated daily or more often in a critical patient (Kirby, 2016). The Rule of 20 can be used as part of a nursing care plan to help...

Stress in chelonians (tortoises, terrapins and turtles)

The physical environment should provide opportunities for maintenance of homeostasis and for the range of normal behaviours to be shown. Similarly the presence (or absence) of other chelonians may...

Feline stress in a nutshell — why does it occur, how can it be recognised, and what can be done to alleviate it?

Even the owners of highly sociable indoor cats will describe the frequent tendency of their cat to actively desire periods of solitary independence. This level of freedom to remove themselves from the...

Supporting quality of life in feline patients with chronic kidney disease

CKD may be influenced by genetic, individual and environmental factors (Jepson, 2016). Decline in kidney function is considered normal in ageing animals (Polzin, 2011), however incidences of CKD in...

Malocclusion in dogs and cats

Malocclusion can be defined as the abnormal positioning of teeth. It is important to understand, therefore, what is considered normal occlusion in cats and dogs (AVDC, 2017)..

Common equine upper respiratory tract surgery: a nurse's perspective

It is common practice to starve the patient for 8 hours prior to surgery if the patient is to undergo a general anaesthetic (King, 2014)..

Canine stress in a nutshell — why does it occur, how can it be recognised, and what can be done to alleviate it?

A dog's natural response to a novel encounter with a stimulus (whatever it is) is one of preparatory arousal (Gray, 1987) — it is this initiation of a stress response that will enable an appropriate...

Nurse-led parasite control

Strategies to limit parasitic disease rely on a combination of practical control measures and preventative drug treatments; these form the basis of parasite-control protocols for individual pets....

Pet travel: the lesser known threats to UK pets

The Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) is designed to protect countries against the introduction of zoonotic disease. This legislation also serves two-fold to protect pets from disease, but there is...

Let's talk about stress

Stress is an emotional and physiological response to change in an animal's environment (Mills et al, 2013). Such change is brought about by the presence of a ‘stressor’ which can be a stimulus that is...

Allergic otitis externa in the dog

Most dogs with CAD as their primary cause for ear disease develop otitis between 1 and 5 years of age with 31% presenting with ear disease before 12 months of age (Zur et al, 2011). Breed incidence...

Preventing catheter-related bloodstream infections from a central venous catheter

Many precautions and techniques utilised in the placement of central venous catheters are directed at preventing CRBSI. The common types of central venous catheters are over-the-needle,...