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There was lively debate of some key issues at an online meeting of BVA Council on 20 April (see pages 346 and 348). Other matters discussed included two new BVA position papers and potential changes to BVA governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is ongoing debate in the profession as to whether veterinary students should focus on one (or a small number of) species during their undergraduate training (ie, track). This paper presents the qualitative data from surveys evaluating UK stakeholder opinion on introducing partial tracking (whereby students continue to qualify able to practise in all species) and full tracking (students qualify in a limited number of species with restricted registration). Surveys were distributed to practitioners, students and university staff; 1061 responses were completed. Thematic framework analysis was conducted on the free-text responses; responses were coded to a hierarchical framework developed inductively from the data. Six major themes were identified: choice, flexibility, competency and knowledge, stakeholder implications, specialisation and 'what is a vet?'. The majority of the themes related to both full and partial tracking, usually being more pronounced in full tracking. The theme 'choice' is particularly important in light of the study's quantitative findings on students' awareness of the profession and their career aspirations (presented in a previous paper); should tracking be implemented, veterinary schools will need to take a proactive role in educating and assisting students while making career choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is on-going debate regarding whether veterinary students should focus on one (or a small number of) species during their undergraduate training (ie, track). The aims of this study were to: evaluate UK stakeholders' opinion on partial tracking (whereby students continue to qualify able to practise in all species) and full tracking (students qualify in a limited number of species necessitating restricted registration); and evaluate students' career aspirations in relation to the UK veterinary profession's employment profile. This paper presents the quantitative results of surveys completed by practitioners, students and university staff. The majority of respondents (69.4 per cent) disagreed or strongly disagreed with full tracking, however, there was widespread support for partial tracking (79.0 per cent agreed or strongly agreed). Students favoured partial tracking more so than practitioners (P<0.001). Univariate analysis of demographic factors did not identify differences in opinion regarding tracking within stakeholder groups. Students' knowledge of the UK veterinary employment profile appeared accurate. However, their career aspiration changed with year of the course, and only final year students' intentions were aligned with the profession's current profile. Qualitative data from these surveys are presented in a second paper and include the advantages, disadvantages and implications of partial and full tracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic sample of 2800 articles published between 1970 and 2000 in 14 major biomedical journals was analysed to assess the implementation of the 'Three Rs' (replacement, reduction and refinement) in biomedical research. During this period the total number of articles published annually by the journals more than doubled, but the proportion of studies using animals decreased by 30 per cent. There was a significant increase, from 21 per cent to 35 per cent, in the proportion of animal studies which made use of untreated euthanased animals as donors of biological materials, a gradual decrease in the number of chronic studies on animals, and a 50 per cent decrease in the average number of animals used per published paper. There was an improvement in the reporting of the specification of the animals' husbandry, conditions of care and environment. Parameters of importance for the evaluation of the scientific quality of the research and the welfare of the animals were generally poorly reported, but the proportion of papers with adequate information on most of the parameters analysed increased between 1970 and 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rabbits are popular pets, but research into their welfare is limited. This study analysed the potential association(s) between the provision of suitable housing and owner demographic factors. Methods: Data from 2017, 2018 and 2019 PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) report surveys gave a sample of 1333 UK rabbit owners. Whether the rabbit housing was adequate or inadequate was ascertained by asking owners to indicate images of hutch and run size or indoor environment type that were similar to their own. The owner demographic factors collected included gender, education, household income and deprivation. Chi‐squared tests and binary logistic regression (univariable and multivariable) were used to investigate factors associated with adequate/inadequate housing. Results: One‐third (31.2%) of rabbits lived in inadequate housing and half were housed alone (51.4%). Male owners were more likely to report providing inadequate housing than females (odds ratio [OR] = 1.795, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.319–2.441, p < 0.001). Compared to owners over 55 years old, those aged 25–34 years were more likely to house their rabbits inadequately (OR = 2.050, 95% CI 1.286–3.267, p = 0.003). Owners with a household income below average were more likely to report providing inadequate housing compared to those with a household income above average (OR = 1.406, 95% CI 1.025–1.928, p = 0.035). Conclusion: The findings identify that inadequate rabbit housing is provided by owners of all ages, genders and deprivation levels but highlight some particular owner demographics that could be useful to target if resources are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While most cattle and sheep in the United Kingdom are stunned before slaughter, non‐stun methods are permitted to supply meat to specific consumers. This study aimed to identify the existing literature that compared animal welfare indicators during stun and non‐stun slaughter, using a scoping review framework. Method: Following a structured search strategy, including the establishment of a PICO (population, intervention, comparator and outcomes) question, a comprehensive literature search of the CAB Abstracts, MEDLINE and PubMed databases, was conducted. A total of 962 papers were identified, of which 16 were selected for data extraction. Results: Fourteen papers concluded that welfare at slaughter was negatively impacted at non‐stun slaughter in comparison to stun slaughter; two papers were inconclusive. Welfare indicators identified included biochemical parameters, brain activity and visual signs of consciousness. Limitations regarding inconsistent restraint method, neck cut position and non‐standardised measures of welfare at slaughter are highlighted. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence that stunning is an effective method to improve the welfare of sheep and cattle at slaughter. Animal welfare advisors, politicians, religious communities and others interested in animal welfare could use the findings to further discuss and establish new dialogues for producing updated guidance on animal welfare at slaughter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proportion of UK veterinary surgeons who die by suicide as opposed to other causes is approximately four times that of the general population, and around twice that of other healthcare professionals. Recent research suggests that veterinary surgeons report high levels of psychological distress. This paper proposes a portfolio of evidence-based interventions, for both organisations and individuals, which have the potential to improve mental health and wellbeing in the veterinary profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this paper were to characterise lesions found at the hock and to establish their prevalence across a large sample of dairy cows in the UK. In addition, the study aimed to examine farmers' perceptions of these lesions. Seventy-seven farms were visited; both hocks on a random sample of approximately 50 cows were scored on a categorical scale for hair loss, ulceration and swelling. In addition, the size and location of lesions were marked on a hock map. A questionnaire designed to explore attitudes towards lesions was conducted with the owner. Hair loss and ulceration were seen at five locations. Hair loss was identified on 5,619 of 6,896 hocks (mild: 43.7 per cent; moderate: 25.1 per cent; severe: 12.6 per cent) and 1,137 of 6,896 hocks had areas of ulceration (mild: 8.6 per cent; moderate: 5.8 per cent; severe: 2.1 per cent). The majority of lesions were small; however, a small proportion had extensive areas of hair loss (maximum size 113.3 cm²) and ulceration (maximum size 95.5 cm²). Moderate swelling was recorded on 20 per cent of hocks, and 2.0 per cent had severe swelling. Interview results suggested that more than 90 per cent of participants were aware of hock lesions and a third had sought treatment for them; most felt that lesions had at least some impact on productivity and welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Associations between Neospora caninum infection and the reproductive performance of dairy heifers in their first and second pregnancy on 18 UK farms were examined. Six-month-old heifer calves were tested for N caninum-specific antibodies with a commercial ELISA, and were then monitored until their second calving. Random-effects regression analyses were performed on the data, using serological status as the explanatory variable. Of 460 heifers tested, 7.2 per cent were seropositive. Seropositive heifers were more likely to suffer gestational loss (late embryonic/early fetal loss and abortion) than seronegative heifers during their first (odds ratio [OR] 5.3, P<0.01) and second (OR 6.0, P<0.001) pregnancy. Seropositive heifers were also four times more likely to experience perinatal mortality (calf born dead or dying within 24 hours of parturition) at first (OR 3.9, P<0.01) and second (OR 4.5, P<0.1) calving. No significant association between seropositivity and the fertility parameters (age at first breeding and calving, days from calving to first service and conception, services per conception and calving interval) or conception failure was found. The results suggest that N caninum infection before pregnancy is a significant contributing factor to gestational loss and perinatal death, and thus serological screening of potential replacement heifers is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the management and health problems of donkeys on loan to independent carers from The Donkey Sanctuary are characterised, and the demographics of the UK's donkey population are described using data from a variety of sources. All carers that fostered a donkey from The Donkey Sanctuary between September 2004 and August 2005 (1432 donkeys) were surveyed using a postal questionnaire requesting information about the donkey, its premises, daily care, health and preventive medicine. The response rate was 77.8 per cent. The mean (sd) age of the donkeys was 20.8 (7.4) years. The majority (92 per cent) of the donkeys were kept as pets. Approximately one-third (33.6 per cent) of the donkeys were overweight. The most common medical problems were hoof, dermal and oral problems. A total of 86 per cent of the donkeys had a dental examination at least every 12 months, and at least 45 per cent had at least one dental problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dystocia has serious consequences for both mother and offspring. This study therefore aimed to identify risk factors for dystocia in vaginally delivered spring born beef calves in Great Britain (GB). Methods: Information on calving assistance, calf sex, birthweight, breed, twinning, dam parity and body condition score (BCS) was collected from 1131 calves across 84 GB farms. Variables were modelled against calving assistance as a binary response variable. Results: Twins (Odds Ratio [OR] = 5.45), Charolais calves (OR = 3.24), calves from primiparous dams (OR = 5.75) and male calves (OR = 1.75) were at significantly increased risk of requiring calving assistance across all models. Calves born to cows classed as thin (BCS < 2.5/5) were identified in the univariate analysis and in one of the multivariate models (OR = 1.92) as having an increased likelihood of dystocia. Conclusions: Most beef herds have limited scope to manage cows on the basis of fetal gender and number. However, calf breed, dam body condition and management of primiparous dams can be manipulated to reduce the risk of dystocia and improve supervision. Poor body condition is a novel risk factor for dystocia in beef cows and worthy of further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Johne's disease (JD) is an infectious, progressive, gastrointestinal disease affecting ruminants. Calves are mostly infected in their first six months of life, or in utero. We investigated the impact of specific periparturient management practices on within-herd JD prevalence and economic losses foregone in UK dairy herds by means of data synthesis (systematic appraisal of published evidence and expert elicitation) and use of a pre-existing simulation model. Our results show the scarcity of accurate estimates of the impact of specific periparturient management practices on within-herd JD prevalence, which could, in part, be explained by challenges associated with the chronic nature of JD. Management practices aiming to limit the faecal-oral transmission route of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) were found to be most effective at reducing within-herd prevalence of JD. Practices aiming to limit MAP transmission via colostrum and milk were found to be less effective. Losses foregone for a hypothetical herd of 200 milking cows were considerable; based on the assumptions, it is reasonable to expect between £7000 and £11,000 of losses foregone when management practices are implemented as a package of measures. The findings of this study are envisaged to enable farmers and veterinarians to make more informed decisions on changes to periparturient management to control JD [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early-warning surveillance provides an essential component of the evidence required to protect animal health. Assessing the proportion of the population included in surveillance systems (coverage) provides a measure of the effectiveness of early-warning surveillance, and contributes to ensuring that these systems are efficient. This paper describes an investigation of methods used for assessing the coverage and representativeness of the 'FarmFile' early-warning surveillance system. This system uses information collected with samples submitted to diagnostic laboratories by private veterinary practitioners in England and Wales. Available data on pig holdings and veterinary practices in four English counties, selected to represent a range of diverse population characteristics, were supplemented using surveys of veterinary practices. Coverage assessments were based on submissions made to FarmFile in 2009. The proportion of holdings covered varied from 5-62 per cent in Devon and Cumbria, and 16-97 per cent in Norfolk and East Riding of Yorkshire. The results suggest that while the proportion of individual pigs covered by the current early-warning surveillance system is high, small and breeding-only holdings in some regions may be poorly covered. Coverage assessments vary depending on the methods used for their assessment, and multiple assessment methods can provide a 'range' within which coverage lies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which aims to compare the opinions of dairy farmers and farm veterinary surgeons on herd health plans (HHPs) and herd health and production management (HH&PM) in Great Britain to discover differences in their opinions. The study distributes two paper-based questionnaires, one for farm dairy farmers and one for farm veterinarians. The study reveals that cost-effectiveness is a major concern among farmers and veterinarians.

This paper reports the results of a case-control study of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) cases born in Great Britain after the statutory reinforcement of the ban (BARB) on the feeding of mammalian-derived meat and bone meal on 31 July 1996. A total of 499 suspect clinical cases of BSE, born after 31 July 1996, and reported negative by July 31, 1996 and were compared with the set of 164 confirmed Great BARB cases in Great Britain detected by both passive and active surveillance. Animal-level risk factors (age and type of feed offered) and herd-level risk factors (herd size and type, number of prereinforced feed ban BSE cases born on the holding, the presence of other domestic species and waste management) were obtained for the analysis. BARB cases were 2.56 times (95 per cent CI 1.29 to 5.07) more likely to be exposed to homemix or a combination of homemix and proprietary feeds were 0.59 times (95 per cent CI 0.50 to 0.69) as less likely to be exposed to the unit increases in the number of prereinforced feed ban BSE cases diagnosed on the natal holding. A supplementary spatial analysis of these cases revealed three areas of excess BARB density: Northwest and Southwest of Wales and Northeast of Scotland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines UK farmers' levels of confidence in vaccinating badgers against bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and their trust in the Government's ability to deal with bTB. In 2010, a badger vaccine based on the BCG vaccine was licensed following field trials and used as part of the UK Government's Badger Vaccination Deployment Project. A stratified random sample of cattle farmers in five different locations of England was surveyed using a telephone survey to elicit their views of badger vaccination. The survey provided a total of 341 responses with a response rate of 80 per cent. Results suggest that the farmers are cautious about badger vaccination, appearing to be neither overly confident nor unconfident in it. However, the farmers did not reveal high levels of trust in the Government to manage bTB policy or badger vaccination. There were no differences in the levels of confidence or trust between farms that were under bTB restrictions at the time of the survey and those that were not or between farms with historically high levels of bTB. Analysis of principal components suggests that 33 per cent of the farmers accepted badger vaccination, but that acceptance is dependent on the wider social and political environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pig health schemes based on abattoir inspections provide an integrated system to optimise the postmortem detection and the reporting of pathological lesions. In Great Britain, two initiatives have been implemented by the pig industry: Wholesome Pigs Scotland (WPS) and the BPEX Pig Health Scheme (BPHS). These schemes record the presence of a range of pathological lesions detected by means of detailed inspection of the pluck and the skin of the slaughtered pigs. The lesions are those associated with a reduction in performance traits or are indicators of animal welfare problems. This paper aims to provide an overview of the objectives behind the BPHS and their activities, outlining similarities and differences between WPS and BPHS on five main operational topics: the lesions monitored, the administration of the schemes, flow of the information, inspection strategies and the major idiosyncratic characteristics of the schemes. These initiatives inform individual producers and their veterinarians of the occurrence of pathological conditions affecting their pig herds. Additionally, they offer the added value of providing nationwide disease monitoring information and have the potential to be a useful surveillance tool for emerging and enzootic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From May 15, 2005 to April 15, 2008, 1878 cases of neoplasms in dogs were reported to the web-based Danish Veterinary Cancer Registry. The proportions of malignant (38 per cent) and benign (45 per cent) tumours were similar. The most common malignant neoplasms were adenocarcinomas (21 per cent), mast cell tumours (19 per cent) and lymphomas (17 per cent). The benign neoplasms most commonly encountered were lipomas (24 per cent), adenomas (22 per cent) and histiocytomas (14 per cent). Skin (43 per cent) and the female reproductive system including mammary tissue (28 per cent) were the most common locations of neoplasia. There was a distinct breed predisposition for tumour development, with a high standard morbidity ratio (indicating a higher risk of cancer) for boxers and Bernese mountain dogs. A standard morbidity ratio below 1 was observed in German shepherd dogs and Danish/Swedish farm dogs, suggesting a lower risk of cancer in these breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A random sample of 2980 households in the UK in 2007 showed that 26 per cent and 31 per cent of households owned cats and dogs, respectively. Households with gardens were more likely to own cats and dogs than households without gardens. Households in which someone was qualified to degree level were more likely to own cats and less likely to own dogs than other households. Cats were more likely to be owned by semi-urban/rural households and by female respondents. Dog ownership significantly decreased the likelihood of cat ownership, and respondents aged 65 years or more were less likely to report that their household owned a cat than younger respondents. Households with one or more dogs and children aged 11 to 15 years were more likely to own a cat than other households. The likelihood of dog ownership increased as household size increased. Dogs were more likely to be owned by rural households, and less likely to be owned by households with cats or children aged 10 years or younger. Female respondents and those aged less than 55 years were more likely to report dog ownership than other respondents. The estimated size (and 95 per cent confidence intervals) of the owned cat and dog populations in the UK in 2006 was 10,332,955 (9,395,642 to 11,270,269) cats and 10,522,186 (9,623,618 to 11,420,755) dogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major challenge in veterinary undergraduate admissions is to select those students with most suitability for veterinary training and careers from a large and diverse pool of applicants with very high academic ability. This paper describes a review of the admissions processes of the seven veterinary schools in the UK. There was significant commonality in the entry requirements and the criteria upon which the schools made decisions on candidates. There was some variation in the procedures used by individual schools to select candidates, but common themes existed within these processes. All of the schools evaluated both academic and non-academic factors for individual applicants, and all used interviews in some format as a selection tool after an initial short-listing process. The procedures and approaches to selection processes are compared and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two serovars of salmonella which are currently of particular importance in both human and animal infections are Salmonella enterica serovars Enteritidis phage type 4 (PT4) and Typhimurium definitive type 104 (DT104). This paper describes the trends in the relationships between the levels of infection of people and a range of farm animal species with these two serovars and explores some of the reasons behind them. In 1996, there was a peak of 520 reports of S Typhimurium DT104 infection in people in Scotland, but the number has decreased every year since, to 96 in 2001. In cattle the incidence of S Typhimurium DT104 also peaked in 1996, with 138 incidents, and it has similarly decreased every year to 2001 when there were 10 reported incidents. Similar declines have been observed in its incidence in sheep and pigs. In people the number of reports of S Enteritidis PT4 peaked in 1997 at 1684 and then declined to 457 in 2001. In chickens, the number of reports of S Enteritidis PT4 peaked in 1998 at 34 incidents, but no incidents were reported in the following three years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of evidence-based veterinary medicine involves the utilisation of scientific evidence for clinical decision making. To enable this, research topics pertinent to clinical practice need to be identified, and veterinary clinicians are best placed to do this. The main aim of this study was to describe the veterinary population, the common species and conditions veterinary clinicians nominated they saw in practice and how much information clinicians perceived was available in the literature for these. A questionnaire was distributed to all Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons registered veterinarians agreeing to be contacted for research purposes (n=14,532). A useable response rate of 33 per cent (4842/14,532) was achieved. The most commonly seen species reported by vets were dogs, cats and rabbits followed by equines and cattle. Overall, skin conditions were most commonly mentioned for small animals, musculoskeletal conditions for equines and reproduction conditions for production animals. Veterinary clinicians perceived there was a higher level of information available in the literature for conditions in dogs, cattle and equines and lower levels for rabbits and guinea pigs. The results from this study can be used to help define the research needs of the profession to aid the incorporation of evidence in veterinary practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A monophasic group B Salmonella enterica 4,12:a:-- was first isolated in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in Scotland in 1991. This paper reports the isolation of the same group B S enterica from harbour porpoise carcases found stranded along the Cornwall and Devon coastlines. Between 1991 and 2002, 80 harbour porpoises were submitted for postmortem examination and subjected to bacteriological examination under the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme. A total of 28 Salmonella isolates were recovered and subjected to several tests, including biochemical, molecular and serological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent outbreak of ischaemic teat necrosis (ITN) on mainland UK has resulted in large economic losses for dairy farmers. Typical cases start as an area of dry, thickened and encrusted skin on the medial aspect of the base of the teat, where the teat joins the udder, often with a fetid odour. The erosion spreads down the teat, often causing intense irritation, which in turn leads to more severely affected animals removing the entire teat. Due to the severity of ITN and the substantial economic costs to the industry, analyses were undertaken to ascertain if an infectious agent might be involved in the pathology. The study has considered a role for digital dermatitis (DD) treponemes in the aetiopathogenesis of ITN because, as well as being the prime bacteria associated with infectious lameness, they have been associated with a number of emerging skin diseases of cattle, including udder lesions. A high association between presence of DD-associated treponemes and incidence of ITN (19/ 22), compared with absence in the control population is reported. Furthermore, sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene of treponeme isolates supports the hypothesis that the identified treponemes are similar or identical to those isolated from classical foot DD lesions in cattle (and sheep). Further studies are required to allow effective targeted prevention measures and/or treatments to be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study was to quantify the risk of tail injury, to evaluate the extent to which tail docking reduces this risk, and to identify other major risk factors for tail injury in dogs in Great Britain. A nested case-control study was conducted during 2008 and 2009. Data were obtained from a stratified random sample of veterinary practices throughout Great Britain, and questionnaires were sent to owners of dogs with tail injuries and owners of a randomly selected sample of dogs without tail injuries. The risks of injury were reported adjusting for the sampling approach, and mixed effects logistic regression was used to develop a multivariable model for risk factors associated with tail injury. Two hundred and eighty-one tail injuries were recorded from a population of 138,212 dogs attending 52 participating practices. The weighted risk of tail injuries was 0.23 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval 0.20 to 0.25 per cent). Thirty-six per cent of injuries were reportedly related to injuries sustained in the home, 17.5 per cent were outdoor-related injuries, 14.4 per cent were due to the tail being caught in a door, for 16.5 per cent the cause was unknown and the remainder were due to other causes. Dogs with a wide angle of wag and dogs kept in kennels were at significantly higher risk of sustaining a tail injury. Dogs with docked tails were significantly less likely to sustain a tail injury; however, approximately 500 dogs would need to be docked in order to prevent one tail injury. English springer spaniels, cocker spaniels, greyhounds, lurchers and whippets were all at significantly higher risk when compared to labradors and other retrievers. Differences between countries (England, Scotland and Wales) and between rural and urban environments were not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2004/05, all European Union member states were required to carry out standardised prevalence surveys to establish the baseline prevalence of Salmonella in commercial laying flocks. As part of the survey in Great Britain, additional data were collected from 380 of the enrolled laying hen holdings to investigate risk factors for Salmonella at farm level. Stratified, simple random sampling was used to select holdings from which dust and boot swab samples were collected and tested for Salmonella using a modification of ISO 6579:2002. Using a multivariable logistic model weighted to account for the survey design, several factors significantly associated with Salmonella and Salmonella Enteritidis status were identified. Larger holdings (≥30,000 birds) were found to be at higher risk of Salmonella (odds ratio [OR] 4.79, P=0.025), while vaccination (OR 0.28, P=0.013), providing foot dips with brushes (OR 0.27, P=0.042), washing and disinfecting the house at depopulation (OR 0.19, P=0.003), having a clean car park away from house (OR 0.14, P=0.001), using an independent (OR 0.19, P=0.007) or other non-company (OR 0.40, P=0.049) source of feed, being over 1 km from the nearest neighbouring farm (OR 0.45, P=0.021) and the presence of cats and dogs on the farm (OR 0.26, P=0.002) or on contiguous farms (OR 0.44, P=0.030) reduced the risk of any Salmonella serovars being present. Factors found to be associated specifically with an increased risk of S Enteritidis infection included holding size (OR 14.88, P=0.001) and frequent sightings of rats (OR 8.17, P<0.001) or mice (OR 5.78, P=0.006). Non-caged systems (OR 0.14, P=0.002), vaccination (OR 0.08, P=0.001), the use of a non-company feed source (OR 0.11, P=0.003), running the site as all-in/all-out (OR 0.06, P<0.001) and the presence of cats and dogs on the farm (OR 0.14, P=0.002) were associated with a reduced risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2008 to obtain information on the advice veterinary practices currently give to their clients and the opinions of veterinary surgeons regarding neutering of dogs. An additional survey of dog owners was conducted to obtain information on the neuter status of the general dog population in Great Britain. A significantly higher proportion of practices had a policy for the age of neutering bitches than for dogs. The average recommended age for neutering bitches was 6.5 months (95 per cent confidence interval [CI] 3.1 to 9.7 months) and for dogs it was 7.5 months (95 per cent CI 1.4 to 13.6 months). There was very little agreement between veterinary practices as to whether bitches should be allowed to have their first season before neutering, with 164 of 973 respondents (16.9 per cent) always recommending this, 198 (20.3 per cent) recommending it most of the time, 203 (20.9 per cent) sometimes, 203 (20.9 per cent) rarely and 201 (20.6 per cent) never recommending it. The owner study showed that 54 per cent of dogs (233 of 431) were neutered, with the North region having the lowest proportion of neutered dogs (11 of 25; 44.0 per cent). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a rapid, standardised method for testing the susceptibility to bluetongue virus (BTv) of northern Palaearctic Culicoides species midges that can be used to assess the competence of both field-caught and laboratory-infected midges. The method has been used to show that Culicoides scoticus can replicate BTV serotype 8 and BTV serotype 9 strains to more than 3 log10 ICID50/midge, the first evidence of the potential of this species to transmit BTV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the statements from the 12 candidates in the election of members to the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) in Great Britain. John Bailey recognized the effect of RCVS decisions on the livelihoods, business costs, job satisfaction and patient care. Professor Neil Gorman identified the issues that need to be clarified by the College and the profession. INSET: Papers in this week's veterinary Record.

Examines the effects of the movement of infected sheep on the early dissemination of foot-and-mouth disease in Great Britain. Infection of pigs in a farm in Northumberland; Spread of the disease in beef cattle and sheep farms; Arrival of the sheep in livestock auction market; Market contamination with the disease.

The main aim of this study was to replicate methodology used to estimate the size of the UK pet cat and dog populations in 2006 and the proportion of households owning cats/dogs in 2007, to produce updated data to compare trends in ownership and population sizes. A crosssectional study design was used to collect telephone interview data from 3155 households in the UK. 2011 UK human census data were used to predict the size of the cat and dog populations owned by households in the UK in 2011. Of the households, 23 per cent (714/3155) owned one or more cats and 30 per cent (940/3155) owned one or more dogs. There was some overlap in pet ownership with 7 per cent (210/3155) of households owning both one or more cats and one or more dogs. There was a small but significant decrease in the proportion of households that owned one or more cats in 2011 compared with 2007, with no change in the proportion owning dogs. However, overall, the total number of cats and dogs that were estimated to be owned by UK households did not change significantly between 2006 and 2011. The estimated size (and 95% CIs) of the pet cat and dog populations in the UK in 2011 was 10,114,764 cats (9,138,603-11,090,924) and 11,599,824 dogs (10,708,070-12,491,578). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method for estimating specificity of the Single Intradermal Comparative Cervical Tuberculin (SICCT) test for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) using surveillance tests results is reported. The specificity of the SICCT test at three cut-offs was estimated from the dates, locations and skinfold measurements of all routine tests carried out in Officially TB Free (OTF) cattle herds in Great Britain (GB) between 2002 and 2008, according to their separation (by distance and time) from known infected (OTF-withdrawn) herds. The proportion of animals that tested positive was constant (P>0.20) when the distance between tested herds and nearest infected herd exceeded 8 km. For standard cut-off, calculated specificity was 99.98 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval ±0.004 per cent), equating to one false positive result per 5000 uninfected animals tested. For severe cut-off it was 99.91 per cent (±0.013 per cent) and for ultrasevere cut-off (selecting all reactors and inconclusive reactors) it was 99.87 per cent (±0.017 per cent). The estimated positive predictive value of the test averaged 91 per cent and varied by regional prevalence. This study provides further evidence of the high specificity of the SICCT test under GB conditions, suggests that over 90 per cent of cattle currently culled using this test in GB were infected, and endorses slaughter of at least these cattle for bTB control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]