Veterinary Ramblings

Join us this week as we speak with Petrina Firth AKA The Pet Coach!

Petrina is a Pet Behaviourist and Dog Trainer with 15 years in the business. She is a Board Member and fully-assessed Member of The Association of Pet Dog Trainers (no 01238) and a Registered Animal Training Instructor with The Animal Behaviour and Training Council – a regulatory body that represents animal trainers and animal behaviour therapists to both the public and legislative bodies.

We discuss Petrina's journey with her career as a dog trainer, exploring the various training courses and qualifications she has taken to become the expert is she today.    

Petrina defines separation anxiety and shares practical knowledge about how you can solve these issues with your dog. She also dispels some myths about dog behaviour and humping.

Aside from her work with separation anxiety, we also discuss scent training dogs, working with humans and her lastest role working with a puppy training app called 'Zigzag' which provides puppy training lessons and additional expert support.  

This week we're chatting to Jessica Joosse AKA nutritionrvn! 

Jessica graduated with her Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Biosciences from La Trobe University in 2016 and went on to complete her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing in 2018. She became one of the first few AVNAT Registered Veterinary Nurses in 2019 and obtained Accreditation in 2020. 

We discuss her career progression in veterinary medicine, working in every role from Animal Attendant up to Practice Manager, and her mother's positive influence on her career choice to go from being a vet to a vet nurse.  

She also shares some personal stories with us about what gave her an interest in animal nutrition, how her blog nutritionrvn.com came to be and the power of using social media to get the right information to people who need it.

Jessica also provides some recommendations as to how pet owners can make an informed decision about their pets food (which is summarised in her 60-Second CPD). She also explains what would she like to do in the future and how she hopes that food safety regulations will be improved in Australia to prevent situations like the recent horsemeat scandal.

This week Veterinary Ramblings is a double bill - with Bill Lambert & Bill King joining us from The Kennel Club UK / The Kennel Club Charitable Trust! 

Bill Lambert is Head of Health and Welfare at The Kennel Club (UK) and Bill King is the Chairman of The Kennel Club Charitable Trust.

We discuss the history of The Kennel Club (UK), how it has evolved over the years and the benefits for dog owners in joining The Kennel Club and becoming part of their canine family.

We also learn about The Kennel Club Charitable Trusts work researching diseases and improving the health of dogs, including important work they've done to combat the breathing problems with brachycephalic dog breeds.

One of the biggest challenges they face is with informing the general public on buying healthy puppies from good breeders - we cover how social media has changed the way they educate the public. We explore why we even need breeds and the importance of having breed standards. We also discuss how veterinarians, breeders and The Kennel Club can work together for the benefit of dogs and their owners across the UK.

Lastly, we finish this weeks episode with a double bill of 60-Second CPD: How dog breeders will help sell more goldfish than puppies & A short story about canine genetics.

This week we're chatting to Chloe Mackintosh AKA The Charity Vet Nurse!

Chloe started as a student veterinary nurse in 2016, completing all her placements at the PDSA hospital in Edinburgh while working for Vets Now in the evenings! After moving around a bit, she realised she wanted to work in the charity sector of the veterinary profession, helping people and animals who otherwise wouldn’t have access to veterinary assistance. 

Chloe was named Vet Nurse of the Year 2020 by pet charity Blue Cross and is currently the Head Nurse at the PDSA in Romford. She has just finished a BSc Top-Up degree in Veterinary Nursing and will be graduating very soon! 

We discuss Chloe's journey to becoming a vet nurse as a mature student and how your outlook and attitude can affect your working life. She shares the positives and negatives she faces in her job within shelter medicine and offers some advice about how to cope with working with cases of animal neglect and the stresses of working in such a difficult, compassionate role. Chloe has a love of teaching both clients and colleagues and gives us a fantastic 60-Second CPD about preventative treatments in feline medicine. 

In this episode, Tony Booker explains how his PhD research took him from turmeric farms in India and China to the aisles of his local Morrisons supermarket 

We learn about the benefits and properties of Turmeric, Curare, Reserpine, Artemisia and  Ethnobotany. 

We also discuss biopiracy, Ethnopharmacology and the steps taken to protect the intellectual property of indigenous tribes and the effects this has on pharmaceutical companies. Mike shares his experience with taking plant-based malaria treatment and Julian asks an important question about plant-based liver care and natural hangover cures.

Join us for a bit of a giggle with our (very random) season finale with Mike & Julian!

This episode is full of random ramblings about sunglasses, fungal infections and all kinds of accidents they've encountered. We also wonder what would happen if politicians were to do satnav voices! Finally, we finish off the season with a 60-Second CPD all about cheese and a, of course, a lot of cheesy dad jokes!

This week we're talking to Jade Statt, the Co-Founder and Clinical Director of StreetVet!

StreetVet is an award-winning UK charity that provides free accessible veterinary care to pets of people who are experiencing homelessness. Jade explains her inspiration to begin StreetVet, which started with her and a backpack and has grown into a nationwide organisation with over 300 volunteers providing care and support.

We discuss the complexities of working with vulnerable people and the logistics of running a charity of this nature. Jade answers the tricky question of if homeless people should have pets and if those pets are receiving adequate care on the street. We also discuss the difficult situation homeless people with pets face and how the veterinarians who work with them look after their mental health whilst doing such an important job. Finally, we learn why Jade became a vet and she educates us about chinchillas with her wonderful 60-Second CPD!

To learn more about StreetVet and help them, check out their website: https://www.streetvet.co.uk/

This week we're chatting to Jon Fitzmaurice!

Jon is a rum enthusiast and an RSPCA Veterinarian.  Jon and Julian went to vet college together in London, where Jon qualified in 1997. 

His first job was in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, in a 5 vet surgery that had connections with the local RSPCA branch where he worked for 10 years. In 2008, He moved across town for his 2nd, and current, job to become a full-time RSPCA employee as the sole vet running the clinic.

We get Jon chatting about shelter medicine, how to make difficult decisions, and what working as the sole vet in a charity entails.  Aside from work, we chat about Jon's extensive rum collection, his love of pub quizzes and quizmastering, and his experiences playing poker in Las Vegas!

This week we sit down with Anita Dowe, more commonly known as The Mindful Pet Owner!

Anita is a veterinary surgeon who current works in emergency and critical care and also runs The Mindful Pet Owner - a website that focuses on training humans to be the owners their pets deserve and is passionate about educating people on responsible pet ownership including training and behaviour struggles.

We discuss her training to become a qualified animal behaviorist, how her website themindfulpetowner.com came to be and the impact her work does to improve pets behaviour and wellbeing. She also explains why she decided to go from general practice to ECC (after considering becoming a supermodel first). Anita share some wise advice for her 18-year old self and a 60-Second CPD which turns puppy socialisation on it's head! Lastly, we have an important discussion about mental health within the veterinary industry, Anita's difficult journey to achieve mental wellness and her passion for promoting this issue to the general public. 

In this episode, Veterinary Ramblings gets hypnotised by Anne-Marie Svendsen Aylott from Purple Cat Coaching! 

Anne-Marie is obsessed with learning, which took her on her journey from veterinary medicine to human psychology and coaching. She focuses on evidence-based and research-driven training and coaching and has developed a unique toolkit to help organisations and people be the best they can be with her business - Purple Cat Coaching.

She explains what emotional intelligence means and how to use those skills to have better relationships and communication skills. We discuss the difference between neurolinguistic programming and cognitive behavioural therapy whilst Anne-Marie hypnotises us, sharing a mindfulness meditation to improve emotional wellbeing.  Anne-Marie also provides fantastic strategies on how to deal with difficult conversations and how to disagree with someone, drawing examples from veterinary medicine.