Veterinary Ramblings

This week we’re joined by Jessica May MRCVS! 

Jessica has worked in mixed and equine practices, both in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Having worked in a variety of clinics, she has experience in first opinion, referral hospital and charity settings. 

We begin this week's episode by discussing Jessica’s time spent in Hong Kong as an intern at a jockey club and her love for seedy loaf bread!

We talk about Jessica’s pioneering role using TeleMedicine within the equine industry, and her work with FirstVet, an independent digital veterinary clinic.

Jessica goes on to explain how online vet services can be utilised alongside traditional appointments. She describes both the challenges and benefits of bridging the gap between veterinary clinical care and the tech world.

We talk about the increasing pressure on vet professionals, particularly new grads, and how we can leverage technology to help support workers' mental health within the industry.

Jessica delivers an insightful 60-second CPD providing 3 tips and tricks on how to get the most out of telemedicine consultations 

We then discuss Flexee, Jessica’s new business that not only helps raise awareness and understanding of flexible working but also offers solutions to implement this within a practice.

Jessica asks our listeners to reflect on the lessons learned throughout the pandemic and shares her fond memories of hiking in the British countryside. 

This week we're joined by Toby Trimble, an RCVS and ECVAA Specialist in veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia, award-winning speaker and founder of Trimble Group (previously Trimble Productions).

We begin this week's episode at the start of Toby's journey, from a child struggling with dyslexia to a teenager with no GCSEs or A-levels, overcoming adversity to enter the veterinary profession.  He explains how, despite his unconventional application, he thrived at Nottingham vet school and went on to become an Associate Professor.

We've all felt a little uninspired at webinars, so Toby offers up his advice for presenting better and how his company, Trimble Group, aims to change the CPD game. We wonder what Toby would say to his younger self, discuss the impact of neurodiversity, and the importance of embracing your differences.

As someone who has gone on to pass many difficult exams, Toby shares his tips and tricks for exam preparation and clear thinking under pressure, delivering an excellent 60-Second CPD about teaching, which leads us to reflect on the value of storytelling in regard to audience retention.

With his team, Toby has created nearly 700 CPD lessons and online CPD broadcasts and runs the Future of Education events which are attended by academics and science communications around the world. To learn more from the Trimble Group, head over to their website (https://www.trimblegroup.io/).

This week we're joined by Darragh O' Hanlon (@thetopicalvet), an Advanced Veterinary Practitioner and Veterinary Dermatologist. He enjoys all things dermatology, from ears to anal glands, with a special interest in allergies.

Darragh describes his journey from an arts degree to veterinary medicine and how his grandmother inspired him to pursue this career.

We discuss the impacts Brexit has had on Irish citizens regarding pet passports and a genuine attempt to float Ireland to sunnier shores!

Darragh explains the three different types of communication we can experience when talking with clients and shares his experiences of working in the UK (and how he discovered the word chav!)

We talk about the NHS's impact on the perception of the price of pet care, the difficulties new graduates may face due to the lack of mentorship and how the industry has changed over the years.

Darragh talks about the turning point that steered his interest in dermatology and shares some very successful dermatology cases he has worked on. 

Lastly, Darragh delivers a fantastic 60-Second CPD about acral lick dermatitis and shares his advice for new graduates in this week's reflection question.

Join us as we chat with Laura Jones RVN about her life as a veterinary nurse, her hobbies, and her passion for internal medicine.

Laura shares her journey to becoming a veterinary nurse and the importance of nurses to the veterinary team and client relations. Outside of work, Laura is an adrenaline junkie who loves to drag race and explains what this courageous hobby involves and how it helps her switch off from work.

We also delve into the impact of the pandemic on the veterinary industry and client expectations. Laura tells us about how she accidentally ventured into internal medicine and how it has become her niche. She shares her different responsibilities and how they contribute to providing quality care for pets.

We pose a difficult question to Laura: what does the quality of life mean and how does it differ between clients and their pets? Laura provides insightful answers and highlights the need for both clients and practitioners to improve their perception of veterinary nursing.

In addition, Laura takes on our 60-second CPD challenge and delivers a fantastic run-down of the six things you need to do during nurse clinics for chronic disease patients. She also asks us to reflect on the circumstances that could be behind difficult behaviour between colleagues and clients.

If you're interested in learning more about Laura and her work, head over to her website https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/. 

This week we are joined by the fantastic Dr Russell Chandler! 

Russell graduated from the University of Bristol Veterinary School and has a self-confessed addiction to learning! He has studied various post-graduate qualifications including the RCVS Certificate in Small Animal Orthopaedics, an MSc in Orthopaedic Engineering and RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Orthopaedics.

His current clinical interests are multimodal osteoarthritis management and regenerative medicine and he is currently studying for an MSc in stem cells and regeneration at the University of Bristol.

Russell explains why he thinks imposter syndrome is such an issue for veterinary professionals and how it works in conjunction with the scientific discipline.

As someone addicted to learning, we discuss one of Russell's degrees in orthopaedic engineering. We ask: what exactly does that mean? How did he find it as a veterinarian working with human surgeons? And how has it impacted his work?

We then discuss his work combining orthopaedic work with stem cells and regenerative medicine. Russell explains what stem cells are and how they can be used in a way that's very easy to understand and summarises all of the things you need to know about stem cell therapy in this week's 60-second CPD.  

Lastly, Russell talks about his work with the Veterinary Orthopaedic Alliance and the importance of practising gratitude in both your professional and personal life.

 Dr Mike Davies graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, in 1976. He owned his own veterinary practice for more than 11 years and has worked in academia and in the pet food and pharmaceutical industries.

Mike has postgraduate Certificates in Veterinary Radiology and Small Animal Orthopaedics and a Diploma in Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. He published one of the first books on Veterinary Geriatrics and has also published numerous papers. 

Mike is an RCVS Specialist in Small Animal Clinical Nutrition and has always been a very active member of the BSAVA, attending his first Congress when he was a student in the 1970s.

We find out how Mike's upbringing influenced his decision to become a vet and how one lecture changed the trajectory of his career from zoology to nutrition. Mike obtained his fellowship for the RCVS, despite being examined by his competitors and doing a very tricky exam (not for the reasons you may think!)

As Mike has had a long career, we discuss the benefits of working in the veterinary practice, how the profession has changed over the years and the problems we're facing that affect the service we can provide to our clients. Mike offers up his solutions to the problems our industry is facing and delivers a fantastic 60 Second CPD entitled 'Lack Of Knowledge About Clinical Nutrition In  Veterinary Practice'

We then reflect on how we assess the nutrition of our pregnant pets and discuss how nutrition deficiency creates unexpected problems for our client's pets. Lastly, we discuss the guidelines for 'complete' pet food and the consequences for other animals, and humans,  when people chose a raw food diet for their pets 

Join us as we sit down with the wonderful Caroline Murray,  an international veterinary locum and adventure traveller who is also known as The Wilderness Vet!

We begin our conversation by discussing Caroline's adventures in Mongolia and the action-packed, yet surprisingly modern lives of the nomadic people she travelled with. 

Caroline tells us which careers she considered before she decided to become a  veterinarian and how she was fortunate enough to take part in a research scholarship which developed her wanderlust.  

Caroline is such a positive person, however, things haven't always been that way. Her research into NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) changed her life after she faced a lot of adversities regarding her health and wellness.  She summarises the alternative pain management methods that can help you in this week's 60 Second CPD: Pain & The Brain. 

Lastly, Caroline tells us about her time working with chimpanzees, and the unintended (hilarious) effect that had when working with more traditional patients and we spent some time discussing one of her favourite charities: Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee.

 Laura joins us for the second time after smashing the Guinness World Record for tandem cycling, covering 18,000 miles in 180 days with her husband Stevie! On their way, they raised money for VetLife, Mind and Sustrans. You can still support them by heading over to stelatandem.com.

We catch up on her amazing, but sometimes dangerous, world trip and find out about all the wonderful places they visited in Laura's 60-second CPD.  A true challenge in every sense of the word, we hope you find her story as inspiring as we did. If you would like to learn how why she did this, and how she and Stevie prepared for an adventure of a lifetime, catch up on her first episode of Episode 75 of Veterinary Ramblings.

Merry Christmas Ramblers!

We're blown away by the year that we've had. If you follow us on social media you might have seen that we've had one of the best years on record, and we're so thrilled that our following is going strong. 

We wanted to celebrate the end of 2022 with some of our favourite stories from this year, where we revisit some of our favourite moments with guests - including some awesome life stories, some fascinating research and veterinary work, some thought-provoking conversations that changed our perspective and a few of the biggest laughs that we've had this year. 

We hope you enjoy, and we look forward to producing new content for you all next year!

Bring on 2023 - may your dog go with you!

Last week, we released part one of our episode with Helen MacDonald, giving you the chance to get the know the person behind the scandal surrounding Geronimo the alpaca. If you haven’t tuned in already, we highly recommend listening to part one before you listen to this week's episode which will focus on Geronimo's story.

Geronimo was born on Waitangi Day (6th of February) in 2013 at New Zealand's largest alpaca farm. In 2017, Geronimo was sold to Helen, who at that time had been breeding alpacas at her farm for more than 15 years.

She imported him to the United Kingdom in August after he had four skin tests for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) which returned negative results. Once he arrived in the UK, Geronimo was kept in quarantine and tested positive in two voluntary blood tests.

As a result of the positive tests, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) ordered that Geronimo had to be euthanised. After years of court battles, protests and celebrity interventions, Geronimo, the UK’s most divisive alpaca, was put down by government officials on 31 August 2021. We sat down with Helen just over a year after Geronimo's death to hear her side of the story. 

Helen explains why she brought geronimo to the UK, the biosecurity measures her farm has in place and reveals why she thinks there is insufficient evidence as to the accuracy of DEFRA's testing process.  

She believes that she and Geronimo received exceptional treatment during the horrific events that took place between 2017 and 2021 and that Geronimo experienced unnecessary distress and animal cruelty when he was taken away from her farm to be euthanised. We also discuss why Geronimos post-mortem results are seen as inconclusive.

However, this is not the end of the story...

Helen explains how a campaign group came together to fight for Geronimo's Law, which aims to refine TB policy, biosecurity and animal welfare in the UK and shares how you can get involved. Lastly, Helen reflects on the silver linings that have come about as a result of this experience - as well as her hopes for the future.

We know that this is a very divisive topic, and we want to remind everyone that above all, we need to show compassion and kindness to each other.  In our industry, we need to stop having arguments and start having conversations. The views expressed by our guests may not necessarily represent our views, but we do believe that everyone deserves a fair and impartial platform to be able to share their stories.