Merck, part owner of Merial, has announced a merger with Intervet Schering-Plough.

However, rumours that Merck plans to sell its 50% stake in Merial and move forward with Intervet Schering Plough are incorrect, according to Merck spokespeople.

They'll have to start thinking about what to call themselves soon. Merial-Intervet-Schering-Plough is a bit of a mouthful.

A survey carried out in 2008 by the British Veterinary Association and its student branch, the Association of Veterinary Students (AVS) has found that  that one in three students find themselves in difficult or severe financial situations, more than half have suffered from stress, over a fifth from depression, over a quarter from anxiety and one in every 14 from an eating disorder.

The survey also found that some veterinary schools have almost doubled their intake of overseas veterinary students since the survey was last conducted in 2005.

Other key findings from the survey included:

• Respondents who graduate in 2011 expect their debt on graduation to reach £29,400.The AVS expects this to be even higher for future students if universities succeed in lobbying for an increase in fees.
• Over two thirds (66.8%) of students feel unable to work to supplement their income. It is well known that they have fewer opportunities to earn money during holidays because of compulsory extra mural studies (EMS).
• 35.3% of respondents indicated that their financial problems are either difficult or severe.
• The veterinary student population continues an overwhelmingly female trend, increasing by 3.4% to 78.8% since 2005
• Overall overseas student numbers continue to grow, increasing by 3.5% to 11.8%
• Overseas students in Scottish veterinary schools increased to 23.8% at Edinburgh (up from 12.8% in 2005) and 31.2% at Glasgow (up from 15.8%) The assumption is that this makes up the shortfall in income because Scottish students studying at Scottish Universities do not have to pay tuition fees.  

The AVS suggests that there are opportunities for veterinary schools and the veterinary profession to improve the bleak financial picture for students.  BVA already provides support meetings for young professionals and has put together a position statement which will kick-start a lobbying process for:

• the EMS terms to be allowed within the tuition fee loans structure
• veterinary students to be provided with robust financial guidance during their first year at veterinary school
• an increase in student loan availability for veterinary students

BVA President Nicky Paull said: "The BVA/AVS survey, a part of the BVA's continuing work on behalf of veterinary students, once again continues to highlight the growing problem of debt. This is a particular problem for veterinary undergraduates whose five year course by definition will attract more debt than the average three year undergraduate course. 

"The impact of this increasing debt is twofold. Firstly, new graduates are more likely to choose their first jobs on the basis of salary and reducing debt rather than individual professional development. Secondly, we are concerned that as school leavers make career decisions on financial grounds, only those from relatively affluent backgrounds will choose the veterinary profession. This is contrary to the aims of Government to promote the DfES/Gateway to the Professions initiative. It would be sad to see such a vitally important undergraduate course become one which can only be undertaken by talented young people from families who feel they can afford to help with the long term costs. 

"The veterinary undergraduate course is not only training future veterinarians on animal health and welfare but also in the essential role vets play in food safety and the health of the nation."

The full survey results can be downloaded here.

ECM, a French manufacturer of ultrasound devices, has launched Exago, a new mobile veterinary ultrasound device which the company says is particularly suited for use with horses and pets.

ECM says the main features of the new device are:

• Uses the latest technology used in the medical sector.
• Small, lightweight (3250 grams) design and extended battery life (4.5 hrs) make it an ideal tool for field diagnoses, as well as for use in veterinary practices.
• An 8.4-inch screen to help users make fast, accurate and reliable diagnoses.
• Ultrasound images and video sequences can be saved directly to the device's memory.
• Multiple connectivity points, also for connecting to a larger screen, a printer or a USB stick.
• Direct downloads and updates for both software and hardware, making the device fully scaleable.
• Delivered complete with a wide range of variable frequency probes (convex, micro-convex or linear) for reproductive and gynaecological applications, which can also be used for tendon and muscular-skeletal examinations.

For more information, visit: http://www.agroscan.com/

An Oxford woman has launched Veterinary Thermal Imaging Ltd, a company which claims to be the first in the UK to use thermal imaging to help identify and monitor injury and illness in domestic pets.

Helen Morrell, 34, uses an FLIR infrared camera to detect physiological changes in animals. She says the technique is traditionally only used in top competition and racing stables, and can highlight health problems, including tendon, joint and nerve damage, which would otherwise be undetectable without invasive and expensive procedures such as x-rays and MRI scans.

Helen said: "I became interested in thermal imaging after being made redundant from my job in financial services. I'd studied Animal Science at Newcastle University when I was younger and I viewed the redundancy as the perfect opportunity to return to the industry.

"I realised that there were only a few people in the country who offer thermal imaging, and then only to horses. It's a really emerging technique that has huge potential and is already widely used in the US across all animals, including domestic, livestock, zoo and wildlife. It seemed that there was a huge gap in the market in this country."

Helen contacted leading experts in the US and became the first British woman to be accepted onto the thermal imaging course at Florida University. She said: "I knew I wanted to use the technique on domestic pets and the experts in the field were all in America. It made sense to me to get the training there and make sure I was at the top of my game."

Helen says she is currently working with a three-year-old terrier called Jack who is suffering from muscular atrophy caused by a locking patella. Although the thermal imaging didn't diagnose the problem, she says it is allowing the monitoring of his treatment and providing an objective assessment of the muscles affected by the injury.

The RCVS has opened a consultation on the future of veterinary specialisation, which includes a proposal that the use of postnominals and titles by veterinary surgeons should be rationalised in order to avoid confusion amongst the public. 

The proposals are submitted for comment by the RCVS Specialisation Working Party, which is chaired by former Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Kenneth Calman.

The Working Party's review was precipitated by a finding that the structure of veterinary specialisation is "confusing and opaque" to both animal owners and the profession (Unlocking Potential - a Report on Veterinary Expertise in Food Animal Production, by Professor Philip Lowe, 2009).

The Working Party has explored the routes to RCVS Recognised Specialist status. It has also looked at the use of 'specialist' more broadly, given the fact that it is not a protected term in the veterinary field, and has considered animal owners' expectations of a 'specialist'. 

The Working Party also makes proposals for encouraging more veterinary surgeons to become specialists, given that there are currently only 319 on the RCVS List of Recognised Specialists, out of a UK practising arm of the profession of some 17,400 veterinary surgeons.

The proposals from the Working Party could have far-reaching impact. One suggestion is that all those meeting the criteria for specialist status would also become Fellows of the RCVS (FRCVS) - a status currently only held by those who complete a thesis or exam, or who qualify on the basis of 'meritorious contributions to learning'. There are also proposals that the term 'RCVS Recognised Specialist' be dropped and replaced with the much simpler term 'specialist' or 'veterinary specialist'.

Further proposals include the introduction of a 'middle tier' of veterinary surgeons - potentially to be called 'advanced practitioners' - who would be below full specialist status and subject to periodic revalidation.

There are also recommendations that veterinary surgeons should be obliged to explain referral options to their clients, including the level of expertise of those to whom they are referring cases.

The future of the RCVS subject boards, which currently manage the various Certificate and Diploma examinations, is also considered in the proposals.

The emphasis throughout is on simplification and improvement, according to Professor Sir Kenneth Calman, who said: "New legislation to introduce statutory registration for veterinary specialists would no doubt make things clearer, as it is for doctors and dentists, but, in the meantime, we believe there are a number of actions which the RCVS could take to improve matters."

The consultation paper can be downloaded from www.rcvs.org.uk/consultations, and comments are welcomed from members of the public, veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses. The closing deadline for comments, which should be sent to RCVS Head of Education, Freda Andrews, on f.andrews@rcvs.org.uk, is Friday 9 December.

Comments received will be considered by the RCVS committees and Council in early 2012.

The RCVS Disclipinary Committee has severely reprimanded and warned as to her future conduct a Brighton-based veterinary surgeon who failed to maintain a proper boundary between her professional and personal relationships with a client.

The eight charges considered at the seven-day hearing involved Marie-Louise Schlemm's treatment of Ratszy, a 16-year old Jack Russell with chronic renal failure, and her relationship with the dog's owner, Ms B, who suffers from mental illness, during May 2010. At that time, Ms Schlemm was employed by Coastway Veterinary Group in Brighton to work for its out-of-hours veterinary services, Vetcall, to which Ratszy had been referred by the PDSA. 

The College alleged that Ms Schlemm deliberately misled Ms B as to the condition and prognosis of Ratszy, removed the dog without Ms B's consent, and behaved unprofessionally and inappropriately in her dealings with Ms B. Other allegations were that that she had suggested Ms B tell the PDSA a fabricated story in order that she might see the dog again; made an offer that Ms B and Ratszy could come and stay with her at her home; required Ms B to attend a supermarket car park at 12.30am to collect Ratszy; and took money from Ms B other than for the purposes of legitimate veterinary treatment.

The Committee found both Ms Schlemm and Ms B to be truthful and honest witnesses, and that Ms B's recollection was given to the best of her ability. However, where recollections differed, it relied on contemporaneously prepared clinical records to find that Ms Schlemm did not mislead Ms B to the effect that the dog was not dying. Although recognising that Ms Schlemm's actions were misguided the Committee found that the dog was not taken without consent.

Furthermore, the Committee said in making the offer that Ms B and Ratszy might come and stay with her, Ms Schlemm was wholly misguided and had blurred the distinction between personal and professional activities. By this time, she was aware Ms B suffered from mental illness and so should have allowed the mental health services to take control of the situation. Similarly, she should not have required Ms B to meet in a car park to collect Ratszy, behaviour the Committee described as bizarre and which had compromised Ratszy's welfare.  Although the Committee gave Ms Schlemm the benefit of the doubt as to whether money taken was, in fact, to pay for alternative therapy for Ms B, she did not deal with the matter openly and it was a clear breach of trust to both Ms B and Vetcall.

In mitigation, the Committee was satisfied that Ms Schlemm now had a genuine insight into her lack of judgement in her relationship with Ms B, had reflected on the decision of the Committee and fully accepted the "utter stupidity" of her actions. She had also attended courses on teamwork and managing client relationships, and had established good working relationships in a new practice.

Professor Peter Lees, chairing and speaking on behalf of the Committee said: "While the Committee has accepted that Ms Schlemm was motivated by good intentions towards Ms B and Ratszy, she breached the trust of both of Ms B and Vetcall in the way in which she behaved [and] acted in a misguided way in dealing with a vulnerable client, who was suffering from mental illness. In light of the serious nature of its findings, the Committee does not consider it appropriate to take no further action. The Committee has concluded that Ms Schlemm should be severely reprimanded for her conduct and given a warning as to her future conduct [and] reminds the profession of the importance of maintaining a proper boundary between the professional and personal relationships of client and veterinary surgeon."

The Veterinary Record has published new research which shows that one in seven vets is likely to be burnt-out within 10 years of qualifying.

The study was conducted by a team of Dutch researchers led by Nicole Mastenbroek (pictured right) from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University.

They noted that veterinary surgeons' psychological wellbeing has been the subject of several studies in different countries in recent years, with some evidence suggesting that male vets are less prone to distress, anxiety, and depression. They wanted to gauge the level of burn-out and engagement with work among vets that had graduated within the past decade, and to assess whether gender or years since graduation are influential factors.

The researchers say they based their approach on the job demands-resources (JD-R) questionnaire, which balances out negative (burn-out) and positive (engagement) aspects of wellbeing associated with work. However, they tailored it specifically for veterinary surgeons, on the grounds that every profession has unique risk factors for burn-out.

The questionnaire was emailed to 1,790 vets who had qualified in The Netherlands between 1999 and 2009, with the final analysis based on the responses of 860, almost three quarters (73%) of whom were women.

Levels of exhaustion and cynicism - both of which are associated with burn-out - were significantly lower than those in a random sample of the Dutch working population. But so too was the level of work engagement.

The responses showed that one in seven respondents (14%) was burnt-out within 10 years of qualifying.

The researchers say that if the criteria for burn-out that are normally used for the Dutch workforce are applied, then the responses would indicate that 27% of the survey respondents were burnt-out.

Women also seemed to reach burn-out faster. Almost one in five (18%) of the female respondents was burnt-out within five years of graduating.

Male vets tended to be less exhausted and more engaged with work than their female peers. Job demands associated with exhaustion were work/home life balance and workload, while job resources linked to engagement included opportunities for professional development and "skills discretion" - the ability to use and develop skills on the job.

Researchers says that behavioural traits explained more of the variance in levels of work engagement between male and female vets than in levels of exhaustion.

Self-belief in one's abilities (self-efficacy) and a proactive stance are linked to work engagement in the JD-R approach. But women vets rated themselves as less effective, optimistic, proactive and assertive than did their male peers.

British Veterinary Association President Robin Hargreaves said: "These findings are worrying but sadly not surprising. We know that a burn out and other manifestations of poor mental wellbeing in veterinary professionals of both sexes are a well-recognised problem in the UK and they are a constant concern to BVA.

"The suggestion of an increased susceptibility to burn out amongst female vets adds to that concern with the increasing proportion of women in the profession."

Vets4Pets has unveiled its latest national TV advertising campaign, which airs for the first time during Coronation Street on ITV tonight.

The 30-second commercial was shot at five different locations around the UK and features John Davies-Riand MRCVS Vet Partner at Vets4Pets Leeds and Sarah Scott Vet Nurse Partner at Vets4Pets Kettering.

The commercial is running nationally until 28th March and forms part of a national campaign offering owners of elderly pets a discounted £25 senior pet health check with a vet and a half price bag of senior pet food.

Gill Hammond, Head of Brand Marketing said: "It was really important to us when planning this new campaign that we feature our real partners, they are at the end of the day the core of our business and the faces that our clients see when they visit us. The offer itself, focusing on senior pets is testament to our partners' and their teams' commitment to on-going pet health care."

Lee Ashton, founder of Bugler Smith, the agency behind the new ad said: "Working with Vet4Pets on this project has been a really exciting process. Having got under the skin of the brief, and carried out some initial research within Vets4Pets practices nationwide, the overwhelming and consistent theme from everyone we spoke to, was how they have a real passion for pets and making every difference they can.  

"This was key to our message, and we felt it was really important to use their best brand ambassadors (their own vets and veterinary nurses) to introduce the brand to the public, to really demonstrate in a straight forward way what makes them different to other vet practices, and we're really pleased with the outcome."

Pawz Ltd, a UK company founded by Diwaker Singh, Radu Georgescu and Francesco Cardoletti has launched PawSquad, a new on-demand veterinary video consultation service for pet owners. 

The service offers pet owners a 15 minute online consultation with a veterinary surgeon for £15, any time from 6:00am to midnight, seven days a week.

PawSquad points out that the service cannot offer a diagnosis - apart from the fact that it would be contrary to the CoPC, it's obviously not possible without a physical exam - so the service is designed to offer more general health advice concerning such things as behaviour, nutrition and the management of long-term, non-emergency conditions.

Andrew Francis BVSc CertVC, DipECVIM-CA MRCVS ex-Head of Cardiology at Anderson Moores Veterinary Referrals is the company's Chief Veterinary Officer, sitting alongside Andrew Ash MRCVS (the BSAVA Past Pres). Andrew #1 said: "Currently, pet owners have only two options when they need advice about their pets' health and welfare. They either take time out of busy schedules to visit the vet or, when a visit to the vet is not possible they search the Internet for non professional and frequently unreliable information."

Francesco Cardoletti said: "It’s important to understand that PawSquad is a supplementary service – it’s not replacing traditional veterinary services.There are limits to the services you can digitally provide. If an animal is seriously ill, it needs to get to a bricks and mortar veterinary clinic and be examined by a vet."

Eleanor Ferguson, Head of Professional Conduct at the RCVS said: "We have had a discussion with Pawsquad and understand that the aim of its service is to increase accessibility to veterinary advice, which can only be a good thing as a large percentage of animal owners are not registered with a veterinary surgeon.

“We understand that the veterinary surgeons involved will not be giving detailed clinical advice but will be limited to offering general advice on areas such as puppy care, nutrition, allergies and pet passports.

“We also recommended to Pawsquad that their veterinary surgeons should take care to point out the limitations of their advice, given no physical examination has taken place, and suggest that owners takes their pets to a veterinary practice where that is appropriate.

“The issue of telemedicine has come up often during the joint RCVS/BVA Vet Futures project and is a topic that the Standards Committee, which looks after the Code of Professional Conduct and its supporting guidance, is currently considering in more depth, with an evidence-gathering process due next year.”

I tried out the new service with a question about my dog's slightly worrying habit of growling at one of my children. It was a question which we had not thus far raised with our normal vet because it hadn't been enough of a concern at the last consultation. But it seems to be getting slightly worse, and my wife and I had recently talked about getting advice. It seemed like just the sort of situation where an informal chat with a vet could be helpful. 

Completing the preconsultation details was a breeze, slowed only by the need to shove the dog on a set of scales (I didn't know what she weighs, and it's needed for the consultation). Thereafter, only one hiccup when it transpired that Safari, the browser I was using, is incompatible. I switched to Chrome, which is.

The consultation itself was excellent. Within a few seconds, the very charming Angie Henderson MRCVS appeared on my screen. It transpired I was her very first consultation since the service was launched yesterday! We discussed the problem. She reassured me that one of the things I was doing (getting the child to feed the dog under supervision) was a good idea, and we discussed a number of other positive reinforcement strategies to try and improve our dog's behaviour. She explained that she wasn't one for certain types of negative reinforcement, but that using a spray bottle of water when the dog behaved inappropriately could help. She explained that we would need to do these things several times a day for them to have an effect, and even then it may take some considerable time, and may need the services of a behaviourist. She also reassured me that the dog would be unlikely to do anything worse than nip, whilst stressing that even a nip is very upsetting for a child, so it does need to be dealt with. 

All in all, I came away reassured, with some very useful suggestions and a clear idea of what we need to do. £15 very well spent. I gather that I should also have received a written post-consultation report by email, which didn't arrive because of some technical glitch. But that's slightly by-the-by; the icing on the cake.

I can also see the service would be very useful as a sort of out-of-hours triage, in other words offering me the ability to have a "my-dog-has-just-eaten-three-kilos-of-Green-and-Blacks-what-next-consultation?" at 11:00pm at night. 

If the service proves popular amongst pet owners, the question remains whether it will reduce the number of people seeking and paying for traditional consultations. I suspect not. Perhaps the reverse will happen as pet owners use the system to corroborate their feeling that the dog might need a physical exam. As part of the service and with your permission, PawSquad forwards a copy of the consultation report to your normal vet. 

Again if the service proves popular, it seems to offer the potential for a nice additional income stream for veterinary surgeons, especially locums, which can be earned in the hours you specify, from the comfort of your home. PawSquad says it pays vets between £12-£32 per hour; equivalent to £60K per annum. Whilst the company doesn't directly employ vets, it will provide liability insurance provided by the VDS.

PawSquad says it also plans to recruit veterinary nurses later in the year, to offer advice to new pet owners on nutrition, behaviour and the environment. 

The British Veterinary Association has published the results of a survey which revealed that almost all small animal veterinary surgeons have been asked to euthanise healthy pets, with half (53%) saying it was not a rare occurrence and 98% saying the owner’s reason was their pet’s behaviour.

The figures highlight the burden placed on veterinary surgeons every day when they're asked to euthanise perfectly healthy animals.

Problem behaviours include persistent barking and howling, destructive chewing and inappropriate toileting. Aggressive behaviour, towards both people and other pets, is also a problem, with the PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) report revealing that a third of pet owners have been attacked or bitten by a dog. Such behaviours can cause a breakdown of the human-animal bond, leading to pets being excluded from family life to the detriment of their welfare, relinquished to rehoming centres or euthanised.

The BVA says these figures overwhelmingly show the importance of adequate socialisation of animals at an early age – young animals should safely encounter a variety of people, animals and everyday household sights and sounds in their first few weeks and months of age, beginning at the place where they are born. 

Other reasons that owners give their veterinary surgeon for wanting to euthanise a healthy pet included: poor health of the owner (48%), owners moving to accommodation that is unsuitable for their pet (39%), and legal enforcement reasons (32%).

British Veterinary Association President Sean Wensley said: "These figures are stark and are likely to come as a shock to members of the public. But this is the sad reality of a failure to socialise animals from the earliest possible age – a specific time in a puppy’s development which has a significant impact on their future temperament and behaviour. With dogs, this process starts from before a puppy is even seen by a potential owner. In recent months there has been a litany of news stories about the illegal importation, breeding and trading of puppies through puppy farms. This is no way for a family pet to start life and we urge potential owners to thoroughly research where a puppy has been born and reared, using the AWF/RSPCA Puppy contract to help. Then, in the first year of ownership, and especially in the first few weeks, work with your local veterinary practice to ensure your puppy is introduced to everyday sights and sounds, including other people and animals, in a safe and structured way." 

Mr Wensley also commented on the impact on vets: "Nobody enters the veterinary profession wanting to euthanise healthy pets, but this is the stressful situation that many vets are facing because of undesirable behaviours in pet animals. Vets will do all they can in these situations to avoid euthanasia, including offering evidence-based behavioural advice, referring to accredited pet behaviourists or assisting with rehoming through reputable rehoming organisations, but sometimes these options are not appropriate, particularly where the behavioural issues make it extremely difficult to rehome the animal. Vets are not required to euthanise healthy animals at an owner’s request, but sometimes, having carefully considered all options and given the circumstances the pet finds themselves in, it may be in an animal’s best interests to do so. Euthanising an animal who could have been a loving pet is the hidden, tragic cost of poor socialisation."

AB Science, a young Paris-based biotech company, has announced the pan-European commercial launch of its veterinary anticancer drug, Masivet

Masivet was approved in November 2008 by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for the treatment of dogs with non-resectable grade 2 or 3 mast cell tumours. Masivet's active pharmaceutical ingredient is masitinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Masitinib, discovered and developed by AB Science, belongs to a therapeutic class of drug known as targeted therapy that is, according to AB Science, revolutionising the treatment of cancer in humans.

Alain Moussy, CEO of AB Science said: "Masivet is the first product ever registered as a cancer treatment in veterinary medicine. AB Science is a dynamic and very entrepreneurial biotech company, and is proud to have introduced a drug that can extend the life of dogs suffering from cancer ahead of the large pharmaceutical companies".

The company says Mastocytoma can be an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis, and represents up to 20% of all cutaneous canine tumours. Some breeds are particularly susceptible, among them Golden Retrievers, Labradors and Boxers. Cancers have the same prevalence in dogs as in humans (1 dog in 4 will suffer from cancer during its lifetime) but surprisingly, no drugs developed for veterinary medicine with a demonstrated efficacy and safety have ever been approved until the arrival of Masivet.

The company claims two main benefits of the new treatment:

• Masivet increases the survival rate of dogs suffering from mast cell tumours
  Masivet demonstrated efficacy and safety with a placebo controlled study involving 202 dogs in Europe and the USA. The median survival time of dogs treated with Masivet was increased by 300 days in comparison to the placebo. After 2 years of treatment, the survival rate in dogs treated with  Masivet was 2.5 times that of the dogs receiving the placebo (40% versus 15%). Efficacy was also demonstrated in the ability of Masivet to prevent the progression of the tumours (an average gain of 100 days).
  
  Mr Malcolm Brearley, Principal Clinical Oncologist at The Queen's Veterinary School Hospital at the University of Cambridge said: "The launch of Masivet is a major breakthrough in cancer and paves the way for an exciting period of new development of targeted therapies, used alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy. Masivet is able not only to increase the survival of dogs with cancer but also to improve their quality of life, which is after all the ultimate goal of any treatment against cancer and offers tremendous value for the pet's owner".
  
   
• Masivet is a user-friendly anticancer drug
  Unlike chemotherapies, Masivet is delivered orally in tablet form and can be administered everyday directly by the owner, albeit under strict monitoring from the veterinarian. Masivet is available on prescription at two doses (50 or 150mg) in bottles of 30 tablets.

AB Science is a biotech company specialising in developing targeted drugs for high need indications, such as cancers, chronic inflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. Masitinib is the most advanced drug in the pipeline. Now being marketed in veterinary medicine, masitinib is also under development in humans, with phase 3 clinical studies in pancreatic cancer and in gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST).

Alain Moussy said: "This registration in veterinary medicine is good news for the future success of masitinib in humans, for whom we are aggressively developing it in cancers and other indications with high morbidity or pain.

"It is very unusual to develop such an innovative product simultaneously in veterinary and human medicines, and even more so that the product is registered in veterinary medicine first. There is no doubt that experts in human oncology will be watching Masivet's future very closely from now on.. However, people will have to wait a while before benefiting from masitinib because it is unlikely to be available to man before 2012".

For more information, see www.masivet.com and www.ab-science.com

A survey of almost 1400 ferret owners carried out by the Ferret Education & Research Trust (FERT) and pet food manufacturers James Wellbeloved has revealed that 40% of the UK's ferret owners never take their animals to a vet, with a further 9% saying they visit the vet only occasionally. 

In addition, 76% of ferret owners have not had them microchipped, 64% have not bothered with vaccination against distemper and 74% with vaccination against rabies. 

Almost three quarters are registered with a vet for emergency treatment, but 26% are not registered at all.

Ian Kearns from FERT said: "This is quite an alarming picture in terms of ferret welfare; however it offers a clear opportunity for vets to address the issue.  Ferrets are growing fast in popularity as pets, and it may be that as their role changes they will visit the vet more - but we believe that vets can seize an opportunity by promoting ferret welfare via the waiting room."

The survey also showed that 65% are fed on mixed biscuits and meat. James Wellbeloved Ferret Complete Food was the clear leader, outselling its' nearest rival by almost five times to one. Over half are kept outdoors, and there is a wide choice of bedding material including commercially made washable fabric, straw and paper.

Peter Lancaster, James Wellbeloved marketing director said: "Ferrets are growing in popularity, but because owners sometimes don't do enough research a worrying number are ending up in rescues. Veterinary practices are of course very well-placed to focus on ferret welfare, and we'd urge any vets and vet nurses who want to know more to get in touch with the team at FERT."

10 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT FERRETS...

• Over 25% of Britain's ferrets live the south east, compared to just 12 per cent in the north west.
• 61% of ferret owners are female.
• 67% of ferret owners are married or living with a partner.
• A single ferret is a lonely ferret - 88% of owners have at least two.
• Almost half of owners have acquired their ferret in the last five years.
• Ferrets no longer work for their living - only one in five ferrets is in employment.
• In terms of colouring, the sable, or polecat is the most popular (78%), followed by albino (57%), sandy (43%), silver (27%), dark eyed white (14%).
• Most ferrets are fed on special dried food, sometimes combined with fresh meat (survey sponsors James Wellbeloved Complete Ferret Food is used by 85% of respondents).
• Just over half of ferret owners take their pet to the vets for a regular check-up, but that still leaves 40% of owners who don't bother at all.
• And finally - 21% of male ferrets have had a vasectomy.