Lene Dahlerud's FIV research won her an award from Cats Protection.

Dogs Trust and Cats Protection scheme supports veterinary students

Three veterinary students have received awards for research undertaken at rescue shelters, as part of an annual awards scheme run by Cats Protection and Dogs Trust.

The EMS awards are designed to give veterinary students in their third to fifth years of study the chance to gain hands-on work experience at one of the charities.

Winning research projects covered co-habitation of cats in shelters, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and the human-animal bond and its effect of future clinical care.

After work placements at one of the charities, students were asked to submit reports on their findings.

The Cats Protection award was given jointly to Lene Dahlerud, 24 and Lydia Cheyne, 22, who are both in their final year at the University of Nottingham. They each received a cash prize of £500.

Lydia, who studied co-habitation in shelter cats, said she was honoured to have won the award and "thoroughly enjoyed" her placement. She added: "I learned some invaluable lessons that I will most definitely take forward with me when I start in practice."

Fellow winner Lene said she was impressed by the hard work of staff and volunteers at the shelter. "I will particularly value the knowledge shared with me on the aspects of epidemiology, feline behaviour and feline medicine."

Winning the Dogs Trust award was Poppy Gant, 22, from the University of Liverpool. Poppy studied the possible future impacts of the human-animal bond on clinical care.

She said: "The team at Dogs Trust Kenilworth were so helpful and accommodating and I learned so much from them. I hope my paper has some insights which may continue to benefit the dogs they help.

Some of the runner up projects featured FIV and FeLV testing in rescue and rehoming organisations, the challenges of providing adequate kitten socialisation while managing the risk of infectious disease and kennel behaviour in dogs.

Dogs Trust veterinary director Paula Boyden said: "We were amazed at the calibre of reports the students submitted this year."