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Cattle lungworm survey launched
The survey will remain open all year.
COWS wants to better understand treatment efficacy. 

The Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS) group has launched a new survey to discover more about the treatment of lungworm in the UK.

It follows an industry workshop last year, hosted by COWS and supported by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, where it was recognised that a standardised approach to assessing wormer efficacy was necessary.

Helen Carty, veterinary centre manager for Scotland's Rural College, explained: “In recent years, we have been aware of reports of suspected lack of efficacy of wormers to treat lungworm infections in cattle.

“But no-one is sure whether this due to growing resistance of lungworm to the wormers or is it solely down to poor administration, such as under-dosing or inappropriate timing?”

COWS hopes that the results of the survey will help them to learn more about when outbreaks of lungworm occur, the class of stock most affected, the clinical signs shown, and how well the cattle respond to treatment.

The survey will stay open throughout 2024. Veterinary surgeons can submit to it as many times as they wish to. The results will be published in 2025.

Ms Carty added: “We would like vets to supply information from lungworm outbreaks, tell us about any testing undertaken and response to treatment.

“We are not expecting to see a lot of survey forms coming in until the second half of the grazing season but want vets to be aware that the survey is available.”

The survey can be accessed here.

Image © Shutterstock

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Practices urged to audit neutering data

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has called on vet practices to audit their post-operative neutering outcomes.

It follows the release of the 2024 NASAN benchmarking report, which collates data from neutering procedures performed on dogs, cats and rabbits.

The benchmarking report enables practices in the UK and Ireland to compare their post-operative outcomes to the national average. This includes the rate of patients lost to follow-up, which in 2024 increased to 23 per cent.

Anyone from the practice can submit the data using a free template. The deadline for next report is February 2026.

Visit the RCVS Knowledge website to complete an audit. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
RCVS pays tribute to well-loved equine vet

The RCVS and the Riding Establishments Subcommittee has paid tribute to well-loved veterinary surgeon and riding establishment inspector, Rebecca Hamilton-Fletcher MRCVS.

Linda Belton MRCVS, RCVS President, said: "I, along with my colleagues on the RESC, RCVS Council, RCVS Standards Committee, as well as RCVS staff, was very saddened to hear of the sudden death of Rebecca, or Becca as we knew her, last week.

"She was a true advocate for equine welfare and in her many years on the RESC worked to continually improve the quality and consistency of riding establishment inspections, all in the interests of enhanced horse welfare and rider safety."