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In this episode of Vet Synapse, we speak with veterinarian and co-founder of Colourful CPD, Dr Brian Faulkner, about developing your "soft skills" as veterinary professionals, and how these can offer enormous help in both our professional and everyday lives!

The field of infectious diseases in small animal medicine is an enormous and challenging field, with infectious diseases being responsible for a wide range of symptoms and diseases, that frequently overlap with non-infectious conditions. A Color Handbook of Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat is both a welcome and valuable addition to the small animal veterinarian’s library for many reasons. Visit the episode page to know more - https://veteducation.com.au/color-handbook-infectious-diseases-review/

What is Canine necrotising fasciitis? Canine necrotising fasciitis (NF) is an uncommon, deep-seated destructive infection of the skin, subcutaneous, and superficial fascia. Rarely, the process also can occur in the muscle, when it is termed necrotising myositis (NM). Both of these conditions can be associated with another syndrome called toxic shock syndrome (TSS).   Read more.

Acute liver failure is a severe, often fatal condition of the liver, characterised by severe and widespread liver injury resulting in cellular necrosis, inflammation, and associated loss of liver function. The aim of this blog is to summarise findings from two recent literature reviews on acute liver failure in dogs and cats, and a recent retrospective review of 49 clinical cases of acute liver failure in dogs. Acute liver failure is defined as acute liver injury that is severe enough that it compromises liver functions, including the...read more.

Small Animal Fluid Therapy, Acid-Base and Electrolyte Disorders is a short text designed to highlight some of the more important aspects of fluid therapy, acid-base and electrolyte disorders, in an easy-to-read, concise format, facilitating rapid access to core information. The author, Dr Elisa Mazzaferro, is a well-respected, internationally recognised expert, and widely published author in the field of veterinary emergency and critical care. The book opens with a useful chapter on fluid compartments and total body water, and presents a concise review of the basic principles of body fluid compartments, forces of osmolality, osmosis and diffusion, and then advances to the physiological response to hypovolaemia, and fluid balance. The chapter also presents the notion of fluid therapy requirements based on energy expenditure, which is an important step in preventing excesses of fluid administration in the critically ill patient and aligns well with the most recent fluid therapy guidelines from the American Animal Hospital Association. This is followed by an excellent chapter on techniques and complications of vascular access, which is enhanced by the inclusion of numerous high-quality images and step-by-step guides to placement of peripheral venous, central venous, intra-osseous, arterial and cut-down techniques. The chapter on blood banking and transfusion medicine is likewise excellent, and provides a useful guide to blood collection, processing and administration. The book concludes with a brief description of common electrolyte disorders, and parenteral nutrition, followed by a short review of the types of shock and the “rule of twenty”. Several case-studies are also presented, highlighting the various uses of fluid therapy in the critical and emergency patient. Overall, the text is very easy to read. Being a handbook, it lacks the depth of physiology and pathophysiology of more comprehensive texts. Those studying for advanced examinations would be better served by more exhaustive references. In addition, due to the age of the text, some recommendations – particularly those on colloid therapy, and monitoring (e.g. central venous pressure) have now been superseded by advances in medical knowledge and should therefore be disregarded.  However, the book is not without merit – even given its age – with excellent chapters on vascular access and transfusion therapy. The inclusion of many tables, charts and flow-diagrams, along with excellent images, make this book a suitable reference for those wanting an introductory text for small animal fluid therapy.

Veterinary Nursing Care Plans: Theory and Practice is designed to inform the reader of both the theory and practice of care planning in veterinary nursing. The author is a well-respected veterinary and human nurse – holding a degree in pharmacology, and both veterinary and human nursing qualifications.  Veterinary nursing care plans are still in their relative infancy in terms of development, when compared to those in human healthcare, making this book a useful resource in highlighting the benefits of patient-centered planning and care The book is organized into three sections titled “What are nursing plans”; “Why should nursing plans be used in practice”; and “How to use nursing care plans in practice” – with each section containing several chapters designed to organize the text. Each chapter commences with a useful set of learning objectives that set the tone for what the reader will encounter; and concludes with a short, point-form review of the chapter contents, some additional thoughts by the author, for reflection, and a reference list, followed by a “further reading” list for those interested in expanding their perspective on the chapter contents. These features make the book very easy to navigate in both short-form reading, and long-form, investigative reading. Additionally, they bring the largely descriptive (and very interesting) text into focus for the reader, which enhances the overall reading experience. Of particular note throughout the text, is reference to significant historical theory and practice of nursing care, both in human and veterinary fields, which places the current development of nursing care plans for the veterinary nursing profession within its global and historical context and highlights the evolution of current nursing practice. The book is illustrated throughout with a number of charts, diagrams and tables that serve to highlight key points in the chapter narrative.  Nursing care plans are now becoming well-established within the veterinary profession, and are being taught within the syllabus of many veterinary nursing training centres. In human nursing, their use is well-documented in improving the standard of patient care. This book provides an easy-to-read outline of how to develop a nursing care plan for veterinary patients and is recommended reading for anyone wanting to enhance both their veterinary nursing skills – and the documentation of those skills.

Despite the large numbers of studies investigating both physiology and treatment of shock syndromes in both people and dogs, there is a relative paucity of studies on this topic in cats. Let’s begin by describing shock in cats. The clinical syndrome of shock in cats has been characterized by 3 things... read more.

In this episode of Vet Synapse, Dr. Philip Judge talks about the importance of blood lactate and why its a valuable monitoring tool in small animal patients.   This podcast is brought to you by Vet Education. For more information, please visit veteducation.com.au

The physical detection of peripheral pulses, and the characterization of those pulses – as strong, moderate or weak, has long been used in triage assessment protocols in both humans and animals – with the assumption that strong pulses correlate with higher blood pressure, whereas weak pulses correlate with lower blood pressure. However, in humans, study of the association between peripheral pulse and arterial blood pressure has revealed that systolic arterial pressure measurements were lower than those expected based on traditional correlations, and this has raised concerns about the reliability of pulse pressure in patient assessment. In this article, we review a veterinary study looking at the validity of this assumption. Prior to this study, there were no clinical studies evaluating the relationship of peripheral pulse to systolic arterial blood pressure in dogs – something the study under discussion aimed to rectify. Pulse quality is determined by the difference between systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, and is influenced by several factors, including: Systolic blood pressure Diastolic blood pressure Stroke volume Arterial wall compliance, and Intra-thoracic pressure This study [1] was a prospective observational study of 93 dogs that presented to an emergency service where a physical examination and a systolic arterial blood pressure evaluation were performed prior to any intervention or therapy. The results of the study were interesting, and revealed the following: Absent metatarsal pulses reliably predicted hypotension (systolic arterial blood pressure <90 mm Hg) The presence of metatarsal pulses did NOT correlate with normal blood pressure measurement – meaning that a patient with palpable metatarsal pulses could still be hypotensive