Small animal nutrition, neurology on a smartphone and Schedule 3 wrap up day three of BSAVA Congress and Expo 2025

22 March 2025

Excitement for the future but the need for more information were the key themes of Saturday morning’s symposium on trends in small animal nutrition at BSAVA Congress and Expo 2025.

Delegates listened with great interest to the insights provided by internationally renowned nutrition consultant Marge Chandler and Genever Morgan, who has contributed greatly to the knowledge base on the persistent trend for raw feeding through her work at the University of Liverpool.

An initial poll showed 52% of delegates relied on personal experience for information on nutrition and 46% would turn to the internet. It was accepted that the current trend of feeding raw meat-based diets (RMBD) will not be going away any time soon, and whilst only 7% of UK dogs are fed this type of diet according to the PDSA PAW Report 2022, this still equates to nearly 800,000 animals. Genever Morgan’s research has repeatedly shown the presence of multi-drug resistant E. coli within RMBD, but also various Salmonella species, which given the zero-tolerance policy for this organism under UK law, is very concerning.

The “opposite to raw” was then explored in the growing trend of alternative protein diets. Ethical concerns over the welfare of farmed animals and the contribution of this to the ‘global CO2 pawprint’ are leading many pet owners and those within the industry to consider what else can be done, with insect proteins and lab-grown proteins being the main types considered today.

The session concluded with the key point that the future of small animal nutrition is ever changing, and trends will always form a part of this, but maintaining a commitment to interrogating high quality data is the best route to animal and human health going forward.

In a session focused on neurology on a smartphone, Mark Lowrie, Director of Movement Referrals, explained the value of asking clients to video their pets having seizures, to capture neurological events and achieve an accurate diagnosis.

Using real case examples, Mark showcased how videos can give more detailed and accurate information than an owner description of the event, which can avoid running unnecessary diagnostic tests, allowing vets to, for example, differentiate between generalised and focal fits, and between faints and neurological collapse. This is particularly useful for episodic conditions and patients appear normal when presented to you in clinic.

Focusing on cats, Laurent Garosi from Vet Oracle Technology highlighted how useful videos are for diagnosing feline seizures, when a clinical examination of the cat is often not possible, but critical information can be extracted from the video as you would in an exam.

Up for discussion this afternoon was the current and future capabilities of what nurses can and cannot do under Schedule 3 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act, creating some of the liveliest debate seen all day.

Many vets and vet nurses remain unclear about what is allowed, but the general consensus of all parties in the room (vets, nurses and representative bodies alike) was that nurses should be allowed to more fully exercise their abilities as highly skilled professionals.

Andy Green, Chair of the BSAVA Congress Committee and Director of Pennard Vets described the issues around Schedule 3 as being “fundamentally a cultural conundrum”, where so many practices are stuck in the ‘busy trap’ where only the person who can do things fastest is the one who gets to do it.

Many nurses feel frustrated with having to prove again and again to new vets coming in that they are capable, something that clearly visible skills matrices were suggested as a solution to. Having intentional and consistent opportunities for nurses to be allowed to learn and practice new skills are essential, and one attendee reported how additional training had greatly increased confidence from her veterinary team in what she was now routinely delegated to do.

Chair Matthew Rendle RVN reminded the room that nurses can give as much guidance to veterinary surgeons as they like, but final decisions legally lie with vets because they have overall governance.  The frustration with this current legal framework was voiced by panel member Belinda Andrews-Jones, as “if a human nurse can do it, why can’t we?” There was much appetite within the room for advanced practitioner pathways to be made more widely available to nurses under any future legislation, as is widely now available within the NHS and readily accepted by the public.

The question over whether the public would accept paying the same for procedures performed by nurses created a sense of general indignation in the room, arguing that it is the skill of the procedure performed that matters and not the person who does it; for example, a new graduate vet is not charging less than the practice owner. One delegate reported that her practice had had to reduce nurse procedure prices to create a caseload, whereas others reported that suitable phrasing on consent forms was enough to circumvent this issue.

Overall, it was great session that left all delegates feeling a common sense of pride and confidence in the abilities of veterinary nurses.