staging.vettimes.com

Tag: Media

Dangers of festive gatherings
Christmas is a great time for family gatherings, but this does not necessarily mean it is a great time for pets.

In fact, it can often be the opposite, with veterinary clinics seeing a major increase in patient numbers that come through the door.

One common emergency we see at the emergency hospital during the festive season is dog fight and bite wounds. As vets, we have a duty of care to educate pet owners during this time, so they – and their pet – have the best Christmas possible and do not end up in the emergency room.

Why do dogs fight and bite at Christmas?

Usually during the festive period, family or friends increasingly gather to celebrate. Whether it is people coming into their home, or them being taken to someone’s home, this can be confusing and cause anxiety levels to rise.

When a family member or friend brings a new pet into the house with an existing pet, it creates competition for food, space, affection and attention – and this can lead to dog fights. Even usually mild-mannered pets can easily feel threatened by a new pet entering their territory, and may lash out.

Increases in noise, people, decorations and general chaos during the holiday season can cause stress and anxiety. For dogs protective of their domain and the people in it, this can be a difficult and uncertain time.

Children not used to pets, and pets not used to young children, can also be a dangerous combination. Dog bites are a common injury sustained by children during the festive period and it could often be avoided.

Solutions

Although dogs are part of the family, it is important owners understand leaving their dog at home when they go to a festive gathering is not leaving them out, but protecting them and making sure they are more safe, comfortable and happy.

If hosting a party, owners can shut their dog in another room away from the chaos and noise – they will be grateful to have a peaceful space. This is a must for a dog already prone to stress.

Children and dogs should not be left alone and should be monitored at all times. If the dog starts to show signs of anxiety and stress, it should be taken somewhere it feels comfortable and calm.

Owners can take their dog to their vet for a behavior assessment. Anti-anxiety medications could be considered in extreme cases, but this would be a last resort.

Communicating messages

We can educate pet owners in the lead-up to Christmas in many ways. We can offer thoughtful, engaging and informative advice and guidance.

Some ways to communicate festive dangers to pet owners include:
- infographics
- videos
- social media posts
- posters in the hospital or clinic
- blogs
- email campaigns
- discussing the dangers at check-ups and appointments
- newsletters
- flyers
- special calls to clients with an anxious pet
- education events, such as how to manage pets and children
Here’s to a very merry – and safe – Christmas.
December 19, 2022
5 tips to building client rapport
Establishing client rapport is paramount to any consultation. Without client rapport, trust is difficult to establish and clients are less likely to follow your recommendations.

Tip #1: Never forget to greet the pet.

We have seen a good deal of negative publicity regarding veterinary surgeons in the media, so now, more than ever, we need to build that trust from the moment the client and their pet walk into the room.

Here are 5 tips to help you build rapport:
1. Never forget to greet the pet. This should come naturally to most of us, but if it doesn’t, do it often so it becomes a habit.
2. Ask open-ended questions that enable you to get to know your client and their pet. This will help you understand more about how their pet fits into the client’s lives and helps you understand their situation. Use more focused, close-ended questions for getting specific details later.
3. Listen! Listening skills are very important. Try not to cut the client off and listen to their concerns. There is sometimes a disconnection between what you think your client’s concerns are and what they really are. If you are uncertain what their main concerns are, then ask.
4. Empathy. We can sometimes forget what it feels like to be on the other side of the examination table. Place yourself in your client’s shoes and remember they love their pet enough to have brought it in to see you, and are counting on you to help get their pet better.
5. Be honest, sometimes you don’t know what is going on. By establishing rapport, you can work together with the client to develop a plan that is best for their pet.
November 15, 2022
Social media, pt 4 – content creation

Goals, targeting and platform are really important, but the most important aspect is, of course, content – what will you actually say and will your audience see it?

Generating content can be really time-consuming, but one thing I’ve learned is I tend to overthink it – a simple image or short video can really speak to people; it doesn’t always have to be profound or polished.

However, a plan needs to be in place to make it work. Think about who will create your posts – internal staff or external, and if external, how well do they know your business? Most posts should have an action you want people to take, so make it really clear if it’s a click, sign-up or watch. Plus, think about who will schedule it and who will monitor it.

Mix it up

At our hospital, we try to be consistent and post three times a week on the same days and times – although when we started, we did experiment with different days and times to see where we got the most engagement from our audience.

We find what works best is cute, informative and surgical (or gory) posts. However, no winning formula exists – expecting something to go viral is almost a guarantee it will not. The best advice is you have to mix it up, try new things and see what works best, but don’t stop experimenting and learning.

Permission to post

The most important aspect in a veterinary practice, if you are showcasing pets, is consent – always ask permission before posting. It is one of our key policies and we have a robust process, using consent forms and telephone calls, to ensure clients are happy with us telling their story.

For us, in emergency, this is essential as we deal with some of the sickest of sick pets. With this in mind, we tend to wait until they have been discharged from our care for a number of weeks and follow up with a call to see how the patient is before we consider releasing videos or case studies.

Make sure they also know the posts are for the purpose of education and prevention.

Make sure you are prepared to respond to questions and comments.

Back and forth

Always remember, too, that social media is a two-way street. When you open yourself up on social media, be prepared for questions, comments and reviews that come your way.

Set aside time – and have a policy in place – for answering and responding. This is especially true for the negative ones, which, inevitably, despite best intentions, every practice will get.

Done well, and with the right time, team and money invested, social media in the veterinary industry is a brilliant way to showcase the fascinating, inspiring, sometimes strange and utterly rewarding work we do each and every day.

April 27, 2022
Social media, pt3 – choosing the right platform
Understanding which social media platform will work for your practice really depends on your key audience and the type of content you want to share.

Loads of social media platforms exist and I sometimes find I’ve just got the hang of one, only to be encouraged to try a new one. It’s easy to get caught up in the next big thing, but considering we also need to do our demanding jobs, it is important we get it right and don’t waste our time.

Each channel is different, so should be used in different ways. My advice is keep it simple and master a few channels, rather than doing most of them.

Choosing and using the right platform

To help find the best social media platform for you, start by asking yourself these four simple questions:

Why?

It is important to ask what the overall motivation is. Each platform has its preferred type of audience and style; therefore, look at what you want to achieve and go with the platform that can offer the best return.

Do you want to increase traffic to your website, increase search engine optimisation (SEO), create a community with clients, or reach new people? Once you know your social media goals, the platform you should be using will become obvious.

Also, give each platform time. They take time to grow – especially organically.

Which?

“Facebook is by far the largest social media platform and is great for reaching the pet and veterinary communities,” says Gerardo.

Research each platform to identify which one offers the biggest audience reach, how easy is it to reach them and what style – photos, text, video or blogs, for example – works best.

Facebook is by far the largest and great for reaching the pet and veterinary communities. Plus, content remains on there – like a mini website – for years. Other channels such as Instagram, Google+ and Twitter have a quicker and more visual approach, but content gets old very quick. Google+ and Twitter are also good for improving SEO, so they are worth considering for your strategy.

LinkedIn is tailored more to business-to-business, Tumblr for blogging and Reddit as a discussion forum. If you want to engage with a younger demographic then Snapchat and Instagram are best, while Pinterest has more female users.

We have found it is better to focus on a couple of platforms with equal benefits on engaging with our audience, reaching local pet owners, and increasing web traffic and enquiries.

When?

Think about when you will be posting. Look at each platform to see when people are online – before work? After work? At lunch?

If you find your audience is online outside of work hours then, to take the stress out of it, go for platforms with a simple scheduling tool, such as Facebook, so you can schedule posts in advance – saving you having to think about things each day.

Only commit to what you can – a post every day may sound good, but in reality, it may be a stretch too far. Do two or three posts a week to begin with and alternate days on each channel. That way, you will have content live on most days of the week.

Also, it is important to think about how many users will have access to each platform, how will you monitor who is responsible for what, and who will be responding to comments and messages.

How?

Focus your time. It is worth investing a little time to understand what the platform can really offer – if you can, watch tutorials, read blogs or ask an expert.

With Facebook, once I really looked at what it could do versus what we were doing, I found we were not taking advantage of its full potential.

Most social platforms are constantly updating and evolving what they offer, so keep up to date and make sure you get the most out of them.

Also, if you find one platform isn’t working out, don’t be afraid to close the account.
- Next week, we will be looking at the all-important content and how to get it right.
April 25, 2022
Social media, pt 2 – targeting your audience
Last week, we discussed core goals for social media within a veterinary practice. This time, I want to look at target audience – how to define them, how to reach them and how to keep them engaged.

Getting the audience right is essential. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time and money – and who wants that?

You need to put yourself in their mindset – sometimes, we want to share something from the practice; however, is it really of interest to the pet-loving public?

“Keep it simple” is the best advice I was given. Social media posts tend to have a short shelf life – blink and you miss them, so make your point quickly and make sure the intended audience knows to pay attention.

What? When? How?

You always have to think about what your audience wants to know, how it wants to know it and when it will be online to see it. By profiling your main audiences, you can then create images, video, wording and tone that is going to engage them.

As with most things, having a strategy in place for each audience group is important. When you start, you want to experiment with timings of posts, style, and content and creative, but after a while, you will see a clear outline of who, what and when works for you.

Hashtags are a type of metadata tag used on social network and microblogging services that make it easier for users to find messages with a specific theme or content.

It is important to use the insights on your chosen platform – from that, you can learn which posts are the most liked, most shared, the demographics of your audience and the times that seem to get the most engagement.

Reaching the right people

Make sure you have researched hashtags, locations, interest groups, ages and keywords. Also, when you add an image, video or blog, make sure your tagging and keywords are accurate and up to date.

Many social platforms and networks reward a page for relevance and authentic content. This is even more important for paid content – it may be tempting to get likes and follows from the cheapest targeting; however, it is better to build an audience of those who may need your service and are relevant.

Also, regularly profiling your audience may show a potential audience group you are missing – such as, perhaps, a younger demographic, a location that doesn’t engage or an industry angle.

Striking the right balance

My book The MiniVet Guide is aimed at helping students through their studies and in clinical practice – so a key audience for me is veterinary students. I love sharing tips, tutorials and surgical videos to help them in their journey as they become a vet – and their response has been incredible.

I quickly discovered what engaged them and what didn’t – even if I sometimes want to post something different, you have to find the right balance between what you enjoy sharing and what the audience wants to see.
- Next week, I will look at what platforms to use and how to get the most out of them.
April 18, 2022
Social media – getting your practice online
For the next month, I want to move away from the clinical and medical aspects, and focus on some other demands and challenges part of everyday veterinary life. So, over the next four weeks, I will look at the main considerations when planning social media campaigns for your veterinary practice.

As a director of a number of emergency animal hospitals, it is also part of my role to produce content, develop a strategy and oversee our social media presence.

Of course, I am not solely responsible. I am lucky to have a great team surrounding me, which is crucial in making social media work in your practice – it has to be a team effort with everyone understanding, and sticking to, the agreed rules, strategy and objectives.

If I am honest, I was unsure about our hospitals – and me, personally – venturing out on social media; however, after a couple of years, it had proved both rewarding and essential in raising awareness of our work and profession, and in connecting with our clients and pet-loving public.

In this four-part series, I will look at four key aspects in making social media work for your practice. The first aspect is goals, or motivation for getting your practice online socially.

Goals and objectives

Firstly, the whole practice must agree and commit to a set of shared goals and objectives, and all be on the same page when it comes to what they want to achieve and how to go about it.

Without a plan or strategy in place, no direction, teamwork or accountability exists. Plus, it is hard to know you have been successful, if the practice hasn’t agreed what successful means to them.

Secondly, for the most part – although it is nice to get a little fame and recognition – the main motivation for any vet practice when sharing what they do socially is that it comes from a place of training and education. We all want to educate pet owners in preventive measures and help them keep their pets safe and healthy.

I also find in the veterinary industry, misinformation and misconceptions can exist about the work vets actually do, so this is our chance to show and educate people what it is really like behind the scenes, by showing real life stories and cases – even the tough ones. This has been a favourite aspect of mine – I love being able to share what we do behind the scenes, and the reaction has been incredible.

Thirdly, in a veterinary practice, social media offers a unique opportunity to strengthen and enhance the client bond, and be a constant source of accurate and important pet health information. Being able to have that two-way street with our clients is also essential for us to continually improve and learn.

Public awareness

Emergency practices don’t have clients as such; they only need us when their pet is in a critical state. So, what we want is for the public to know our name, what we do and, most importantly, where we are in case, one day, they need us.

Social media has been integral in allowing us to reach and engage with people before they actually need us.
- Next week, Gerardo will be looking at targeting and its importance in creating return on investment on your social media efforts.
April 11, 2022
BSAVA 2018
With the explosion of social media and digital marketing in recent years, many businesses have expressed frustration at just how fast the pace of change is. So, in an effort to support the veterinary profession, Veterinary Business Development (VBD) is delivering two presentations at BSAVA Congress to help empower practices when it comes to digital marketing.

Each presentation will run daily from 5 to 7 April 2018 as part of the industry-led exhibitor stream at the Premier Lounge at Arena Birmingham.

Your VIP guide to growing your practice with social media

The first session will offer a focus on social media – both organic and paid. It will be delivered by VBD digital marketing assistant Amelia Costanzo, who brings with her a wealth of experience from working on client campaigns.

Amelia Costanzo will focus on social media.

Synopsis

Social media use is booming across the UK, but is your practice taking advantage of the benefits it has to offer?

Is social media a viable business channel or a luxury busy practices don’t have the time to indulge in?

Amelia will discuss:
- which social media platforms you should be using
- whether a perfect time or day to post that attracts more engagement exists
- the organic and paid options you can take advantage of
- free tools for making social media management simple and painless
Amelia will explain, with proven tips and techniques, how you can use social media to grow your practice and increase loyalty among existing clients, while reaching new audiences.

Why you should attend this talk

If you would like to grow your practice’s social media presence in a simple and streamlined manner, this is the talk for you.

We know veterinary professionals are time-poor and are constantly having to make decisions that impact on animals’ lives. Many just don’t have the time to sit down and use Facebook or Twitter for an hour a day, which is why we’ve geared this talk towards offering quick, effective tips that can be actioned within a few minutes.

When?
- 5 April – 10am-10:45am
- 6 April – 3:30pm-4:15pm
- 7 April – 10am-10:45am
Find Amelia’s profile on LinkedIn.

Digital marketing blueprint – your ‘need to know’ guide

The second talk is by VBD digital marketing manager Hamzah Malik. Hamzah ensures his finger is always on the pulse, and has been growing businesses online since the age of 17. He brings with him both commercial and B2B experience, and has first-hand experience of techniques that are tried and tested in delivering results.

Synopsis

Hamzah Malik aims to deliver ROI for practices.

The world of digital marketing is rife with buzzwords, with new trends emerging every week. Hamzah cuts through the clutter and explains how to use digital marketing to reach new audiences, increase loyalty and boost exposure for your practice.

Points covered will include:
- the template you can use to instantly improve your digital presence
- how to use Google to get new customers and outmanoeuvre the competition
- the secret formula to ensuring your veterinary practice dominates locally
- how to use cutting-edge tools to automate elements of your digital marketing
- how to use your website to generate new customers on a daily basis
All tips are simple, proven and effective.

Why you should attend this talk

If you’re serious about growing your practice‘s digital presence and dominating the competition, this is the talk for you.

All tips are designed with the busy veterinary professional in mind, so there are some “quick wins” that will move the needle for you online very quickly.

The aim of this talk is to deliver you return on investment – any effort you put into your digital presence following this presentation will boost exposure locally or bring in new clients for you.

When?
- 5 April – 3:30pm-4:15pm
- 6 April – 10am-10:45am
- 7 April – 3:30pm-4:15pm
Find Hamzah’s profile on LinkedIn.

Check back here after the talks to download your exclusive guides and get copies of the presentations.
February 12, 2018
Breaking away from a vet’s diet of fast food

A while ago, I wrote about anorexia in vets… the stripped down, bare meaning being the clinical sign of “not eating”. As a student, I witnessed vets on placements routinely forgoing lunch or existing on a diet consisting entirely of Pot Noodles or fast food – one vet I shadowed had either a McDonalds or KFC on four of the five days.

Then, I could appreciate the lack of time and energy for cooking, but still couldn’t imagine being able to stomach so much junk food. I could not understand how you could work effectively and remain healthy while pouring so much crap into your body – and, of course, you can’t!

Isn’t it ironic that part of our job is to advise on diet and nutrition for clients’ four-legged friends, yet we don’t take our own advice?

Realisation dawns

Image © miketea88 / Adobe Stock.

As a student, there would be rare occasions I wouldn’t get lunch until 4pm or would just order a pizza through tiredness (or, more likely, from being hungover). But, on the whole, I had a pretty good diet. I exercised a lot and was organised enough to make lunch 90% of the time, so I was never stuck without food.

Yet now, as a new grad, I totally get the unhealthiness; it’s not really a matter of choice, but more a matter of pure exhaustion.

I found myself going without lunch on numerous occasions, mostly due to being stuck on farm all day TB testing, but sometimes due to being swamped with surgeries. Having not been able to stop for food all day, my first exploratory laparotomy was done after inhaling a cupcake – not the most nutritious of lunches.

24/7 shopping

There have been weeks I have consumed more takeaways or McMuffins than I am proud of, purely down to a lack of time and effort. I’m too tired to shop for food, or cook it, and I don’t want to spend all weekend meal-prepping for the week ahead, which is what my more organised, student self would have done.

It also doesn’t help that shops close early on a Sunday in England. I was definitely spoilt in Scotland, where 24-hour opening actually means 24 hours, 7 days a week.

If I cooked like I did when I was a student, my day would literally be work, cook, eat, sleep. But, to be honest, it’s not much better anyway – more like work, pick up takeaway, eat, sleep.

Maintaining a work-food balance

I do manage to get out on the bike at weekends, but not during the week, and as a former gym frequenter at uni, it gets to me sometimes that I’m becoming seriously unfit. Perhaps the answer is to get up early and go to the gym before work, but that’s not in my nature… I tried early running once, and all it did was make the day feel really long by 9am.

Mental health and well-being are constantly in the veterinary media at the moment, and, while I can empathise with my colleagues who lead the lifestyle of fast food, I’m not condoning it. This is no way to carry on. We need to try to achieve an acceptable work-life balance and, at the very least, a good work-food balance, which is something I am apparently not very good at yet.

I’m told it gets easier. Whether that means you get over being so tired all the time or just get used to it and somehow manage to power through, I’m not sure, but I hope it does – and I hope I find the energy to improve my diet.

December 1, 2017
Social media – a blessing or a curse?

An experienced vet warned me to stay off social media as a new graduate, because comparing yourself to others “drains your confidence”. I’m not sure I agree.

As with anything, there are pros and cons to the new age of communication, advertising and sharing information that is social media. Not just in veterinary, but in all walks of life, people are very good at publishing only the positive things, which gives others a very warped perception of their lives.

Bricking it

“Started a new job” or “excited for the future” have been common themes since graduation. But what you don’t see is “absolutely bricking my first day”, “maybe veterinary isn’t for me” or “I’ve moved to the middle of nowhere with no friends nearby and am seriously regretting my decision.”

Social media can fuel the feeling of isolation as a new grad because everything you see is through rose-tinted glasses – everyone else seems to be doing great and achieving so much. Now, the various platforms are not entirely to blame because it can be easy to feel that way just talking to other people in person as well.

While it is a lot easier to gather a more accurate idea of someone else’s experiences in person, you still get a certain level of one-upmanship, which does no one any favours. It’s great to meet up with uni friends to help you realise you’re not alone, provided you understand everyone progresses at different rates and in different environments.

Understanding what works for you

To begin with, I would envy the workplaces of my friends, thinking I’d somehow drawn the short straw, but having thought long and hard about it, would I want to be in their shoes? They may be thriving in their own respective environments, but I know I wouldn’t in some of their situations.

The key is understanding what works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you – and once you come to terms with that, you can use social media without having a sinking feeling every time someone posts about the latest great surgery they’ve done.

What about on a wider level? I have joined a couple of Facebook groups for qualified vets and been surprised by a number of aspects of these.

Can’t we all just get along?

Jordan has been “mortified” by the way some vets speak to their peers in certain online groups and forums. IMAGE: terovesalainen – adobe.stock.com

The motives behind these groups are genuine, offering a forum to share ideas and offer support to other members of the profession. And, on the whole, that’s what happens.

However, I have been mortified by the backlash some members have received for certain comments.

We, as a profession, are continually slated in the media for being money-grabbing insensitive con artists (which, of course, the vast majority of vets are absolutely not) and yet, in a private forum, vets are using very similar vindictive language against each other.

Some of it is barely short of cyber bullying, which is really quite sad. We get enough stick from the public, can we not try to be a little kinder to each other?

I know individual vets will disagree with others, but this can be expressed in a constructive way, not the emotive, anger infused rants we regularly encounter from the public. In this respect, I do think social media has gone sour.

Online awareness

For individual practices, it seems, at the moment, social media really can be make or break. Do not underestimate the power of social media – word travels fast: only too often do practices lose clients based on bad Facebook reviews.

But, equally, practices can try to maximise the interaction with clients through social media by posting facts, photos and offers to help educate and encourage responsible pet ownership, among other things.

While we don’t want to get too hung up on bad comments, which need to be addressed professionally and appropriately, it is important to be aware of our online presence – after all, we need to be proactive and advance with technology to keep in touch with our clients.

But how closely in touch with clients should you be?

Client friend requests

At some point in everyone’s career, the inevitable client Facebook friend request will happen. This can be tough and I have heard conflicting advice with how to respond. Some would recommend a blanket ban on client Facebook friends, which is all well and good unless you work in your home town, where a lot of your friends or family friends will be clients.

Others would recommend creating a bland profile to accept clients that doesn’t have any personal information or embarrassing photos. There’s also the option of changing your online name slightly to make it difficult for clients to find you in the first place – this is what I opted for.

Making sure your privacy settings are strict also helps non-friends see very little. I guess you just have to do what suits you without making a rod for your own back – if any client does try to message you out of hours, be strict and either ignore or refer them to the OOH number.

I think it’s safe to say social media is great in moderation, but too much of it could really get you down. We, as vets, should use it to our advantage, but try not to take it too seriously.

November 22, 2017
Omnicompetence – maybe not so foolish?

The first of April brought with it the usual abundance of amusing online articles, tweets and blogs, only claiming credibility until midday – and the veterinary community was no exception.

Sun Life’s “courtesy pet” joke didn’t have vet student Jordan fooled for a minute.

Some April Fools were obvious hoaxes – such as Sun Life’s courtesy pet scheme, offering owners a replacement pet in place of their beloved while away at the vets – while others were a little harder to interpret, such as BEVA’s announcement of a privately funded equine vet degree – or maybe that’s because I was still half asleep and it was the first one I’d seen before realising the date.

Food for thought

Although it was cleared up at midday that BEVA president Mark Bowen was not due to become dean of the first UK equine-only vet school and that the nine traditional degrees would remain the only ones available, it did provoke some thought about whether it would be such a bad idea after all.

While plans for a traditional five-year omnicompetence approach, followed by a further three years of equine-only study, seemed a little far-fetched (fourth year has nearly finished me off – I certainly don’t think I’d hack eight years at vet school), many veterinary schools around the world use a condensed version of this model.

For example, Utrecht University in the Netherlands follows the format of a three-year bachelor’s degree for all species, followed by a three-year master’s degree aimed solely at one species/area (with the exception of 20 weeks). The University of Leige in Belgium compromises in that the fifth year is spent rotating through clinics for all species and half of the final (sixth) year is spent in one area in particular, with a choice of small animal, farm or equine.

Omnicompetence or specialisation?

The question of omnicompetence or specialisation is highly debatable and seems to go around in circles in the UK. Earlier career specialisation would be favoured by some who know, undoubtedly, they never want to see a cat, dog or rabbit again after vet school – likewise for those who shudder at the thought of an emergency caesarean and an angry farmer.

Early specialisation as an equine vet could mean you’ll never find yourself taking a blood sample from a lion. Image courtesy Shamwari Conservation Experience.

But what about those like me, who, after a considerable amount of vet school already under his or her belt and a variety of EMS placements (good and bad), when posed with the question “what sort of practice do you want to go into?” still can’t come up with anything more eloquent than: “Umm… mixed?”

The advantage of omnicompetence is that, in theory, graduates should leave vet school equipped with the knowledge and skills to address most cases in general practice in any field/species, deal with emergencies and know who or where to refer a patient to if the case is beyond his or her abilities.

Early specialisation could change this to the extent an equine or farm graduate asked “can you just look at my dog” may end up looking a bit silly.

Everything changes

Circumstances also change and accidents do happen. A vet may end up sustaining an injury while working with horses or livestock that could prevent him or her from doing so in the future, so a species-specific degree could force him or her to leave clinical practice altogether.

Similarly to the “new vet schools” debate, it is feared introducing species-specific degrees may reduce job availability for graduates who have taken the traditional educational pathway, making the equine sector, in particular, even more “elitist”. Ultimately, this could potentially drive the profession away from the concept of mixed practice altogether.

Master of one?

More like our medical counterparts, we could lose our “Jack of all trades” status and end up being highly specialised instead, which does, of course, have its advantages, but leaves those of us who want a bit of variety and flexibility in the dark.

For me, omnicompetence is definitely the right starting point for a veterinary degree, but I know others have very different opinions. I did, however, enjoy the brief social media debate before a communal sigh of relief.

My personal favourite April Fool this year, however, was the University of Glasgow’s announcement the university tower would be reopening as a public helter-skelter (see video below) – and I’m still disappointed it isn’t true.

April 20, 2016