The increased boom in ownership of ‘pocket pets’ is resulting in a growing demand for the quality of veterinary care of these animals, but often exotic animal owners find it difficult to locate a veterinarian in their area who has specialised experience with exotic animals.

The Veterinary Clinic and Hospital in Werribee is catering for this need by welcoming unusual and exotic animal consultant, Dr Brendan Carmel to its team of veterinary experts.

Dr Carmel is the past president of the Unusual & Exotic Pet Veterinarians special interest group of the Australian
Veterinary Association; a founding member of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians and the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians. He is the veterinary consultant to Melbourne Museum, and a lecturer in wildlife and unusual and exotic pet medicine at the University of Melbourne.

“Over the years, I have worked on many unusual cases, from treating an anorexic spider for not eating, undertaking a health check on a 40kg snake to trimming the beak on a 30kg land tortoise,” said Dr Carmel.

“I will be undertaking clinics at the Werribee Veterinary Clinic and Hospital every Wednesday morning. On weekdays, clients can consult with resident veterinarian Tina Knight who also has a special interest in exotic pets, and has worked alongside me in the past.”

Photo:  Dr Brendan Carmel, BVSc 1987, performs an ultrasound on one of Melbourne Musuem’s chameleons to determine whether to perform surgery to remove its stomach full of eggs.

Contact: Andrea Jones

Phone: 8344 7844

On Sunday 6 April twenty-seven adventurous veterinary science staff and students gathered together on the beautiful Geelong Waterfront to take part in the annual Harwood Andrews Corporate Triathlon.

The nine veterinary science triathlon teams competed either in the team single leg or whole course team events, scooping two first places in this year’s competition. In the women’s whole course team competition, Emma Croser, Laura Fennell and Natali Krekeler won first place in a competitive time of 2:51.15.

The veterinary science whole course mixed team entry also came in first with an impressive time of 2:45.20. Matt Pascall, a third-year veterinary science student and winning mixed team member said: “It was a great event with perfect conditions for a fast race. We all had a lot of fun, went through a lot of pain, and were really happy to have performed so well as a team.”

Dr Stuart Barber, who organised the University’s participation in the triathlon said: “It was great to see so many people from the Faculty of Veterinary Science encouraging and supporting each other and enjoying some friendly rivalry in this fun team event. Congratulations to everyone who took part, and did so well, we’ll have to go back again next year to defend our titles!”

This year’s event included a 500 metre swim, a 10 kilometre cycle and a 5 kilometre run.

Photo:  Back: Charlie El Hage (staff), Matt Pascall, Peter Bradbrook, Tom Gilheany, James White, Stuart Barber (staff), Ben Mielke, Marcus Berstrael, Ken Hinchliff (Dean), Ari Xipolitas and Jeremy McDonnell

Middle: Andrea Jones (marketing), Alison Every (staff), Leonie Richards (staff), Sarah White, Anna Curry, Melati Laksito (staff), Eleanor Mackie (staff), Natalie Krekeler (staff) and Brynley Cooper

Front: Ben Kay, Christie Jennings, Kat McDonough, Emma Crosser (staff) and Sarah Robson

Contact: Andrea Jones

Phone: 8344 7844

Horse owners may be missing out on the valuable diagnostic tool of scintigraphy, which can help with identifying the causes of lameness, says Dr Chris Whitton, coordinator of the equine scintigraphy service at the Equine Centre.

Many veterinarians are unaware of the quality and sophistication of the imaging provided by the University of Melbourne’s Scintigraphy Service, he says, and may not think to recommend it to their clients.

Scintigraphy, also known as bone scanning, can provide an indication of the physiological change occurring within the bone often before the injury would be detected using the more traditional methods of radiography or ultrasound.

Dr Gareth Trope, resident in equine surgery at the University’s Werribee Veterinary Clinic and Hospital is also a fan of the imaging tool.

“It is particularly useful in examining causes of upper limb lameness such as pelvic fractures, sacro-iliac pain and back pain. These areas are difficult to image with radiographs.

“Other advantages include the ability to scan the entire skeleton easily and in a relatively short time while the horse is standing and sedated; the fact that it can provide information about active bone remodeling; and its usefulness in the diagnosis of stress fractures in racehorses.”

Dr Trope describes the process: “The horse is usually sedated but remains standing for the procedure (on rare occasions we would perform the scan on a horse under general anaesthesia). A radioactive compound attached to a bone tracer is injected into a vein. The tracer ‘sticks’ in areas of increased bone activity (hotspots) and three hours later a gamma camera records the amount and location of radiation. This information is processed by a computer into a picture of the horse’s skeleton where hotspots can be seen at sites of injury.

“Despite sedation, small movements and swaying are a common cause of poor image quality. Blurry pictures can result in incorrect diagnoses and this is especially a problem with back and upper limb scans. The University of Melbourne’s Equine Centre has installed an advanced digital processing system and motion correction software which produces high quality images that have been the envy of visiting specialists from all over the world.”

Dr Whitton agrees. The Equine Centre has been offering a scintigraphy service for the last five years and he believes it is one of the best in the country.

“It is the combination of the sophistication of our equipment, the incorporation of the movement correction software and the fact that we have a dedicated nuclear medicine technician, Tanya Puksmann, that makes the Equine Centre’s Scintigraphy Service so outstanding.

“The equipment is very sensitive,” says Dr Whitton, “and it requires a lot of tweaking to keep it producing accurate, repeatable information. We’re very fortunate to have Tanya, who is highly qualified and widely admired for her skills in the area of nuclear medicine.”

With over 700 scintigraphy scans performed over the last five years, the Equine Centre is accumulating vast amounts of data that is being utilised in many ongoing research projects within the University.

Dr Whitton hopes more vets will soon be recommending scintigraphy for those nagging lameness cases that have no obvious cause.

Contact: Andrea Jones

Phone: 8344 7844

Elizabeth (Liz) Lightfoot, Academic Programs Manager in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, has retired, ending a long and successful career that has spanned over three decades at the University of Melbourne.

For twenty-two of these years she worked at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, serving three deans, which makes her one of the longest serving professional members of staff.

In her role as Academic Programs Manager she undertook many different roles from being the principal guide of selection processes in the Faculty; overseeing the management of the Parkville campus, and managing the path of our students from their very first enquiry to graduation.

Associate Dean, Professor Glenn Browning said: “Throughout her career her contributions have been marked by a combination of commitment, loyalty, passion, efficiency, accuracy, attention to detail, and respect and care for individuals, for the Faculty and for the University as an important public institution.

“Liz will be greatly missed by all of us who have known her as a colleague, and we all hope she remains in contact with the Faculty and the profession that she has helped shape in the years ahead.”

Contact: Andrea Jones

Phone: 8344 7844

A third-year veterinary student is set to undertake a gruelling 1.9km swim, a 90km bike ride and a half marathon, in an attempt to raise much needed funds for one of India’s largest animal charities.

Matt Pascall will battle against some of the fittest athletes in the country in the ‘Rydges Capricorn Half Ironman’ on Sunday 17 August in Yeppoon, Queensland.

He’ll be raising monies for the Visakha Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (VSPCA), whose main aim is to prevent cruelty, and alleviate suffering of animals in India.

Matt, 23, hopes to raise $5,260, which is the exact amount needed to employ a qualified Indian veterinarian to work full-time in the VSPCA clinic for one full year.

The animal-lover and fitness fanatic said: “The monies raised will go a long way towards saving and helping the lives of hundreds of animals. The VSPCA currently provides shelter to over 1050 animals, including cows, cats, dogs, monkeys, horses, parrots and other animals in need. They also run a lot of amazing programs including an animal birth control and sea turtle protection program, an adoption program for stray animals, and cow sanctuaries.

“The animal charity relies heavily on generous donations, and I’m hoping that all my friends, family and the wider community will support me with this worthy cause. I will travel to India in December for a two-week placement with the VSPCA, and it would be great to present them with a cheque so that they can employ a full-time veterinarian.”

The veterinary science student has raised over $800 so far, if you are interested in sponsoring him, donations can be made online at www.blognow.com/ironman4spca, or he can be contacted via email -m.pascall@ugrad.unimelb.edu.au.

Contact: Andrea Jones

Phone: 8344 7844