Pet rabbits are increasing in popularity and the owners want the same treatment for them as they would want for a dog or a cat. However, the knowledge among clinical staff about these small animals is not always up to date. The aim of this paper is to highlight the needs of the pet rabbit and how these can be met regarding veterinary nursing. Pet rabbits are different from dogs and cats in several ways and their needs as patients differ as well. Rabbits are herbivorous prey animals. To avoid predators, they are very reluctant to show any sign of weakness for as long as they can.

The purpose of this literature study was to describe techniques for monitoring general anesthesia and standing chemical restraint in the horse. A number of various techniques and devices related to e.g. blood pressure measurement, blood gas analysis and pulse oximetry are defined, and finally their clinical relevance and reliability are discussed. The equine patient is generally far more exposed to anesthesia-related risks than other smaller species. Complications such as hypotension and hypercapnia are commonly seen during general anesthesia. Thus, close monitoring is essentially performed by the Veterinary nurse, whom is responsible for monitoring the anesthetized patient.

Clinicians in veterinary practice have responsibilities for the development of global antibiotic resistance. In some cases, antibiotics are contraindicated or even useless in wound treatments and therefore other options are needed. Antiseptics may be another option but their use are controversial and may be questioned by owners. As professionals, it may be very difficult to be able to motivate this choice of treatment. The aim of this paper is to gain knowledge about four antiseptics; iodine, silver, polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) and honey to make it easier for Veterinary nurses and other clinicians in veterinary practices to decide their potential use. The assessment will be made with consideration of the available evidence concerning the properties, usability and the animal?s experience. The results showed a lack of evidence in in-vivo studies in horses, particularly studies within the field of veterinary nursing.

Veterinary medicine is not merely an area of occupation but also an area of business. In a business the customer service is its identity and brand and more importantly what makes the client choose and recommend the clinic to other potential customers. The licensed Veterinary nurse is habitually the one who first meets the clients at the clinic. Therefore it is particularly important for the licensed Veterinary nurse at the clinic to offer high-quality customer service. The object of this study was to understand and elucidate how the pet owners experience the encounter with the licensed Veterinary nurse at different stages in their contact with the clinic.

This work is a combination of a literature study and a practical pilotstudy. In the literature study essential physiological reasons of why anaesthesia of horses is so risky are explained. Diffrent methods of induction and recovery are brought up, together with significant aspects of positioning the horse on the operating table and perianaesthetic complications such as myopathy, neuropathy and limb fractures. The pilotstudy had the purpose of examine the bodytemperature of horses undergoing general anaesthesia and to control the perianaesthetic temperature measurements performed in Swedish horseclinics and veterinary hospitals. Our hypothesis was that the bodytemperature of the horses would decrease but not enough to cause a problem. The purpose of this work has been to gather more profound knowledges in the subject of perianaesthetic nursing of horses which is an important part of the assignment of a Veterinary nurse..

Particular to the cat among our pets is its´ unique nutritional needs and metabolism. The cat cannot produce some nutrients by themselves and must get them through their diet. This means that the cat quickly can suffer from various diseases unless the nutritional needs are covered. In those cases where man is completely in control of the cat?s diet, the right knowledge is crucial for the cat?s wellbeing.

60 million years ago the horse was the size of a small dog, and walked on four toes. Today it can weigh up to 500-1000 kg and has evolved to walking on only one phalanx. The anatomy of the horses? legs and hooves allow them to run at high speeds, and at the same time enables them to bear the extremely high concussions applied to the foot at high speeds or jumps. Every horse owner has his or her own opinion on how to manage their horses? hooves, and whether the horse should be shod or unshod. The knowledge, commitment and attention of the owner determine the quality of the hoof care, but also the time between the arising of symptoms of abnormalities of the hoof until care is sought with a farrier or veterinarian. New laws will be applied at the beginning of 2015 which bring on changes in authorization for farriers.

Objective ? To study the requirement of nursing care of the equine patient during eye treatment with a lavage system together with a constant rate infusion pump. Procedures ? Three Veterinary nurses at ATG: s Hästsjukhus in Skara were asked nine questions at individual interviews. Inclusion criteria for participation in the interview were that the nurse should have treated equines with and without the infusion pump to the lavage system, but also traditionally with eye drops. Results ? The equine had a higher well-being since it experienced less stress during eye treatment with the infusion pump compared to treatment given by hand through the lavage system. The treatment would be more effective with constant rate infusion and save costs for the owner.

As reptiles are becoming more common as patients in veterinary clinics, there is a need for creating new procedures regarding the care of exotic pets. The aim of this study was to develop a wound care routine adapted to reptiles, which can be used independently by a Veterinary nurse due to the absence of prescription drugs or surgical techniques. The study was conducted by compiling the available research regarding wound care in reptiles, as well as research from related fields. The result indicates that polyurethane films and chlorhexidine-alcohol may advantageously be used on these patients. Hydrocolloid dressings and silver sulfadiazine dressings have adverse effects on wound healing and should not be used routinely in reptiles.

One of many difficult issues in veterinary medicine is the assessment of an animal's experience of pain. As a licensed Veterinary nurse in Sweden you are obligated by law to work by the concept of evidence based medicine. To achieve this the author of this study sees the need for standardized methods of pain assessment. A Swedish version of Short form of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale (CMPS-SF) has recently been translated and developed. Furthermore, a psychometric validation needs to be performed to ensure its validity and reliability.

The aim of the present literature study was to define and describe the area ?compliance in veterinary medicine? (i.e. the way treatment recommendations are being performed) and discuss the factors that influence the level of compliance. Based on the findings, a model that intended to increase compliance in orthopedic postoperative rehabilitation of dogs was designed. In the daily work as a Veterinary nurse it is essential that one provides the best possible care to the animals from the beginning to the end of the treatment.

Post-anaesthetic myopathy (PAM) is a serious occasional complication of general anaesthesia in horses. It causes not only pain and suffering to the horse, but also suffering (trauma) to the owner with increased veterinary costs. In the worst case PAM can be fatal. The anaesthetic nurse must know which parameters have to be taken into consideration in the prevention of PAM, to be able to prevent it, and use that knowledge for the animals safety. The aim of this literature review was to investigate and make a presentation of the factors and measurements associated with PAM, with focus on how to monitor these measurements to prevent it from happening, and the advice a Veterinary nurse can give to the horse owner regarding this condition. According to literature there a few factors that greatly increase the risk of PAM, these include- hypotension, periods less than 60 mmHg significantly increases the risk.

Numerous dogs are stressed during a stay at a veterinary clinic. Stress has an impact physically as well as mentally, and may influence animal care. There are different ways to prevent and handle animal stress. Dog Appeasing Pheromones (DAP) is sometimes used to reduce stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential need for stressreducers, explore the use of DAP and evaluate pheromonatherapy for dogs as a potential stressreducer within veterinary health care.

During one week (9-13 May, 2005) the use of veterinary diets for the hospitalised patients att the University clinic was registered. The animal owners were interviewed by telephone six months later about the feeding after coming home. Four out of ten animal owners answered yes to the question if the veterinarian had asked what food their animal normally consumed. Out of 35 animals, 15 (43%) were prescribed to a veterinary diet. Among cats it was 8 out of 14 (57%) and among dogs it was 7 out of 21 (33%). Four animals out of ten were recommended a veterinary diet when going home, but 20% did not follow the recommendation all the way through and stopped feeding their animal the veterinary diet. Reasons that were given was that the diet didn't last the entire period, that the animal didn't need the diet anymore according to the owner and one dog that became to lean when fed the diet. The diagnosis for these three dogs was vomiting, foreign body in the digestive system and bloody diarrhoea.

After having reviewed the cases in the Veterinary Disciplinary Board of Sweden regarding certificates year 2000 to October 2007 I have found that these cases more often than in all other cases result in disciplinary action. The punishment is to a greater extent the more serious form, i.e. warning. When I examined the reasons for imposing the punishments and the material that constituted the foundations of the reports, I came to the conclusion that the statistics above do not depend on a general lack of knowledge in the Swedish veterinary profession. A possible cause is that the demands set upon the veterinarian are exceptional and that the responsibility board has a physical object to examine (the certificate) and regulations that describe how the certificates are supposed to be formulated. The fact that the knowledge about how to write veterinary certificates does not generally seem to be lacking does not exclude that lessons can be learned by examining the mistakes made by others.