Hayley Walters delivers webinar for MSAVA

JMICAWE’s veterinary nurse, Hayley Walters, was invited by the Malaysian Small Animal Veterinary Association (MSAVA) to deliver a webinar to its members and non members last week. The topic was ‘Maintaining welfare standards during hospitalisation’ and was attended by over 170 delegates. 

Hayley talked about how to handle, examine, and house cats and dogs in the most positive ways possible in the clinic, thereby reducing stress for the patient, and considering their veterinary experience from the animal’s perspective. 

Hayley also covered how welfare can be improved in each section of the clinic the animal moves through, understanding dog body language and what you might see before a dog has to bite, and how to recognise and score pain in cats and dogs. 

Hayley said, 

“So much emphasis is placed on the physical health of an animal when being treated in the clinic and whilst that IS important, it shouldn’t be our only focus. We cannot break animals down to their biological values and thought needs to be given to their emotional state. Fear and stress are detrimental to an animal’s health and there are many simple, practical steps we can put in place to mitigate this and ensure their time in the clinic is as positive as possible.”

Hayley received many questions after her webinar and looks forward to working with MSAVA again in the future.