BehaviouRVNs

It was lovely to speak to the amazing Vikki who has such an interest in developing puppy training at the veterinary practice. “Hey! I'm Vikki, I have 13 years of veterinary practice experience from reception to RVN. Prior to vet life I lived/worked on a farm, gaining experience with cattle, sheep,youngstock, commercial cattery and kennel work, grumpy farmers, tetchy farm vets and plenty of 'old school' behaviour theory...I had a group of working border terriers/patterdales for 16 years and currently have a 1 year old working (eventually!) labrador. I'm currently working in a small animal Vets for Pets clinic in Derbyshire, as a 5 year qualified RVN, having completed a level 3 fear free certificate, a COAPE behavior certificate in puppy behaviour and training, and more recently as a Dog friendly clinic advocate through the Dogs Trust scheme. I'm hopefully starting a graduate certificate in advanced veterinary nursing (Behaviour) at Harper Adams university this year. I offer a range of support throughout our practice from behavioural first aid interventions, management of surgical cases and behaviourally supportive careplans for surgical cases- extensive pre neutering and PVP assessments with the vets, to all colleague in house training, CPD sourcing and co-operative care clinic packages. My aim is to educate our veterinary teams and clients in psychologically prophylactic approaches to veterinary care and treatment provision, in an accessible and positive way. Improving patient welfare, colleague welfare, client/practice bonding and co-operation. I am also a neurodiversity advocate in the practice, tailoring our communication of care to ensure all clients can access in person or virtual support for co-operative care or low stress clinics, or for vet visits in general.”

Katey Aldred is the ultimate in veterinary nurse turned animal behaviourist! “With three dogs, two cats and two reptiles of my own, it’s clear to see that I am passionate about animals, and it is my belief that a well-trained and well-behaved pet results in a happier home; for everyone! “It was my love and passion for animals that drew me into a career working with them in 2001, and I haven’t stopped loving it since. Since then I have I completed two degree's; Canine Behaviour and Training and a Master’s Degree in Applied Animal Behaviour and Training (AABT)." Katey is listed as a Clinical Animal Behaviourist (CAB) with The Animal Behaviour and Training Council (ABTC) and a full member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC). In addition, Katey is a Registered Veterinary Nurse (RVN) with the Royal Veterinary College and was the first to become a CBATI within East Anglia in 2014. Katey is the owner of Pooch Paws based at St.Olaves, Norfolk established since 2005. She is the main trainer delivering weekly puppy and dog training classes. . Katey also works privately with clients for training and behaviour as well as teaching workshops. Katey has a passion for gundogs utilising clicker training to teach the sport. A background in the veterinary industry has also resulted in a passion for husbandry training and low-stress handling. https://www.kateyaldred.co.uk/

Special guest time, and it is the wonderful Samantha Lympany-Tier talking to me about Emotional Welfare in Animals. "First and foremost, I am an educator. I am passionate about helping people find their spark, whether that is delivering a falconry display to an arena of over 500 people, teaching formal curriculum-based content in a classroom, working with a small group to develop a practical skillset or holding a safe space one to one for someone to find their own path. I believe in growth through curiosity, and I channel that in everything I do. Currently an Education and Development Officer at Optivet Referrals, passionate about colleague progression and moral wellbeing. Advocating for understanding and integration of patient emotional welfare in clinical practice. Strong advocate for the role of the veterinary care assistant as its own specialism. MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour from University of Edinburgh. Thesis: Exploring the understanding and perception of animal emotional welfare by veterinary professionals. Feline behaviourist. Championing the understanding of our feline companions through public education and co-operation. Specialist areas of interest: new cat owner support, cat mental wellbeing, cat health support (ex. environmental modifications, training and owner emotional support). Available for in-practice CPD and development. Newly qualified and accredited executive coach. Described as curious, supportive, attentive and intuitive by my thinkers. Background in teaching, public engagement, bird keeping and animal training. Enjoys teaching anybody who will listen about birds and cats, and hanging about on aerial hoops."

Vicky is a registered veterinary nurse and clinical animal behaviourist, having spent over 25 years specialising in cats. Vicky has lectured all over the world on cat behaviour to veterinary and lay audiences and now speaks on cat population management and Cat Friendly Homing. Vicky is also a qualified and registered person-centred counsellor. Vicky is the author of seven best-selling books on cats for the general public, several peer-reviewed papers for scientific journals and co-author of veterinary textbooks and published guidelines. At home, Vicky is a slave to the demands of LC, her pre-loved elderly black moggie. Join ICatConnect virtual event 12-13th November Check out Vicky's new book here Check out Vicky's books here

Nicky Trevorrow BSc (Hons), PG Dip (CABC), RVN. Nicky works in Cats Protection's Veterinary Department at the National Cat Centre as a Behaviour Manager.

April is a registered veterinary nurse and has completed her ISFM Certificate in feline nursing. April currently works as a float nurse for Goddard Veterinary Group. April is currently undertaking the Colourful CPD Veterinary Nurse Consulting Certificate. She loves learning, developing new skills and being kept busy in her role. She is passionate about feline care and nursing and enjoys nurse consults as well as anaesthesia. April hopes to encourage veterinary nurses, students, and veterinary care assistants to have a voice and feel valued in their role. April shares her life with her handsome cat, Toffee. In this episode, I speak to April about a brilliant article that was printed recently in VN Times, about Cat Friendly Clinics.

Dr Katrin Jahn, DrMedVet, CertVA, MANZCVS (Veterinary Behaviour), MRCVS ACVB & ECAWBM Resident in Veterinary Behaviour Medicine Fear Free Certified Professional I have been a veterinarian for over 20 years and have owned and run my own practice for over a decade. This has provided me with a wealth of knowledge and experience in all areas of pet health. I am also a pet owner so I understand how special the bonds and relationships are that we have with our pets and how difficult it can be when that relationship gets challenged or damaged. I am extremely passionate about treating each patient as an individual and each patient-family dynamic as a unique entity. I understand the complexity of Pet Behaviour problems and I will help and support you through this journey by combining science and evidence with kindness, compassion and empathy. My aim is to enable the best welfare outcome for everyone and for your pet to be the very best, happiest version of themselves. Being a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Behaviour as well as a resident in Veterinary Behaviour Medicine through both the European and American colleges means that I am always at the forefront of current knowledge and research which allows me to serve you to the very highest standards.

Julie Brewer is a Veterinary Nurse, Behaviourist, Dog Trainer and Business owner at Little Tykes Dog Hub. Little Tykes Dog Hub was named after Julie’s dog Tyke, who having badly bitten both a human and another dog in separate incidences forced Julie to learn more about behaviour and training, turning her into the dog geek she is today. Julie gained a Masters in Clinical Animal Behaviour from University of Lincoln in 2021, as a Pre-Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist she is working towards her full Certification with the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors. She has been seeing behaviour cases and training clients for 25 years and gained her Diploma in Companion Animal Behaviour and Training (COAPE) in 2004. She has been nursing for 33 years and holds an Advanced Diploma in Surgical Nursing. She is experienced in both general and referral small animal practices. She currently works part time in a busy small animal practice in Lincolnshire. The rest of her time is divided between CPD, running her business and spending time with her 3 dogs. Two of her dogs (Twiggy and Dodo) are Podenco types from rescue centres in Spain. Twiggy is an active member of Little Tykes as a demo dog in class, stooge dog for 1:1’s and emotional support dog for Julie. Dodo demos in class but is also training with Julie’s business partner for his Mantrailing Title. The third, Dez is a border collie from the RSPCA, who participates in agility, herding games, Parkour and hoopers whilst also training with Louth Search and Rescue to be tested and hopefully qualify this year as a certified Search and Rescue dog. Julie eventually plans to leave veterinary practice, but she loves it and the people that she works with too much. Julie is a member of: ABTC - Animal Behaviour and Training Council. APBC - Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors. COAPE FABC - Federation of Animal Behaviour Counsellors. PPG - Pet Professional Guide. BVNA – British Veterinary Nursing Association.

The legend that is Linda Ryan BSc (Hons) Animal Behaviour & Welfare, VTS (Behaviour & Oncology), DipAVN (Medical), KPA-CTP, RVN, CCAB Certificated Clinical Animal Behaviourist - ASAB accredited (Cats & Dogs), ABTC-registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist, & Animal Training Instructor, a Certificated member of the Fellowship of Animal Behaviour Clinicians (FABC), a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner, & Faculty Instructor. She is also Fear Free Certified www.inspiringpets.com

Dom is a Registered Veterinary Nurse of 3 years, working in the profession for over 7. She started as an animal assistant and moved up to a Lead nurse. She developed a passion for canine behaviour when still a student veterinary nurse and as soon as she qualified, she dug into more education. She enrolled onto CPD courses and then decided to apply for Behaviour Certificate. With time she wanted to change more things within my practice, so became Dog Friendly advocate with Dogs Trust. She then lead her practice to become “Dog Friendly Clinic” and also started a journey with Fear Free. # Dom is currently a Subject of Matter expert (Dog Friendly clinics) on Clinical Board with Linnaeus. She is part of the Pact team currently working towards my ATI and a volunteer at guide dogs. Her plan is to start the CAM course so she can incorporate arthritis management in her dog training and behaviour!

Time to chat to a fellow Scot! Connie is an RVN originally from Scotland, now based near Milton Keynes - qualified for nearly 30 years! She has worked  in Mixed and Independent SA practices but now based at the on-site veterinary practice at  Wood Green Pet Charity. Connie obtained the ATI (Animal Training Instructor) qualification after studying with PACT (Professional Association of Canine Trainers) and is listed on the ABTC (Animal and Behaviour Training Council) register. She is currently studying for the ABT (Animal Behaviour Technician) qualification. Connie is passionate about reducing stress for animals within the  veterinary setting, puppy problem prevention and encouraging everyone to educate themselves on other species communication styles.

Continuing with the feline theme, for this special guest episode, I am talking to the amazing Lucy Hoile about feline behaviour, and her amazing new book ‘The Book Your Cat Wishes You Would Read’. Lucy is a MSc holder from University of Southampton, a registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist with ABTC and a full member of APBC. She is also a certified member of FABC and a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist certified by ASAB, and a full member of International Feline Behaviourist.

In this episode, I speak to Laura Watson, about cats and emotions. Laura is iCatCare’s Cat Welfare Assistant. Laura works closely with the Cat Welfare department, assisting in the creation and delivery of welfare-centric activities to positively impact the welfare of cats, both owned and unowned. Laura creates content for the charities social media channels iCatCare and ISFM (the veterinary division), newsletters, courses, congresses and campaigns and assists with programme delivery for the Cat Friendly Clinic, processing accreditations and reaccreditations. About Laura Laura qualified as a Registered Veterinary Nurse in 2018 and has over sixteen years nursing experience in small animal first opinion clinics. She has always had a natural affinity with cats, having grown up with a myriad of rescue cats throughout her childhood, and her love of cats filtered into her working career with a passion to improve the welfare of cats within the veterinary clinic. This led Laura to complete the ISFM Advanced Feline Behaviour for Veterinary Professionals course with distinction in 2020 which helped her implement ideas to help their clinic become behaviourally centred for their care of cats and offer feline first aid nursing consultation to their clients. Laura was then promoted to Clinical Lead Nurse in her clinic and wanted to develop her feline nursing skills to confidently lead and guide her nursing team in the care they delivered to cats, which lead her to complete and gain a distinction in the ISFM Foundation Diploma in Feline Nursing in 2022.

This week I chat to Jo Clews about preventative behavioural care for dogs, such a wonderful topic. I learnt so much from Jo with this chat. "Hi, my name is Jo and I have been working in the veterinary industry for over a decade and have been a qualified registered veterinary nurse for 5 years. I got into behaviour through my little dog ‘Luna’ who is seen pictured with me. She was a very poorly RSPCA puppy that came into my old veterinary practice needing some medical attention, after getting her better I just couldn’t give her back, so she has stayed with me ever since! Having worked within the veterinary setting I was determined to not have a dog that ‘hated the vets’ and went on a knowledge quest for how I can best help my little friend when it came to the Veterinary environment. One thing was the annual Kennel Cough vaccination, I had seen many dogs fight and get scared by this. It had me thinking, there has to be a better way. So I went on the cooperative care journey, I managed to teach my dog a set of instructions and communications using the power of positive training to get her comfortable and happy with having a force free kennel cough vaccination. This then opened up the door to many things, including setting up my own desensitisation clinics and enrolling in my level 5 canine behaviour course. My mission is to educate owners just how the power of positivity can help their pets when it comes to preventative veterinary treatment and how we can best help their pets when they are at the vets." Jo's Facebook group ' Luna’s Cooperative Care

Alex qualified as a veterinary nurse in 1997 and has completed the ISFM feline nursing certificate, diploma and advanced certificate in feline behaviour. In 2023 Alex passed the advanced diploma in applied animal behaviour (feline) level 5 and is currently studying towards gaining the ABT (Animal Behaviour Technician) qualification. Alex currently works part-time for International Cat Care as the Cat Wellbeing and Behaviour Advisor and also as a self-employed lecturer and writer on feline behaviour and welfare. Alex is a member of the International Cat Care Feline Wellbeing Panel and has provided information about feline wellbeing to cat caregivers through her social media platforms under the name ‘The Cat Nurse’ since 2015.

Joy Shutt BSc(Hons) RVN C-SQP DipNCS(RVNCons) Joy lives for cats. She is the Cat Friendly Clinic Cat Advocate, Nurse Clinic Lead and Head Nurse at a first opinion practice in North Wales. With a degree in Bioveterinary Science and lots of experience with Cats Protection, Joy eventually came to the veterinary sector in 2014, qualifying as an RVN in early 2019. In 2022, she completed a diploma in veterinary nurse consulting but also enjoys perioperative nursing and schedule 3 surgical procedures. Joy is a volunteer BVNA Advocate, organising regional and online CPD events. She is also a veterinary nursing course marker for Colourful CPD and writes for veterinary publications. Somehow, she is also hoping to start a feline behaviour qualification in 2024. Joy does actually like dogs too and runs a Facebook group “North Wales Schnauzers”, who meet for regular walks and support the charity Schnauzerfest. As well as Frank, her miniature Schnauzer, Joy has a rescue cat who is newly hyperthyroid (typical) and three royal pythons.

Tabitha Kucera is an Elite Fear Free and Low-Stress Handling Certified Registered Veterinary Technician, VTS (Behavior), Certified Cat Behavior Consultant, and Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner. She is the owner of Chirrups and Chatter Cat and Dog Behavior Consulting and Training in Cleveland, Ohio. She enjoys helping people better understand and relate to their animal companions which leads to a stronger bond and a more gratifying relationship between animal and human. She is a Fear Free certified speaker and coach, a Fear Free Practice Certification Consultant, host of the podcast, Tails from Vet Tech, and serves on the board of Pet Professional Guild’s cat committee. Tabitha has helped to develop training and behavior programs for various veterinary hospitals and shelters and works as a consultant for many shelters and private veterinary practices. Behavior Solutions for Dogs & Cats | Chirrups & Chatter Tails from a Vet Tech on Apple Podcasts

Lili Chin is an artist well known for her globally popular dog art,  while her work also includes cats and other species. Since 2008, she has been providing custom illustration and a catalog of art products for sale.    Lili Chin's dog behavior infographics have become a popular tool for dog training professionals, veterinarians, behaviorists, and welfare groups who advocate for humane animal training methods.   A partial list of prominent behaviorists, authors, and organizations that have used her art include the late Dr. Sophia Yin, Fear Free Pets, RSPCA, the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC), and International Cat Care.   Her first book - Doggie Language: A Dog Lover's Guide to Understanding Your Best Friend - was published by Summersdale in October 2020, has been translated to multiple languages and has won two DWAA awards.    Her newest book, Kitty Language: An Illustrated Guide To Understanding Your Cat is available now, published by Ten Speed Press in Summer 2023.   Lili Chin is Malaysia-born and currently lives in Los Angeles with a writer-husband, and two rescued and bonded cats - Mambo and Shimmy. Her muse is her rescued, blue-eyed boston terrier, Boogie. (2004 - 10/20/2020) She loves making frozen desserts, listening to podcasts, and playing board games. ​ She is represented by Lilly Ghahremani at Full Circle Literary.

In this episode, I speak to Sarah Pointer, an exceptionally well-qualified crazy cat lady! After completing her BSc (Hons) Animal Behaviour, Sarah began nursing in 2006 in small animal practice and qualified in 2008. She began lecturing at Warwickshire College across the BSc Veterinary Nursing and related animal programmes in 2013. Her specialist interests include emergency and critical care, feline nursing and behaviour as well as veterinary nurse education and training. In 2017 she undertook a PGDip in Academic Practice in Higher Education, and was admitted as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Rebecca is a Registered Veterinary Nurse currently based at RDSVS University of Edinburgh. She is currently a student at the Karen Pryor Academy “I took the jump to leave my job managing a restaurant to go back to college in 2013. I qualified in 2017 through the Level 3 Diploma route and since then have worked at the Dick Vets Small Animal Hospital. I always had an interest in training in some context because of my Dad's previous career as a dog handler, but like many things you never know what exists out there, who knew what a veterinary nurse was when I was in school. I have two labradors who have been my inspiration through my career choices or the chosen rabbit hole to go down to learn something new including my KPA studies. I am almost at the end of it now with my assessments at the end of October. “ https://karenpryoracademy.com/courses/dog-trainer-professional/