Vet Times Podcast

Welcome to the Vet Times weekly news podcast. Everything you need to know about the past seven days from the veterinary professions in less than 10 minutes.

Here’s our first ever round-up, featuring the top stories from this week’s Vet Times (3 November 2026 issue).

Everything you need to know, with every detail, every week.

Through its Young Vets programme, Purina Pro Plan is supporting students and early career vets with free, practical guidance on pet nutrition, and structured support for non-clinical communication.

Based around the three core pillars of nutrition, employability and entrepreneurship, the Young Vets platform provides digestible, actionable insights to help early-career vets manage challenging client conversations, advocate for preventive health, and build long-term professional confidence.

In this second podcast episode, Vet Times and Purina Pro Plan turn to the other side of the coin to examine the challenges and opportunities facing young vets through the lens of experience.

We spoke with Ebony Escalona, equine vet and founder of Vets, Stay Go: Diversify, and Caroline Gardner, clinical director at Oak Vet Group and vice-chair of the Inspiring Vet Care small animal clinical board, to explore how practice leaders can best support, guide, and inspire the next generation of veterinary talent…

Feline parvovirus is a highly contagious, severe and often fatal disease of kittens and cats.
Last year, Cats Protection joined forces with the RSPCA and Blue Cross to appeal for veterinary professionals’ vigilance amid rising case numbers.

Vets Sarah Merrett and Lucinda Alderton-Sell, Cats Protection’s head of cat welfare engagement and senior community veterinary manager, respectively, joined Chris Simpson to discuss the virus and the role first-opinion vets have to play in its control.

Podcast music: “Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this Vet Times podcast, we speak to Ian Wright about the growing emphasis on risk-based prescribing and how parasite risk-assessment tools can support vets and pet owners.

Ian’s expertise in this area is second to none - he is a practising vet, has a master’s degree in veterinary parasitology and is chair of the European Scientific Counsel Companion Animal Parasites (ESCCAP).

SPONSORED

The podcast is proudly sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, who are committed to helping practices shift towards more tailored risk-based parasite control at an everyday level, through education and practical support, and their free online parasite risk checker for cats and dogs, Parassess.

With growing focus around responsible parasite control, it’s important to make tailored, evidence-based prescribing decisions. A lifestyle-based parasite risk assessment can help you confidently match the right parasiticide, at the right frequency, to the right pet.

Parassess is a free, online parasite risk checker tool that help owners understand their pet’s individual risk. Based on ESCCAP guidelines, it collects key lifestyle and behaviour information in just a few minutes and generates a personalised report for owners to discuss with their vet.

With 65,536 possible risk profiles, you can be confident the outcome is personal to the pet.

Discover Parassess for dogs and cats here: www.parassess.co.uk

Visit WHAT’S THE RISK? Hub for more information about risk-based prescribing for parasiticides, and to learn more about Parassess: https://www.whatstherisk.co.uk

For support determining parasite treatment frequency, visit the ESCCAP website to see their parasite control guidelines: Guidelines | ESCCAP

Ian Wright BVMS, BSc, MSc, MRCVS is a practising vet and co-owner of The Mount Veterinary Practice in Fleetwood, Lancashire. He has a master’s degree in veterinary parasitology and is chairman and director of European Scientific Counsel Companion Animal Parasites (ESCCAP), as well as guidelines director for ESCCAP Europe.

The British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society (BVEDS) is celebrating its 10th birthday.

Its founders, vets Navaratnam Partheeban and Issa Robson, join Chris Simpson to reflect on BVEDS’ work, how the veterinary sector has changed and what it still needs to do to become a more inclusive profession for all.

Podcast music: “Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/