Gaining confidence with goat and pig patients - BVA CPD

9.30am - 4.30pm
Engineers' House, The Promenade, Clifton Down, Bristol BS8 3NB

Speakers: Karin Mueller (goats) and PVS Member Peter Siviter (pigs)

This course is designed to increase your knowledge of and boost your confidence with the goat and pig patient.

During the goat section of the course we will cover sedation, general anaesthesia regimes, and common surgical procedures including disbudding and dehorning, caesarean section, castration, and umbilical hernia repair. We will also cover urolithiasis – a common medical problem in goats, its diagnosis, and medical and surgical treatment options. The goat part of the course will finish with a look at common ectoparasites. Guidance will be given where case management may be based on extrapolation from more familiar species and where unique features need to be taken into account.

For the pig section, we will cover appropriate handling and restraint, and assessing the clinical patient. Diseases and maladies will be discussed as a group through case studies, and surgical procedures such as castration, prolapse replacement and de-tusking will be explained step-by-step. We will also discuss the pig herd and health planning, including everyday husbandry for the smallholder, routine preventative measures such as vaccination and parasite control, as well as a few disasters such as orphan piglets. To finish this part of the course we will look at the important legal pitfalls surrounding pigs that smallholders and pet owners may be unaware of.

This course is bookable through the BVA, full details of which can be found on the BVA CPD website.