Page 2 - Paws and Hooves - Autumn 2020

Inside
this issue
Page 3
Lockdown life
Page 4
An interview with Grace Berganska
Page 5
Serum from blood donations saving the vision of pets
Page 6
Volunteering at the ACT: Maureen’s story
Page 8
A closer look for ophthalmology
Page 9
Stories from RVC hospitals
Page 10
News from the ACT
Follow us on social media for the very latest news, stories and events:
/rvcact @animalcaretrust @rvc_act
Animal Care Trust
Royal Veterinary College Hawkshead Lane
North Mymms, Herts AL9 7TA
www.rvc.ac.uk/act
act@rvc.ac.uk 01707 666237
Registered charity no: 281571
2
Welcome to Paws&Hooves
There are so many words we could use to describe the times that we currently all find ourselves and yet none really seem to hit the spot. So we’ll start with one of our favourites: thank you! Our Spring edition of Paws & Hooves, written just as we were going into lockdown, was put together to provide us all with some much-needed positive news and distraction. Your response was simply incredible - over £16,000 raised during such a difficult time for all of us, was so overwhelming. Thank you, for making our lockdown experience that much brighter.
Throughout lockdown, the RVC hospitals continued to provide care to critically ill pets and now find themselves busier than ever! The RVC
is working to keep the community safe by minimising risks around the hospitals and on campus – please make sure that if you visit, you follow the guidelines and do your bit to help protect the RVC community.
As we head towards what would normally be one of the busiest times of the year in fundraising, we are still facing much uncertainty but we hope that this newsletter provides plenty of inspiration and ways in which you can get involved and support our work.
Every Christmas card order and every raffle ticket purchased will directly support us through these difficult times and this year we have created our first ACT Calendar to celebrate all that we have achieved and to guide you through what we hope will be a very happy and prosperous 2021.
We hope you enjoy reading the wide range of news and stories from around the hospitals and from our fundraising front line and that you are inspired to get involved over
the coming months.
Thank you for your continued support.
Amy Billington Fundraising Manager
Hello from the team!
C OVID-19 has, rightly, made many of us very
aware of the contact we
have with the people around us. Washing your hands
regularly, covering your face, and keeping a safe distance from others continues to be the guidance from Government on protecting yourself.
However, interactions and contact with pets is often
forgotten about. We asked Prof Ken Smith, Head of Pathobiology & Population Sciences at the RVC, to clear this up for us:
“It is important to stress that the means of spread of SARS-CoV-2 is human-to-human transmission and public health measures
to limit transmission (social distancing and the wearing of face coverings) are designed to block that spread. Nonetheless,
Paws & Hooves Autumn 2020
COVID-19 and our pets