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Top Marks For Clever Collie
RSPCA staff have taught an old dog new tricks by teaching a Polish pooch to understand English.

Cent the Border Collie was brought to the RSPCA centre in Oldham, Greater Manchester in September when his Polish owners could no longer look after him.
 
Staff initially thought that he may be deaf but after testing his hearing, they realised there was language barrier.
 
Animal care assistant Luke Johnson said: “At first, we were baffled because Cent couldn’t understand what anyone was saying to him. It was only a few days later when it dawned on us that he must be used to hearing commands in Polish.”
 
Staff at the centre searched on the Internet for some basic translations and also asked the former owner’s family for assistance. Four months later, after using a reward-based training method, Cent is now bilingual and responds to commands in both English and Polish.
 
This is not the first time staff at the Oldham branch have come across a bilingual pet as they previously had to retrain a cat, which had Asian owners and only responded to commands in their native tongue.

(Photo courtesy of RSPA.)


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Submissions open for BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026

News Story 1
 The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.

It is an opportunity for applicants to present new research on any veterinary subject, such as the preliminary results of a study, discussion of a new technique or a description of an interesting case.

They must be based on high-quality clinical research conducted in industry, practice or academia, and summarised in 250 words.

Applications are welcome from vets, vet nurses, practice managers, and students.

Submissions are open until 6 March 2026. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
Survey seeks ruminant sector views on antimicrobial stewardship

A new survey is seeking views of people working in the UK ruminant sector on how to tackle the challenge of demonstrating responsible antibiotic stewardship.

Forming part of a wider, collaborative initiative, the results will help identify the types of data available so that challenges with data collection can be better understood and addressed.

Anyone working in the UK farming sector, including vets and farmers,is encouraged to complete the survey, which is available at app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk