• The College Prize Testimonial for Dr Aine Seavers

Nomination &  Citation of  Dr. Aine Seavers for the College Prize of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists

Dr Aine Seavers MVB MRCVS

Oak Flats Vet Clinic, 58a Central Ave, Oak Flats NSW 2529 Ph (02) 4256 5968

Dr Aine Seavers graduated from University College Dublin UCD. Aine started practising as a small animal veterinarian in Dublin, pursuing keen interests in small animal medicine, surgery and in particular, dermatology. Following her first three years in practice in this location, she relocated to the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in South East London, a not-for-profit veterinary charity hospital where she worked tirelessly. With such a demanding case load, it was no wonder that her clinical experience ‘skyrocketed’. Aine then moved to Kent where she worked as a companion animal practitioner but also accepting local referrals in dermatology as she had developed a reputation for advanced standing in this discipline regionally, especially in relation to the investigation of unusual cases.  Aine and her husband (Dr Mark Weingarth) then moved to Australia and purchased Oak Flats Vet Clinic where they have continued to practice ever since, subsequently becoming firmly embedded in the local community.

Whilst working as a veterinarian in Oak Flats, Aine has made a substantial intellectual and practical contribution to the broad tapestry of small animal clinical sciences, encompassing medicine, surgery and laboratory investigations. Importantly, and pertinent to the College Prize, her scientific contributions were made without the support of a formal academic environment. Her first published paper was published in the Australian Veterinary Journal in 1998, entitled ‘Cutaneous syndrome possibly caused by heartworm infestation in a dog’. Since then Aine has been named as author, co-author or provided comment in 15 peer-reviewed publications with nine as first author. This is an amazing number of refereed publications for a general practice veterinarian. The journals have included the Australian Veterinary Journal, the Australian Veterinary Practitioner, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery and Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology. Aine has also written 5 review-type articles in The Veterinarian, and 67 (and still counting!) Control and Therapy contributions – quite an impressive list for a practice owner and mother of two children. Her husband, Dr Mark Weingarth, should also be acknowledged as co-author for several of these articles.

Many of the peer-reviewed publications were well crafted single case reports, but Aine also contributed to significant critical evaluation of research data on thyroid function and dysfunction in the Basenji breed involving systematic endocrinological analyses, with serial investigations of individual dogs spanning much of their lifespan, resulting in two substantial research papers in the Australian Veterinary Journal, and the Australian Veterinary Practitioner. These papers have been highly cited and made an important impact on breed-specific thyroid function testing. She has also assisted in some basic sciences projects with scientific colleagues at the University of Wollongong.

Aine has a tenacious and enquiring mind and an enormous intellect. Furthermore, she has a rigorous approach to the investigation of cases and an intuitive knack of being able to identify new clinical syndromes and establishing ‘illness scripts’. She seeks to tackle and eventually answer important clinical questions through her own observations, diligent pursuit of the relevant literature and well-honed clinical reasoning skills. Original research and uncanny clinical observations from general practice have resulted in her developing a network of friends/colleagues, followers, and even acolytes, through various list-serves and discussion forums. This network of like-minded colleagues enables her to keep her ‘finger on the pulse’, despite the comparative geographical isolation of her practice base in regional Australia.

As well as scholarly work in journals, Aine continues to stimulate discussion and provide clinical tips and tricks for colleagues through the items she has written for the Control & Therapy Series of the Centre for Veterinary Education, and longer articles she has written for The Veterinarian magazine. Her many articles and written comments have helped colleagues in everyday practice improve their own techniques and skills, whilst her drive and enthusiasm is a valuable asset in our profession. She has acted as a truly inspirational role model for those vets, especially younger vets, who wish to remain in practice but would like to contribute to advancing our knowledge and understanding of veterinary science.

Aine is also not afraid to get involved in controversial issues, and her involvement in campaigns to prevent permethrin intoxication of cats, and the Fanconi-like disease in dogs given chicken-jerky treats sourced from China have shown her fearless approach to veterinary public health.

All of Aine’s articles are attuned to the everyday needs of practising veterinarians and provide incredibly practical and straightforward recommendations and techniques. Many of these are simple things that people sometimes forget (like doing rectal examinations in dogs with possible poisonings) and ‘secrets from the past’ that seem to have been lost or forgotten over the years.

In addition to this achievement, Aine have developed a veritable brains trust – a group of trusted friends and colleagues, including over the years. In her capacity as an initiator and a catalyst, she has enriched the lives of all these individuals, and her colleagues locally and also all around Australia (even the world) and collectively improved outcomes for all their patients. This is a model, which might be applicable in practice generally, consisting of developing a network of like-minded colleagues who you can rely on for ideas when you seem to have hit a brick wall diagnostically.

Aine is a talented all-round veterinarian, with a robust problem-solving approach to individual and breed-associated problems and a particular interest in dermatology, behavioural medicine and toxicology. Aine’s interest in writing for the veterinary profession is varied in topics but in the past 5 years, there has been a particular focus in the field of toxicology, which has been invaluable in alerting clinicians to potential poisons and treatment of affected cases. Her interest in toxicology and plant intoxications has led to an enduring friendship with veterinary pathologist/toxicologist Ross Mackenzie, which has resulted in numerous fruitful collaborations and publications where he has been acknowledged.

Dr Seavers has the ability to both maintain her own high standards of practice, while sharing her own new techniques and ideas that can be utilised by other colleagues in general practice, and sometimes even in referral practice. For example, the Seaver’s Slide modified technique for reducing coxofemoral luxations reliably and atraumatically has been taken up by more than one orthopaedic specialist. These practice ‘pearls’ and ‘tips’, often described in the CVE’s Control & Therapy Series have benefitted many young and less experienced veterinarians.

Aine has also designed novel or modified existing techniques and medications including: the use of the omentum (“Seavers Sling”) to replace a destroyed abdominal wall, the use of anti-anxiety medication (since the late 1980s) for canine cognitive disorder, modification of cat litter tray design, pet bowl feeders and litter-tray scoopers, created double-handled ergonomic wrapping of deceased pets, the design of tubular heat/ice packs to treat hypo/hyperthermia cases, utilised disease-modifying diets in certain canine cancers and designed the “Seavers Sleeve”, an atraumatic eye tissue-forceps modification.

In addition to the numerous papers and articles, Aine has been an active participant on multiple veterinary discussion forums and national and international list-serves, covering both general medicine and veterinary dermatology. Her drive to relentlessly pursue a problem or an idea until completion has often lead to her articles and papers getting to the publishing stage and then providing a reference for other veterinarians who are battling similar cases.

As well as her contribution to the profession, Aine plays a vibrant role in her local community, contributing to school groups and local eco-organisations. She has also won several substantial grants for environmental enrichment projects affecting playgrounds and public spaces in the Illawarra region,designed several local eco-projects focused on large scale rainwater storage farms to supply water to rural fire-brigades- even in drought conditions, turned rural schools into wild-life safe-havens in the event of catastrophic bush fire events by utilising these water farms and also designed low allergen gardens for schools and back yards to reduce the incidence of asthma in humans and airway and skin disease in pets.

The nominees and referees for Dr Aine Seavers would like to be able to formally recognise this exceptional veterinarian for her contribution to our profession and agree that she is a worthy candidate for the College Prize.

 

Nominees           Dr Gretta Howard            Dr Richard Malik

Referees             Dr Stephen Page               Dr Hugh Bain

 

Journal Publications   https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aine_Seavers

  1. A Seavers. Cutaneous syndrome possibly caused by heartworm infestation in a dog. Australian Veterinary Journal 1998; 76: 18-20.
  2. A Seavers. Docking dispute. Australian Veterinary Journal 2000; 78(9): 599.
  3. A Seavers, DH Snow, KV Mason and R Malik. Evaluation of the thyroid status of Basenji dogs in Australia.Australian Veterinary Journal 2008; 86:429–435.
  4. A Seavers. Brunfelsia. Australian Veterinary Journal 2008;86:N20.
  5. A Seavers. Exfoliative dermatopathy associated with ovarian dysgerminoma-adenocarcinoma-pyometron complex. Australian Vet Practitioner 2009; 39: 90-93.
  6. A Seavers. Monocephalus dipygus parapagus. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. 11: 2009, 330-331.
  7. A Seavers. Hypertrophic megacolon and bony diets. , Author Reply 317 Journal of Small Animal Practice 50(6):317.
  8. R Malik, A Seavers, A Fawcett, E Bell, MP Ward, M Govendir, SW Page. Permethrin intoxication of cats: a survey of veterinary practitioners in Australia 2006-2009.. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 2009;12: 5-14.
  9. A Seavers. Feline focus. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 2011; 13: 537-540
  10. .A Seavers, K Vickery, S W Page, J M Weingarth and R Malik. Dynamic thyroid testing, thyroid histology and thyroxine replacement therapy in Basenji dogs  Aust Vet Practitioner 2015; 45(4) 154-162.
  11. A Seavers, D Robson and J M Weingarth. A vesicular (blistering) skin condition in a dog following putative contact exposure to Plumbago auriculata. Australian Veterinary Journal 2016; 94:290-292.
  12. Adonis Pino, Arlenis Pérez, Aine Seavers, Guillermo Hermo. A case of Monocephalus rachipagus tribrachius tetrapusin a puppy. Veterinary Research Forum 2016;7:267-270.
  13. I Jalilian, M Spildrejordea, A Seavers, BL. Curtis D, JD McArthura, R Sluyter. Functional expression of the damage-associated molecular pattern receptor P2X7 on canine kidney epithelial cells. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 150 (2012) 228- 233

The Veterinarian

  1. A Seavers. Discovering Discoid Lupus Erythematosus (DLE). The Veterinarian Feb 2009- Treatment, p 52-53.
  2. A Seavers. Spotlight on Symmetrical Lupoid Onychodystrophy (SLO).The Veterinarian Sept 2009 Treatment, p 53-54.
  3. A Seavers. Cyproheptadine – A Handy Helper. The Veterinarian Feb 2010. Reprinted in C & T Sept 2010; 5117.
  4. A Seavers. The Eyes have it: Cutaneous Markers of Systemic Disease. The Veterinarian
  5. A Seavers. Anti-anxiety medication to slow the clinical expression of CCD and also aid in noise and separation phobias. The Veterinarian April 2011.

Control & Therapy

  1. A Seavers. Prosthetic Haemangiosarcoma in the Boxer Dog C & T 3931(196) June 1997.
  2. A Seavers. Pretty Poisons in the Backyard C & T 4681 (242) March 2006.
  3. A Seavers. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Toxicity Brunfelsia. With the recent popularity of lifestyle shows featuring garden makeovers we have begun to see a new type of poisoning case. The symptoms of this plant can mimic anything from snail bait to strychnine poisoning. C & T 4689 2006.
  4. A Seavers. The Seavers’ Sling: When Necessity is the Mother of Invention, Remember the Omentum. Reconstruction of an abdominal wall post major road vehicle trauma in a dog. Winning article, C & T 4736(245) Dec 2006.
  5. A Seavers. The Seavers’ Slide: When Tables are Not Just for Dancing on. A method of Hip Dislocation Reduction. Winning article.C & T 4785(246) March 2007.
  6. A Seavers. Instructions for Pet Home Burial. C & T 39(246) March 2007.
  7. A Seavers. When Nothing is Making Sense, Use All Your Senses. C & T 4815(247) June 2007.
  8. A Seavers. Zoom Grooms. C & T 4851(248) Sept 2007.
  9. A Seavers. Anti-anxiety Medication to Slow the Clinical Expression of Canine Cognitive Disorder and Dementia. Winning article,C & T 4867(249) Dec 2007.
  10. A Seavers. Medical White Coats – More Versatile than you Think. Winning article, C & T 4891(250) April 2008.
  11. A Seavers. Practice Tip. C & T 4898(250) April 2008.
  12. A Seavers. When Anecdotal is not a Dirty Word. C & T 4913(251) June 2008.
  13. A Seavers. C & T 4937(252) Sept 2008.
  14. A Seavers and G Baker. Suspected Cases of Acute Renal Failure with glucosuria- Fanconi like Syndrome in dogs fedchicken treats imported from China. C & T 4940(252) Sept 2008.
  15. A Seavers. Frozen Backs and Clinic Freezers. C & T 4984(254) March 2009.
  16. A Seavers. All things Necrotic. C & T Perspective 80(256) Sept 2009. Guest editor & contributor.
  17. Seavers. Further Comment on All Things Necrotic. C & T 5048(257) Dec 2009.
  18. A Seavers. and M Weingarth. Handy Tip: Soup ladles and urine collection in the upright position.C & T 5050(257) Dec 2009.
  19. A Seavers. The Art of Veterinary Practice. C & T Perspective 82(258) March 2010. Guest editor and contributor.
  20. A Seavers. Malaseb – I Can’t Believe How Good it is. C & T 5176(262) March 2010.
  21. A Seavers. Famciclovir in Cats – Use of a Client Induced Episodic Treatment (C.I.E.T.) Protocol. C & T 5094(259) June 2010.
  22. A Seavers. Follow Up on a Mystery Case. C & T 5100(259) June 2010.
  23. A Seavers. Cyproheptadine – From Barking Dogs to Wheezing Cats, a Handy Helper. C & T 5117(260) Sept 2010.
  24. A Seavers. Update on ‘Canine 3 Year Vaccination Intervals’. C & T 5132(260) Sept 2010.
  25. A Seavers. Toxic Tales from Around the World. C & T Small Animal Poisons Perspective 87(263) June 2011. Co-editor and contributor.
  26. Pretty Poisons in the Backyard
  27. When Nothing is Making Sense, Use All Your Senses
  • Warning! Potential New Threat to Pets: Suspected Cases of Acute Renal Failure with Fanconi-like Syndrome in Dogs Fed Imported Chicken Treats from China
  1. Metacam Mega Overdose
  2. Hormone Creams – Cover Up
  3. When Fishing in a Drought can Lead to Toad Fish Poisoning in Dogs
  • Paracetamol Poisoning – Was the Poison in the Purse or was the Poison in the Purse?
  • Possible Psilocybin Poisoning.
  1. Spinosad
  2. (M Weingarth Seagrass and Grass.)
  3. A Seavers. Alphabet Foods. C & T 5179a(265) Dec 2011.
  4. A Seavers. The Food Rechallenge We Were Forced to Have Thanks to AQIS. C & T 5180a(265) Dec 2011.
  5. A Seavers. To Bleed or Not to Bleed? Treatment Dilemmas in Rat Bait Poisonings. C & T 5216(266) March 2012.
  6. A Seavers. Small Animal Behaviour. C & T Behaviour Perspective 90 (267) June 2012. Co-editor and contributor.
  7. Urination Issues for Cats – When the Bladder is the Victim Not the Culprit.
  8. Traditional Cat Litter Trays Need a New Shape Reflecting Cat’s Age, Gender and Health.
  • Improved Cognitive Function in Old Dogs – Putting the Joy Back in an Old Dog’s Life with Hills J/d.
  1. Aids in Copraphagia.
  2. How Eco-living and/or Costly Electricity Bills could Worsen Sun-downing Canine Dementia Disorder.
  3. Happy Hole Digging, Not Boredom – Australian Giant Dinosaur Worms as the Reward.
  4. A Seavers. Nasal Hyperkeratosis Treatment Regime. C & T 5230(267) June 2012.
  5. A Seavers. Useful Mnemonics from (pre PC) College Days. C & T 5276(269) Dec 2012.
  6. A Seavers. Update on Frozen Backs and Clinic Freezers. Winning Article, C& T 5283(270) March 2013.
  7. A Seavers. Use of Alternative Medication for Rabbit and Feline Sinusitis.C & T (270) March 2013
  8. A Seavers. Tips to Use Acetylcysteine Vials so that the Drug does not Expire on the Shelf Awaiting a Paracetamol Poisoning Presentation. C & T 5293(270) March 2013.
  9. A Seavers. External Markers of Internal Disease – the ‘Not-so-humble’ Nail Clip (Part 1). C & T 5312(271) June 2013.
  10. A Seavers. Fulminant Ascites Options: Drugs, Batteries and Scalpels.C & T 5316(271) June 2013.
  11. A Seavers. Eye Watering Tips for Suturing Techniques in Tom’s Paddock. C & T 5328(272) Sept 2013.
  12. A Seavers. Economic Validation for Stocking Uncommonly Used Antidotes and Anti-emetics on the Drug Shelf. C & T 5329(272) Sept 2013.
  13. A Seavers. Eureka Moments in Dentistry. C & T 5448 March 2015.
  14. A Seavers. External Markers of Internal Disease – the ‘Not-so-humble’ Nail Clip (Part 2) C & T 5530(272) Sept 2013.
  15. A Seavers. A Toxicologist’s Perspective. C & T Perspective 101 Dec 2013. Reviewed by A Seavers.
  16. A Seavers. Nasal Mites – A Tale of Six Dogs. C & T 5341 Dec 2013.
  17. A Seavers. Fannia spp for Feline Perineal Itch. C & T 5355(273) Dec 2013.
  18. A Seavers. Changing the Visual on Pet Muzzle Restraints. C & T March 2014.
  19. A Seavers. Seven Roads to Rome, Only One Behavioural Approach. Why?C & T (275) June 2014.
  20. A Seavers. Handy Tips – Rabbits Love Lectade. C & T 5406a(275) June 2014.
  21. A Seavers. Deliberate Before You Medicate (Part 1) C & T 5428(277) December 2014.
  22. A Seavers. Deliberate Before You Medicate (Part 2) C & T 5470(279) June 2015.
  23. A Seavers. Practice Tip – No More Drugs – Amazing device from “Dogleggs”. C & T 5456(278) March 2015.
  24. A Seavers. Use the Most Valuable Piece of Equipment you Have – Your Own Voice. C & T 5476(279) June 2015.
  25. A Seavers. Practice Tip – Separate Diagnostic Ocular Medications from Ocular Treatment Medications. C & T 5522(281) Dec 2015.
  26. A Seavers. Behind the Locked Door – The Crisis Confronting Pets and Paramedics. C & T 5526(282) March 2016.
  27. A Seavers. Tips to Increase Compliance with Ocular Meds. Winning article,C & T 5572(284) Sept 2016.
  28. A Seavers. Toxic Toys. 3 Part Quiz. Winning article, C & T 5560(284) Sept 2016.
  29. A Seavers. The Seavers’ Scooper – A Feline Pooper Scooper Suitable for Use by Elderly Owners. Winning article, C & T 5567(284) Sept 2016.
  30. A Seavers. Urination Issues for Cats – When the Bladder is the Victim Not the Primary Culprit. When Traditional Litter Trays Need a New Shape! C & T 5568(284) Sept 2016.
  31. A Seavers. Cat Carriers and Visiting the Vet – Turn Cat Transport into a Positive Experience. C & T 5600(286) March 2017.
  32. A Seavers. ………………l for the Final Sleep. C & T 5603(286) March 2017.
  33. A Seavers. Dietary Discretion Collars for Cats. C & T 5618(287) June 2017.