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Courses for Veterinary Nurses

Canine and Feline Friendly Nursing Courses
The first distance learning courses to bring together all aspects of canine and feline friendly nursing from behaviour and handling to nutrition and the recognition of pain.

The Canine Friendly Nursing Course was written by COAPE, and The Feline Friendly Nursing Courses by FAB/ISFM, in association with COAPE, Nestlé Purina and Veterinary Nursing Times.

Cat and dogs are not always the easiest of patients to work with. Both may be fearful and react aggressively. Cats may be in pain but show no outward signs, while some dogs the exact opposite. Cats may not be eating and drinking enough while some dogs are the exact opposite, apparently showing few external signs despite being seriously unwell.

Dealing with dogs and cats, and their owners, requires understanding and skill. Nurses have to tackle everything from chronic weight loss to critical care in animals that are unwell, injured or traumatised, but which are also likely to be frightened, confused, stressed and who really do not want to be there. Additionally there are inherited breed disorders, the challenges of feral cats and the handling of aggressive and unruly dogs to consider, along with Health and Safety regulations to adhere to. Nurses tackle these complex situations on a daily basis in their daily role. Many things can make a real difference to how dogs and cats behave, how amenable they are to handling, how they cope with the stress of being in a practice environment and how well they recover.

COAPE offers a range of dedicated canine and feline courses written by veterinary and behaviour experts that bring together these considerations and more to give a rounded and inclusive approach to nursing the dog and cat in practice. Building on COAPE's long-standing expertise in behaviour and FAB's Cat Friendly Practice and Wellcat programmes, our courses are designed to improve your confidence and skill, and to give you recognition within the profession and among your pet-owning clients.

Foundation Award in Feline Friendly Nursing
Suggested level: Animal Nursing Auxiliary

Advanced Award in Canine Friendly Nursing and
Advanced Award in Feline Friendly Nursing
Suggested level: Qualified VN
(Successful students automatically fulfil the qualification requirements for the CDP COAPE Diploma Course)

This Expert Level course is available to nurses who have completed the Advanced Level course and have their feline friendly credentials. The Expert Level course is set at OCN level 4 and is classed as a Diploma (first year university level). Nurses who successfully complete the course will be eligible to join the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) Academy of Feline Nurses. The course begins every February (registrations by January 15 at the latest) and students have 2 years to complete it.

Working with Canine and Feline Patients
To work with dogs and cats successfully you need to understand each individual species as a whole animal. For cats in particular and certain breeds or types of dogs, perhaps the reason we find them so fascinating is that their health is affected by stress and aspects of their husbandry or environment can matter enormously in terms of how they react to us and how well they recover.

During this series courses we will be examining what a dog and a cat is, looking at each in terms of their innate behaviours and how these impact on how they live with people. In particular we will look at how natural behaviour impacts on dogs and cats within the practice and what nurses and practice personnel can do to make it a more pet friendly experience. It will also give nurses a great deal of insight into canine and feline behaviour and more confidence in dealing with dogs and cats and their owners and integrating information and advice which goes beyond the surgery door.

Pet owners much appreciate understanding and advice for home recovery too. As the courses increase in complexity, the volume and range of content increases to more detailed topics such as breeding, monitoring, canine and feline lifestages, preventive care, nutrition and interaction with their owners.

The Courses
Each course is presented in six stages of course notes that you will receive by e-mail along with supporting material on the internet where applicable.

In order to make the courses more flexible and dynamic COAPE have developed the Student Resource Centre which is a password protected site exclusively for students on these courses. You will find much here for these courses including videos of handling and other techniques and of canine and feline behaviour in practice.

Through work assessment at each of the six stages (at the end of each stage you complete a multi-choice assessment questionnaire) the courses will enable you to demonstrate your knowledge and you will learn more at every stage. The more effort you put into your studies the more you will get out of the course and in applying your ideas in the future. The courses comprise six units, spread over the period of nine months with start dates February or September each year.

Our Partners
The Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB) are working with several partners in bringing you the Feline-Friendly Nursing courses - The Centre of Applied Pet Ethology (COAPE) will be administrating the course and contributing to the behaviour content. COAPE has been appointed by the National Open College Network (NOCN) as an Approved Education Centre. COAPE is also an Accredited Provider for BVNA as part of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Partners scheme.

The FAB's other partners for the Feline-Friendly Nursing courses are the International Society of Feline Medicine, Nestle Purina and Veterinary Nursing Times. All of our organisations wish to promote and improve the care of cats in veterinary practice and beyond and are hugely enthusiastic about being involved with veterinary nursing.

The Qualification
An Open College Network certificate will be awarded to those who complete the course successfully. We will also provide you with an eye-catching and attractive certificate for you to use in the practice.

VN02 ADVANCED CERTIFICATE

FAB10 FOUNDATION AWARD

FAB12 ADVANCED CERTIFICATE

FAB15 DIPLOMA