Dr Leigh Davidson

23/08/2026

If you use oestrogen gel or spray for HRT, your pet could be exposed too.

Oestrogen can transfer from treated skin through close contact.

Published veterinary cases have linked repeated exposure to topical human HRT with hair loss, mammary enlargement, reproductive changes and abnormal hormone related behaviour in dogs and cats.

In some cases, the exposure was incredibly ordinary. A puppy being lifted into bed. Puppies being carried on an arm. A very cuddly cat spending more time in contact with its owner.

Once the exposure stopped, many of the animals improved.

This does not mean you need to stop HRT or stop cuddling your pets. I use oestrogen gel myself. It simply means being aware of where you apply it.

Wash your hands after application, let the area dry, prevent pets from licking treated skin, cover the area where appropriate, and follow the contact instructions for your particular HRT product.

Dogs and cats feature most often in the published evidence, but I also take care around Murray, my budgie, because we simply do not know enough about repeated exposure in other small pets.

If you use HRT and have pets, this is worth knowing and sharing.

I’ve broken down the research and case studies in more detail on Pet Matters. Link first comment.

20/08/2026

I've been playing with technology using to build an analytics program.

It assesses all my social platforms, my website analytics and gsc and advises me on what's doing well, where the content gaps are, what style resonates the best etc.

I've made a dashboard... with graphs. It is set up so it doesn't lose info over time - it keeps on building.
I'm going to see how it goes for about 6months - but Im already starting to wonder if this is something worth commercialising. I haven't seen anything like it!

What do you think? Is this something that small business, creators or agencies might want?

Haha Not Just A Vet 😂

And yes... I do look like death warmed up 😭

10/08/2026

What a fun morning talking Preparing your pet for a new baby with Erin Holland and Simparica Trio on The Morning Show On 7
Chewbacca was the star - sorry SKYLAR 🩷

28/07/2026

A little different from the normal content, but incredibly important.

Is it just me, or is there a continual expectation that vets will work for free?

This week, a government organisation asked me to assist with some work they were performing.

They acknowledged that this would take me away from clinical and other billable work, yet still expected me to do it without payment.

This wasn't a favour between colleagues. There was no mutual benefit or future reciprocity. It's a formal organisation asking a professional to absorb the cost of work supporting its own investigation.

Vets are often generous with their time because we care. But generosity should not become a substitute for proper resourcing.

Are vets inherently too non commercial? Have we trained people to expect our expertise for nothing?

Professional goodwill is not a free workforce.

14/07/2026

Your vet may control the medicine. But who controls the bill?

You might not care who owns your local vet practice.

But you should care who sets the prices, controls staffing, decides consultation times and determines how practice revenue is used.

Under the NSW Veterinary Practice Act, veterinarians must have a controlling interest in the financial and operating policies of a veterinary practice.

That is different from simply having clinical autonomy.

A vet may have complete freedom to recommend the right treatment, while having no control over what that treatment costs.

Veterinary fees have risen dramatically. Yet vets and nurses remain poorly paid, practices are understaffed and experienced people continue to leave the profession.

So where is the extra money going?

If vets had genuine control, could more be invested in wages, flexible hours, better staffing and healthier workplaces?

That matters to pet owners.

Because when vets and nurses leave, appointments become harder to find, care becomes less accessible and animals ultimately pay the price.

This is not only a veterinary industry issue.

It's an animal welfare, consumer protection and public trust issue.

If you are concerned that veterinary ownership structures may not comply with the NSW Veterinary Practice Act, write to the Hon Tara Moriarty MLC, NSW Minister for Agriculture [email protected]

Ask the Minister to investigate whether veterinarians genuinely control the financial and operating policies of these businesses, and whether the Veterinary Practitioners Board is adequately enforcing the law.

You can also copy your local NSW MP.

This is not about accusing individual vets. It is about asking whether the protections written into the Act are being upheld.

13/07/2026

Two thoughts:
1. Please use tick prevention - your pet's life depends on it.

2. The cost of vet care is becoming unsustainable. I needed to remind the ER vet about spectrum of care.

In 2014, 24 hours of ventilator care for a critically ill animal cost around $2,000.

Today, that same care costs $8,000.

The basic machinery has not become four times more sophisticated.

Vet wages have certainly not increased fourfold.

So where is the money going?

This is the conversation the veterinary profession needs to have.

It is not an argument against gold standard care. Pet owners deserve to know what the medically ideal treatment is.

But gold standard care should not become the only standard offered.

Vets should be able to discuss a genuine spectrum of care:

What is essential?

What is optional?

What can be staged?

What could be managed differently?

What is the likely outcome of each option?

What can this family realistically afford?

When the most expensive option becomes the default, veterinary care becomes inaccessible. Animals miss out, owners feel ashamed and vets are placed in impossible situations.

Corporate ownership has added another layer to this issue.

In NSW, the Veterinary Practice Act says that one or more veterinary practitioners must have the “financial controlling interest” in a corporation that represents itself as a veterinary practice. It does not simply specify that a vet must own 50 per cent.

But who has real control?

Who sets the prices?

Who determines wage budgets, staffing levels, equipment charges, procurement arrangements, revenue targets and the range of treatment options that can be offered?

If those decisions are directed by corporate executives, investors or private equity owners, does the vet named as having the controlling interest genuinely control the practice?

A veterinary figurehead making day to day clinical decisions is not necessarily the same as veterinary financial control.

We need greater transparency around where veterinary fees go, who controls veterinary businesses and whether veterinarians remain free to recommend clinically appropriate and affordable options.

Veterinary medicine should be guided by animal welfare, informed owner choice and veterinary judgement.

Not financial policy.

28/06/2026

What would you do if your dog vomited a couple of times at 11pm and something just did not feel right?

The nearest emergency vet is over an hour away.

Do you rush to emergency?
Do you stay awake and monitor?
Do you wait until morning?
Or do you speak to an online vet to help decide what to do next?

Proposed changes to NSW veterinary legislation could influence how pet owners access veterinary care in the future, including online vets, mobile vets, after hours advice and prescriptions.

The key concern is choice.

If a registered veterinarian can assess your pet using history, photos, videos and clinical judgement, should the law allow them to help you safely?

The legislation creates the framework, but the detailed standards have not been written yet.

That means now is the time for pet owners to speak up.

Your voice matters because these decisions could affect how you access care for your animals in the future.

Have your say. Head to https://Www.yourvetonline.com and click the button in the banner.

27/06/2026

ATTN Fellow Vets, Nurses and animal owners.

It appears our vet board has their own opinion on how the new regulations should be implemented.

And it's short sighted.

Telemedicine and mobile vet services fit within the category of client choice.

Afterhours care has been a concern since Adam was a cowboy.

If after hours access to veterinary care is considered an animal welfare issue, then it should be treated as a system issue, not shifted onto individual private veterinary businesses.

The answer should be a funded after hours vet access model.

A private vet business can be accountable for the care it provides. It should not be made responsible for the failure of the wider system to provide after hours access.

It's an unfair idea that every private vet must become a 24 hour public service. And that is what this implies.

26/06/2026

If you have pets, horses or farm animals it's important that you have your say.

New laws could potentially limit how you choose a vet.

Check out the article to learn more.

The NSW Government is proposing the biggest overhaul of veterinary regulation since 2003. Learn what the changes could mean for telehealth, mobile vets, prescriptions, access to care and consumer choice.

21/06/2026

PSA: Make sure pets are up to date with tick prevention...

What a week I've had. Huge days in clinic, so many sick pets.

It was a heartbreaking week.

Not enough triumphs and good news stories sadly.

That's vet life - not all the time - thank goodness