Veterinary EPQ

Mine was about bovine tb, badgers and culling.

May actually be relevant once again as the UK government appear to be transitioning across to the welsh approach of vaccinating badgers (no comment... )

What grade did you end up getting? Thanks for the suggestion!

A* - probably showing my age here as its all numerically graded now?

I know one friend who did the equine digestive system and I know some people who have done it about selective breeding (there’s a lot of very interesting content in this eg brachycephalics, urea breakdown in dalmations, syringomyelia in King Charles spaniels, the impact of the Kennel Club- the list goes on!) I think another person in my year did one on how animals can impact mental health.

Personally, I did one on women in medicine- it wasn’t very relevant to vetmed and became very history based and I wish I had done it on a vetty subject.

Just make sure it’s something you’re really interested in and there’s lots of links available- you’ll have to evaluate different ideas and go through the pros and cons of each one so I’m sure this won’t be a problem!

Best of luck (and well done for thinking about it early- don’t do what I did and leave it all until two months before the deadline...)

I did one on an aspect of veterinary medicine that also transferred into human med which I found really interesting! I think ultimately your best bet is to find a topic (like brachycephalics or others mentioned above) and doing some research... often your question will almost decide itself as you go along!

For reference my qualification was equivalent to an EPQ but graded differently - I received a distinction and commendation x

I’m currently doing mine on issues surrounding predisposed conditions in pedigree dogs and what the solutions are so that encompasses brachycephalic breeds and mitral valve disease in cavalier King Charles spaniels and hip dysplasia in GSDs. Particularly brachycephalic dogs is a very popular so maybe steer clear of that unless you can create an EPQ that’s gonna stand out...
At the end of the day it’s up to you but a few of my suggestions would be:
The past, present and future of the veterinary industry (read James Herriots books anyway as you want to go into vet med like me)
The work of Edward Jenner and how that’s shaped the veterinary industry
The avian/equine flu outbreaks of the last few years
Is it right to keep animals in zoos?
Or if you’re doing English lit maybe combine that and look at animals in literature.
Best of luck with your journey into vet med I’m sure you’ll find this EPQ really helpful!

Hi,
I have just finished my GCSEs early due to school closures because of coronavirus. I have about 5 months before i start my A-levels (biology, chemistry & English Lit) and i want to get a head start on my EPQ. I'm taking EPQ as i want to become a vet.

Does anyone have any veterinary related questions i could do for my EPQ? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I did my EPQ on antimicrobial resistance and how the UK government is approaching the issue. This question encompasses both human and veterinary medicine but I am sure you could do something along the same lines that is just vet med focused.
I had the same idea as you and it took me ages to come up with a good EPQ topic, I suggest that you mind map a few ideas then look into all of them to make sure you can make your essay evaluative and that it's suitable for the word count. A few of my ideas were about animal welfare in farming and brachycephalic breeds of dog.

Thank you very much !

HN viruses could be an interesting one - and animal involvement.
For example a virus coming from a bird could be transmitted to a high density pork farm with poor biosecurity - and this combined with a human influenza virus can have deadly consequences.

Very relevant to veterinary public health and even the current pandemic
As with coronavirus - if public health was at the forefront in wet markets there would be lots of disease surveillance going on and an outbreak could likely be detected in a far earlier stage than it was.

I completed mine on more of an ethics question, with a yes-no answer of course! mine was "who is right to decide when an animal should be euthanised, vet or owner?" I ended up getting 49/50, so don't be put off by an ethics approach! as long as you are passionate about your specific question, it's fairly easy to hit the word requirements and present good arguments. send me a message if I can help in any way further down the line!