Alison lives in the Hampshire countryside with her husband (also a veterinary Specialist Surgeon, and co-founder of the Moores Orthopaedic Clinic near Basingtoke), two teenage sons, a German short haired pointer, a rehomed Bengal cat, two rehomed guinea pigs and seven pet chickens. When not working, she spends her time gardening (she is studying for the RHS level 2 in horticulture) or learning French and Spanish.

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Qualifications:

Alison graduated with a degree in Veterinary Science, BVSc(Hons), from the University of Bristol in 1996, one of only five students to graduate with honours, and having gained the joint highest mark of all the veterinary, medical and dental students in her second year. She gained the Royal College of Veterinary Surgery (RCVS) Certificate in Small Animal Surgery, CertSAS, by examination in 2003. This was followed in 2005 by the Diploma of the European College of Veterinary Surgery (ECVS) by examination in the subject of Small Animal Surgery , thus gaining the highest qualification available in Surgery in the UK and Europe. She was awarded EBVS Specialist status in Small Animal Surgery in 2005, followed by RCVS Specialist status in 2007. Specialist status is the highest level of clinical practice a veterinary surgeon can obtain. She has reaccredited with both colleges every five years, by maintaining clinical practice and standards, undertaking regular further training, and contribution to the profession by lecturing and writing research papers and book chapters. She was awarded RCVS Fellowship for Meritorious Contributions to Clinical Practice in 2019, in recognition of her clinical work in the field of Small Animal Surgery and training of other veterinary surgeons.

Surgical Experience:

After graduation in 1996, Alison spent four years in first-opinion practice, including emergency out of hours work, in one-vet branches and larger hospitals. She completed a one-year rotating Internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in 1999 and a three-year Residency in Small Animal Surgery at the RVC from 2001 to 2004. She stayed at the RVC as a Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery until 2007. She worked as a Specialist Soft Tissue Surgeon at North Downs Specialist Referrals, Surrey, for six months when it was operating from a first opinion practice. She was a Soft Tissue Surgeon at Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists in Hampshire from 2008 until 2023, where she was an employee, co-owner and Director when it was privately owned, staying as an employee when it moved to corporate ownership in 2015.

 

Throughout her specialist surgical career, she has treated dogs and cats with all types of soft tissue problems, from simple anal sacculectomies and mass removals, to complicated portosystemic shunts, thoracotomies and many more procedures. She is interested in and competent in all aspects of Soft Tissue Surgery, including, but not limited to: airway, head and neck, thoracic, abdominal (including gastrointestinal, liver and shunts, renal, urogenital), skin/ reconstructive, and oncological surgery, and is happy to see animals for any type of Soft Tissue Surgery.

Post-Graduate Teaching:
Alison delivers many days of post-graduate teaching in the UK each year, and is an educator and examiner on Surgery Certificate courses. Since 2014, she has been the Program Co-ordinator for the BSAVA Surgery Certificate program, which includes preparing and marking the examination for the Surgery Certificate. She has taught on the BSAVA Certificate course since 2010 and currently teaches five modules yearly, including thoracic, head and neck, and abdominal surgery. She has taught and examined over 400 veterinary surgeons on the BSAVA certificate course alone, over 200 of whom have gained the PgCert qualification and over 60 have been awarded advanced practitioner status (AVP). She was an internal examiner for the RVC CertAVP Certificate program from 2014 to 2023 and external examiner for the Edinburgh University CertAVP Certificate program from 2014 to 2017. She teaches on the Vets4Pets New Graduate program and regularly delivers in person lectures, practical courses and online webinars for companies including BSAVA, CPD Solutions, Vets North/ South, and The Webinar Vet. She taught on the Improve International Certificate courses from 2010 to 2021 in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. She has been the invited speaker at national conferences abroad, including Hong Kong, Denmark and Norway.

She has trained eleven surgery residents; five have achieved Specialist status; six are preparing for exams or are still in training.

Research and contributions to veterinary literature:

She co-edited the second edition of the BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Wound Management and Reconstruction. She has published ten chapters in veterinary textbooks and 28 clinical and research papers.

Book Chapters

 

Moores AL (manuscript in progress). Bite wounds. In: Small Animal Surgical Emergencies. Edra Publishing.

 

Moores AL (2016). 1. Intercostal Thoracotomy and Median Sternotomy. 2. Thoracocentesis and Thoracostomy Tubes. In: Complications In Small Animal Surgery. Editors Dominique Griffon And Annick Hamaide. Wiley-Blackwell. 2nd edition in progress. 

 

Moores AL (2013). 1. Thoracotomy. 2. The Pleura. 3. The Lungs. In: Feline General and Oncological Surgery. Editors Sorrel Langley-Hobbs, Jackie Demetriou and Jane Ladlow. Elsevier. 

 

Moores AL (2013). Small Intestine. In: BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Abdominal Surgery 2nd Edn, Editors Williams & Niles. BSAVA, UK

 

BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Wound Management and Reconstruction 2nd Edn (2009), Editors John Williams & Alison Moores. BSAVA, UK. 3rd edition in progress.

 

Moores AL (2009). Axial Pattern Flaps. In: BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Wound Management and Reconstruction 2nd Edn, Editors Williams & Moores. BSAVA, UK. pp 100-143. 3rd edition in progress.

 

Beck AL (2007). The Urogenital System. In: Textbook of Veterinary Surgical Nursing, Editors Martin & Masters. Elsevier, UK. pp 87-112

 

Publications in Peer Reviewed Literature

 

Carey Beer AJ, Hernon T, Halfacree Z, Mullins RA, Moores A, de la Puerta B, Timmermans J, Shales C, Goh D, Best E, Bristow P. Complications associated with and outcome of surgical intervention for treatment of esophageal foreign bodies in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2022 Jan 4;260(6):622-627. 

 

Moores AL, Urraca CI, de Sousa RJR, Jenkins G, Anderson DM. Non-surgical reduction of prolapsed colocolic intussusception in two puppies. J Vet Emerg Crit Care (San Antonio). 2021 Sep;31(5):656-660. 

 

Jimeno Sandoval JC, Peak K, Moores AL. Letter to the Editor: External manual reduction of intestinal intussusceptions with ultrasound assistance. J Vet Emerg Crit Care (San Antonio). 2021 Sep;31(5):674. 

 

Anderson T, Beever L, Hall J, Moores A, Llanos C, Adams R, Meakin L, Coppola M, Bowlt-Blacklock K, Holmes MA, Barnes D. Outcome following surgery to treat septic peritonitis in 95 cats in the United Kingdom. J Small Anim Pract. 2021 Sep;62(9):744-749. 

 

Eayrs MK, Moores AL. Management of incontinence following pre-pubic urethrostomy in a cat using an artificial urethral sphincter. J Small Anim Pract. 2021 Jul;62(7):604-607. 

 

Moores AL, Agthe P, Anderson DM, Grierson JM. Pubic fractures secondary to extended transpelvic urethrostomy in a cat. Veterinary Surgery, 2020 Jul;49(5):1052-1057. 

 

Matiasovic M, Halfacree Z, Moores A, Nelissen P, Woods S, Dean B, Chanoit G, Barnes D. Surgical management of impalement injuries to the trunk of dogs: a multi-centre retrospective study. J Small Anim Pract. 2018 Jun 59(3), 139-146.

 

Moores AP, Moores AL. The natural history of humeral intracondylar fissure: an observational study of 30 dogs. J Small Anim Pract. 2017 Jun;58(6):337-341. 

 

Das S, Thorne R, Lorenz ND, Clarke SP, Madden M, Langley-Hobbs SJ, Perry KL, Burton NJ, Moores AL, Mosley JR. Patellar ligament rupture in the dog: repair methods and patient outcomes in 43 cases. Vet Rec. 2014 Oct 18;175(15):370. 

 

Charlesworth TM, Moores AL. Post-trauma inguinal seroma formation in the cat. J Small Anim Pract. 2012 May;53(5):301-3.

 

Charlesworth TM, Agthe P, Moores A, Anderson DM. The use of haemostatic gelatin sponges in veterinary surgery. J Small Anim Pract. 2012 Jan;53(1):51-6. 

 

de la Puerta B, Parsons KJ, Draper ER, Moores AL, Moores AP. In vitro comparison of mechanical and degradation properties of equivalent absorbable suture materials from two different manufacturers. Vet Surg. 2011 Feb;40(2):223-7. 

 

Shales C, Moores A, Kulendra E, White C, Toscano M, Langley-Hobbs . Stabilization of sacroiliac luxation in 40 cats using screws inserted in lag fashion (2010). Veterinary Surgery 39, 696-700.

 

Adamantos S, Brodbelt D, Moores AL. Prospective evaluation of complications associated with jugular venous catheter use in a veterinary hospital. J Small Anim Pract. 2010 May;51(5):254-7. 

 

De La Puerta B, McMahon LA, Moores A. Uterine horn torsion in a non-gravid cat (2008). Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 10, 395-7.

 

Moores AL, Moores AP, Brodbelt DC, Owen MR, Draper ERC. Regional Load Bearing of the Canine Acetabulum (2007). Journal of Biomechanics 40, 3732-7

 

Moores AL, Halfacree ZJ, Baines SJ, Lipscomb VJ. Indications, outcomes and complications following lateral thoracotomy in dogs and cats. J Small Anim Pract. 2007 Dec;48(12):695-8. 

 

Moores AL, Gregory SP. Duplex gall bladder associated with choledocholithiasis, cholecystitis, gall bladder rupture and septic peritonitis in a cat. J Small Anim Pract. 2007 Jul;48(7):404-9. 

 

Moores AL, Moores AP, Brodbelt DC, Owen MR, Draper ER. Regional load bearing of the canine acetabulum. J Biomech. 2007;40(16):3732-7. 

 

Ogden D, Baines S, Beck A. Bilateral thyrohyoideus muscle rupture in a dog. J Small Anim Pract. 2007 Jul;48(7):400-3. 

 

Beck AL, Grierson JM, Ogden DM, Hamilton MH, Lipscomb VJ. Outcome of and complications associated with tube cystostomy in dogs and cats: 76 cases (1995-2006). J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2007 Apr 15;230(8):1184-9. 

 

Halfacree ZJ, Beck AL, Lee KC, Lipscomb VJ. Torsion and volvulus of the transverse and descending colon in a German shepherd dog. J Small Anim Pract. 2006 Aug;47(8):468-70. 

 

Moores AP, Beck AL, Jespers KJ, Wilson AM. Mechanical evaluation of two loop tensioning methods for crimp clamp extracapsular stabilization of the cranial cruciate ligament-deficient canine stifle. Vet Surg. 2006 Jul;35(5):476-9. 

 

Moores AP, Beck AL, Jespers KJ, Halfacree Z, Wilson AM. Mechanical evaluation of two crimp clamp systems for extracapsular stabilization of the cranial cruciate ligament-deficient canine stifle. Vet Surg. 2006 Jul;35(5):470-5. Erratum in: Vet Surg. 2006 Dec;35(8):797. 

 

Parsons KJ, Beck AL. What is your diagnosis? Gastric disease/septic peritonitis. J Small Anim Pract. 2006 Jun;47(6):349-51.

 

Beck AL, Pead MJ, Draper E. Regional load bearing of the feline acetabulum. J Biomech. 2005 Mar;38(3):427-32. 

 

Beck AL, Pead MJ, The use of Ellis pins (negative profile tip-threaded pins) in external skeletal fixation in dogs and cats. VCOT 2003: 4; 223-31

 

Moores AP, Beck AL, Baker JF. High-grade surface osteosarcoma in a dog. J Small Anim Pract. 2003 May;44(5):218-20. 

Volunteering:
As a volunteer in the veterinary community she has been Associate Editor of the Journal of Small Animal Practice, a member of the BSAVA Education committee, and spent 10 years on the committee of the Association of Veterinary Soft Tissue Surgeons, including Secretary and President. She regularly reviews papers submitted to peer-reviewed veterinary literature.

Alison volunteers in her local community, including as a Scout leader and a COVID vaccinator.

What is a Specialist?

A Specialist is the highest level of qualification in Europe. A Surgery Specialist has undertaken at least four years of full-time clinical (surgical) experience under the direct supervision of one or more Specialists, performed a minimum number of surgeries, published at least two research manuscript, presented research at national or internal conferences, completed at least eight weeks of externships in other disciplines (anaesthesia, clinical pathology, diagnostic imaging and internal medicine), and passed the written, case based and practical elements of the European Diploma examination. Specialist status is time limited, and reaccreditation every five years requires evidence of ongoing training and contributions to the profession in the Specialist’s area of speciality.