It’s that time of year when you might be planning your annual CPD and trying to stretch your budget to cover several different areas of veterinary practice.
With this in mind, have you ever attended a day or two of CPD and felt it was interesting, but perhaps only included a narrow area of medicine or surgery – or a lot of research, but nothing practical?
At the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM), we have thought long and hard about how to provide the best feline CPD for our delegates and, in our first ISFM UK Feline Congress, we hope we have cracked it.
The two-day conference – featuring both nursing and veterinary steams – aims to present lectures on a variety of topics relevant to the practitioner and nurse with an interest in cats.
We understand that, in a busy clinic, your first consult might be surgical, the next dental and the final a road traffic collision, so have designed a conference to span such topics. This means you can learn about several different subjects, from wound management and dentistry, to behaviour and orthopaedics, returning to work with a wealth of practical information and ideas you can use there and then – and share with colleagues.
This doesn’t mean we won’t cover the science – our speakers are international experts in their fields – but it will be presented in a way that is relevant to clinical practice.
Areas covered
So, what areas of feline practice will be covered?
Cytology
Dust off your practice microscope – Tim Williams from the University of Cambridge will be discussing the importance of in-house cytology, looking at what you can learn from blood smears, urine samples and fine needle aspiration. On a Friday afternoon at 4pm when an anaemic cat arrives, do you feel confident interpreting the blood smear and making a decision on treatment? We will give you the skills to use these cost-effective in-house tests.
Dentistry
Do you dread the dental? Fear the jaw fracture? Matthew Oxford will be presenting several lectures on the dreaded gingivostomatitis, resorptive lesion, jaw fracture and dental radiography (we have a masterclass on this final subject to learn hands on), as well as providing nursing advice for dental patients. Feline dentistry done well is a string in your clinic’s bow – both personally satisfying and not bad for business.
To complement Dr Oxford’s lectures, Vicky Ford-Fennah will be speaking on “dentistry without the ouch”, discussing anaesthesia and analgesia for these patients to optimise recovery, and minimise your patient’s discomfort.
Behaviour
The message that “cats are not small dogs” we hope has now got through. However, do you feel you fully understand what your feline patients are telling you with their body language?
Do you feel confident approaching a discussion on problem behaviour?
We are fortunate to have both ISFM feline behaviour experts Vicky Halls and Sarah Ellis presenting talks in both streams on feline communication and problem behaviours, with Miss Ellis also giving a lecture on how to teach cats to tolerate inhaled medications – an important therapeutic technique that must be introduced correctly.
Road traffic collision cases
With “Cat RTC” added to the bottom of the appointment list and adrenaline up, are you ready? Sorrel Langley-Hobbs is just the person to discuss triage of the “flat cat”, how to approach common fractures, and provide tips on nursing these painful and fragile patients.
Wounds
Do you ever feel unsure how to approach a wound on a cat? When to close it? How to dress it?
Laura Owen and Georgie Hollis from the University of Cambridge and The Veterinary Wound Library have this “covered”, with lectures in both streams on how to deal with wound complications and which dressing to use where (and how to get it to stay on).
Nutrition
Our own Sarah Collins will be covering assisted nutrition.
Respiratory disease
Clarisse D’Aout will discuss common causes of respiratory diseases in cats (coughs and sneezes, and maybe some wheezes).
Location
For the first ISFM UK Feline Congress, we’re heading to beautiful Heythrop Park Resort. Located amid the stunning countryside on the edge of the Cotswolds, the hotel offers an on-site spa, and if you’re thinking of making a weekend of it, you can take advantage of an 18-hole golf course with beautiful views looking over the Oxfordshire countryside.
Running and cycling routes around the extensive grounds are also available, along with optional morning yoga sessions for delegates to start their day the right way – rested and relaxed.
Memorable experience
ISFM congresses have always been about creating a memorable delegate experience; CPD and the science is important, but so is delegate well-being, and time to relax and reflect is becoming an integral element to many congress programmes. We aim to combine a world-class lecture programme, with plenty of opportunity for delegates to socialise, network and enjoy the surroundings.
We’re very excited to be spending a couple of days providing high-quality – but, more importantly, relevant and practical – CPD for both vets and nurses at the most gorgeous of venues.
- The ISFM UK Feline Congress will take place on 13 and 14 March 2020. Fancy joining us? For details on the full programme and how to register, visit www.icatcare.org
