Abstract
People love communities, and 600 million Facebook users can't all be wrong! What makes communities such as Facebook work is the reward people feel from being in contact with like-minded others. And clearly making things better for cats is a common desire of all those associated with ISFM — and its growing appeal.
It hardly seems possible that ISFM was launched only last April. Now, scarcely a year later, the latent interest from beyond Europe has opened the floodgates of feline veterinary enthusiasm in countries as far-flung as China and Brazil, Russia and Australia.
For many years, of course, Australia has demonstrated high quality feline medicine and key feline enthusiasts have been instrumental in some outstanding veterinary initiatives. This issue of JFMS is testament to that, featuring eminent Australian scientists in its author pool, as well as news of the feline medicine distance education course, which ISFM is collaborating on with the Aussies. ISFM is also introducing to the rest of the world the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists’ specific feline qualification, which will be adopted by ISFM as the international standard for advanced feline education at practitioner level.
During our recent visits to Beijing and Hong Kong with two Australian speakers — who were helping to deliver the first ISFM Asian seminars — it was inspiring to see how the local veterinarians responded to their knowledge and enthusiasm of all things feline. Despite the huge cultural differences, cats clearly are high on the agenda and veterinarians in Beijing and Hong Kong (and also those delegates from Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore) were keen to learn more and to share their experiences. As is so typical of feline enthusiasts, they were clearly making things happen and embracing new ideas and approaches. The joy of such meetings is that all parties were able to benefit from the exchange of knowledge, and it is this affirmation of interest that builds a vibrant community such as ISFM.
ISFM is embracing and connecting the feline veterinary community far and wide. In Beijing, venue for the first ISFM Asian seminar, cats are high on the veterinary agenda — and adorn the facade of the city's 18th century Summer Palace
Our links with the US are a wonderful example of the potential of such relationships. Our society has, since 2002, shared this very journal with the well respected American Association of Feline Practitioners. The relationship has developed in that time to bear the fruit of a number of joint initiatives where pooling of knowledge and resources has resulted in strengthening of message and wider application of feline expertise. We have been delighted to welcome so many American delegates to our congresses in Europe and now the two societies have linked up to hold the first joint World Feline Veterinary Congress, which will take place in Boston in September this year.
Just around the corner, of course, is our Vienna congress. We're especially proud as it's our 10th European congress, and so something of a milestone. It's not too late to join us (see www.isfm.net for full information), and setting the scene on the topics of respiratory disease and ophthalmology, both main features of the congress, are two authoritative clinical reviews in this issue.
Our European congresses have been the fertile ground from which many of our National Partnerships have grown. With now 10 in Europe, and more on the way, these have provided an excellent model for working with other enthusiasts who are already making great headway for feline medicine in their own countries. ISFM shares with them a rich toolbox of resources and an introduction to the amazingly generous network which includes many world-renowned names in feline medicine who continue to help the feline veterinary community grow. Those who have tapped into the ISFM member forum will have had the benefit of contributions and responses from Danièlle Gunn-Moore, Richard Malik, Andrea Harvey, Sarah Caney, Martha Cannon, Albert Lloret and many more.
Other such resources include clinical guidelines, and in this issue you will find the new Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines produced by the AAFP and ISFM. These grew in part out of our Cat Friendly Practice initiative, which is now influencing the design and conduct of veterinary practice in many countries worldwide. Last year, ISFM and AAFP launched long-awaited guidelines on the use of NSAIDs, providing help for vets and major welfare benefits for cats.
Not everywhere in the world enjoys the luxury of dedicated cat welfare and shelter facilities such as those that exist in the UK and USA. In many places the responsibility for shelter medicine and feral cat control falls to local veterinarians and other cat welfare groups, who work often without support or the experience of others in the same field. Moreover, millions of cats worldwide endure dreadful conditions and suffer disease which could be controlled by vaccination, better nutrition and a limitation of numbers. Even lovingly owned cats can suffer through a lack of knowledge on the part of their owners and limited veterinary drugs and resources.
At the heart of ISFM's new charitable fund, IFCW, is the welfare of cats worldwide
ISFM knows it has benefited enormously from the generous support of cat enthusiasts around the world who wish to help cats in general. As a result we have launched a new fund to utilise our wide connections and broad-based knowledge of feline medicine and welfare, under the banner of the International Fund for Cat Welfare (IFCW). Already we are working with street cats in Barcelona and feral cats in India, and are planning behavioural research into assessing fear in cats intended for rehoming. We would urge our veterinary friends to support this cause as we strive to make a difference for cats worldwide. For more information see www.ifcw.net.
These are difficult economic times, and we remain indebted to Nestlé Purina, Royal Canin, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merial, Bayer, Intervet/Schering-Plough, Virbac, Novartis, Agria and Pfizer for their generous support which enables ISFM to continue meeting, working with and learning from like-minded veterinarians across the world.