Feline Focus

Abstract

Award

JFMS Resident’s prize awarded

An annual award, launched in 2013, the JFMS ‘Resident Best Paper Award’, recognises quality and excellence for early career authors in veterinary science who submit papers to be published in JFMS. The inaugural award goes to Elena Addison for her study ‘A retrospective analysis of urethral rupture in 63 cats’, which is currently published Online First, and due to appear in print in April.

Together with all the eligible articles for this award, the paper was evaluated for benefit to cats, direct usefulness to practitioners, quality of science, originality and standard of writing, scoring highly on all these counts.

Utilizing a good number of cases, the study revealed valuable new findings and insights on a challenging problem. Importantly, once aware that accidental trauma is such a significant cause of urethral damage in cats, practitioners can be more vigilant in looking for it. Similarly, through knowing that urethral catheterisation commonly results in tears and strictures, veterinarians can pay more attention to using a gentler and more patient technique – hopefully reducing the incidence of these iatrogenic complications.

As part of her prize, Elena receives complimentary registration to her choice of an upcoming ISFM or AAFP conference.

ASFM

New regional partner for ISFM

The Australasian Society of Feline Medicine (ASFM) has been welcoming its first members since the start of 2014. This newly established not-for-profit organisation has been set up as a regional partner of the ISFM to promote the work of iCatCare ‘down under’ and share the wealth of information available from the ISFM with veterinary colleagues throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.

Australasia is already recognised worldwide for providing outstanding feline-specific continuing veterinary education through conferences, distance education courses and highly respected qualifications. However, no single organisation has previously been formed within the region to exclusively support this existing level of interest and knowledge in cat health … until now.

Membership of the ASFM has been structured to align with the shared member benefits provided by the ISFM ? namely subscription to the JFMS, access to the ISFM member web pages and reciprocal conference privileges. Practice members also receive the quarterly iCatCare magazine and are eligible for accreditation under the Cat Friendly Clinic scheme.

In addition the ASFM is linking general practitioners, feline specialists, nurses, students and corporate supporters by providing up-to-date feline health information specific to the region through its own website (www.asfm.com.au) and newsletters.

The ASFM already has exciting plans for continuing education events and hopes to benefit all professionals involved in feline care. However, thanks to the unstinting commitment of the ISFM, the overall winners will yet again be the cats spread throughout the great southern continent.

For further information visit the ASFM website or their Facebook page, follow ASFM on Twitter, or email the company board at info@asfm.com.au.

AAFP

CFP renewals – it’s been two years!

It has been two years since the Cat Friendly Practice program was launched to veterinary practices. If you are an AAFP Cat Friendly Practice, here is what you need to know.

Renewal period The CFP Designation lasts two years. After two years your practice must complete a renewal in order to become designated for another two years.

Process We have strived to make the renewal process as easy as possible for your practice. You will need to:

Provide an update on the total number of feline patients and the total number of feline visits from the previous year.

Confirm all of your practice contact information, including adding or updating your Cat Advocates.

Verify that you still meet all of the checklist criteria. Since a few of the checklist items have been edited or added, you will be prompted with a notification to review and check off these specific items.

Verify that your photos and hospital daily inpatient sheet remain valid. If they have changed, you’ll need to upload new files.

Confirm and provide your electronic signature.

97% of respondents to a recent CFP survey said they plan to renew in the CFP program when their two-year designation expires

Reminders You will not have to remember when you need to renew. You will receive a reminder email 30 days before your expiration date. At that time you can login and start the easy renewal process. These email reminders will go to the AAFP Member associated with the online account and the first Cat Advocate.

Notifications All CFP Practices will receive a special email with more details about this renewal process. The checklist items that have been edited or added will be included in that email so your practice is aware of any changes.

Login If you would like to start the renewal process or find out when your CFP Designation expires, login to catfriendlypractice.catvets.com/

ISFM

Final call for abstracts

Research abstracts of relevance to feline clinical practice are invited for the 2014 ISFM Congress in Riga, Latvia. The deadline for submissions is March 31. Presenters of accepted abstracts will qualify for a 50% discount on member rate registration for the congress. Full details are available at www.icatcare.org/isfm-congress/abstracts.

Books

Bite-sized reviews

Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat 3rd ed. Gary Landsberg, Wayne Hunthausen and Lowell Ackerman (eds). Philadelphia, Elsevier Saunders, 2012. Paperback, 472 pages. Price US$99.95. ISBN 9780702043352.

Positives This edition, a worthy successor to the previous title ‘Handbook of behaviour problems of the dog and cat’, contains several additional chapters and access to a website with numerous forms and handouts as practical support for the behaviourally aware practitioner. Starting with an introduction to the concept of behaviour counselling and the role of the practitioner, it covers developmental, social and communicative behaviour before continuing with those matters particularly relevant to practice, such as preventive healthcare, the relationship between health and behaviour and addressing specific problems. I was pleased to see a new chapter on ‘reducing stress and managing fear aggression in veterinary clinics’ with some useful information that adhered to Cat Friendly Practice principles. This book covers a wide range of topics and, with excellent tables and bullet points throughout, it is easy to navigate and find information for those times when a quick reference source is required.

Negatives I wish the book had been written solely with the cat in mind.

Comment This book includes everything a veterinarian needs, in theory, to understand the role of practice in the prevention and early recognition of behaviour problems in both cats and dogs. A book well worth buying.

Ratings (out of five)

Feline-specific content

Practice resource

Value for money

Overall reviewer rating

Vicky Halls

RVN Dip Couns Reg MBACP

BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Neurology 4th ed. Simon Platt and Natasha Olby (eds). British Small Animal Veterinary Association, Gloucester, 2013. Paperback, 542 pages plus DVD. Price £89.00. ISBN 9781905319343.

Positives An excellent, easy to follow, step-by-step introduction to neurology. Multiple diagrams, illustrations and video clips make this book a great resource for both a practitioner and student. It provides a very good guide to performing a thorough and systematic neurological examination and localisation of the lesion. The DVD adds very practical demonstrations of the topics.

Negatives Unfortunately, there is a canine bias to the book and only a very few video clips feature feline patients. As neurological examination is often more challenging in cats than in dogs, it would have been beneficial to include a specific feline neurological examination guide and demonstrate the challenges of feline examination, as well as helpful tips on how to examine a feline patient. There is a disappointing lack of information on feline orofacial pain syndrome.

Target audience Practitioners, students and new graduates.

Comment A must on a shelf of every veterinary practice! It provides a quick reference and great source of neurology information, supplemented by the DVD’s video content. However, the feline practitioner might be somewhat frustrated by the overwhelming canine bias.

Ratings (out of five)

Feline-specific content

Practice resource

Value for money

Overall reviewer rating

Agnieszka Zoltowska

BVSc MRCVS

BSAVA Manual of Feline Practice: A Foundation Manual 1st ed. Andrea Harvey and Séverine Tasker (eds). British Small Animal Veterinary Association, Gloucester, 2013. Paperback, 482 pages. Price £85.00. ISBN 9781905319398.

Positives The book takes a very holistic approach, covering all aspects of feline practice including medicine, surgery and behaviour. It is structured clearly and focuses on common presenting complaints and the management of common disorders, making it a very useful resource for general practice. There are excellent quick reference guides interspersing the relevant chapters giving step-by-step illustrated instructions on practical tasks ranging from handling techniques to administering chemotherapy.

Negatives Very few. This is not an exhaustive reference text and gives instructions on one specific technique in each quick reference guide rather than covering all the alternatives. It may not be sufficiently in-depth for very experienced feline practitioners or academics but the book is not aimed at these audiences.

Target audience First opinion practitioners, students, new graduates, and practitioners who are returning to clinical work after a career break.

Comment This excellent book takes an empathetic approach to feline patients and will assist in improving their overall welfare while under veterinary care.

Ratings (out of five)

Feline-specific content

Practice resource

Value for money

Overall reviewer rating

Maggie Roberts

BVM&S MRCVS