Abstract
ISFM
Learn how to ‘think cat’ with new feline behaviour courses
ISFM and its parent charity International Cat Care are launching two new behaviour courses – one specifically for those in the veterinary profession and one aimed at cat owners and those working with cats in non-veterinary professions.
The Advanced Certificate in Feline Behaviour, which is for veterinary practitioners and nurses/technicians, aims to help veterinary professionals reduce feline stress during visits to the veterinary clinic, incorporate behaviour into their welfare assessment of cats and educate their clients on how best to meet their cat’s behavioural needs. It also provides an understanding of how cats develop problem behaviours, how to prevent them and how to provide first aid behavioural advice to clients with cats presenting with problem behaviour. The course, which commences this autumn, is online and is completed over a 2 year period.
Dr Sarah Ellis, iCatCare’s Feline Behaviour Specialist, says: ‘We are very excited to be able to offer these courses, which have been written by a multidisciplinary team of recognised experts. Cats are so unique in their behaviour and the more we understand them, the better we can care for them.’
KSFM
ISFM and KSFM join forces to present the 2016 Korean and Asian Feline Conference
The Korean Society of Feline Medicine (KSFM) and ISFM are holding the 2016 Korean and Asian Feline Conference later this month in Seoul, South Korea. The 2 day programme includes presentations entitled ‘feline obesity and urinary disease’, ‘how to have a cat friendly clinic’, ‘radiology: radiographic and ultrasonographic characteristics of major diseases in cats compared to dogs’, and ‘radiology: diagnostic imaging of cats: head and neck’. The conference speakers are Susan Little, Jolle Kirpensteijn, Martha Cannon, Charles Chen, Ishida Takuo, Kobayashi Tetsuya, Mincheol Choi and Kichang Lee.
New guide on feline stress and health
ISFM has published a brand new guide to help veterinary professionals better understand, prevent and manage stress and distress in cats. The 160 page guide is the collaboration of a number of leading authors in the areas of feline behaviour, veterinary medicine and welfare. Twelve easily digestible chapters cover what stress and distress are, why cats can become stressed and/or distressed, how stress impacts on the behaviour and health of the cat, and prevention strategies for use in the veterinary clinic, homing centres, the home environment and multi-cat households. The guide is available for £20.00 at
Nurse/technician membership continues to grow globally
ISFM’s free veterinary nurse/technician membership, which was launched in 2014, continues to reach more countries. There are now over 7000 members in 60 countries including, most recently, Greece and Turkey. Members enjoy access to a monthly e-journal, Feline Focus, as well as monthly webinars. To join, visit
WSAVA vaccination guidelines
The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) has published updated ‘Guidelines for the vaccination of dogs and cats’. Compiled by the WSAVA’s Vaccination Guideline Group, the guidelines supersede those that were published in 2007 and 2010. They are currently available in English, Portugese and Spanish, and there are guidelines available for owners and breeders as well; these can all be accessed at www.wsava.org/guidelines/vaccination-guidelines. For many years, ISFM has been proud to be a member of WSAVA and to support its mission to improve veterinary healthcare for companion animals worldwide and to foster exchange of scientific information between individual veterinarians and veterinary organisations.
ISFM
Veterinary webinars draw in a virtual crowd!
ISFM introduced webinars as a member benefit at the beginning of the year and they are proving a great success, with an average of over 400 people watching live and another 850 watching after the event.
Upcoming webinars over the next few months include ‘Pain recognition and management’ with Jo Murrell; ‘Infectious diarrhoea and interpretation of diarrhoea panels in the cat – what does it all mean?’ with Sheila Wills; and ‘Scaredy cats – how are the cats in your clinic feeling?’ with Sarah Ellis.
ISFM members can now access all of the previous veterinary webinars via the members’ portal by logging into the portal, clicking the documents tab at the top of the page and selecting the ‘ISFM Vet Webinars’ folder.
Webinars to date have covered topics such as eye examination, CKD and respiratory distress
Big Chat Survey reveals ‘cattitude’ is spreading
ISFM joined forces with business management consultants Onswitch during this spring’s BSAVA congress in Birmingham, UK, to survey delegates about their awareness of the Cat Friendly Clinic (CFC) programme and their engagement with cat friendly principles.
Over 300 vets and veterinary nurses completed the survey on the ISFM stand. The results revealed that more than 80% of respondents were aware of the CFC programme and over 20% were working towards accreditation. While many clinics are going through the accreditation process, and will become gold, silver or bronze CFCs, more generally the survey showed that there is a move towards implementing positive practical measures for the welfare of cats in daily practice.
Abi Tansley, JFMS Assistant Editor, turns fluffy feline to greet delegates visiting the ISFM stand at BSAVA!
Award
Harry Eckman (centre) is the recipient of the 2016 International Cat Care/Ceva Cat Welfare Award. iCatCare first met Harry when he volunteered to help train delegates on its trap–neuter–return workshops in Portugal, where he provided practical training and facilitation support. Harry’s work contributed to changes in legislation, collaboration across organisations and improvements in welfare. Harry has since co-founded the charity Change for Animals Foundation. Chris Lawrence, chief judge of the awards (left), and Claire Bessant, iCatCare Chief Executive (right), presented Harry with the award at the recent BSAVA congress
iCatCare
Keeping Cats Safe campaign
As part of its ‘Keeping Cats Safe’ campaign, iCatCare has a poster available that highlights the dangers of permethrin to cats. The campaign has recently focused on detergents and human foodstuffs and will turn its attention to weedkiller and DIY products in the next few months. To download the permethrin poster for free, or to access any of the other topics featured in the campaign, visit:
‘Cat Naps’ competition
This year’s iCatCare photography competition attracted over 3400 entries from 51 countries. The 13 winning images, which will feature in the 2017 calendar, have now been decided. Below are two of the stunning images; to see the others, visit:
AAFP
2016 Annual Conference: feline behavior, respiratory disease, and some new offerings
Join the AAFP in Washington, DC from November 3–6, 2016 and connect with colleagues from around the world to increase your feline knowledge by attending presentations led by experts in their fields. The themes this year are feline behavior and respiratory diseases, and many hot topics in feline medicine will be covered by an esteemed panel of distinguished speakers.
The AAFP is proud to offer an assortment of tracks to meet the individualized needs of attendees in the various stages of their professional development. New this year, we have added a Shelter Track and Feline-Friendly Handling Wet Labs. Dr Ilona Rodan will present a summary on unique feline behaviors, followed by live demonstrations of feline-friendly handling techniques. Attendees will then have an opportunity for hands-on participation. Attendance is limited.
Once again, the AAFP will host an offsite event. This will take place on Saturday, November 5 at 6:30 pm at the Ronald Reagan Building, located on Pennsylvania Avenue. In keeping with the elegance and location of the building, the theme this year is ‘Gala on Pennsylvania Avenue’. We invite you to dress up and join us for a night filled with great food, music and company.
AAFP and Winn announce first joint scholarship winner
Winn Feline Foundation (Winn) and the AAFP are proud to announce that Annette Louviere, a senior at the University of Georgia’s (UGA) College of Veterinary Medicine, is the inaugural winner of the Winn/AAFP Joint Scholarship. The $2500 scholarship was awarded to Annette (pictured far right with the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine of UGA, Dr Sheila Allen) based on her academic achievement, leadership and dedication to and excellence in the study of feline medicine, health and welfare.
The Boards of Directors of both the AAFP and Winn enthusiastically approved the collaboration in developing and implementing this first-ever joint scholarship. Students were asked to answer two essay questions explaining their specific interest and background in feline health and welfare, and their plans for future participation in feline medicine.
JFMS
Behind the scenes at JFMS
The JFMS journals team and officers and executives of the AAFP and ISFM joined together in May for a 2 day strategy meeting. Held annually at the London offices of the JFMS publisher, SAGE, the meeting provides an opportunity for a comprehensive review of progress over the past year and for sharing ideas, developing plans and setting goals for the coming year. This year’s discussions extended to the new online, open access sister journal JFMS Open Reports, which had just reached the first anniversary since its launch. From bottom left, clockwise around the table: Margaret Melling, Managing Editor; Susan Little, Immediate Past President of AAFP and Editorial Board Member; Andy Sparkes, ISFM Veterinary Director and Co-Editor; Colleen Currigan, AAFP President; Abi Tansley, Assistant Editor; Roberto Mastrorilli, Head of Commercial Sales; Christina Spinks, Marketing Manager; Claire Bessant, Chief Executive of iCatCare; Jennie Atkinson, Senior Publishing Editor; Charlotte McCready, Editorial Assistant; Margie Scherk, Co-Editor; and Lauren Demos, AAFP President Elect
Book review
Caring for an elderly cat
Any veterinarian that has a passion for cats will no doubt have heard of the fantastic range of feline books that Cat Professional feline specialist Sarah Caney and her fellow contributors have produced over the past two decades. As a self-confessed cat-lover and feline-only vet in first opinion practice, I have read each book from cover to cover over the years and happily directed veterinary staff and owners to them as a vital source of further information. Owning an old boy in his golden years and being that my most challenging but favourite patients to treat are these delightful oldies, I was thrilled to be asked to write this review.
Caring For An Elderly Cat is a wonderful addition to the series. As well as going through the plethora of often complex and overlapping diseases that this age group can demonstrate, this time Sarah has also enlisted the expertise of internationally acclaimed behaviourist and author Vicky Halls. This results in probably the most insightful short book to date on ageing cats. Any feline clinician knows that behaviour is intrinsically part of the clinical assessment of our patients, and never more so than when treating the elderly cat. As the book states in its first paragraph, 30% of the UK cat population are 11 years or older – so we owe it to these elderly cats to be as informed about their health and welfare as possible and this book offers a fabulously informative and holistic approach.
The book is split into eight logical sections, which start with normal changes seen in an elderly cat and progress through to common diseases and end-of-life decisions:
Feline-specific content
Practice resource
Value for money
Overall reviewer rating
As with all of the Cat Professional books, this new title can be purchased online as a paperback version for your clinic’s library or as a downloadable PDF to read on the go. It is easy to read and packed with practical tips that owners of elderly cats or anyone working with these majestic old souls will find essential information. Veterinary terms are highlighted in a different colour and then listed in a glossary at the back of the book to provide an easily referenced text that is inclusive to all. Paragraphs are short and broken up by eye-catching and useful diagrams or colour photographs demonstrating each point, as well as text boxes containing information such as how to give medication.
It is my firm opinion that this book should be a staple in the library and waiting room of any veterinary clinic seeing cats, and on the bookshelves of everyone privileged enough to be working alongside or owned by a golden oldie.
Sarah Caney and Vicky Halls. Cat Professional, UK, 2016. Paperback, 136 pages. Price £19.99, ISBN 9781908583086. Also available as an electronic version from catprofessional.com for £8.99.