Abstract
As we write, the air is getting cooler and the leaves are changing colour. Canadian Thanksgiving has just passed, American Thanksgiving is still to come – and the AAFP Conference (see pages 76–77) is just getting under way. It’s that time when we celebrate the bounty of harvest, and we are grateful too for the success of the journal and the numerous excellent manuscripts we receive.
We invited you to ‘spot the difference’ in the first of our two ‘blended’ issues. Here we bring you a collection of autumnal images and invite you to ‘spot the cat’!
As we explained in our last Editorial, this is the second of two ‘Clinical Practice’ issues that are departing from the usual format that you have come to expect. It is precisely because of the bounty of riches that JFMS has been enjoying that the decision was taken to run two ‘blended’ issues (ie, ‘Clinical Practice’ issues featuring ‘Classic’ papers) to get clinically relevant research out of the wings and into your hands.
The content of this issue is new and interesting information predominantly regarding feline musculoskeletal problems. It was a surprise, back in 2002, to learn of the extent of the prevalence of radiographic evidence of degenerative joint disease (DJD) in geriatric cats, reported by Lizette Hardie and colleagues at North Carolina State University. 1 We have come such a long way since then, now recognizing how common feline DJD is at any age. 2 JFMS has been at the forefront in publishing studies about the recognition and treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain (all fully archived and accessible via the website). The contents of this blended issue continue to further our understanding of this and other feline musculoskeletal problems.
Additionally, you will find a selection of papers on different topics of everyday practical significance … and we leave you to dip in and discover them yourselves.
We are excited to have had such a vigorous response to the 2016 JFMS Reader Survey. Thank you to all who participated. It is gratifying to see from the initial assessment that our members are reading and appreciating the value of clinical research. At this time, the results are still to be analyzed in detail; we will have a comprehensive report of the findings in the next ‘Clinical Practice’ issue.
Finally, we can reveal that, just as this issue arrives with you, a new JFMS website is due to launch. We hope you will be eager to go take a look. We definitely are! The team at SAGE has been working hard to enhance functionality and make the website altogether more user-friendly. Again, more on this in the next Editorial.
Thank you for being a reader, an author, a reviewer, a supporter of the journal. As we commence a new year and a new volume, our ambition is that JFMS continues to help you to help your feline patients.