There is
much more to a congress than just the lectures. It is a journey to a place
where you may not have been before. It means new people, new ideas and
inspiration that does not only come from the lecture hall, but from the social network created around
it.
International Cat Care chose again a beautiful place to
celebrate our annual ISFM congress this year. Cavtat is a town on the Adriatic
Coast of Croatia. Dubrovnik is just half an hour away by boat. I only spent a
few hours there but was amazed by its beauty… And by the incredible number of
different types of swifts and swallows entertaining
us with their acrobatic displays
and cheering background music.
Niko picked me up at the airport. He is the brother of the owner of the hotel where I stayed.
He was pleased to share a beer with me on the terrace and kindly replied when I
asked him about the house and the history of their family. The hotel had been
the family house where they stayed during the war. He mentioned that the Hotel
Croatia (where the Congress took place) was also used for
this purpose, as it offered a safer shelter than regular accommodations.
Niko was not impressed with the fact that some people would
visit Dubrovnik with the sole
purpose of seeing the sites where Game of Thrones had been recorded. The town has so much intrinsic value!
Click here to listen to Niko...😁
Among other things, this congress gives me the chance of
meeting my Spanish colleagues once a year. Lots of interesting and sometimes
controversial topics arose during
our conversations.
One of them was the need to regulate the postgraduate qualifications with the aim
of avoiding misconceptions among clients. They sometimes get confused when
certain general practitioners call themselves “specialists”, without necessarily
acquiring the knowledge and skills that qualified specialists offer. It is true
that there is plenty of information available everywhere and some people are able to train themselves and
achieving things in life that others need training for. But it is still necessary
to help customers to differentiate which ones truly offer a specialised
service.
We also had a chat about the importance of including cats in some university
training and CPD activities that often rule them out as potential candidates. Both their “small size” that makes it difficult to clearly appreciate the anatomical structures, compared with
dogs, and their “unpredictable nature” seem to be some of the most commonly perceived
handicaps. My personal point of view on this one is that we could make an
effort to work in a low stress environments, correct
handling and selection of appropriate cats according to their temperament to
maximise their ability to cooperate. Regarding the size… It matters but only up
to an extent! I think students should be provided with the opportunity to face these problems for the very first
time in a training rather than a working environment. Cats
now represent half of the case load in many practices, and
clinicians will undoubtedly encounter
challenging feline cases at some stage, not only canine ones.
A much less controversial topic was child friendly practices. Have you ever thought of
offering children the chip inserter (obviously those that allow you to detach
the needle!) for kids to practice injection skills? Saving some time to
communicate with them about their cat’s health issue sounds like a great idea.
Pets play such an important role in our emotional development… Unfortunately we
do not always have the time though.
It was very exciting to have the opportunity to meet feline
vets from everywhere around the world. I cannot even remember the number of
nationalities among the delegates, but there was a truly international
atmosphere. I was surprised to meet such a great number of vets who have
changed country to progress in their career. I am not just talking about English
speaking places, but others such as Belgium, Germany, Dubai or Hong Kong. More
than one just moved before learning the language. What a challenge! Although
things are not necessarily easy for English speakers in English speaking
countries. Some cultural differences seem to influence their experience and
bureaucracy is not always easy either. I met a vet who qualified at Ross
University School of Veterinary Medicine located in St Kitts, an AVMA
accredited school. Before being allowed to practice in the UK, she had to take the MRCVS statutory membership
exam, despite having completed a clinical rotation at RCVS during her last year
at the university. On a cheerful note I have to say there were also some cool
stories… like the one where Alina ends up looking after the royal
family’s pampered pooches!
The social events definitely represent the most appropriate
chance to meet people you never thought you were ever going to talk to. The
first night I found myself seated
next to Jane Armstrong, who revealed some details about what seems to be an
impressive diet:
On the same table somebody was talking about different
trends in different countries, such as
Forti-Flora being used in the management
of CKD in certain areas. I have not found
scientific evidence about this
. But it may be that the
antioxidants in it are appealing in these cases?
Anthony Chadwick, from the Webinar Vet was very excited about some Spanish webinars they will be
offering soon… And he took the chance to practice his Spanish with us! He also
talked about a new app we may find interesting. I think we UK locum vets should keep our eyes open and look for
“Locumer” whenever they release it. I believe it is about matching vets and
practices via an “online dating-like” site.
It is always nice to have a feline behaviour guru around. I
love the way Sarah Heath jumps every time she spots a potentially unfair
handling technique or anything that does not respect the feline behavioural
needs.
Samantha Taylor discussed some cases and controversial papers
suggested by the audience. She did not only break the gap between delegates and
the lecturers at that point, but also during the social events. I was very
lucky to spend some time with her chatting about the challenges of vetting,
motherhood and gender equality. And I learned from her that it is Boyles who
described the small animal point of care ultrasound techniques
Oh… and the Whova app! This relatively new thing about apps used
in conferences is really useful to contact people and debate specific topics.
There was a general concern about non neutered cats in the town and of course, being
hundreds of us around, we could not stop thinking of neutering them all!
Thankfully somebody reminded us of how annoying it can
be for the local veterinary community to have outsiders interfering with
what they are probably already dealing with.
Another technological element I liked seeing around was the Sureflap. It would be interesting to
find out how many cases of idiopathic cystitis it has solved! I have had two cats of my own who have
benefited from its advantages, managing to keep the neighbour cats outside and
preventing the associated stress of having unwanted insiders. Now it also
enables us to play “Feline Big Brother” as it gives us plenty of information about our cats’ ins and
outs via the app. I
believe the information we will get from the feeders is going to help us lots
with our patients’ health care.
I am sure I have missed some important things here
but hope you get a rough
idea of how enjoyable it was from a professional and personal perspective.
Obviously the lectures are the most important thing (and I got the impression
that we all were more than happy with the standard this year!) but it would
definitely not be that much fun if we lacked
the social side of it.
Before saying goodbye, have a look at these Croatian
musicians! I listened to some of them live
in Mlini the night before going back to Manchester. I am generally not very
fond of rock music but these guys were good!!
