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Veterinary Education Trust for  Continuing Professional Development

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Conference 2012 will be held on Wednesday 13th June & Thursday 14th June

Stirling Management Centre

Small Animal Programme    Production Animal Programme   Equine Programme

Use the hyperlinks where available for further information of presentations.

Small Animal 2-Day Programme

Tuesday 14th June 2011 

Equine Programme

Tuesday 14th June 2011 

Cases that take your breath away  - Respiratory cases are a commonly encountered problem in small animal practice, from patients with brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome to those with laryngeal paralysis, foreign bodies in the airways and traumatic injuries causing respiratory difficulty.  Some cases will present in significant respiratory distress, or even in a respiratory crisis, so it is important to be aware of how to effectively manage the initial presentation as well as to be able to decide the most appropriate treatment.  Using clinical case illustrations this talk will review the initial approach to the respiratory case and the decision making process for some of the more commonly encountered conditions.

Elective abdominal surgery – it’s not always an acute abdomen!  The term “abdominal surgery” covers an enormous range of procedures, from the very straightforward to the more complex, and from the emergency case to the elective one.  Although conditions such as GDV and acute abdominal emergencies are regularly covered in CPD courses and talks, some of the elective abdominal procedures are every bit as challenging, complex and interesting!   This talk will focus on portosystemic shunts and abdominal endocrine surgery, two areas that place emphasis on the importance of assessing your case properly before surgery, performing operative procedures correctly, and then ensuring that you provide the necessary aftercare. 

What is new in veterinary poisoning in the UK – changes over the last decade?   Poisoning cases in animals, although relatively uncommon, can present veterinarians with complex challenges and require speedy, accurate diagnosis and intervention. Over the past decade the scope of enquiries made to the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS) has altered considerably. Enquiries common in the early 1990s have become rare and enquiries about grapes, chocolate, xylitol, tremorgenic mycotoxins, increase in regularity. There remain some constants (rodenticides, molluscicides, and human medications). Treatment modalities have also changed. New anti-emetics, methods of decontamination, analgesics, anaesthetics and anticonvulsants have been developed. These changing patterns will be examined and reviewed and current best practice outlined.

Advances and controversies in the management of veterinary toxicology cases - Veterinary toxicology cases represent some of the most challenging yet rewarding cases seen in general and emergency practice. Advances in veterinary care now allow successful treatment of patients that previously may have succumbed, particularly those with severe neurological or haematological signs. Use of constant rate infusions of sedative/anaesthetic drugs and transfusion therapy can help to ensure survival in appropriate patients but their use may also be associated with risks and complications. New decontamination strategies have also been suggested although have yet to gain widespread use. During this lecture we will review the principle advances in treatments used with poisoned patients and look to the future with discussion of new and upcoming strategies.

Preventative healthcare in senior cats - designing a wellness program to suit your clinic  - Many clients have a strong bond with their cat and wish to provide optimal care as their pet ages. Preventative health care programs should address routine wellness examinations, risk-assessed vaccine needs, routine parasite prevention, nutrition and behavioural issues. In addition, older cats should be screened regularly for the early detection of common diseases such as diabetes, hyperthyroidism, chronic kidney disease, hypertension and arthritis. This seminar will look at ways to encourage your clients to engage in preventative health care and to tailor the plan to your clients’ needs and expectations, the strength of their bond with their pet and their financial means.

Complex disease management in the older cat - top tips Older cats commonly suffer from more than one chronic condition as they age. Balancing the pain-management needs of an arthritic pet that might have mild chronic kidney disease, detection and treatment of concurrent chronic kidney disease, hypertension and hyperthyroidism, treatment of concurrent pancreatitis, diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease or optimizing nutrition with multiple disease processes are all difficult knots to untangle. Balancing the ability of the client to care for their cat, to understand the complex nature of their pet’s problems and take an active part in planning and rechecks, feeding and pilling can be equally complex. Using case based examples we will explore some options for these tricky cases.

Infection Control: Can we stop the spread of multidrug-resistant bugs?  Multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and more recently S. pseudintermedius (MRSP), but also Pseudomonas species, Escherichia coli and other bacteria can cause major concern for small animal practitioners. This session will focus on early recognition, screening and diagnostics for multidrug resistant bacteria, give practical tips on improving and maintaining practice hygiene to prevent spread and on owner communication when dealing with difficult infections. 

Broken Hearts in dogs – What’s new?  This lecture will focus on the most common canine cardiac diseases; canine dilated cardiomyopathy and chronic degenerative mitral valve disease. Topics covered will include recent developments in our understanding of these two diseases; emerging diagnostic techniques including biomarkers and the most recent treatment options available. Whilst the focus will be on these two diseases recent developments in other canine cardiac diseases will be mentioned.

ECGs made easy:The ECG remains the definitive method for diagnosing dysrhythmias and analysing cardiac conduction.  Applications of the ECG include:

The lecture will return to basics, starting at the P wave and working through some of the things that go amiss with the rhythm and sequence of the P-QRS-T.

Principles of Treating Wounded Horses   Methods by which horses can be treated for a wound include primary closure, delayed primary closure, delayed secondary closure, second intention healing, and grafting. To determine which method is best depends on the condition of the horse, the condition and site of the wound, and the owner’s financial resources. The initial care the horse receives has the most decisive influence on healing. The horse should be examined for factors that prevent healing, such as the presence of a sarcoid, a foreign body, or an osseous sequestrum. Invasion of a synovial structure may cause permanent disability or result in death.

Standing MRI – what has been learnt in the last 5 years?  Over the last decade magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become established as a useful diagnostic tool in the evaluation of horses with lameness. The fine anatomical detail evident on MR scans has provided us with a much better understanding, and ability to diagnose, many pathological conditions of the distal limb. In this lecture I will discuss how MRI has helped clinicians develop a better understanding of the causes of foot pain as well as show how MRI  can be useful in diagnosing problems of the fetlock region and in determining the pathology in horses with pain arising in the proximal palmar metacarpal and plantar metatarsal region.

Regenerative medicine for equine orthopaedic disease   Tendon and cartilage heal with a fibrous scar that has inferior biochemical and biomechanical properties to the normal tissue. Biologic therapies have evolved to enhance the regeneration of tissue and thus improve the quality of repair tissue. A number of biologic therapies are already in use and commercially available to the equine veterinarian including stem cells, autologous conditioned serum and platelet rich plasma. This presentation aims to provide information on my opinions and thoughts for the management of lameness in horses from both a scientific and practical point of view.

The investigation of recurrent colic can be a frustrating and often unrewarding exercise due to the extensive array of potential causes, the limitations of routine diagnostic modalities and the oftentimes sporadic nature of the colic episodes, the severity and frequency of which largely govern the extent of the diagnostic investigation. This presentation will cover some of the more common causes of recurrent colic, discuss some of the risk factors associated with recurrent colic and consider some of the most appropriate diagnostic approaches in such cases.

Surgery of the Tubular Portion of the Female Reproductive Tract  Reproductive abnormalities of the mare commonly corrected by reconstructive surgery include pneumovagina caused by a cranially sunken anus and cranial tipping of the vulva, urovagina caused by cranioventral deviation of the vagina, perineal injuries, which occur during foaling as a result of fetal malposture and are characterized by tearing of tissue separating the vestibule from the rectum, and cervical lacerations, which arise during normal parturition or during dystocia when the cervix is insufficiently dilated. An uncommonly performed surgery to restore fertility to mares is laparoscopic elevation of a ventrally deviated uterus to re-establish normal uterine clearance.

Johne's Diesease in Dairy Cattle.  There is an increasing awareness and concern within the dairy farming community of this disease. Some retailers now require that farms ascertain their status to Johnes. The presentation will address both the methods of raising awareness and investigating the presence of Johnes disease in dairy herds and the control strategies and farmer compliance with these strategies where disease is identified.

Johne's Disease in the Beef Herd, a Practitioners perspective  The experiences of controlling Paratuberculosis in beef suckler herds. The use of test and cull programmes and their successes and limitations when applied to a variety of farming systems. Some figures regarding the amount of testing we have done and the impact it has made on example farms. The importance of on farm hygiene measures, environment and biosecurity in the control of the disease. A brief look at how we can use the information we glean from herds to minimise the economic impact on infected farms and improve animal welfare.

Johne’s disease in sheep is endemic in many parts of the world including the UK and is under reported. Typically, the disease presents as chronic weight loss sometimes accompanied by oedema in animals of 2-5 years of age. Two forms of the disease are recognised in sheep: paucibacillary and multibacillary, which correlate with different host immune responses. Control of Johne’s disease is particularly problematic in sheep and compounded by the lack of diagnostic tests with high sensitivity and specificity and the low value of the animals. The risk factors and options for control will be discussed.

Johne’s Disease – Is wildlife an issue?   The known host range for paratuberculosis has been extended to include non-ruminant wildlife and the rabbit is arguably the greatest risk to livestock.  Infection prevalence in rabbits is up to 70% on any one farm. Infected rabbit faecal pellets contain an average of 7.6x105 cfu of bacteria and livestock do not avoid rabbit faeces resulting in the ingestion of hundreds of infected pellets per hectare grazed.  Modelling studies suggest that rabbit to rabbit routes of vertical and horizontal transmission are sufficient for persistence of infection in rabbit populations. Infected rabbit populations may hamper disease control strategies targeted solely at livestock. 

Coccidiosis is a disease that has been about for some time and doesn’t get the attention that some “emerging” diseases do, yet it is a constant source of lost production and cost to producers and its control can present a real challenge to practitioners. This session will cover clinically relevant aspects of biology of the organism and its interaction with the host, epidemiology, treatment and control of the disease.

Motivating Farm Clients to Implement Change – “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” (Charles Darwin said that.) 

So as vets we want to help our farmers change: we want them to improve the environment for and the management of their stock, so they lead healthier, happier and more productive lives. We believe we have some knowledge or expertise to help them to do this.

 “Having the knowledge without the ability to communicate it is like having a computer without the screen: useless”. (I said that.)

This presentation is about the changes we must make to communicate more effectively (and survive!).