AAFP
Updated declawing position statement and educational resources
The AAFP has revised its previous (2015) position statement on declawing to strongly oppose declawing (onychectomy) as an elective procedure. Scratching is a normal feline behavior. It is the obligation of veterinarians to provide cat owners with education on normal scratching behaviors and options for cats to exhibit appropriate scratching behavior in the home. The AAFP’s position stresses the need for veterinary teams to educate cat caregivers, as many are unaware that declawing is a surgical amputation of the third phalanx (or ‘toe bone’).
Toolkit of scratching education resources.
To support the focus on education, the AAFP has produced various informational resources that are available for AAFP members, as well as non-members, to download. These resources will assist veterinary practices in educating cat caregivers about why cats have claws, why cats scratch inanimate objects, best practices for living alongside a cat with claws, ideal scratching surfaces, training cats to scratch appropriately, and troubleshooting inappropriate scratching in the home.
JFMS Open Reports
Collections
Development of JFMS’s online, open access sister title JFMS Open Reports continues and the growing archive of high quality case reports, short case series and short communications is starting to be organised into discipline-based ‘Collections’. Already available are Cardiorespiratory, Infectious Disease, Endocrinology, Soft Tissue Sugery and Oncology Collections.
Case reports are a powerful tool to disseminate information on unusual or complex cases, newly recognised disease associations, innovative treatments or unusual side effects to therapy, and it is hoped that these new Collections will enable readers to get the very most from JFMS Open Reports. To explore the Collections, visit: jfmsopenreports.com/collection-index/jor
iCatCare
Cat Weekend
Over 200 delegates attended the ‘Cat Weekend’, a conference held by International Cat Care (the parent charity of ISFM) in September in Birmingham, UK. The event was a great success, with delegates feeding back that it was a fantastic weekend with brilliant speakers.
Delegates, who included cat owners, breeders, cat café owners and veterinary nurses, enjoyed the opportunity to socialise during the breaks, where there was a commercial exhibition and a very popular charity raffle, as well as a visit from the iCatCare cat!
Day 1 of the weekend included lectures on topics such as managing and supporting cats with arthritis; a breed too far – ethical dilemmas in cat breeding; and how fostering cats can benefit their wellbeing
Day 2, which was held in conjunction with the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, involved a fictional problem behaviour case, presented through the eyes of the people involved in the management of the case. The day was highly interactive, with the novel format providing many opportunities for delegates to get involved in discussions
ISFM
First CFC in Malaysia
Vets for Pets Animal Clinic Solaris Mont Kiara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is the first Cat Friendly Clinic (CFC) in the country and has achieved Bronze level. The number of ISFM’s CFCs continues to grow, with 960 worldwide, made up of 40 Bronze, 517 Silver and 403 Gold level practices in 32 countries. ISFM aims to have accredited over 1000 CFCs by the end of 2017.
2018 calendar
The iCatCare calendar, which for 2018 has the theme of ‘street cats’, is now available to purchase. Each photograph is a winning entry from the annual iCatCare photography competition. Funds raised from the calendar go towards iCatCare’s welfare work. The calendar is on sale in the iCatCare shop at icatcare.org/shop for £7.50 + p&p
New headquarters
iCatCare, ISFM’s parent charity, has expanded substantially over the past few years and, with a team now 22-strong, had outgrown the old school house that the charity grew up in. In July, iCatCare moved just down the road to a converted barn on the outskirts of Tisbury, a small town in the UK’s beautiful Wiltshire countryside
Annual review
iCatCare’s mission is ‘to engage, educate and empower people throughout the world to improve the health and welfare of cats by sharing advice, training and passion’. A summary of the progress and achievements of iCatCare in 2016 is provided in its Annual Review, available online at icatcare.org/about-us/annual-review
ANZCVS
New Feline Fellow
The Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS) feline chapter has had a big year examining in Australia, writes Andrea Harvey, secretary of the feline chapter. Three fellowship candidates have sat the examination, involving two written papers, a practical and an oral examination. The fellowship examination is the highest level of postgraduate examination in feline medicine, with candidates being required to first undertake a recognised training programme and pass credentials, which involves publication of papers and assessment of a case log. Successful candidates are eligible to register as a Specialist in Feline Medicine. We are delighted to welcome a new Feline Fellow, Dr Keshe Chow, who passed all four components of this challenging examination at her first attempt.
Keshe, a 2006 graduate of the University of Melbourne, spent the first few years of her career in small animal practice, both in Melbourne and the UK, before embarking on a rotating internship followed by a residency in Sydney. She subsequently worked in a private feline-only practice in Melbourne, where she also undertook a Masters degree in feline hyperthyroidism. She is now co-director of ‘Melbourne Cat Vets’, together with feline Specialist Dr Carolyn O’Brien.
The ANZCVS feline chapter is delighted that Keshe has agreed to join the feline chapter board and assist with organisation of the feline stream at College Science week in 2018, and the pre-congress feline masterclass day.
Abstracts presented during the 2017 ANZCVS College Science Week appear on page 1175 of this issue.