9.30 Welcome

Loni Loftus BSc (Hons) MSc PGAed CCAB – Events Subcommittee Chair, FAB Clinicians

Many Thanks to our conference and topic Sponsors

9.45 Dermatology – Emotional considerations when dealing with a dermatology case

Dr Sarah Heath BVSc PgCertVE DipECAWBM(BM) CCAB FRCVS

Dermatology is a veterinary discipline which highlights the link between emotional and physical health. This presentation will illustrate the importance of considering emotional health when investigating and treating dermatology patients. The links between emotional state and dermatological disease within the context of diagnosing and managing these conditions will be discussed. In addition, the importance of understanding the patient’s emotional motivations when performing clinical examinations and applying topical treatments will also be considered.

10.00 – FLUTD and the role of stress in bladder & urethral disease

Danielle Gunn -Moore BSc(Hon), BVM&S, PhD, MANZCVS, FHEA, FRSB, FRCVS, RCVS Specialist in Feline Medicine, Professor of Feline Medicine

This talk will discuss the prevalence & causes of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (FIC; aka Stress Cystitis) is the most common cause of feline obstructive and non-obstructive urinary distress. The current understanding of the pathophysiology of this ‘anxiopathy’ will be considered in detail.  The talk will then focus on the ways that it can be managed, including the evidence base for different therapies (the resolution of urinary obstruction will not be included). The talk will discuss the role that environmental, nutritional, medical, behavioural and surgical interventions may, or may not, play in managing this frustrating condition.

12.15 Lunch And Breakout Rooms

13.00 Gastric Ulcers and Grumpy Horses, Which is the Chicken and Which is the Egg

Dr Gemma Pearson BVMS Cert AVP (EM) MScR CCAB PhD MRCVS

Gastric ulcers are commonly blamed for behavioural problems in the horse. But are they the cause or just another clinical sign? This talk will explore the difference in anatomy between the equine stomach and that of other species and explain how this is significant to pathology of gastric ulcers in this species. It will then look at underlying causes, diagnostics and treatment from both a medical and behavioural perspective

14.15 Pain and muscular-skeletal system, more than a biological approach

Louise Clark BVMS, Cert VA, Dipl. ECVAA, MSc, FRCVS

The motivational – affective component of chronic pain often presents with patients demonstrating substantial behavioural change. Why can this happen? How do we recognise it and what can we do to manage it?

15.30 Coffee Break

15.45 In the brain or in the mind?

Exploring the links between neurological disease and behaviour in companion animals

Dr Rowena Packer BSc (Hons) PhD PGCert(VetEd) FHEA

As the most common, chronic neurological disorder in the dog, idiopathic epilepsy is a familiar and challenging disorder for neurology specialists and general veterinary practitioners alike. Although recurrent seizure activity may be the hallmark of epilepsy, it is well recognized in human medicine that epilepsy is rarely just a seizure disorder, with patients commonly presenting with, or going on to develop a complex network of psychiatric co-morbidities in addition to their seizures, including affective (‘mood’) disorders (e.g. depression and anxiety), neuro-developmental disorders (e.g. attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; ADHD), and impairments in cognition (e.g. memory deficits). This talk will explore the growing evidence of the links between epilepsy and behaviour and cognition in dogs. Furthermore, it will consider emerging evidence of how managing behaviour and improving emotional state could benefit epilepsy management.

17.00 Conference Close

FAB Clinicians AGM