BSAVA Liverpool Student Conference 2018

This weekend I travelled up to the Uni of Liverpool Leahurst Campus with two friends to attend the BSAVA Liverpool Student Conference 2019. It is the second year the conference has ran and as we have a break before our next block, we decided to go and it was great value at £60 for the two days plus a dinner on Saturday night.
We stayed with vet students I've spoken to online for a couple of years but never actually met, so was great to meet them too!

Saturday morning kicked off with a couple of lectures and then an Endoscopy workshop. I've done a bit before at the Endoscopy Weekend and scoping birds with rigid endoscopes but it was great to practice.
We had to retrieve foreign bodies from a 'stomach' and as they say, teamwork makes the dream work and we got the best time!

Next up we had a lecture on fluids with Jacqui Seymour from VetsNow which I wasn't particularly looking forward to but turned out to be really useful! I think in practice we often put animals on fluids without thinking too much about what, how much and why so it was really interesting to think about it and practice evidence based medicine!

The second practical session I went to was Rabbit Neutering with Frances Harcourt-Brown, an RCVS Specialist in Rabbit Medicine and Surgery, and her husband who both have a wicked sense of humour!
Frances spoke about surgical techniques and spaying, particularly about where to place the cervical ligatures and her evidence base for it ...which is different to what I've seen in practice.


Saturday night we had a formal dinner which meant several bottles of wine and we don't remember much but we all had a good time and sore heads the next morning!


I think my favourite session was the Communication Skills workshop with Penny Barker from VDS Training. I often see posts about VDS and know vaguely what they do but never really paid attention to them, Penny was really engaging and interactive especially considering it was last thing on Sunday afternoon.

She spoke about DISC profiling and we worked out which profile(s) we best fitted into and how we react to conflict.

I definitely think I'm a High I, while apparently most of the veterinary profession are C and S.
I sat there thinking about various friends and colleagues and which profiles they fit into and then related it to clients and how to interact with them.

Overall we had a great weekend so thank you to all involved organising the weekend, the speakers and Becca for hosting us!

Veterinary Endoscopy Weekend

This weekend we were lucky enough to be visited by this years BSAVA President Philip Lhermette come out to Kosice to speak about minimally invasive (keyhole) surgery and endoscopy.

Philip has practiced endoscopy since 1995 so perfected lots of techniques for diagnostics and surgery and lectures at Nottingham Vet School as well as all over the world!

Burtons Veterinary Equipment drove over from the UK with the latest fixed and rigid endoscopes for us to try out with some awesome gastrointestinal models which have pathology we had to find and foreign bodies to remove.


There was also a station with rigid endoscopes for laparoscopy training with different tasks to complete like stacking sugar cubes, peeling oranges, removing stones from a kidney (red pepper) and balloons filled with water to simulate hydropericardium.

Céline the wonder pup came along for the practical sessions and loved laparoscopy...

The lectures were great and loads of us are now itching to find practices who do laparoscopic surgeries to do EMS at and learn more about the procedures. I'm sure that during my career we'll see more and more laparoscopic surgery with the medical advantages (less hemorrhage and pain, faster recovery) and clients requesting it.
I've said it time and time again but the technology available to vets for surgery is amazing - I loved the EndoGrab for fixing ovaries to the abdominal wall before zapping off the ovarian ligament, artery and vein with a LigaSure tissue and vessel sealer.

Many thanks to Philip Lhermette and Burton's for giving up your weekends and coming out to speak to us - a great time was had by all!

BSAVA Manual of Avian Practice A Foundation Manual

I’m clucking eggcited to have finally got my hands on the new BSAVA Manual of Avian Practice

🐔🐧🦆🦅🦉🐓🦃

I've been waiting a while for this book which was written by John Chitty who came over to speak at our Exotics and Wildlife Weekend last year and finally got my hands on a copy at BSAVA Congress.

Pictured with my Burchell's Zebra skull 'cos why not aha

BSAVA Congress 2018

April is finally here which means one thing, BSAVA Congress!

The way Easter fell this year worked out really well as I could come home for Easter, see practice and then stay home for Congress which is held in Birmingham.

There were about 15 students from UVM Košice who flew over and I had four friends staying at my house as my parents booked a holiday so we had a free house.

Congress is awesome as there are about 500 sessions (lectures and practicals) spread over 59 streams arranged by subject so truly something for everyone. The ones we found particularly interesting and useful were the Student Stream which covered the transition from classroom to clinic, giving advice on client communication, your first bitch spay and case discussions. It meant we could also socialise with other vet students, not that people did much of that, but I caught up with friends from my undergrad degree and others who I've done EMS with which was nice.

There was a big focus on Brachycephalic breeds (Pugs, Boxers, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels) and their associated problems this year; from illegally imported puppies from Europe and Ireland to ocular problems which was really interesting. Vets are working really hard with the media to stop using poor examples in advertising, focussing on healthy dogs and breeding towards individuals with longer noses and faces which can breathe. #BreedToBreathe

It sounds silly but as we study abroad our lecturers are amazing at what they do and their English is great but when you listen to native speakers they crack jokes and keep your focus so much better. My favourite speaker this year was Yolanda Martinez Pereira a Spanish vet working in Edinburgh who has the most awesome accent and had the whole room laughing.

We also attended PetSavers practical workshops on suture practice, placing of surgical wounds and nasogastric tubes.

There is a social event at the end of each day where we caught up with many Košice graduates and definitely had our fair share of the 15,000 complementary drinks served over the weekend! The best one is Thursday evening as we're International delegates we're invited to the Sea Life Centre for drinks and canapes.

Congress is awesome value for money at £94 for students which includes entry to the exhibition, all lecture streams and lunch each day. It is a great chance to speak to recruiters and graduate schemes to learn about career prospects, both in the UK and further afield. We spoke to several companies and hope to bring some out to Košice for talks and workshops which will help raise the international profile of our university.

We were a bit disappointed with the freebies in the exhibition compared to last year, mainly just got pens, but we got some great water bottles and reusable coffee cups. There was a big push to reduce plastic and we didn't take as many leaflets etc which we'll never read - all the drinks served in the exhibition were compostable 'plastic'!

It's surprising how many people you notice walking around, be it from local practices or social media - it's a bizarre concept introducing yourself to people you've spoken to quite a bit on Twitter and Facebook but everyone was really nice. We also saw loads of Kosice graduates who are all loving their jobs so that's a confidence boost.

I popped to see WVS who I went to India with last year and after I hosted a World Spay Day bake sale at vet school raising €222 they surprised me with a certificate...

Overall we had a great week and I can't wait for next year.
Thank you to all the BSAVA staff and volunteers who work hard all year to make Congress what it is.

Exotics and Wildlife Weekend

Another UVM Kosice conference weekend, this time the topic was Exotics and Wildlife with BSAVA President John Chitty and wildlife vet from the Netherlands, Sophie Bosch.

We covered all sorts of topics from initial consultation, stabilising, husbandry, surgery and how to get into wildlife vet work. John also did a session on PDP which is the Professional Development Phase new grad vets must complete and usually takes around 18 months after graduating.

The weekend finished with the Avian afternoon (save the best til last) which was really interesting. I learnt lots at BSAVA Congress and even more this weekend, particularly about parrots which I don't have much experience with.

Listening to John it became clear that the best way into exotics is to get into birds first, reptiles later as birds tend to be emergency cases which really prepares you, then these skills can be transferred to reptiles which you can generally take more time working with.
A true bird emergency is critical to be dealt with in 20 minutes whereas something like a tortoise can be stabilised and operated after a few days or even weeks. That's great for me as I already have a keen interest in birds and could possibly transfer these skills into reptiles.

He also taught us to question 'standard protocols' such as triple anaesthesia being used in every rabbit surgery; we don't treat all cats the same so why exotics? I'll definitely be paying more attention to the drugs used in practice this summer as previously I've just accepted the standard 'rabbit anaesthesia' protocol stated on the wall and not given it too much thought.

John and the BSAVA very kindly donated two BSAVA Manuals which he is Editor of to our Falconry and Raptor Rehabilitation Club; the Manual of Raptors, Pigeons and Passerine Bird and the Manual of Psittacine Birds.

Thanks again to Laura and Chris for organising the weekend and to Sophie and John for coming to speak to us.

BSAVA Congress 2017

I've known about BSAVA Congress for the past few years as it's always been held in my hometown of Birmingham and the vets I see practice with always go as well as vet students friends. I attended for the first time this year and wish I'd been before - it was great!

It's the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress where veterinary professionals from all over the world gather to for lectures, to present research and award ceremonies as well as an exhibition.

There are 16 lecture streams running simultaneously throughout the day covering a huge variety of topics so we sat down and decided which we wanted to go to. Every delegate has a lanyard with their name badge which is scanned as you enter and the lectures are emailed to you at the end of the day; they also count towards CPD points for vets. I think videos of all streams are available to download but I've not had a chance to look yet.

Highlights for me were the Vet Student stream and How to... where we learnt about performing your first bitch spay, euthanasia consults and clinical stuff. Sophie Adamantos is an ECC clinician at Langford and I could have spent a whole day listening to her, the was she explained working in Emergency clinics was so calm, collected and funny. There was a Bloopers stream which was great to learn from other peoples mistakes and I took a lot away from Matt Gurney, even little things to make a habit of checking as you walk into theatre or kennels.
Neurology was something I've not covered at university yet but I went to two lectures by Laurent Garosi which were really interesting and delivered so that I would understand everything, so I'm looking forwards to that next year.
It made such a difference listening to native and fluent English speakers as they go through topics quickly but you can keep up as they explain it so well and crack jokes throughout to keep it interesting and engaging.

I've been wanting a miniVET guide for a few months after seeing people with them in lectures but didn't want to pay postage to Slovakia so luckily I was able to buy one in the exhibition.

As we're International Delegates we were invited to drinks at the SeaLife Centre on Thursday evening for drinks and canapes for a chance to network with people.

Every day at the exhibition they provided lunch as well as hot drinks and Prosecco all day (which I may have taken full advantage of).

Walking around I saw lots of people I know from the various clinics I've seen practice with so had lunch and went to lectures with a few. They all asked me to keep in touch and book weeks with them over summer which was really nice.

I also met Chris and the team from WVS who I'm going to India with this summer so it was nice to put a face to a name. We picked up lots of information about the course, what to expect and what to take (a head torch!) so I'm really looking forward to that now.

We got so many freebies that I don't know what to do with them! A rucksack, thermos flasks, water bottles, fob watches, torches, books, a tourniquet, waterproof catheter covers and countless pens which will be great for seeing practice.

I even spoke to a lady on the KRUUSE stand and she gave me loads of boxes of suture material on Sunday for suture practice!

It only costs £90 to attend as a vet student and the value for money was excellent considering all the lectures we attended, they fed us and all the Prosecco I consumed! I would highly recommend going, I still have two years of vet school left and learnt so much so I'm sure those in final year took even more away.
I've emailed Angharad, Head of Congress, to say what I great time we had as I know from my old job, people are quick to complain but don't say thank you enough. I had a fantastic time and will definitely be attending next year.