This course is designed to give you the essential knowledge on how to optimize image quality, how to find abdominal structures such as the pancreas and adrenal gland, and how to approach common challenges faced in clinical practice such as free abdominal fluid, nodular disease and ileus. A case based approach will be used to explore the common diseases associated with these problems and how to diagnose them. Ultrasound is an interactive and extremely useful diagnostic imaging modality in clinical practice.

Lymphoma can arise in almost any tissue in the body. It is the most commonly diagnosed haematopoietic cancer in the dog and cat; in fact the incidence of gastrointestinal and atypical feline lymphoma is increasing. Due to its varied presentation, it still can be a challenge to diagnose confidently. Thankfully, advances in laboratory technology over the past decade have improved our ability to both competently diagnose and individualise a patient’s optimal treatment.

What are the differences between dogs and cats in their nutritional requirements? How can you use this knowledge to better advise owners about how to feed their animals? Over the past 40 years, the widespread feeding of commercial foods to dogs and cats has diminished awareness of the special nutritional characteristics of these domestic animals. Although commercial foods, formulated to meet the known nutrient requirements of dogs and cats have ensured good nutritional health, there are still circumstances where malnutrition of these species can occur. The aims of this course are to emphasise the differences between dogs and cats in their nutritional requirements, to draw attention as to how this knowledge can help veterinarians better advise dog and cat owners about how to feed their animals and to awaken an understanding about how nutritional knowledge can assist in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Immune-mediated disease - When the immune system goes haywire The immune-system is a miraculous system but when it is hypersensitive, it can lead to a number of diseases. The course will review the mechanisms underlying the different hypersensitivity reactions as well common immunosuppressive/immunomodulatory drugs used in veterinary medicine. The course will focus on three of the most common immune mediated diseases which we see in practice, namely immune mediated Haemolytic Anaemia, Polyarthritis and Thrombocytopaenia and aims to help you confidently work up these tricky cases.

As clients are frequently motivated to treat their pets, it is important for clinicians to not only know about the basics of the disease and its diagnosis, but also provide all options for treatment, from simple to multi-modal and cutting-edge, and feel confident administering therapy, if they wish to do so. This course aims to provide a thorough overview of canine and feline lymphoma, from the diagnostic steps, tests that can be offered and what should be done, and how to interpret the pathology results, knowing why this is important for treatment advice.  A further goal is to understand safe chemotherapy administration and appropriate drug choice for the specific presentations to maximise a successful outcome for our patients.  It will cover the recognised standard-of-care therapy, plus the more novel options emerging. The course reviews the significant advances in our understanding of the spectrum of lymphoma that has emerged over the past few years that are relevant for an appropriate approach to each patient.

Guinea pigs are a common and much-loved pet around the world. Although much of the earlier veterinary focus on guinea pigs was as a laboratory animal, their popularity as pets has seen this focus shift towards the provision of veterinary care for a companion pet.

How confident are you with providing veterinary care to your avian patients? Avian consults can be difficult and often present as an emergency because owners do not understand normal bird behaviour nor recognise key symptoms that might indicate an important underlying problem. While avian cases often may seem complex at first glance, this course aims to give you the knowledge and skills to approach them with confidence and give your patients the maximum chance of a successful outcome.