BSAVA News

Continued from p262 Emerging from a modern

closed-in piazza which contains a coffee bar, wine bar and restau- rant as well as half a dozen secu- rity guards I can see the Convention Centre across the wide expanse of City Square. Next to it is the Hyatt Regency Hotel which looks like one of those buildings in the title sequence of ‘Dallas’.

The convention centre building and the Hyatt dominate the open space before them and the centre is an equally modern and spec- tacular design. The sheer scale of the interior takes your breath away as you enter. There is a massive glass roofed atrium with halls leading off on both sides, escalators to the right leading up to the registration area and walk- ways crossing the void at several levels. The overall effect is one of light and space and although there are a great many people at this congress (some 3400 regis- trants in all) the building never seems unduly crowded.

At last I’ve got out of the rain and I can deposit my coat with a cloakroom attendant who is obvi- ously new to the job. I know this because he tells me solicitously in a Brummy accent to enjoy my day - but at least that’s better than being glared at.

Now, if I can only find my way to the right place, I can sit down and relax and listen to the pearls of wisdom to be cast before me and the other swine. Unfortu- nately, the Birmingham disease has struck here too and the signs are even smaller than outside (fine once you get used to them but difficult for the first 10 min- utes). As usual on the Thursday of Congress there is a breath- taking array of specialist group meetings covering practice management, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, nutrition, cats, pharmacology and therapeutics, teeth, skins, radiology, heart dis- ease and even (appropriate to the weather) a NOAH symposium.

It is a relief to find that I appear to be doing most of the trendy

The Association honours its award winners

Bill Gimber, representing Alfred Cox Sur- gical, congratulates Miss Carol Ann Crisp for winning the Veterinary Nursing Prize 1990 with her client information pock on dental care

John Bower, past BSAVA and BVA Presi- dent, receives the Melton award from John Price of Pedigree Petfoods

The Dunkin award, for the most valuable article published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice, went to Mr Chris Ches- ney for his article on feline demodicosis fvofume 30, Page 689). Ian Muir presented the award On Of its sponsorst Coopers Pitmon-Moore

Recipient, Professor Nejls Pedersen and presenter, Colin Price, admire the Bourge- lat award. The award recognises Professor Pedersen’s work in the field of retrovirus research

Practitioner David Clare (left] receives Taking the strain, Colin Price presents the Frank Beattie navel Scholarship Roger Batt with the Woodrow Award. Pro- Award from John Bower. David is using fessor Batt’s enormous contribution to the the award to study critical care in Ameri- field of canine gastroenterology earned con wractices him the award

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Continued from p263 things in managing my practice and it is with a clear conscience that I can install myself (forgive the pun) in the new concert hall ready for the opening ceremony. This is one of the finest new con- cert halls in the country, built to the highest acoustic standards with special materials throughout so that the only things in it which soak up the sounds are us. Local opinion has it that the builder has done a good job, so I can look forward to some fine music while enjoying the spectacular appear- ance of the hall with its lines of light around the tiers of seating.

Colin Price, President of the BSAVA, steps forward into a beam of light on the rostrum and the proceedings are under way with the Lord Mayor of Birming- ham giving us an amusing speech of welcome with justifiable pride in his city’s new facilities. Appar- ently, Birmingham has been look- ing forward to the conference of the ‘small vets’ with interest. And now we have the English String Orchestra to play Mozart’s Diver- timento in ‘F’ and Schubert’s Symphony No 3 in B flat which they do extremely well. Then Alastair Porter, the retiring (but not shy) Registrar of the Royal College steps up to the rostrum to make a speech to open the Congress. His fluency and wit keep the audience entertained and interested; he is followed by the presentation of the BSAVA Awards, which don’t - except for the gallant winner of the veteri- nary nursing final examinations prize who, when asked by the President whether she would like a hand, having hobbled strenu- ously onto the stage to collect her prize, her leg being encased in plaster, replies that she would rather have a leg, thanks.

The English String Orchestra now come back to give us the ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ by Handel, Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile (the conductor, William Boughton, helpfully pointing out to us that we might recognise the tune) and an English folk song,

‘Molly on the Shore’, arranged by Percy Grainger.

The next part of the proceed- ings is to be the opening of the commercial exhibition and so we are all gathered on the balcony of the exhibition hall. At the appro- priate moment the lights pick out the stands below as the sound system plays the music from ‘Close Encounters’, with mega- bass effects. It is a very whizz- bang modern idea but the effect is rather reminiscent of a herd of elephants tramping about in a lightning storm. It raises a few smiles around the room, how- ever. The commercial exhibition looks as though it is bigger and better than ever.

From what I hear around me it seems that there is not much money about this year but per- haps people just feel that they have to make the appropriate noises in recessionary times as it doesn’t do to be seen to be too flush - or all your friends expect you to buy the drinks!

. . . and the following day . . Friday 5th April

The main congress began on Friday with lectures starting at 08.30, most of which appeared to be well attended. The main lec- ture theatre is enormous and there is no shortage of space, the seats are comfortable and have reasonable leg-room; the audio- visual equipment is superb. The acoustics are almost a bit too good in so far as, although it makes it easy to hear questions from the floor without having to wait while people fight their way to a microphone, it also means that every cough, wheeze and splutter and every latecomer dis- turb the peace. In this lecture theatre a percentage of the seats are equipped with folding desk tops and reading lights so that the more assiduous note-takers are

Afore they quaff a tasty ale at the medieval banquet, Warwick Castle, David and Sheila Wishart [left] and Colin and Valerie Price show off theirfinery

A ni ht with A-gin- (soafed)-Court

WARWICK Castle was the venue for Friday evening’s Congress get together. Some 250 Guests lined up in typically April weather, wearing a splendid variety of medieval clothing to join the President and Valerie in the main hall of Warwick Castle where a recent vintage of champagne was knocked back from some remarkably well engineered 20th century style glasses.

Once the conviviality of the evening was established everyone braved the courtyard to enter the marquee. There they enjoyed an excellent banquet on the theme of a feast taking place on the night that news of the English victory at Agincourt was trotted back from the plains of France: the entertainment was part musical and part spoken.

Readers will be fascinated to know that at the time of Agincouct, the English nobility quaffed copi- ous amounts of rather dubious Ital- ian wine and then behaved abominably in the back of the stage- coach laid on to take them home!

This was a very relaxed evening in great company and well worth repeating at future Birmingham Congresses.

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Continued from p264 well catered for. One other lec- ture theatre was in use with a rather smaller capacity, but not in danger of being overfull at any time, and two lecture rooms were also in use for the main sessions. These were a little less satisfac- tory as the lack of tiered seating made it rather hard to see the slides if you found tall folk sit- ting in front of you - and there seemed to be a lot of those about.

The consensus of opinion seemed to be that the standard of presentation of lectures was almost uniformly excellent, with very few exceptions, and the con- tent was generally a balanced mixture of materials of use to practitioners wanting to update themselves or develop new areas of work and yet with plenty of interest to more specialised people. Only a few lectures appeared to be pitched at rather too low a level and very few indeed appeared to make the mistake of being too esoteric; at least the note-takers were busy scribbling it all down so presum- ably it wasn't over their heads. Serious specialist interests were well catered for by the Master- classes and Specialist sessions.

Speaking of catering, it seemed to be pretty difficult to get a cup of coffee in the exhibition during the breaks between papers and there was generally little avail- able by way of food within the confines of the centre. There are several places to eat nearby how- ever and most people were opt- ing for these at lunchtime, or in some cases being entertained by generous drug companies.

The non-scientific programme included a golf competition, a tour of the Wedgwood factory, a coach tour to the Severn Valley Railway and the West Midlands Safari Park and several other places of interest. In the evening there was a choice between see- ing the President and others in doublet and hose at a medieval banquet in Warwick Castle or a Beer Festival at the Convention Centre.

Speakers at the 'Clinical Nutrition in Practice' BSAVA Waltham Symposium, 1991. From left to right: Professor Roger Batt [RVC, UK), Dr Louie Flippich (University of Queensland, Australia), Professor Carl Osbourne (University of Minnesota, USA), Professor Richard Halliwell (University of Edinburgh). Dr Peter Kendel (Pedigree Petfoods, National Office), Dr Claus Sloth [veterinary surgeon, Denmark), Dr Susan Donoghue [firginia, USA), Dr Ian Burrows (Head of Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition) and Dr James Simpson [University of Edinburgh)

BSAVA President, Colin Price. with BVNA President, Barbara Cooper (right), and three of the Pet Protect sponsored nurses

Best free standing Congress exhibit Howard and llish Hellig suitably dressed belonged to GVet for the '20s evening

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Continued from p265

. . and on Saturday

Frances Barr had put together an excellent programme of papers for Saturday which must have offered all and sundry a more than sufficient choice of subjects. One in particular deserves special mention, by Dr. Rendeno of Syra- cuse and Cornell. He demon- strated that you can hold an audience fully awake late on Sat- urday afternoon and in a dark- ened room while talking about a relatively mundane topic. His flow of jokes, patter and ques- tions to his audience kept even the drowsiest from dropping off and even if some might have thought him a little brash (a lit- tle?) they would have to acknow- ledge his skill in imparting knowledge to an audience.

Meanwhile the families of those attending the conference were off to Alton Towers. Strat- ford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle or Lichfield.

On Saturday night the Presi- dent’s evening took place at the Botanical Gardens; or, for the energetic, there was a video disco at the Convention Centre. While on the subject of the social pro- gramme it may be appropriate to point out the dictum of the social committee chairman that ‘If it isn’t sponsored it isn’t in the pro- gramme’ or in other words, in order to make the price of social activities reasonable we are very dependent on the generosity of the drug companies, who also sponsor much of the scientific programme and many other activ- ities of course.

With more excellent lectures to attend and the AGM of the Asso- ciation (which will be fully reported in due course). Then suddenly, the BSAVA Congress is all over for another year.

Birmingham looks as though it will provide a good home for the Association’s congress for many years to come.

AGM A new era for BSAVA AN ‘action packed year’ was how Colin Price, the outgoing BSAVA President described his year. The BSAVA, he said, was now under- taking a three year plan which aims to improve the secretarial help and increase the equipment and facilities available. Stage one had already been completed with the purchase of Kingsley House.

While the BSAVA was primar- ily a scientific association it needed to be able to give opin- ions on contemporary issues. In order to cope with these demands an unofficial political committee had formed. This will be ready to spring into action if it is approved at Council.

The most spectacular change of the year was the new venue for BSAVA Congress. The Congress chairman should be applauded for launching the BSAVA into this exciting new era, he said.

LYNNE Hill, Treasurer of the Asso- ciation, was pleased to be able to announce that the purchase and renovation of Kingsley House had remained within budget. Subscrip- tion income had increased by €23,000 since last year. The mem-

bership subscription for the forth- coming year would increase by €6.

New Officers THE incoming President, Mr Michael Herrtage, said that he had no single theme for his year of office, but several goals. The BSAVA would undergo a period of consolidation to strengthen the infrastructure by improving efficiency and expanding as required, he said. He also aimed to improve communication to the regions and to take a greater role in the European harmonisation and to develop and improve its publications, ‘especially the Jour- nal of Small Animal Practice,

The officers for 1991-92 are as follows:

President, M. E. Herrtage Senior Vice-president, C. Price President elect, N. Gorman Junior Vice-President, R. L. Butcher Hon Treasurer, L. V. Hill Hon Secretary, H. S. Orr

A full report of the meeting will be published in a future issue.

Outgoing BSAVA president, Colin Price, hands over his choin of office to Michael Herrtage

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Honorary Associate Membership

Mr Alastair Porter receives his Honorary Membership of the Association from Colin Price, in recognition for his outstanding services to the profession

MR Alastair Porter, former Registrar of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, was made an Honorary Member of the Asso- ciation for his outstanding ser- vices to the profession. Professor Neil Gorman, incoming president elect, said that he had been a guiding influence to the profes- sion and likened him to Sir Humphrey’in ‘Yes, Minister’ . . or rather ‘Yes, President’.

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Congress facts and figures

BSAVA is now the largest publisher of small animal vet- erinary texts in the UK

m BSAVA Congress is the largest of its kind in Europe

W Membership of the BSAVA is now 3731

The total number of regis- trations at Congress 1990 was 3474: BSAVA member 1165 Non members 366 Office managers 130 Nurses 611 Family and guests 382 Exhibitors 820

E17,ooo worth of BSAVA publications were sold at this year’s Congress

BVA AWF Pain in practice roadshow THE third BVA Animal Welfare Foundation Pain in Practice Road- show was held at the University of Glasgow Veterinary School recently.

The purpose of the Roadshow was to up-date practising veter- inarians, veterinary nurses and auxiliaries in new practical clin- ical techniques for analgesia and the relief of pain.

The programme is designed to cater for veterinarians and veter- inary nurses. During the morning

FOR four years the UK charity, Dogs for the Disabled, has been training and placing dogs with people with all sorts of disability, except the blind and the deaf for whom other charities exist.

The charity was founded by the late Frances Hay, who, after losing a leg to cancer, discovered that her Belgian shepherd dog helped her keep mobile and retrieved articles she had dropped.

The purpose of the charity is to give disabled people not only inde- pendence but a companion too. So far over 22 dogs have been placed and there are many. more in train-

there were. short papers on the recognition of pain and distress in horses; farm species: and dogs and cats and exotic species. There was also detailed consideration of the perception of pain and the drugs available for its control. In the afternoon there were two ses- sions - a clinical forum on analge- sia for veterinarians and a teach-in on perioperative care for veterinary nurses and auxiliaries.

BVA Animal Welfare Founda- tion is pleased to acknowledge the generosity of Schering-Plough Animal Health in sponsoring the Roadshow.

Dogs for the disabled

Scottish neutering campaign success THE Scottish Society for the Pre- vention of Cruelty to Animals has agreed to contribute a further f30,OOO towards the second year of a reduced cost spayingheuter- ing campaign - a joint initiative organised by the SSCPA and the Scottish Branch of the BSAVA. The aim of the campaign is to encourage responsible pet owner- ship and to control the growing domestic animal population.

The first year has proved highly suc6essful- figures for the year show that 1544 dogs and 1527 cats were spayed or neutered as part of the campaign.

The scheme makes it possible

ing and being puppy-walked. Frances Hay died on December

22, 1990 at the early age of 41 after a long struggle with cancer.

Dogs for the Disabled continues the work begun by its founder and is based at the Guide Dogs for the Blind headquarters in Leamington Spa.

(Dogs for the Disabled is sup- ported by Hill’s Science Diets.)

For further information please write to: Dogs for the Disabled, Edmondscote Manor, Warwick New Road, Leamington Spa, War- wickshire CU32 6AH. Telephone: 0296 889102.

for dog and cat owners receiving state welfare benefits to apply to have their pets spayed or neutered at a much reduced cost. Last year, 64 veterinary practices participated.

During the second year of the scheme, the SSPCA and partici- pating veterinary practices have each agreed to contribute the fol- lowing amounts towqds the cost of each operation performed:

Dog castration €11.00 Bitch spaying €15.00

Cat spaying f 6.00 Cat castration €4.00 The pet owner is required to

pay the balance. (see p268)

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Directory of Veterinary Practices A NEW publication from the Royal College of Veterinary Sur- geons gives details of more than 2000 practices, 700 branches and 5000 veterinary surgeons listed geographically and alphabeti- cally. For ease of reference to the 330 page Directory of Veterinary Practices the three sections are on different coloured paper and are separated by card dividers.

The geographical section identi- fies veterinary hospitals and approved centres for the training of veterinary nurses, the species of animals usually treated, prac- tices undertaking embryo trans- plant, food hygiene and pathology work, non-clinical and secondary- referral-only practices, the status of the members in the practice - principle, partner or associate, and the year of registration of the

members in the practice. The Royal College says that the

Directory will be of great help to members of the public when searching for a veterinary practice anywhere in the UK to the pro- fession, for whom it will provide more details of practices and col- leagues than have been available so far; and to other professions and the pharmaceutical houses.

The Directory will be pub- lished annually. The price of this first edition is €25.00, but for members of the RCVS the conces- sionary price is f16.00. Each of the practices listed will receive a complimentary copy.

Prepaid orders should be sent to The Directory of Veterinary Practices, Royal College of Veteri- nary Surgeons, 32 Belgrave Square, London SWlX 8QP.

Pups from puppy farms prove problem pets THERE is new evidence to show that veterinary surgeons have been right to advise clients not to get puppies from puppy farms, ani- mal psychologist Dr Roger Mug- ford told the BSAVA Congress. For these deprived puppies are the most likely to present separation problems when they mature.

Dr Mugford and his veterinary colleagues at the Animal Behaviour Centre, Chertsey, Sur- rey, have been analysing the problem of over-attachment in dogs. Misdirected or mistimed affection is the root cause of many behavioural problems in dogs, not owners failing to be bossy and firm with their pet according to Dr Mugford. He says that the breed, and where the ani- mal was obtained, are major fac- tors influencing such behaviour.

‘Over-attached dogs are dis- tressed when left alone, they look depressed, they pace, have ele- vated heart rates and stress

indicators, may lose toilet con- trol, whine, howl and bark and in severe cases, destroy the house.’

‘Dogs rehomed or rescued are also more likely to become pan- icky when left alone (21 per cent), mostly because of traumas experienced during the rehoming process.’

Where a puppy is purchased could greatly affects its likelihood of presenting such a separation problem. Worst of all were pup- pies from puppy farms; 55 per cent of the dogs from such suppliers seen at the Animal Behaviour Cen- tre were over-attached. This new behavioural evidence showed that the high stress levels of bitches in crowded and impoverished condi- tions permanently affected the emotional development of their offspring. ‘Lack of sustained and varied loving care by operators of puppy farms further contributes to their impaired development,’ said Dr Mugford.

Zoo conference I THE American Association of Zoo Veterinarians’ 1991 Annual Conference will be held at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, Albert, Canada on September 28-October 31.

For general conference or association information contact, Wilbur Amand, VMD, Execu- tive Director, AAZV, Philadel- phia Zoo, 34th Street and Girard Avenue, ’ Philadelphia, PA 19104, (215) 387-9094; Fax (215) 387-8733.

TALKX3A8 Discount neutering initiative

SIR, I UNDERSTAND that you have recently intimated (JSAP, 32 pl60) that the joint spayheuter- ing scheme currently being oper- ated by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to AnimalsIBSAVA is based on a sharing of the costs one third, one third, one third.

As from July 1990 the scheme has operated on a fixed contribu- tion being made by the SSPCA with the veterinary practices participating reducing their fees by the same amount and the owners of the animals paying the balance of the appropriate fee.

I am pleased to be able‘ to advise you that 72 practices participated in 1990 and 1757 dogs and 1566 cats were spayed /neutered with the SSPCA and the Scottish BSAVA’s partici- pating members contributing €40,984 each to the campaign.

Ronald G. Mochrie Deputy Chief Executive SSPCA 19 Melville Street Edinburgh EH3 7PL (see p267)

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