I spent a lot of last week at the country’s largest veterinary conference, the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) Conference. There was so much information there that I took over 200 pages of longhand notes, and I’ll be sharing things I learned with you over the months to come.
For now, I wanted to share the highlights of the trip. Due to a no-photography rule during the educational sessions, I have less photos from this event than I had hoped, so please bear with a lot of text!
Just looking over the list of feline educational sessions, I think this must have been The Year of the Kidney. Of course, it isn’t entirely surprising considering how many cats have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Rooms I estimated holding about 700 seats were packed to overflowing with veterinary professionals wanting to know more about what to do with the results of the new SDMA test that detects kidney disease earlier than the familiar tests for a cat’s creatinine levels.
One of the most interesting talks was about treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease by Garry Norsworthy. He started his talk by saying, “It’s a great time to own and treat old cats!” He believes that an abnormal creatinine level should be redefined downward, and he explained that since chronic kidney disease is a progressive disease, it is happening far earlier than we realize in our cats. By age 3, 30% of cats are in what the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) considers stage 2 kidney disease. By age 6, that number rises to 40% of cats! With new information like this available, don’t be surprised if we see a “midlife screening” recommended for cats soon. Dr. Norsworthy also talked about how commercial kidney diets are cutting back too much protein that senior cats need, and how phosphorous binders can help alleviate concerns about feeding a higher protein diet. He has a scientific paper being published soon, and I can’t wait to read more details!
It’s also striking to see that not all of the lectures agree on things, even in the same conference, especially when it comes to nutrition. I heard three different outlooks on nutrition for cats with chronic kidney disease from veterinarians with active cat practices, veterinarians working for the pet food industry, and holistic veterinarians. It just goes to show that despite all of them looking at the science and evidence, it’s still possible to come to different conclusions.
The American Association of Feline Practitioners sponsored a full day of sessions at the conference. They were mostly about behavioral issues, but there was an interesting talk that used a complicated case study to illustrate how veterinarians partner with behaviorist to figure out whether a cat’s issue is medical or behavioral. One of the things I took away from the case study in that session was how many times during the cat’s illness the client said no to consulting a behaviorist, which set back the process of finding help for their cat.
I was super-excited to finally hear Dr. Tony Buffington speak. He did a tremendous amount of research about cats and lower urinary tract issues, and he was responsible for naming the idiopathic form of those related issues Pandora syndrome. The research that his lab did about the impact of stress on cats is groundbreaking, and during the two hours I heard him lecture, a light bulb must have come on over my head a dozen times, especially when he talked about how early life experiences shape stress responses in later life. In the break between lecture hours, the vet sitting next to me said, “This is the one thing I dread having to tell clients about the most. They always get defensive or angry. The first time I had to tell a client, I was in vet school. She yelled at me for an hour that she wasn’t stressing out her cat!”
Overall, the most important message I took away from the conference is that the veterinary community really wants to partner with clients to help their pets, but they can’t always figure out how to establish that partnership in a meaningful way. I overheard so many vets who were checking on difficult cases back at home from the conference, promising to try to find experts to help the pets in their care. But I also overheard other vets making it clear that they don’t trust that we, the clients, can get the medicines they prescribe into our cats at home to help make them better. I would be frustrated in that situation, so I can only imagine how they must feel. We have to find a way to be better partners with our veterinarians for the health of our cats, and that’s something I want to explore more closely.
Like many conventions, NAVC has an expo. It is so big that it is split across two different hotels conference centers. I wasn’t too excited about the expo, since last year it was all veterinary products I couldn’t relate to very much. ICU cages and cremation systems are important, but they aren’t something I have an educated opinion about.
This year, I noticed a lot more consumer products at the expo. It was great to see Dr. Elsey’s and Sleepypod there talking to vets because until now, it seemed like vets were learning about these products from their clients. (My vet was perplexed about how to open a Sleepypod the first time I brought a cat in for a visit in one!) It will be interesting to see whether this kind of change translates into a change of direction for veterinary product recommendations and products they sell from their practices.
I wanted to close with some general observations. First: the event is huge. This sign, posted near the doors, shows how big.
I met vets from as far away as Europe attending, and there were quite a few in military uniforms. (Did you know the military had vets? I didn’t!) The group attending seemed to be over 50% female. I realize they aren’t necessarily representative of all veterinarians everywhere, but seeing that representation of women in a profession that was 98% male in 1960 and has evolved to be majority female was really neat!
The other thing I saw was that vets want to know more about cats. I know there are times that I worry that vets and veterinary research are focused just on dogs, since dogs make the majority of the vet visits. Seeing 500+ seat rooms overflowing with people who wanted to hear information about at health was really encouraging. Now it’s our job as the ultimate decisionmakers about our cats’ health to be sure that our cats can take advantage of these advances in knowledge.
Summer says
Wow, that sounds like a REALLY amazing conference! And I’m so glad that so many vets and their staff want to learn more about cat health, and especially CKD, which so many kitties suffer from. I’m looking forward to reading more about what you learned there.
Madi says
Oh my word what a wonderful and informative conference!!
Being a senior Diva I love that they are paying more attention to us and what works best.
WE look forward to reading more. OMCs 200 pages of notes I hope you take some form of shorthand. I bet your paw was sore
Hugs madi and mom
The Menagerie Mom says
This is a great post. It sounds like the conference was very informative. I used to work as a veterinary assistant at a cat clinic, and I loved hearing that you learned more about kidney disease. I can’t wait to hear more about what you learned! Purrs, and thank you for sharing all of this with us!
Fur Everywhere says
Something I *love* about our new vet is that she makes follow-up calls. She returns calls to answer questions and to check on Carmine. She immediately connected with his Internal Medicine Specialist to figure out how best to help him, too. Our old vet *never* made follow-up calls unless it was to give me the results of bloodwork.
I think partnerships definitely go both ways – I’m glad to hear that there are so many vets out there who want to have better partnerships with their clients. It’s important for vets and clients to work together for the health of the precious kitties.
I cannot wait to hear more about the urinary tract and kidney disease sessions. There’s a lot of debate over kidney food. Jewel refused to eat it, so I fed her what she would actually eat. The phosphorus binder helped keep her phosphorus from rising, and she was much happier getting to eat what she wanted than me trying to get her to eat food she hated.
Random Felines says
we consider ourselves very lucky in that our vets have an interest in traditional and non-traditional medicine. what an interesting conference though and too hear about that new test and feeding structures.
BTW – what the heck is the purple and white thing Dr Wexler is holding? a new kind of cone??
Sometimes Cats Herd You says
I didn’t talk to him about it, but yes, it’s some kind of a cone. He has several come-related patents, and some of the samples on the table seemed to have ports for inserting something (nebulizers, maybe?). I doubt the will have them at Global Pet Expo, but I’ll try to remember to ask for more details about them when I see him there.
Melissa & Mudpie says
“By age 3, 30% of cats are in what the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) considers stage 2 kidney disease.” That is absolutely petrifying!!! I can’t wait to hear more about the conference and am just thrilled to see that there is so much interest in keeping our kitties healthy and happy!
Chey, Gemini and Ichiro says
Wow! What a huge conference! And this is the sort of thing that makes the woman want to go to the Ahvma conference as press (it’s in Columbus). Naturally she shall not be allowed to go…
William says
It sounds like you got a lot of helpful information. We can’t wait to read more!
The Island Cats says
This sounds like a great conference and I’m glad you were able to go and are sharing your experience with all of us. I’m happy to hear that there is such an emphasis on cats and kidney disease, since this seems to be a condition that affects so many cats. I can’t wait to hear more about the conference. ~Island Cat Mom
caren gittleman says
This was a super informative post and I look forward to learning/reading more from you! I think as far as Vets and Nutrition goes, my Vet always tells me that he is NOT a nutritionist and that when wanting food consultations that pet owners should consult a bona fide pet nutritionist. It is a mistaken assumption (and many Vets like to pass themselves off as Nutrition experts) that Vets are well-versed about Nutrition. My Vet is beyond honest, and has given me the phone number of a Pet Nutritionist in NYC for any of my questions.
Also…thankfully I have a wonderful “partnership” with my Vet but I do observe (even from some of the blogs that I read) instances where I can see that it is the client who often acts as a barrier to a good relationship. The client often does more harm than good and doesn’t behave in way that fosters a “partnership.”
If you haven’t read Dr.Vogelsang’s book “All Dogs Go To Kevin”…you may want to, I think you will enjoy it. She talks about what clients often do that hinders a Vet from being as good as they can be and the partner that they are capable of being. I reviewed it on Dakota’s blog if you didn’t see it.
Wonderful post!
Cats of Wildcat Woods says
Sounds very interesting. I guess we would rather got to a holistic vet conference as we don’t agree with a lot of the regular vets ideas on treatment. Sorry to be late in getting back to you – Mom was sick with vertigo from a sinus issue for days.
da tabbies o trout towne says
guys….thanx two yur mom for puttin two gether thiz post….de food servizz gurl
just yesterday had a friend frum R catster dayz, rite N say her cat Inky had de
SDMA test purrformed on him just thiz week….neither oh de food servizz gurlz
had ever hurd oh it bee for ~~~~ we look for werd ta lurnin mor bout what yur mom lurned ♥♥♥
Maxwell, Faraday & Allie says
YES to the lightbulb with Dr. Buffington! ME TOO! ME TOO! And “commercial kidney diets are cutting back too much protein”? Uh, yeah. And no plant proteins please.
I wonder how much of that 30% in stage 2 are dry kibble cats?
Brian Frum says
That really was some seriously good stuff and we are looking forward to more!
The Swiss Cats says
That sounds like a very interesting conference ! Thank you for sharing the informations with us. Purrs
Timmy Tomcat says
We cant wait to hear what you have found out that may be of benefit to us all.
Thanks for going and getting the info. We appreciate it
Annabelle says
Love your post! Thank you for taking all those copious notes and I look forward to you sharing them with all of us in the coming months.
Ellen Pilch says
Sounds like you learned a lot, I am glad you are going to share the information with readers. The Kidney disease is scary to think it starts so early.
The Florida Furkids says
That had to be a really pawsome event. It’s good to know that VETS are starting to realize they need to learn more about cats!
The Florida Furkids
Connie says
So excited you got to go to this, I so would have loved to have been there but I don’t know if I could have been allowed to stay through the whole thing (Might have been kicked out for not being able to hold my tongue 😉 )
and kudos to Dr. Norsworthy.. I look forward to his paper coming out as well.
Raven says
Excellent summary of the conference. I’ve had cats with CKD and diabetes and the information about managing these diseases is always being reviewed & revised. I’ve been very impressed with the information Dr. Mark Peterson posts. His site is here if you’re not familiar with it( http://www.endocrinevet.info/ )
It would be amusing to see a vet be stumped on how to get a pet out of a new style carrier!
Camille Schake | Good Pet Parent says
How exciting!! The NAVC is such a great conference. Since I don’t work as a Registered Vet Tech any longer, I really miss being able to attend these events. I would totally be geeking out at all the cool stuff at the expo. 🙂 I’m so glad you were able to attend, and look forward to hearing about all the things you learned!
Cathy Keisha says
We can’t believe the figures about cats with early stage kidney diseas. I’m glad vets are looking into diagnosing it.