2026 Spring into Feline Medicine

Diarrhea in kittens can be frustrating when nothing seems to help them. In this discussion, we will review the common causes of diarrhea in kittens, including infectious and dietary. We will focus on how dietary intervention can be very helpful and review the effects of fiber. We will work through an example case that can be used as a reference for tough cases in the future.

Long considered unsociable and untrainable, cats are often overlooked for training, yet such interventions can greatly enhance their welfare and challenge long-standing assumptions about what is best for cats. This talk will explore how cats learn, with a focus on the use of preferred rewards to positively reinforce behavior. Training techniques such as shaping and targeting will be discussed, along with their applications for both cat caregivers and animal professionals. The session will conclude with a discussion on how positive reinforcement techniques may improve both the welfare of cats and their relationships with humans.

This lecture will discuss the clinical recognition and diagnosis of common veterinary ophthalmic feline surgical diseases presented to the primary care feline veterinarian in daily practice. Discussion will include eyelid mass excision, eyelid laceration repair, conjunctival mass excision, entropion repair, third eyelid gland prolapse repair, corneal debridement, and enucleation. Pre-operative diagnostic testing and post-operative management in the primary care setting will be discussed, along with guidelines for referrals for specialty care. Surgical conditions requiring intervention by a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist will be discussed for the purposes of recognition, diagnosis, and comprehension. The focus of this lecture will be the proper recognition of primary care appropriate ophthalmic surgical diseases, microsurgical instrumentation, surgical positioning, surgical magnification, ophthalmic suture choice, and primary care ophthalmic surgical capabilities versus limitations.

Feline liver disease commonly presents diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in clinical practice. This session provides a practical, evidence-based approach to feline hepatobiliary disease, integrating updated WSAVA standards and recent literature. Attendees will refine interpretation of biochemical and imaging patterns, apply current best practices for hepatic lipidosis, cholangiohepatitis, and biliary disease, and translate pathology findings into actionable treatment and monitoring plans to support confident, patient-centered decision-making.

A guide to new screening and treatment protocols and how to deliver cardiac news to owners. With one in seven cats suffering from HCM, catching the disease early in the subclinical phase is vital. Now that disease management is changing with the introduction of a subclinical HCM treatment, veterinary professionals need to be aware of the breed prevalence, compounding factors, and screening best practices in order to support their feline clients. Additionally, a review of the new Heart Health Certificate Program will be provided.

This session will discuss the emergency approach to the feline patient with vehicular trauma.  Attendees will review how to recognize and resuscitate a feline patient in shock, and how to evaluate and stabilize a patient with traumatic injuries following vehicular trauma. A major body systems approach and adjunctive use of point-of-care ultrasound will be discussed. 

This lecture will cover a review of feline idiopathic cystitis, including clinical signs and diagnosis, as well as surprising statistics of the frustrating disease. Current treatment options will be discussed with particular focus on environmental changes and stress management in the home. Medical therapy options for both stress and pain control both stress how to formulate a treatment plan for each individual patient. New therapeutics on the horizon, such as low-dose radiation therapy, will be discussed with supporting data from initial studies done at North Carolina State University.

In this presentation, I will tackle the important scientific issue of the language we use, especially with regard to the concept of “feline anxiety” and its practical implications.

 “Anxiety” is an ambiguous term that is often used inconsistently. To understand its nature, we need to track back its emotional origins. When we re-examine the nature of anxiety in relation to frustration as well as fear, then we gain a deeper appreciation not only of the origin of certain problems, but also treatment rationales. As a result, we can understand better why certain interventions may or may not work for a given case and refine our practical solutions on a more rational basis for the benefit of our patients. I will argue that we need to perhaps think of house soiling problems in cats more in terms of frustration than fear.

In this session, we will discuss special examination considerations we have for senior cats. As our companions get older, the eye changes and some of these changes can be normal, but others will raise our concern for a more concerning underlying condition. We will review some examination techniques, but will focus on management for cats with corneal changes from herpesvirus, iris changes in the cat eye, and hypertension screening.

Identifying the cause of pruritus and then managing it can prove frustrating in the cat. In this presentation, we will discuss the systematic approach to correctly diagnosing the cause of itch in your feline patients with a focus on feline atopic skin syndrome. We will also discuss the available treatment options in 2026 with practical examples.