Category Archives: Uncategorized

Join popular speaker and award-winning veterinarian Dr. Doreen Houston on Wednesday, April 16th for the last talk of this QDVA season. Fully sponsored by MediCal/Royal Canin, the event will feature a fast-paced look at what’s new in the vast field of internal medicine. Dr. Houston also has some news from the urolith centre on urinary tract health.

A graduate of OVC, Dr. Houston spent four years in private practice before returning to complete her DVSc. She became a board certified Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) in 1991.

After working in academia at OVC as a staff veterinarian and then as Professor of Internal Medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Houston spent time as director of Scientific Communications/Clinical Trial Research for Medi-Cal Royal Canin Veterinary Diets in Canada. She established Doreen Houston Consulting in September of 2011 after “retiring” to spend time with family. The author of many published papers, several book chapters and a textbook, Dr. Houston has also been the recipient of a number of academic teaching awards. In 2011, she was honored as the OVMA`s Outstanding Veterinarian of the Year.

Thanks to the generosity of MediCal/Royal Canin, this dinner talk will be free to all QDVA members. The cost for non-member DVMs and staff is $60 per person.

Attendance is limited to about 70 people. To be sure all members can be accommodated, we have once again set some registration limits. Each attending veterinarian can bring two lay staff. Please register by 5 p.m., Thursday, April 10th. If we still have room after the deadline, an email will be sent out inviting more staff members to attend.

The QDVA’s Annual General Meeting will follow Dr. Houston’s talk. Your support is needed and appreciated. Please plan to attend.

The talk will be held as usual at the Belleville Club, starting at 6 p.m. sharp.

Registration closed.

Join Dr. Susan Little, DVM, DABVP (Feline Practice) on Wednesday, March 5th for a presentation of feline cases and discussion of Cat Healthy Preventive Healthcare Protocols that can help your practice grow.

According to recent economic studies, 80 per cent of a veterinary clinic’s growth potential is in feline care. The Cat Healthy initiative is led by Dr. Liz O’Brien, with assistance from three other Canadian feline specialists including Dr. Little. The project goal is to improve the quality and delivery of feline care by helping vet clinics provide a comfortable, low-stress experience for cats and their handlers.

Chosen as the 2013 Small Animal Speaker of the Year at the North American Veterinary Conference, Dr. Little is active in many areas of the profession. She is part owner of two feline specialty practices in Ottawa, serves on the boards of the Winn Feline Foundation and the American Association of Feline Practitioners and is a feline medicine consultant with VIN. She is also editor and co-author of the 2012 edition of The Cat – Clinical Medicine and Management.

This dinner meeting will be held as usual at the Belleville Club, but will start with an optional early session from 4 to 5:30 p.m., focusing on Cats, Stress, and Illness. There will be a break from 5:30 to 6 to accommodate those arriving for the evening session, followed by the main talk on Cat Healthy protocols. Dinner, catered by L’Auberge de France, will be served part-way through at 7 p.m.

Registration closed

Lyme Disease in Eastern Ontario will be the focus of the first dinner meeting of the QDVA’s winter 2014 series on Wednesday, February 19th. Co-sponsored by Bayer Animal Health and IDEXX Laboratories, the talk will feature tick experts Lisa Werden and Dr. Scott Stevenson who will provide the latest updates on the status of Lyme disease in our area. The speakers will explore the human risks of Lyme, as well as prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease in dogs.

Dr. Scott Stevenson (DVM ‘13, M.Sc. ‘09, B.M.Sc ‘07) is employed at Thousand Islands Veterinary Services in Gananoque, where Lyme disease and blacklegged ticks were discovered in 2006.  With his mentor, OVC parasitologist Dr. Andrew Peregrine, Scott has explored the epidemiology of veterinary parasitology in both academic and clinical settings.  Working in a mixed animal practice in an area endemic for Lyme, Scott is especially familiar with management of the disease in the clinical setting in eastern Ontario.

Lisa Werden (M.Sc ’12, B.Sc. ’05) completed her graduate research on ticks and Lyme disease in the Thousand Islands.  An employee of Thousand Islands National Park since 2005, Lisa was working in the communications department at the park when ticks and Lyme disease were first discovered in the Thousand Islands.  Her interest in public safety and education led her to pursue a graduate research project on the subject and now motivate her to share information about the biology, identification, and control of ticks and Lyme disease with visitors and residents in the Thousand Islands region and beyond.   In the past two years, she has presented her tick and Lyme disease research to numerous groups, including Toronto Public Health, Ontario Parks, Parks Canada, and local residents’ and field naturalists’ groups in eastern Ontario.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, this meeting is being offered free to QDVA members and their staff. The cost to non-members is $60 per person. Meetings begin at 6 p.m. sharp. Dinner will be catered by L’Auberge de France.

Registration closed.

Internal medicine specialist Dr. Walt Ingwersen, DVM, DVSc., DACVIM, will present an evening focused on canine cardiac disease, with the emphasis on new approaches to diagnosis and case management.

A graduate of OVC where he also completed his DVSc and residency in small animal internal medicine, Dr. Ingwersen is currently Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim/Vetmedica. He also provides consulting services in various fields of pet health including microchipping and insurance.

He is vice president of the World Small Animal Veterinary Medical Association and past president of the OVMA.

An avid outdoorsman, Dr. Ingwersen lives in Dundas, Ontario with his wife and two children. Summer weekends are spent up north waterskiing, wakeboarding and, no doubt, playing fetch with his two yellow labs.

Registration closed.

In a two-part presentation on Wednesday, October 23rd, Dr. Michelle Evason (DVM, DACVIM) will discuss practical methods of managing chronic renal disease and recent advances in how we approach hepatitis.

Internal medicine and nutrition are the focus of Dr. Evason’s private consulting business as well as her research projects at Ohio State University. She is a DVM graduate of WCVM and former faculty member at Tufts.

This dinner meeting will be free to QDVA members and their staff. The cost to non-members is $60 per person. The event will be catered by L’Auberge de France.

Fully Sponsored by Lowe Consulting – a brand new company launching an exciting product on the Canadian market. Join us October 23^rd to find out more.

Registration closed.

 Open to all QDVA & Veterinary Purchasing Members:

A workshop to help improve overall practice health

Veterinary Purchasing’s Business Advisors – Bill Westwood and Senani Ratnayake BSc RVT – are looking forward to sharing their expertise with you. This complimentary evening of presentations will focus on:

• Inventory Management- How to Maximize Your Clinic’s Profitability.
• Are We Valuable? The Need for Perception of Value Within Veterinary Practice.

We strongly encourage you to bring your entire team in order to maximize the benefits. Your team will gain valuable insights which you will be able to tailor to your individual practices’ needs to meet goals and achieve success.

When:       Thursday, October 10th, 2013, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Where:      Travelodge Belleville, 11 Bay Bridge Rd., Belleville, ON, K8P 3P6

Details:     A buffet-style dinner will be provided at 6 p.m. and the presentations will begin at 6:45, with a short break in between.

Please RSVP to stacey.macneil@vpcl.on.ca by Friday, October 4th, and include the names and positions of your clinic team that will be in attendance so that reservations can be finalized. *Please also let us know of any dietary restrictions.

Renowned feline medicine specialist, Dr. Susan Little will tackle three important topics at the first meeting of the QDVA’s Fall/Winter CE season, September 11th:

•   Feline vaccination protocols: it’s a new world
•   Get moving! Managing chronic constipation in cats
•   Update on feline retrovirus infection and oral disease

Chosen as the 2013 Small Animal Speaker of the Year at the North American Veterinary Conference, Dr. Little is active in many areas of the profession. She is part owner of two feline specialty practices in Ottawa, serves on the boards of the Winn Feline Foundation and the American Association of Feline Practitioners and is a feline medicine consultant with VIN. She is also editor and co-author of the 2012 edition of The Cat – Clinical Medicine and Management.

 This meeting will be held as usual at the historic Belleville Club, 210 Pinnacle Street, Belleville (613-962-1239). Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and talks start at 6 p.m. sharp. Dinner will be catered by L’Auberge de France

Costs are as follows:

• Members — free
• Non-DVM staff from clinics with members in attendance — Two free staff registrations per member, additional staff — $20
• Non-member DVMs and staff from clinics without a member in attendance — $60

Space is limited, so sign up early to be sure of a spot.

     Sponsored by:

     IDEXX Laboratories

     and Merial Animal Health

Registration closed.

Convened at the Belleville Club.

Members in attendance:

Dr. Suzanne Lane, Dr. Gilbert Brodeur, Dr. Adrianna Sage, Dr. Koos Toxopeus, Dr. Kristina Bennett, Dr. Bob Green, Dr. Chris Rogers, Dr. Clare Craig, Dr. Pat Stapley Chase, Dr. Naomi Scromeda, Dr. Vince Politi, Dr. Karen Godfree, Dr. Olga Peck and Dr. Fiona Gilchrist.

Outgoing president, Dr. Politi brought the meeting to order.

1/ Treasurer’s report

Treasurer, Dr. Scromeda, made her report, indicating there is approximately $10,800 in the Association account which is “about normal” for the time of year. She clarified that the current meeting charge of $35 per member is not covering fixed costs of $25 per plate for dinner and $12 per person for the room. The costs for providing speakers which are generally thousands of dollars must be covered by sponsors or directly from the QDVA bank account.

Dr. Olga Peck volunteered to audit the financial records as is required by the QDVA constitution.

2/ Report of the Continuing Education Coordinator

Dr. Bennett reminded us that the QDVA no longer offers “clinic” memberships and fees are charged for each individual veterinarian who wishes to join.

The increase in attendance at Association meetings in the past several years has made QDVA events much more popular with industry representatives, said Dr. Bennett. Sponsors are asking to be involved, not waiting to be solicited, she said.

An agreement has been reached with the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians to provide official continuing education credits for members attending QDVA meetings. To co-ordinate the necessary paperwork, a local OAVT member is needed. Although there will be some groundwork to lay, the job should not involve more than 3 to 4 hours a month during CE season, said Dr. Bennett.

3/ Report of the Kingston Liason Representative

Dr. Toxopeus spoke about an offer from the now defunct Kingston District Veterinary Association to transfer the balance of money in its accounts to the QDVA in exchange for certain concessions. The group asked that QDVA extend two-year memberships to the approximately 30 veterinarians that last remained on KDVA rosters. They also requested we consider a later start to meetings to accommodate the longer drive for Kingston members. A suggestion to organize one meeting per session in Kingston was shelved as unmanageable.

Dr. Bennett made a motion to accept the cheque for $4,700, to provide the memberships as requested and to further discuss possible ways to make the meetings more accessible to Kingston attendees without inconveniencing local members. These discussions are to take place at an upcoming meeting of the executive. The motion was seconded by Dr. Gilbert Brodeur and passed without opposition.

4/ Fees

There was discussion of current membership and meeting fees. Dr. Politi noted that when meetings are not sponsored, the association is faced with paying thousands of dollars to pay for speakers. There are also concerns that current fees do not fully cover our fixed costs.

A motion was made by Dr. Toxopeus to increase membership fees to $65 from $60. To help reduce the increasing hassle of chasing people for their fees, the cost of membership was proposed to go up to $90 if paid after Sept. 30^th. Meeting costs were proposed to go from $35 to $38 for members and $55 to $60 for nonmembers. The motion was seconded by Dr. Bennett and passed without opposition.

5/ Emergency Clinic Technicians

Due to the unusual nature of ownership of the Pet Hospital of Prince Edward and Hastings Counties, technicians working there have been unsure of their status for attending QDVA meetings. This item was shelved for discussion at the next executive committee meeting.

6/ Election of executive

With the exception of the President who is required to step down after two terms, the remainder of the QDVA executive offered to stay on in the absence of new members stepping forward. With Dr. Politi moving into the Past President’s chair, Dr. Adrianna Sage was proposed as President. Dr. Suzanne Lane was proposed as the new Vice President.

Acceptance of the new roster was moved by Dr. Chris Rogers and seconded by Dr. Gilbert Brodeur. The motion passed without opposition.

The QDVA executive for 2013/14 will be:

President Dr. Adrianna Sage

Vice President Dr. Suzanne Lane

Past President Dr. Vince Politi

Treasurer Dr. Naomi Scromeda

Director of Continuing Education Dr. Kristina Bennett

Secretary Dr. Jinni Demine

Kingston Liason Dr. Koos Toxopeus

Director of Communications Dr. Fiona Gilchrist

The meeting was adjourned with thanks to Dr. Politi for his hard work over the past several years.

For the last meeting of this continuing education season, join Dr. Laura Crews, DVM, DACVR for a talk on Imaging the Urinary System in Dogs and Cats, May 1st, sponsored by Vet Novations.

The founder of Radiology Vet Consulting, operating out of Trenton, Dr. Crews is always a popular speaker at QDVA events.

Dr. Crews received her BSc (1996) and MS (1998) from Carleton University, Ottawa Canada and her DVM from the Ontario Veterinary College in 2003. She completed a rotating small animal medicine and surgery internship and a residency in radiology at the University of Minnesota.

Her research, publication and lecture topics include pulmonary MRI, elbow CT, radiography of canine blastomycosis, hepatobiliary ultrasonography and early equine pregnancy.

The QDVA’s Annual General Meeting will follow Dr. Crews’ talk. Your support is needed and appreciated. Please plan to attend.

There will also be a brief presentation by representatives of the Kingston and Belleville emergency clinics.

This speaker is sponsored by Vet Novations. Attendees will be asked to cover part of the costs — $35 for QDVA members and staff or $55 for non-member veterinarians and staff. The session will be held as usual at the Belleville Club, starting at 6 p.m. sharp.

Registration closed.

In the fall of 2012, over 400 veterinarians and practice managers attended regional sessions aimed at addressing the recent drop in revenue in companion animal hospitals. OVMA will be offering an additional session in Belleville on Thursday April 25th at 6 p.m.

Join OVMA’s experts for a special three-hour seminar designed to help you get back on track. Darren Osborne, OVMA’s Director of Economic Research, and Terra Shastri, OVMA’s Manager of Business Development, will be sharing a wide range of valuable tips and tools you can use to grow practice revenue, even in difficult times. Topics to be covered include:

• How to get clients back in the practice and fill your appointment book
• Getting staff buy-in to changes in practice operating procedures
• Dealing with fee advertising
• Pricing wellness plans
• Understanding and enhancing the client experience

When and Where

This special seminar is being presented from 6:00 – 9:30 p.m. on Thursday April 25th at the Belleville Club, 210 Pinnacle St., Belleville

A full hot buffet meal will be provided at the session.

Cost

Registration is free for OVMA Members. (Non-members may attend for $79)

How to Register

To register for one of these sessions, copy and paste the following link into your browser: www.ovma.info/meetings/. Or, visit the OVMA website and click on the link to register. (Please note that, due to space limitations, this session is only open to DVMs and Practice Managers.)

If you have any questions about the sessions, or if you need more information, please contact the OVMA office at 1.800.670.1702.