Association of Veterinary Surgeons Practicing in Northern Ireland (AVSPNI) Open Day at AFBI Veterinary Laboratories Omagh

AFBI were delighted to again welcome the Association of Veterinary Surgeons Practicing in Northern Ireland (AVSPNI) to the AFBI Omagh Veterinary Laboratory for their annual “Omagh Day” meeting which took place on Wednesday 10th January 2023 after a COVID enforced break of 3 years since 2020.

This event has taken place in the AFBI Omagh Veterinary Laboratory every year up to 2020 since 1975 and is one of the largest and most popular events of its type in Northern Ireland attracting a full house of more than 90 local veterinary practitioners. This is the only local veterinary event regularly attended by the President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), and this year's President, Dr Melissa Donald, was again in attendance.

After an introduction by Dr Colin McCrea, President of the AVSPNI, a number of high quality throught provoking and practical presentations were delivered by local practitioners.

Alison Irwin gave a comprehensive and very practical overview on triage of the unstable patient entitled: “Don’t Panic! - How to stabilise these patients in a busy clinic.”

Kara Johnston then presented on her experience with examination, diagnosis and treatment of retained fluid in the uterus of mares during the breeding season and how to deal with them entitled “Breeding from the fluid retentive Mare.”

Following a short tea break Sean Fee (VRO at AFBI Omagh) presented on a selection of interesting diagnostic cases seen at AFBI in recent years to great interest of the audience provoking a number of questions and queries.

Finally Melanie Spahn & Nicole O'Hagan presented jointly on a Neospora abortion outbreak in a dairy herd including an associated SA case.

The winners of the “Frank Mullan Memorial Trophy” for Best Presentation from the 3 practitioner presentations were Melanie Spahn & Nicole O'Hagan.

The AVSPNI Omagh Day is a key event for both local practitioners and for AFBI and helps maintain and enhance the close working relationship that exists between AFBI and local veterinary practitioners. It also highlights the importance of the veterinary profession to the disease surveillance work carried out by AFBI.

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