Last week the annual ACVIM (American College of Veterinary
Internal Medicine) Forum was held in Seattle Washington. I was privileged to
attend this event both as representative of Purina Animal Nutrition at the
trade show that accompanies this meeting, as well as a practicing veterinarian
to acquire continuing education. Ordinarily, I don’t mind spending all day
inside a convention center when meetings like this are held in Seattle because
the weather is usually less than ideal. However this year was different, with
bright sun and daytime temperatures in the mid 60’s and 70’s, making it hard to
be stuck inside all day. Fortunately, the ACVIM Forum is among the premier
veterinary CE events in the country, known for its state of the art
presentations by the top veterinarians in the world. The Forum is attended by
more than 1300 veterinary internal medicine specialists and general
practitioners.
In conjunction with the Forum, the AAVN (American Academy of
Veterinary Nutrition) held its 13th Annual Clinical Nutrition and
Research Symposium. This event gives veterinary nutritionists, animal
nutritionists and graduate students the opportunity to present their latest research
findings related to nutrition and its effects on veterinary health. This year a
record was set for attendance with over 160 veterinarians, nutritionists and
students in attendance. Purina Animal
Nutrition was proud to sponsor the AAVN Large Animal/Equine Case Report Award,
which was presented to Jennifer Gill from North Carolina State University for
her submission entitled, “Evaluation of a potential insulin resistance in an
obese Paso Fino mare with bilateral hind limb laminitis.” This year’s symposium
featured primarily small animal (dog and cat) research abstracts that were very
thought provoking. It can very useful and interesting to hear about advances in
research involving other species and then to think about how they might apply
to horses. An example of this was a presentation about a study investigating
the traditional dietary recommendations for dogs with chronic kidney disease. This
study found that protein restriction in the diet is likely not as critical as
once thought, particularly with the advance of higher quality protein in most
diets. It was a very enlightening talk that challenged one of the old dogmas of
dietary management of dogs (and most other mammals) with kidney disease and
these finding may have implications across all species including horses.
