VetArtis

26/06/2025

A great couple of days of CPD with

06/04/2025

A case of suspected hypercortalism (hyperadrenocorticism) in a cat.

Often the clues to a diagnosis are not the ultrasound scan findings but in the history and clinical findings. This is why I ask for the history in advance of all my scanning cases.

This cat was booked for an abdominal ultrasound scan due to massive muscle loss with a large belly, polydipsia and polyphagia, and proteinuria. However, when clipping the fur in preparation for the scan I noticed this cat also had very thin skin which tore easy without bleeding, key findings in Feline Skin Fragility Syndrome.

With my medicine knowledge, I recognised this could be hypercortalism/hyperadrenocorticism and indeed both adrenal glands were mildly enlarged. And I remember back to the last cat I diagnosed with this condition... testing, treatment and prognosis.

This is the extra you get for the services of VetArtis - this is not just an ultrasound scan. You get to access my advanced level of knowledge and extensive experience in medicine and cardiology. I also don't mind being asked about other question or even non-clinical things - this is a full package to support practices and vets.

VetArtis - helping vets to help the pets.

20/03/2025

I just wanted to let my veterinary cardiology minded colleagues know about an amazing cardiology resource. It is full of webinars, some of which are live with discussion, a great discussion group for anything cardiology related and fantastic for getting other opinions on tricky cases, and it's all run by a great Dimplomat cardiologist Laurent Locquet. I've been a member for a month now and it really has pushed my cardiology further and is a great boost to a cardiology certificate.

I'm not affiliated with the group or host and I pay the monthly subscription. I just think that this cardio club is the best 🙂

I'll put the link in the comments or you can find it by searching for Veterinary Cardio Club or contacting Laurent

The Veterinary Community for Cardiology Enthusiasts

01/03/2025

Help name my canine helpers!

When I teach ultrasound, not all my canine helpers are actual dogs. For demonstrating positioning and probe movements or using the amazing mixed reality ultrasound simulator, I use these soft toy dogs. I can set them up to practice lateral or dorsal positioning or standing scanning, which is great to practice POCUS and TFAST protocols.

They don't move or get stressed like real dogs.

So help me name my canine helpers - what names do you suggest?

14/02/2025

Never stop searching for your purpose.

I've spent many years thinking about and exploring my values but found myself confused about my purpose. I've always wanted to be a vet; I LOVE being a vet!

Well this past year I've discovered my purpose. And it is being a vet AND it's helping people. It's
teaching! And I love it!

So never stop searching for your purpose and how you can change the world. It may take you 20 years or 20 minutes, but the journey is fun too.

And if you'd like me to change your life in the sphere of ultrasound scanning small animals, then please contact me.

Because my purpose is... helping vets to help the pets.

01/02/2025

This week has been hairless patient week! It makes the heart scans easier!

23/01/2025

The secret to compliant cats during ultrasound examinations? Pre-examination gabapentin and liquid cat treats! See how fixated this cat is on the treat and this is at the end of the heart scan!

There are other factors and not just the patient temperament - the environment in which the cat waited prior to the scan (barking dogs are a no-no), gentle cat friendly handling, pheromone or herbal sprays, quiet clippers, and warmed ultrasound gel are the main ones. But the gabapentin and liquid treats are the game changer!

Don't get me wrong, some patients need sedation for their welfare and our safety.

What have you tried with cats to enable ultrasound examinations without needing sedation?

13/01/2025

I'm off on my travels again. This time to teach the second day of my abdominal ultrasound course in Glasgow.

If you're interested in increasing your, or your practice's, skills in ultrasound then please get in contact and I can let you know what I offer. I have courses in general abdominal scanning, advanced abdominal scanning, one day thoracic &focused cardiac scanning, multi-day echocardiography from basic to advanced level.

I pride myself in giving you the best learning experience by using a variety of training methods in small groups.

I look forward to hearing from you!

04/01/2025

The 12 days of Christmas - ultrasound edition...

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a cat with short colon syndrome.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two spleens in a dog.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me feline bicavitary effusions.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a puppy brain scan.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me parathyroid gland scans.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true live gave to me a cat with DCM.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me my first bubble study.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me many varied arrhythmias.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me gastrointestinal foreign bodies.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me gallbladder mucocoeles.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me feline gastric lymphoma.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a very large pyometra.

31/12/2024

The end of another revolution around the sun and time to look at the highlights of 2024. Firstly work related highlights...

🐕 I helped many pets get the appropriate treatment and their owners the answers by performing
❤ over 250 heart scans this year, including 87 on cats 🐈
🐕 and over 200 abdominal scans!!! No wonder I feel like it's been a busy year.

📢 I spoke at a public conference for the first time, at the London Vet Show in November. And despite feeling like an imposter before hand, I loved the experience and would like to do this again!

👩‍🏫 I fell in love with teaching and helped 6 practices with in-practice ultrasound training, at all levels, abdominal and echo. I also got to travel to Portugal and teach echo skills for a whole week to an amazing bunch of people! .dias.vetpreneur And started a new teaching collaboration with and Catherine Stowell.

✈️ To further my ultrasound knowledge, I travelled to Poland for a week long advanced ultrasound course with .eu
And to Florence for an amazing conference cover my three favourite subjects in veterinary - ultrasound, medicine and cardiology - with I also shadowed the cardiology team with .ferasin

Picture of one of my gumpy faced by truly sweet patients from this year!

07/12/2024

Just back from Florence and the amazing Sonopath Summit. I'm looking forward to the next one already!

30/10/2024

It is only a couple of weeks until the London Vet Show. I will be a speaker this year for the first time but I am also looking forward to some catch-ups and networking. I would love to meet up and chat with you!

I am looking for connections in:
- post-graduate teaching and CPD delivery
- ultrasound machine, hiring, ultrasound phantoms and simulators
- setting up online courses and social media management
- mental health challenges in the profession especially around burnout

I can help with:
- teaching ultrasound (abdominal and echocardiology, companion animal) and empowering vets in practice to use this valuable diagnostic tool to get the best from it
- challenging the way we think about issues in the vet profession
- writing well research non-clinical articles on issues in the vet profession
- mentoring and coaching in ultrasound, medicine and cardiology
- entrepreneurship
- EBVM

Please contact me if you'd like to chat at LVS or at any other time. I will be speaking on Thursday 14th November at 15:55 in the BVA Career Development theatre on 'Taking Positives From Redundancy'.