Fellowship of Animal Behaviour Clinicians

07/11/2025

Join our Virtual Annual Conference 2025 on Saturday 6th December "Can I Cope? Do I feel safe? A fresh look at on old problem"
Full of FAB speakers, this is a day of CPD not to be missed! 🐶🐱🐴

Book your ticket now at https://bit.ly/3cmVnLR For those of you unable to join us on the day, don't worry! It will be recorded so you can catch up later 💻❤️

05/11/2025

Join Honour Smith BSc (Hons) MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour ABTC-ATI who will be discussing "DEVELOPMENT OF OWNER-BASED SCREENING TOOLS FOR CANINE COGNITIVE DECLINE" next Wednesday 12th November at 7.30pm.

Many of us will have experienced the challenges of caring for a senior dog. One of the barriers to effective early management of canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) is the difficulty with diagnosing the condition and thus late implementation of treatment for what is an irreversible condition. A CCD diagnosis depends on veterinary assessment, often including one of several scales available, but many owners do not present their dogs to their vet until late on. This session describes how we designed and assessed three scales used for the diagnosis of CCD (CCDR, CADES and ARCAD) to create owner-friendly early screening tools for the assessment of CCD.

Free to members / £20 to non-members. Book your place at https://bit.ly/3on0dga

05/11/2025

Introducing the third of our speakers at our fifth annual virtual Conference "Can I cope? Do I feel safe? A fresh look at an old problem" on 6th December 2025!

Dr Loni Loftus – BSC(Hons), MSc, PhD, SFHEA, ABTC-ATI, ABTC-CAB, CCAB will be speaking on "From Nice-to-Have to Non-Negotiable: Positioning environmental optimisation as the welfare baseline".

Book your ticket for this event now at: https://bit.ly/3cmVnLR

05/11/2025

"FROM NICE-TO-HAVE TO NON-NEGOTIABLE: POSITIONING ENVIRONMENTAL OPTIMISATION AS THE WELFARE BASELINE"

Dr Loni Loftus – BSC(Hons), MSc, PhD, SFHEA, ABTC-ATI, ABTC-CAB, CCAB will be presenting the third talk of the day at our fifth annual virtual conference "Can I cope? Do I feel safe? A fresh look at an old problem" on 6th December 2025.

Book your ticket for this event now at: https://bit.ly/3cmVnLR

31/10/2025

Our congratulations go to FABC member Hannah McNicholas on achieving CCAB pre-certification! We look forward to continue supporting Hannah as she works towards her CCAB certification in dogs.

Congratulations Hannah McNicholas on gaining CCAB pre-certification!

"I’m thrilled to have been accepted for CCAB pre-certification after completing my MSc at the University of Edinburgh. Having worked as a vet for many years, I have always had a strong interest in behaviour. I now feel I have the firm knowledge base needed to progress as a veterinary behaviourist and plan to continue developing my skills. I’m incredibly grateful to the university staff, my mentors, and everyone else who has supported me and continues to do so. I look forward to contributing as a member of the clinical animal behaviour community and continuing to promote the welfare of my patients in every way that I can."

31/10/2025

🐱

The opportunity to engage in play is important for cats of all ages. Cat play can manifest in two main ways, and developing an understanding of this is key.

Have a look at our FAB handout on feline play which explores the main types of feline play and delves deeper into the behaviour of cats during play: https://bit.ly/445wrTz

30/10/2025

🐒

Research by the University of Oxford has found that Chimpanzees appear to consume plants with medicinal properties to treat their ailments.

The study utilised a combination of behavioral observations of wild Chimpanzees with pharmacological testing of the potentially medicinal plants they ate and found that Chimpanzees seek out specific plants for their medicinal effects.

Interested in finding out more? Read the study here: https://bit.ly/3Sh8GmF

30/10/2025

A huge thank you to Ashley Szafranek for representing FABC at The University of Edinburgh careers fair yesterday. It's great to hear how much Ashley enjoyed a busy day chatting about all things behaviour with students at our stand!

29/10/2025

Introducing the second of our speakers at our fifth annual virtual Conference "Can I cope? Do I feel safe? A fresh look at an old problem" on 6th December 2025.

Dr Amber Batson – BVetMed MRCVS will be speaking on "Gutsy reactions : how the gut brain axis influences resilience ".

Book your ticket for this event now at: https://bit.ly/3cmVnLR

29/10/2025

Sign up now for our next FABC webinar on Wednesday 12th November at 7.30pm.

Join Honour Smith BSc (Hons) MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour ABTC-ATI who will be discussing "DEVELOPMENT OF OWNER-BASED SCREENING TOOLS FOR CANINE COGNITIVE DECLINE"

Many of us will have experienced the challenges of caring for a senior dog. One of the barriers to effective early management of canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) is the difficulty with diagnosing the condition and thus late implementation of treatment for what is an irreversible condition. A CCD diagnosis depends on veterinary assessment, often including one of several scales available, but many owners do not present their dogs to their vet until late on. This session describes how we designed and assessed three scales used for the diagnosis of CCD (CCDR, CADES and ARCAD) to create owner-friendly early screening tools for the assessment of CCD.

Free to members / £20 to non-members. Book your place at https://bit.ly/3on0dga

29/10/2025

"GUTSY REACTIONS: HOW THE GUT BRAIN AXIS INFLUENCES RESILIENCE"

Dr Amber Batson – BVetMed MRCVS will be presenting the second talk of the day at our fifth annual virtual conference "Can I cope? Do I feel safe? A fresh look at an old problem" on 6th December 2025.

Book your ticket for this event now at: https://bit.ly/3cmVnLR

28/10/2025

🐶

As firework season is approaching, being as prepared as possible can help to reduce the fear and anxiety which our companions experience.

Read our FAB handout on "Preparing for Fireworks", which contains useful information for dogs, cats, small pets and birds: https://bit.ly/3mAna1e