companion animal programme

Tuesday 23 June 2026

6.45amRoyal Canin Breakfast: Feeding the feline kidney - practical, evidence‑based dietary management of CKD in cats

Please note: You must register for this breakfast to attend
Room 516
Level 5
7amRegistration opens
Level 3
8amWelcome | Rob Mills (NZVA President)
Theatre A 
Level 5
8.10amPlenary: Learning through times of disruption: navigating AI | Sir Ashley Bloomfield
Theatre A 
Level 5
9amMorning tea
Exhibition Hall 
Level 3
9.30amCats and extreme conformation - learning from the dog conformation crisis | Dan O’Neill
Theatre A 
Level 5
10.30amDon’t panic, just catheterise: a real-world guide to the blocked cat | Rachel Korman
This session takes you step by step through stabilising and unblocking the obstructed cat, with a focus on what actually works and has evidence to support. We’ll cover rapid triage, smart fluid and electrolyte management, analgesia and sedation choices, and practical tips for catheter placement, securing and post obstruction care. You’ll leave with a calm, repeatable approach you can use on your very next blocked cat, whether you’re in GP, ECC or referral practice.
Theatre A 
Level 5
12pmLunchExhibition Hall 
Level 3
1pmLUTS, FIC and friends: a practical walkthrough of the 2025 FLUTD guidelines | Rachel Korman
This session steps through the 2025 FLUTD guidelines and turn them into clear, day to day decisions for busy clinicians. We will unpack how to triage lower urinary tract signs (LUTS), when to suspect feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) versus infection, stones or something more sinister, and which diagnostics actually change management. We will explore evidence based choices for analgesia, environmental and stress modifying interventions, diet, and follow up planning. 
Theatre A 
Level 5
2pmA practical approach to inappetent cats | Rachel Korman
Inappetence is one of the most common and frustrating problems in feline practice, with serious consequences for recovery, gut health, and overall prognosis if managed late. This session walks through a stepwise, clinic-friendly approach to the cat that won’t eat: from rapid nutritional risk assessment and identification of key drivers (pain, nausea, stress, ileus, dehydration and drug effects) through to smart, cat friendly use of antiemetics, analgesia and appetite stimulants.  Expect practical tips and simple decision pathways you can apply to your next inappetant cat in hospital. 
Theatre A 
Level 5
3pmAfternoon teaExhibition Hall 
Level 3
3.30pmDifferentiating feline low-grade Alimentary Lymphoma from chronic inflammatory enteropathy | Susan Piripi
Feline low-grade alimentaryl lymphoma (LGAL) and chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE, IBD) are both common disorders that present a large overlap in clinical and pathological findings. Nonetheless, a diagnosis helps guide the best and safest treatment choices and improves clinical outcomes. While histology is generally considered to be the primary diagnostic tool to investigate these differential diagnoses, some cases are still challenging, particularly where chronic inflammatory disease may be transitional to LGAL. A diagnosis in equivocal cases may be supported by immunohistochemistry and PARR testing, but ultimately results must be interpreted in tight of all available clinical and diagnostic information. 
Theatre A 
Level 5
4.30pmTreating FIP: what every Vet needs to know now | Ryan Cattin
Feline infectious peritonitis has gone from fatal to treatable, and New Zealand veterinarians now have legal access to highly effective antivirals. This talk provides a practical, evidence-based update for general practitioners, drawing on recent New Zealand research and real-world case experience. Topics include diagnosis, antiviral selection, dosing strategies, monitoring response, relapse management, and emerging data on shorter treatment courses. Attendees will leave with clear, practical guidance they can apply immediately in first-opinion practice. 
Theatre A 
Level 5
5.30pmHappy hourExhibition Hall 
Level 3
7pmCompanion Animal Veterinarians Dinner

Please note: You must register for this dinner to attend
Somm Wine Bar and Bistro

Wednesday 24 June 2026

6.45amHill's Pet Nutrition Breakfast: The microbiome - puppeteers or puppets of human biology?

Please note: You must register for this breakfast to attend		Room 516
Level 5
6.45amZoetis Breakfast: Feline chronic pain, it’s not just OA

Please note: You must register for this breakfast to attend
Room 101
Level 1
7amRegistration opens
Level 3
8amPlenary: Thriving and striving at work - the ultimate win win | Charlotte Cantley
Theatre A Level 5
8.45amNZVA AGMTheatre A Level 5
9.30amMorning tea
Exhibition Hall 
Level 3
10amArtificial intelligence - how to embrace it | Brendan Hickman, Ryan Cattin and Seton Butler
Shared talk with Veterinary Business and Veterinary Nursing - Companion Animal streams
Theatre A  Level 5
12.30pmLunchExhibition Hall 
Level 3
1.30pmCat friendly for vets: why it makes sense | Rachel Korman
Cats are famously sensitive to change, noise, and handling, and a “typical” clinic visit can easily push them into fear, frustration, or outright aggression. This session explores how to create a genuinely cat friendly practice without rebuilding your hospital from scratch, focusing on small, high impact changes to environment, communication, and handling. We will cover the science behind feline stress, practical strategies for low stress exams and procedures, and how to use pre visit planning, medications, and cooperative care to help even your most challenging feline patients. 
Theatre A 
Level 5
2.30pmTo be confirmed | Purina
Theatre A Level 5
3.30pmAfternoon teaExhibition Hall 
Level 3
4pmWhen things go wrong: M&M rounds and beyond | Tanya Page and Damian Chase
Errors are an inevitable part of veterinary practice. What matters most is how we respond. This session explores practical steps to take when things go wrong in your clinic. We’ll discuss how Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) rounds provide a structured, blame-free way to review cases and learn from adverse events and near misses. Rather than focusing on individual fault, we look at systems and simple changes that enhance patient safety and clinical outcomes. In addition, the session highlights other tools that strengthen clinical standards. Through real case studies, we’ll explore practical lessons and identify steps we can all take to improve.
Theatre A Level 5
5.45pmNZVA AwardsTheatre A Level 5
6.30pmNetworking dinnerExhibition Hall 
Level 3

Thursday 25 June 2026

6.45amVirbac Breakfast: Updates in feline hyperthyroidism

Please note: You must register for this breakfast to attend
To be confirmed
7amRegistration opens
Level 3
8amLower urinary tract rupture in small animals following blunt trauma | Grégoire Bonnel
The presentation will give an overview of knowledges about rupture of the urinary tract following blunt trauma in dogs and cats. It will then detail a study reporting the prevalence of low urinary tract rupture and examining its association with various parameters in a cohort of 585 dogs and cats with a history of vehicular trauma or fall from a height.
Theatre A
Level 5
8.30amThe dowling spay retractor: making bitch spays quicker, less stressful...almost fun | Oliver Walkinton
On a recent trip to Tonga with South Pacific Animal Welfare (SPAW), I was introduced by a colleague to the Dowling Spay Retractor and was suitably impressed with this simple yet effective piece of equipment. It makes bitch spays quicker, less stressful, and potentially associated with fewer complications. On returning to New Zealand, I was surprised to find that the majority of other veterinarians had not heard of this tool. I am keen to increase awareness of this inexpensive, reusable instrument, which has been widely used overseas since 2004.
Theatre A 
Level 5
9amVeterinary medicines - lab to label | Mike Gieseg and Natalie Lloyd
In this talk, we will review the pathway of veterinary medicine registration and consider what happens after registration in pharmacovigilance. Companies wishing to register an ACVM submit dossiers that provide data to show reliable chemistry and manufacturing, efficacy, safety and residues. MPI approval is risk-based, where the risks are balanced against the benefits of registration for a particular ACVM. The registrant must report all notified adverse events that occur following use of the ACVM. Adverse events are categorised based on the event and the information provided. This information is regularly reported to the regulator and contributes to label changes.
Theatre A 
Level 5
10amMorning tea
Exhibition Hall 
Level 3
10.30amOlder cats, wiser choices: Anaesthetic management of the geriatric cat | Joana Chagas
Geriatric cats frequently require anaesthesia in the presence of age-related physiological changes and concurrent disease, increasing anaesthetic risk. This lecture reviews the principles of anaesthetic management in the geriatric feline patient, with emphasis on informed decision-making and risk mitigation. Topics include pre-anaesthetic assessment, the effects of aging on cardiovascular, renal, and respiratory function, and their implications for drug selection and dosing. Peri-anaesthetic monitoring, maintenance, and common complications are discussed.
Theatre A 
Level 5
11.30amReading the feline face - pain assessment and analgesic strategies in cats | Joana Chagas
Cats are masters at masking pain, making recognition and effective management particularly challenging in clinical practice. This lecture explores the unique ways cats express discomfort and the practical strategies clinicians can use to identify and manage pain more effectively. We discuss feline-specific pain behaviors, validated pain assessment tools, and common pitfalls in interpretation, as well evidence-based analgesic options, multimodal pain management, and individualized treatment planning across a range of clinical scenarios. Emphasis is placed on translating theory into practical approaches, with the goal of improving patient welfare, clinical outcomes, and the veterinary team’s confidence in managing feline pain.
Theatre A 
Level 5
12.30pmLunchExhibition Hall 
Level 3
1.30pmFeline ageing: what does the science say? | Nathalie Dowgray
Ageing biology is a growing scientific field and companion animals are not being left behind. This session will cover the latest findings from the world of feline ageing and the clinical implications of these findings. 
Theatre A 
Level 5
2.30pmFrom papers to practice; what should senior clinics for cats look like?  | Nathalie Dowgray
Who should we include? How often should we see then? Do I need to collect a urine sample? Taking the science out of the journals and into the clinic answering your questions about how your senor clinics should be run! 
Theatre A
Level 5
3.30pmAfternoon teaExhibition Hall 
Level 3
4pmClinical conundrums | Pru Galloway
This is a case based presentation, including tips for managing tricky feline cases. 
Theatre A 
Level 5

Combined session with another stream.

This programme was correct at the time of publication. Speakers and titles are subject to change.