Cannot wait to attend this conference this coming Sunday. Can anyone else attend? APBC Feline Conference 2014 Event Date: 19/10/2014 Location: Kettering Conference Centre, Thurston Drive, Kettering, NN15 6PB Event Type: Open to Everyone APBC Annual Feline Conference 2014 Kettering Conference Centre Sunday 19 October 2014 - 10am until 4pm Book now! The Annual APBC Feline Conference has become a must-go-to event for many people within the feline world - behaviourists, welfare and charity workers, behaviour students, vets, vet nurses and breeders. This year we will again have some key players in the behaviour and welfare world who will be sharing their knowledge with you. Speakers are: Sarah Heath BVSc DipECVBM-CA MRCVS Not in my backyard – understanding and managing stress in multicat neighbourhoods Cats are living in increasingly populated neighbourhoods and issues of intercat tension can lead to serious concerns both for the cats and for their owners. This presentation will look at the importance of territorial behaviour in cats and some of the potential consequences of large feline populations in urban areas. It will explore the problems faced by cats and their owners and look at some of the potential ways in which these issues can be managed. Sarah qualified from Bristol University and spent four years in mixed general practice before setting up a behaviour medicine referral practice in 1992. She is an Honorary Lecturer in small animal behavioural medicine at Liverpool University and a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist under the ASAB accreditation scheme. In 2002 Sarah became a Founding Diplomate of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine (formerly the ECVBM-CA) and served as President from 2002 to 2008. Sarah has a special interest in the interplay between behaviour and physical illness in dogs and cats and particularly in the role of pain. Her interests in the field of feline medicine include the role of behavioural factors in feline obesity, lower urinary tract disease, cognitive dysfunction and infectious disease. Sarah lectures extensively at home and abroad on behavioural topics. Celia Haddon In Defence of Free Roaming Cats There is a growing demand among conservationists that free roaming cat should be eliminated. A closer look at cats and wildlife suggests that protecting wildlife from cats by simply killing cats will often be ineffective, even counter productive, without a very careful conservation planning. Simple elimination or even control of un-owned or semi-owned cats is difficult in the extreme and often results in unintended consequences. There are welfare implications for both humans and cats and ethical issues that need to be addressed. Here in the UK co-operation between conservations, researchers and cat lovers should be the way forward. Celia Haddon is a journalist and writer with a degree in Applied Animal Behaviour. She is studying at Lincoln University for a masters’ degree in clinical animal behaviour. She has written several books on cats including One Hundred Ways for a Cat to Train its Human! Visit her website: catexpert.co.uk. Diane Ryland LL.B. LL.M. Legal Issues Arising in Relation to Cats: Some Questions; Some Answers; Some Questions Cats are property; Who is the cat’s owner? What is responsible ownership? Buying or selling a cat or kitten? The criminal law has evolved so as to ensure that a cat’s individual welfare needs are catered for. Which needs? Who is responsible for the cat’s welfare? What offences? What is a cat’s natural behaviour? Could you be liable for harm caused by your cat? This will be a forum for an exchange of experiences, questions, and considered responses in relation to cats and the law. It cannot be relied upon as a substitute for formal legal advice. Diane Ryland, a senior lecturer in the Law School, has taught European Union Law at the University of Lincoln since 1995. Prior to this she was employed as a researcher in European Union Law at the University of Hull From 1995-2002 she undertook research in European Union environmental regulation as a member of a team of international academics convening at Nicholas Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland conducting research into the approximation of Poland’s laws to European Union standards. Currently, she is researching for a PhD in Animal Welfare in Agriculture: Public (EU) and Private Standards, in the Law School at the University of Leeds. Dianes research interests lie in EU animal welfare law; also in EU procedural law. She has engaged recently in contractually funded research for International Cat Care (formerly Feline Advisory Bureau), producing a Research Report on Cats and the Law (2013) - co-author Dr. Angus Nurse. Lauren Finka BSc, MSc Assessing human-sociability in cats - determining whats reliable and whats practical in the rehoming environment Assessing the basic traits a cat may express in the home when in the unfamiliar and often stressful rehoming environment poses many challenges. How the cat behaves towards humans within the latter situation is the result of complex interactions between underlying temperament and the current external context, and we may be trying to gauge how sociable a cat is in general within radically different contexts. In order to ensure that cats are optimally managed in the rehoming centre as well as placed in the most suitable home/environment upon departure, it is very important that we try to determine their social preferences, and it is crucial that when we do so, the methods we use are useful and reliable (i.e they are not only practical but they also work!). In addition, not every cat owner will necessarily want the same type of cat, and so it is also important to consider the social preferences of the owner, and in doing so, if this can help us to better match cats with their most suitable owner. To answer these important questions, a rigorous scientific approach is necessary. During this talk, Lauren will discuss some of her current PhD research which has focused on developing reliable, valid and useful methods in order to address this challenge. Lauren is in her final year of a PhD at the University of Lincoln. Her PhD is funded by International Cat Care (ICC) and The Centre Of Applied Pet Ethology (COAPE). Her research involves the development of non-invasive reliable measures to assess temperament in cats, with an emphasis on those in re-homing centre environments. Lauren has previously worked for several different rehoming centres and is a passionate advocate for feline welfare, focusing on utilising scientific evidence in order to promote ‘best practise’. Lauren also sits on ICC’s Behaviour and Welfare advisory panels. Rachael King BSc, MSc What influences kitten development – the effect of breed, age and temperament of queens on developmental milestones in kittens Although the timing of developmental stages in kittens has been extensively reported the impact of personaility of the queen has received little attention, with her responses to environmental challenges before and after birth having potential to influence the kittens’ physical, physiological and psychological development. A number of studies have investigated personality in the domestic cat (reviewed by Gartner & Weiss, 2013), but few of these studies have been conducted into the development of personality. The presentation will review current literature and discuss a preliminary study that investigates the effects of breed, age and the queen’s temperament on the development of kittens. Rachael is currently undertaking her PhD at the University of Lincoln. Her research primarily focuses on causes for individual differences in behavioural and anatomical development in kittens, more specifically the impact of prenatal effects. Rachael gained her BSc in Animal Welfare in 2005, then went onto complete her MSc in Wildlife Management in 2006. Since then she has worked within the feline unit at Wood Green the Animals charity and is soon to complete her formal training to become a Registered Veterinary Nurse.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 11:36:58 +0000
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