Mayo’s first ‘Healthy Pet Seminar’ at Days Hotel in Castlebar was a great success and a lot of fun! A near capacity audience listened to various topics related to pets and their health. We were extremely lucky to have excellent speakers - veterinary surgeons from around the country who had come along for the evening to talk about current pet health issues.

Gail Nic Eoghain a veterinary surgeon from Dublin started the evening off with an explanation of skin disease, a very common problem in both dogs and cats and an enormous topic. She had wonderful slides of different conditions in both pets and humans (!) which were very interesting and managed to guide us through every type of condition pet owners may encounter!

James Dunne, a referral veterinary orthopaedic surgeon from Galway gave us a humorous and comprehensive description of arthritis, with everything from how it forms to pictures of surgical correction and how we as owners can help our pets. He also discussed what’s new in the treatment and management of arthritis these days. The talks moved onto feeding your pet, and John O’Connor another veterinary surgeon from Dublin came along to guide us through this huge subject concentrating on why there are different diets for different sized dogs (lifestage diets) and why this is important. He also described the differences that occur in cats when they are neutered and how this can affect their health later on in life

Our final speaker we were very pleased to welcome from Dublin, Brenda Comerford, the representative from Dog’s Trust Ireland itself came down to explain to our audience what the aims of the Dogs’ Trust are and what type of work they are contributing to on a national basis in Ireland, as much as possible they are supporting the SPCA charities here by providing subsidised neutering. It is only €14 to neuter your pet under this scheme on a means tested basis!!!! She explained the history behind the charity and also how well their scheme has taken off in Ireland itself. The Dogs Trust can be contacted on their hotline number of 1890 946 336 or visit www.dogstrust.ie

A raffle was held and the winners received various selections of dog and cat toys very kindly sponsored by Chanelle – the veterinary wholesaler based in Loughrea and all our participants made the most of the stands and exhibitors at the event and managed to enjoy a tea or coffee after the talks.

Runa Hanaghan would like to thank all the pet owners who came along, the speakers and also our sponsors for the evening which allowed us to donate all the takings from the night to a very worthy cause of Dogs Trust Ireland. A special note must also be made to thank both Elisha and Brenda, the nurses at the Hospital for their very dedicated work in helping to organise the evening and all their work ‘behind the scenes’!

To see all the picture of the night click here..