The World Small Animal Veterinary Associations Annual Congress 2018

Dr. Niemiec just returned from a very successful trip to Singapore to participate in the World Small Animal Veterinary Associations Annual Congress. As the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry’s representative to the WSAVA as well as the Chair of the Regional Member Advocate committee, he was instrumental in the Members Forum and took part in the Assembly meeting. Following the assembly meeting, the WSAVA welfare guides were introduced.

He lectured almost every day of the Congress, in 4 different streams, Feline, How I treat, Nutrition, and the WSAVA Dental Guidelines stream.

The Dental guidelines stream was shared with Co-chair Dr. Jerzy Gawor. At the end of the lecture stream, many attendees signed the banner pledging to improve the lives of pets worldwide by making their oral health better.

Speaking of the WSAVA dental guidelines, as Chair of the Committee, he was promoting the guidelines at the Committee Forum, with one of the other Authors, Dr. Kymberley Stewart (Welfare). Finally, he is a leader of one of the sections of the WSAVA Strategic Planning Committee. They held a full day meeting to line out the plan for the next 5 years.

The Committee Forum

5 Year planning

While Dr. Niemiec was quite busy helping to improve the lives of animals worldwide, Singapore is a lovely city with many things to do. One of the best parts are the various food areas, where many vendors set up in a small place with hundreds of options (think high-class food trucks). The Congress has numerous social events as well where veterinarians from around the globe mingle and share experiences. At the Singapore night, Dr. Niemiec posed with Dr. Stewart (right) and Dr. Julie Stafford the AVMA representative to WSAVA as well as the current President of the Alaska VMA. Finally, one of the signature locations of Singapore is the Gardens by the Bay. Every night there is a free music and light show in the “Super Trees”. It’s a must see when you are in town.

The food area

Dr. Niemiec, Dr. Stewart, and Dr. Julie Stafford

Speaking of WSAVA, Dr. Niemiec will be the featured speaker next year when the Congress moves to Toronto, CA in Mid July. Come to join him in Celebrating WSAVA’s return to North America.

October 19, 2018 0

Canadian Lecture Tour 2018

Dr. Niemiec recently completed his 2018 Canadian lecture tour on behalf of Hills Pet Nutrition. He presented from Victoria on Vancouver Island in the west, all the way to Quebec City in the East. Included were stops in Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and London.

Dr. Niemiec speaking in Montreal

Dr. Niemiec with the Hills Pet Nutrition Canada team (From left) Christian St Hillaire, Julie Charpentier, and Dr Bob van Delst

Preparation for lecture in Calgary.

Attendees from the Calgary event signing the banner.

Arrival in Edmonton

Replica of the Santa Maria (Christopher Columbus) in the Mall of Edmonton.

Preparing for lecture for 160 people in Edmonton

The events were well attended as Dr. Niemiec has a following in Canada. Interestingly, many vets are quite passionate about dentistry in Canada.

Included in the lecture were presentations at the Veterinary Schools in Calgary and St Heyesentha. Dr. Niemiec has now presented at 4 of the 5 Canadian veterinary Schools.

The University of Calgary Veterinary School

The announcement of the lecture at the University of Calgary

His lectures in Canada are slightly different from his usual presentation, focusing on improving compliance with your dental recommendations. A key message is the utilization of the WSAVA dental guidelines. To this end, he carried a banner for attendees to sign Pledging to improve the lives of all animals by improving their oral health. By the end of the tour, the banner was full.

October 16, 2018 0

CE by the SEA

Dr. Niemiec just returned from lecturing at CE by the Sea in Port Aransas. If you recall, this was the site of landfall for Hurricane Harvey last year at this time. As a matter of fact, Dr. Niemiec was scheduled to speak at the conference last year before it was cancelled.

The City/resort is still in the midst of recovery, but is doing overall fairly well. The signs of devastation were everywhere, but the rooms at the Port Royal are in excellent shape as is the pool and boardwalk to the beach.

Signs of devastation

Rooms at the Port Royal

Pool view at the Port Royal

The lecture itself as well as the exhibit hall was in temporary housing, which made lecturing a challenge due to air conditioning and the thunderstorm, but the staff did a great job. The Texas VMA was there, of course, showing support.

The lecture hall

The exhibit hall

The Texas VMA

This conference is well set up for fun/family time. They have (or at least had) a gold tournament, even beach socials, and mornings off. One morning is set up for a fishing tournament. Speckled trout and redfish are the ones that we target. A large group of vets and significant others started on the trip in the morning with breakfast burritos.

Early morning start with breakfast burritos.

Early morning start with breakfast burritos

Dr. Jennifer May and her catch!

It was a glorious morning. The highlight being that Dr. Jennifer Fay caught a monster redfish.

This is a lovely area and is still in the midst of recovery. The resorts and restaurants are still getting back to normal slowly, but could use our support. Consider a trip down Corpus Christi way, you will be welcome, have a great time, and help the area heal.

#CEbytheSEA #PortRoyal #Travelogue #ContinuingEducation

September 17, 2018 0

Dental Guidelines Launch

The World Small Animal Veterinary Associations (WSAVA) Global Dental Guidelines were officially launched at the WSAVA congress in Copenhagen, Denmark in September 2017.

Check out all of the WASAVA 2017 photographs from Copenhagen: www.simoncallaghanphotography.com/Brighton-Photographer-Blog/Conference/World-Small-Animal-Veternary-Association/2017-Congress-Copenhagen-Bella-Centre

Check out all of the WASAVA 2017 photographs from Copenhagen: http://www.simoncallaghanphotography.com/Brighton-Photographer-Blog/Conference/World-Small-Animal-Veternary-Association/2017-Congress-Copenhagen-Bella-Centre

Following the assembly meeting and members forum, Dr. Niemiec introduced the guidelines. Introductory comments were made by the president (Dr. Walt Ingersen) and then Dr. Niemiec explained the guidelines including the reasons they’re necessary, the history of their development, the members of the team, the sponsors, and what the guidelines mean for the member associations.

Following the presentation and some positive comments from several assembly members, members signed the official endorsement certificates. Following this, the assembly and guests were invited to sign the banner pledging to increase the health of ALL animals by improving their oral health.

Committee member Dr. Cedric Tutt signing the banner

Finally, the press reception was held to allow members of veterinary publications as well as assembly members to meet and interact with the committee members.

The guidelines are currently under review for publication in the Journal of Small Animal Practice – stay tuned for further information!

March 23, 2018 0

The Birth of “Bond”

For the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA) annual meeting, Hill’s Pet Nutrition wanted to come up with a truly unique educational event. The goal was to combine education with entertainment, which is a new style of teaching called “edutainment”.

The entertainment part is used to break up the learning into smaller bites which can be easier digested by the audience (pun intended). This avoids what is known as “cognitive burnout”, thereby increasing information retention by the audience.

Hill’s elected to work with Dr. Niemiec to create and star in this groundbreaking evening. He was partnered with Dr. Kymberley Stewart, a professional consulting veterinarian for Hills Pet nutrition at the time (now with Idexx). For months they brainstormed ideas of how to add entertainment to the lecture without becoming overly distracting—and finally, they hit on the perfect solution: a Murder Mystery Dinner. The mystery clues became part of what Dr. Niemiec calls “Brain Breaks”.

What started out as a small addition to the event became a highlight when Hill’s decided to hire professional actors to perform the mystery. Dr. Stewart selected Second City to be the entertainment and since their theme is spy-based, the secret agent persona for Dr. Niemiec followed. This included dressing in a Tuxedo and creating stories from his time in “Her Majesties Secret Veterinary Service”. This includes his now famous root canals on a jaguar in the middle of the jungle as well as treating a baby elephant for mouth infection.

The event was held at the Rosewater supper club as opposed to a hotel ballroom, increasing its exclusivity. Speaking of which, the invites were especially designed in a spy theme for the event. Dr. Stewart added to the evening by encouraging attendees to “dress to kill”, making the mystery clues and notes into “Spy Dossiers”, transporting guests to the event in black SUV’s, creating spy-themed drinks and wine bottle labels.

The attendees made the most of the evening, many coming very well dressed and enjoying the interaction with colleagues as well as the Hill’s staff, the actors, and Dr. Niemiec. A photo booth added an additional element of fun. Many of the attendees were involved in the mystery, providing entertainment for the rest of the crowd.

The event was a smashing success leading to murder mystery dinners being a staple with Dr. Niemiec. For more information on where you may see Dr. Niemiec lecture, please visit our Events page.

February 2, 2018 0

Dr. Niemiec’s Polish Adventure

Partnering up with his Polish friends, Dr. Niemiec travelled to Poland in October of 2016 to present at the Polish Small Animal Veterinary Association annual congress.

Click here to see a video clip from Dr. Niemiec’s lecture!

While in Polska, Dr. Brook was thrilled to be lecturing on numerous oral conditions and treatments including minimally invasive oral surgical techniques.

In addition, Dr. Gawor (DAVDC, DEVDC) and he gave a co-lecture on increasing dental compliance which was warmly received and greeted by exciting questions and conversations.

Finally, he teamed up with Dr. Jerzy Gawor to teach a hands-on wetlab on periodontal surgery, sponsored by close friends and – one of the – Dental Guidelines sponsors, Kruuse.

February 2, 2018 0

With August marking National Pet Dental Health Month, Dr. Brook Niemiec traveled down under to speak at the World Veterinary Dental Congress/FSAVA and to help his Australian colleagues progress the field of veterinary dentistry even further.

To kick off the trip, Dr. Niemiec lectured at the OraVet Doggy Brunch where he was excited to discuss with the various attendees the importance of combating common dental issues faced by our beloved pets.

After brunch, Brook and the team spent the afternoon playing fetch with the furry friends in attendance – and giving them their monthly dental check-ups!

That’s when Dr. Niemiec received his 15-minutes of fame and was interviewed on Channel 7 News to talk about some of the signs and solutions of gum disease listed below.

Noted Signs:

Bad breath
Redness
Tarter

Noted Solutions:

OraVet Dental Chews
Regular brushing

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As mentioned, Brook then proceeded to speak at the Federation of Asian Small Animal Veterinary Associations Congress while connecting with his worldwide colleagues. And just like that, a successful trip down under came to a close…

Stay tuned for more updates on Dr. Niemiec’s travels!

October 16, 2017 0