Julie Cory was FAB’s first funded veterinary nurse.  She was based at Bristol University Veterinary School in 2000 and 2001 but now lives and works in Norfolk.

I had the privilege of being the first FAB sponsored feline nurse, based at the Bristol Veterinary School.  My role was caring for the patients, alongside the FAB scholars and residents, but I was also involved in educating and enthusing the general practice nurse about the special requirements and needs of cats.

Nurses were invited to spend a week at the Feline Centre at Langford, shadowing me in the day-to-day running of the cat ward.  They would also witness the diagnostic tests performed on the patients, particularly radiography and endoscopy.  Ideas were formulated as to how the nurses could improve the cat care in their own practice, and ranged from improving the quality of the radiographs and utilising their endoscopes more to thinking about the ways of reducing stress levels for their patients.  This could be by providing ‘igloo’ beds for the cats to hide in or covering the cage when wanting them to eat.  Keeping cats warm during anaesthesia was another area where the solutions were simple and the nurses just needed guiding in the right direction.

I don’t know whether it is attributable to the work of the FAB nurse program, the excellent advice and support from the Feline Advisory Bureau, or just rising standards in veterinary practice, but the care provided to cats in general practice has improved considerably since I trained as a vet nurse in the early 1990s.