Charlotte Dye (née Jackson) was the FAB Resident at Bristol from 2001 to 2003.

One of the things that I personally value most about FAB is its funding of university-based residencies for vets wanting to specialise in feline medicine. I graduated as a vet from the University of Edinburgh in 1998 and spent three years working in general practice. This gave me a good broad grounding in basic veterinary medicine and surgery but my main love was cats and my ambition was always to specialise in this field.

My FAB-funded position at Bristol enabled me to have the responsibility of being the primary clinician for feline patients with a vast spectrum of interesting and unusual diseases, while simultaneously having the close supervision and back up of a team of highly experienced colleagues. The combination of such an intensive and varied case load in a supportive and academic setting brings great rewards and served to intensify my interest in feline medicine still further.

I developed a particular interest in feline infectious diseases and completed a PhD, researching into feline infectious peritonitis. I am now back at Bristol University as a Clinical Associate, combining clinical referral work with a continuation of my research interests. I am also involved in teaching the final year veterinary students, which is incredibly rewarding.

Despite the popularity of the cat as a household pet there are still very few exclusively feline vets and more are required if we are to give them the specific medical care that they require. The work FAB has done to promote this field and to provide high quality scholarships for vets entering the profession is essential to maintain a high standard of feline vets who can promote feline-specific health care for the future.