History of the CATVETS

The idea of creating a Belgian group consisting of “cat-loving-veterinarians” first came to my mind while I attended a pre-congress meeting of the ESFM in Birmingham (BSAVA congress) in 2000.
Before that time I had worked for seven years at the faculty of veterinary medicine of Ghent where I enjoyed teaching practical aspects of veterinary medicine to students, in particular soft tissue surgery and ophthalmology.
In 1997, together with another very cat-loving veterinarian, Ingrid Putcuyps, we decided to start a new referral practice in Ghent. At that time we also set up an organisation that runs practically oriented continuing education courses for veterinarians, which is still active today. Following my first great experience with advanced feline medicine during the ESFM meeting, we then decided to “create” the CATVETS, in 2002.
We easily found 6 veterinarians that were interested to meet 4 times a year to talk about cats and feline medicine only. The first subject we discussed was ‘viral diseases and vaccinations’. One of our first members was the speaker.
Despite that we did not advertise our group widely, given that we wanted to keep it a very small and therefore interactive group, we continued growing  and as a result the CATVETS currently have 36 members.  The group still gets together 4 times a year for a half day meeting.

Since the group was set up the following subjects have been on the agenda:

• Viral diseases and vaccination : Iefje Ceulemans
• Diabetes and hyperthyroidism: Chris Decoene
• Dyspnoea: Ingrid Putcuyps
• Ocular manifestations of hypertension:  Sabine Schoofs
• Dermatology: Jan De Clercq
• Lower urinary tract  diseases: Greet Junius, Sabine Schoofs and Hill’s
• Upper urinary tract disease: Astrid van Dongen
• Geriatrics: Magda Vranckx
• Intestinal diseases: Greet Junius
• Orthopedics: Gerda Van De Werf
• Cytology:  Jo Van Leuven
• Hypertension: Ingrid Putcuyps
• Behaviour: Tiny De Keuster,  Isabelle De Cock
• Eating disorders and obesitas :Christine Halsberghe and Hill’s
• Ophthalmology: Frans Stades
• Liver diseases: H. Bax with Hill’s

Our speakers are mainly from within the group, but we have also had international speakers present to the CATVETS. Through the years it has remained a very cat loving and enthusiastic group.

Sabine Schoofs DVM, founder of the CATVETS, Belgium