The Blue Vet Diary

Cats – of course ! …..

It appears that I forgot to mention my feline patients here in the North.

In Tromsø, just a few hundred kilometers from the Northkap, they are in for a special treat :

The World’s most Northern Cat Clinic !

Long gone are the days when dogs were sitting in the vet’s waiting room right next to frightened cats in their carrier boxes. Even the most remote small animal veterinary practice these days should have realised by now that this is stressful for both the cat as well as for the owner .

Simple interior design solutions like separate waiting room areas or elevated storage facilities for carrier baskets are employed to provide cats with a degree of privacy which in return results in a less stressed patient in the consulting room – which translates into more meaningful examinations and less cat bite injuries. ( A small fact on the side: in 30 years of companion animal practice I was never bitten by a cat…..ok, with that statement I have outed myself as a cat nerd…..)

However, the Gold Standard of cat friendly practices are Cat (only) Clinics.

These clinics are a fairly recent development in companion animal veterinary medicine and – here a serious health warning to all veterinary professional reading this block – they are addictive !

Cat Clinics operate in an alternative universe : time here is slowing down and the environment is quiet and peaceful, warm, soft and comfortable and anything that might still be considered as a threat by a cat is made as predictable as possible……Movements during the consultations are slower and with the help of feline pheromones and a deeper understanding of the specific behaviour of cats cleverly applied, any form of restraint is virtually always avoided.

What is comfortable and non-challenging for cats (no-surprisingly….) is also more enjoyable for humans…..

One of these feline only clinics is placed just opposite of the Small Animal Clinic (where we also treat some cats….).

Located on the 1st floor of a modern highrise building, just next to a well equipped gym, feline medicine is practiced in a spacious and ultra modern environment.

The consulting rooms have a minimalistic interior design with very little options for a feline escapee to hide (which is why most cats then happily remain on the consulting room table).

There are large windows on both sides of the building to provide good light (providing that the time of the year is offering some….)

…and even the operating theatre is a “room with a view”.

No wonder that this is a “Gold Standard” Cat Friendly Practice and even among the veterinary team the shifts at the cat clinic are extremely popular.

Who would have thought of this line of veterinary service provision just 20-30 years ago ?

With cats now overtaking dogs as more suitable companions for an urban lifestyle, prepare yourself that this will progressively become a common sight in the 21st century.

It is 7:30 in the morning and following a typical Norwegian breakfast with cooked coffee, caramelised goats cheese and polar bread, I am starting the first day at my newest place of work – the Anicura Small Animal Clinic in Tromsø.

The clinic is located just opposite of the local police station and right next to the fire brigade – so what possibly can go wrong ?…….

The building used to house for several decades a leather factory that was working “with the skins of domestic animals (let’s assume that this was limited to farm animals….), seals and wolffish (!)”. When the leather trade dried up and the property stood vacant, the ground floor was transformed into a spacious small animal clinic.

So high up in the North, with extremely low temperatures and a couple of months without any sun light at all, one might wonder what dogs other than Huskies people might keep here and what the usual work load of the clinic might be.

Of course there are quite a few of these guys around, but as the Husky up here is more a working dog rather than a pet, not a lot of them are coming through the doors of the clinic. This has partially commercial reasons as it might not be economically feasable to take out pet insurance for a place with up to 200 sledge dogs (as above) and partially this is due to the skills of the mushers who are able to treat a lot of conditions themselves.

No so though when it comes to Ceasarian sections where – as in veterinary clinics around the Globe – the delivery of a new litter of puppies is always a happy occasion.

The majority of canine patients at the clinic are actually very similar to that of urban clinics in the UK or in Germany.

Here as well French Bulldogs and Staffordshire Bullterriers are a very common sight in the waiting room and – to my great surprise – a large number of toy breeds like Chihuahuas, Papillons and even the odd Corgie.

As similar as the dog breeds are to those in the UK, are also the conditions we are treating . There is the occasional bit wound to attend to or a more challenging road traffic accident injury. With more dogs being outside in the summer, there are a number of eye injuries but a considerably lower incident of skin conditions as both the extreme climate as well as the Scandinavian interior building designs make the lives of these parasites pretty uncomforatble.

Compared to my recent workload in Sweden there are far less injuries caused by encounters with the local wildlife. I am still waiting for my first moose attack patient here…..

Whatever the problem is, also here in Tromsø I can rely on an extremely well equipped work place with a super friendly and knowledgable team of colleagues.

Lameness and neurological patients like this friendly Bullterrier with a supected unilateral Trigeminus paresis

can benefit not only from a digital radiography system, but also from a CT underneath the same roof.

MRI scans are arranged on an individual patient basis in the evenings at the local human hospital.

Already on my second day at work I was confronted with a 4 months old Shiba Inu with a fractured frontlimb.

With currently no orthopaedic surgeon working this far North, the owners had the option to get the limb splinted (not a good choice with this typ of fracture) or to fly the dog South to Bergen or to Oslo to get it operated. Thankfully a number of excellent specialists had visited the clinic previously, so that a lot of equipment was in fact on sight and after some hunting around for the necessary hardware, I managed to stabilise the fracture with an External Fixator (a good option with a still growing patient).

For dental procedures there is even a dedicated room with two well equipped tables aided by digital dental radiography (better as at most human dentists).

Finally – when being presented with a cat with a hardly visible foreign body in her cornea, Cecilie (“The Oracle” – as she always knows where everything is……..) one of the excellent head nurses suggested that I might like to make use of the surgical microscope for this case !……

This – I openly admit – was an absolute first for me, but good Lord, what a revelation having this piece of kit at my disposal !……

Following 20 minutes to set everything up, it took 2 minutes to remove the offending object and both the cat as well as the vet where much happier….

To sum it up – not the worst place to work at………

But just hang on a moment – I just realise that we have hardly spoken about cat !………

So what is so special with Tromsø ?

Well, first of all it has to do with its location:

At nearly 70 degrees Northern latitude, the city is placed well within the Arctic Circle and with at least a couple of days solid driving needed to reach it from Norway’s Captitel Oslo, one might assume that the place is pretty remote and cold.

That is on both accounts only partially true.

Basically a small island being wedged between the Norwegian mainland in the East and a chain of larger islands in the West, Tromsø is very much sheltered from the extremes of the weather of the North Atlantic but at the same time it is benefiting from the warmer water of the Gulf Stream.

Even in the harshest winters the Sea is never frozen and the city can always be reached by boats, but more readily by its airport. The high alpine vegetation here meets directly the Sea with the tree line running just above the water level. Imagine Kitzbühel right next to the Cornish Coast just with the difference that the water temperature here rarely ventures above 15 C…..

Being the gateway to the Arctic Sea, Tromsø has been the base for North Atlantic fishing, for seal and whale hunting and for numerous expeditions to Svalbard and to the Polar regions. Even in the eyes of the Norwegians, Tromsø has for centuries been a place for pioneers and for adventurers.

Another thing that makes Tromsø stand out is the – at least for Norwegian standards – excellent provision with bars and good restaurants and the rich cultural scene.

A driving factor for the local hospitality industry has undoubtedly been Mack, the World’s most Northern (industrial) brewery, which – based right in the town center – is producting excellent beers with some impressive names…..

In addition to this the island of Tromsø has by far the highest density of polar bears in continental Europe, with the slight caviate, that all of them have expired long ago, but are still found well preserved in every second shop, in bars or in the entrance halls of public buildings.

According to the locals there was many years ago also a sizeable population of polar bear cups on the island, which were frequently brought back by seal hunters from their trips into the Polar Ice and then as an extra source of income sold on to zoos and private collectors.

However, the probably main draw that is bringing every year thousands of tourists to Tromsø is neither the beer, the bears or the restaurants, but the light.

From the middle of May until the middle of July you can enjoy here the Midnight sun, which is circling above your head and then failing to set in the North.

In the winter Tromsø is one of the few places where in relative comfort you will have a good chance to see the Northern lights providing that you have a clear sky.

So all together a lot of good reasons not only to go there, but to stay for a short while and to work there!

It is 2 o’clock in the morning and while the sun is about to rise on the East coast of Sweden, I am being attacked by the garden robot of my colleague Gunnat Schöbel who very kindly had allowed me to pitch my tent underneath one of his apple trees…..

Since leaving London I have been swimming in a kanal in Friesia, I witnessed a horse race on the bottom of the North Sea, I had breakfast with a cappuccino made by one of my favorite barristas in the medieval town of Lübeck,

I had been introduced to the benfits of nightvision cameras to trace the whereabouts of your cat and I finally caught up with a Polish friend I had never met in person.

With other words: I had traveled over 2000 kms

and I still had a similar distance ahead of me……

Yes, I have been on the move again with my services this time required in the town with the world’s most Northern industrial brewery and the home of both the Arctic Cathedral and the Polar Museum – Tromsø !

From Surrey to here, there are – with a few detours on the way – just under 4000 km to cover, which means that it would have been shorter to drive to Athens or to Marrakech.

Having successfully discouraged the agressive lawn mover from chewing up my tent, I managed to squeeze in a few more hours of sleep before having breakfast with Gunnar and continuing on my journey to Sundsvall – my next stop.

Here I not only renewed my aquaintances with the hard working team of the emergency clinic, I also saw the disposal of the Swedish women’s fotball team by the hands of their English counterparts. Following this result I decided as a matter of precaution to park my right hand driven car for that night a bit more out of sight…..

I then headed North-West and called on a colleague who not only runs her own clinic, but who also owns just short of fifty Alaskan Huskies (Mia preferred to stay in the car during this visit…) , before I was crossing in the middle of the hardly appreciatable night the border to Norway, where a kind lady from Latvia offered us a room in a mountain cabin.

Not quite in line with the usual climate pattern the weather improved considerable as soon as I ventured into Norway (being on the Western fringe of Europe, the Norwegian mountains tend to have more rainfall than the Swedish side).

Passing Mo-i-Rana and Saltfjellet, I crossed the Arctic Cirlce

and here I couldn’t resist the temptation to try for a change a wrap with smoked reindeer meat (sorry Rudolph…..) – it was excellent !!

There was not much point to travel too fast I thought while there was a clear blue sky above me and once I had reached the Nordland region, it was time to stop for some hours on the beach of a mountain lake

before enjoying the scenery of an alpine plateau far away from the main road….

While looking out of my tent I was wondering : “ Who needs to go to Yosemite if we have mountains like these just on our doorstep (nearly) in Europe”. These thoughts didn’t last very long though before they were disrupted by my hungry companion……

The journey carried on and after a a few more kilometers the Lofoten island chain came into view …..

These magical islands are worth a journey like this on their own, both in the summer at the time of the Midnight Sun as well as in the winter to see the Northern Lights.

Not for me though as once I had driven through Narvik, I had to cover another 240 km (with more beautiful scenery) before finally reaching Tromsø – my home for the next 4 weeks!

My intermezzo with the friendly team in Aberdeen was ( as planned) just a short one, but it provided me with the opportunity to fit in a few days of hiking in one of Britain’s finest mountain ranges – the Cairngorms.

Not even an hour’s drive away and I was surrounded by rolling green hills, by streams and waterfalls and the ever present sounds of herring gulls was replaced by that of oystercatchers, curlews and terns.

My companion on the trip to the mountains was my colleague Sean Wensley – or better the audio book version of his impressive literary debut “Through a Vet’s Eyes” where he is juxtapositioning the keeping of domestic animals in the 21st century with his own ornithological observations. A not surprising, but still very sobering account with a lot of graphic detail. As brilliantly written and as important as this book is, I have to admit that is one of these volumes that I can only get through in the form of individual chapters with a fair amount of breaks inbetween.

….and these you get enough of by just following the river Dee west.

Similar to the countyside in Wales, I consider the Cairngorms – compared to their much larger Scandinavian and Alpine cousins – as very forgiving mountains, allowing for shortcuts if you have veered off the track without running too much of a risk of falling off a sheer mountain side …..

Of course you have to be prepared for midges and a fair amount of rain , but after all, this is Northern Europe.

On my way towards Glasgow I had to treat myself not only to a visit of probably Her Majesty’s favourite residence,

but also to the great British institution called “Cream Tea” , admittedly without the company of the land lady……

To finish this first veterinary adventure in style, I paid a visit to the beef farm of my famous Scottish colleague Freda Scott-Park and her husband David in a unreal setting at the shores of Loch Lomond.

When driving onto the farm yard, I was presented with a case that made me once again appreciate the decision I made many years ago to stick to treating just companion animals ……

800+ kg of distressed bovine muscles combined with 30 kg of solid steal gate can ruin your health or even finish your life in a matter of seconds if you are taking the wrong decision with such a patient. I was grateful that a far more skilled colleague from Glasgow Vet School resolved this problem with the help of a decent sedation.

This left us with enough time for an unforgetable dinner on an island of the lake as a lasting memory of Scotland .

From the “Stone City” to the “Granite City” and from timber to oil – it was time again to pack my bag and to try out a new place (actually the first of a few new places I have planned this year….).

To make a start I contacted my agent and suggest to give Scotland a go, especially as I had virtually never been there despite living on these Isles for nearly three decades….

Sure enough, there was an opening in the far North East, in Bridge of Don in Aberdeenshire. This was perfect for me as the Cairngorms are in easy reach from there and I was looking forward to explore the famous coastline up there.

A couple of weeks later the car was packed and together with a somewhat reluctant Vizsla I crossed into the “very best of Scotland”….

Aberdeen didn’t strike me as the most inviting place at first, but there was no doubt that the people of this habour city loved their pets as much as anywhere else on the island.

Unlike in Sundsvalls the city’s forefathers didn’t need a number of catastrophic fires to find out that stone and in this case granite was a pretty durable (and less ignitable ….) sort of building material and it is estimated that more than half of all buildings were constructed with granite from the city’s own Rubislaw Quarry, leaving Europe’s biggest man-made hole with a depth of 142 m and a diameter of only 120 m. The quarry is now closed and filled with water.

My accommodation in one of these solid buildings was excellent

although it failed to impress my four-legged companion ……

Something that was more to the delight of a canine heart was the 20 km long, virtually endless beach in the North of the city,

inviting to extensive evening runs.

On the next day there was a warm welcome by the local veterinary team

and I was pleasantly surprised that I not only managed to understand the local dialect pretty well, but that the clinic used the same management software on their computers as we did in Virginia Water. Although I hadn’t worked with this system for over a year now, it didn’t take me long to pick up where I left.

Also Mia seemed to be a happy bunny, settling in as an additional member of the reception team, despite that fact that her bed here was designed for a currently holidaying Miniature Schnauzer…..

The clients were once again wonderful and it helped a lot to be supported by a very professional nursing team – there were many happy memories of my own team in Surrey…..

However, every clinic and every location has its very own characteristics and being in a city that is generating most of its income from North Sea oil and gas, notices like this were not uncommon in patients’ files:

My work in Aberdeen was a nice mix of consultations and of operations which included some dental work.

I was grateful that the clinic featured a state of the art dental radiography system for this and that the team went to great length to provide high quality images.

The importance of this was highlighted when a small dog with some missing teeth and a completely unrelated problem turned out to have a number of retained (and probably very painful) roots and fractured teeth, even if this subsequently impacted severely on the duration of my lunch break that day….

Aberdeenshire might not be the sunniest place of the UK, but the long days in the summer left me with plenty of time to explore the nearby coast after work and within only a few minutes of driving a day could be finished with some dramatic scenery.

As enjoyable as my time was in the city of granite and oil, this time my stay was only a short one and at the end of the week the nearby mountains were calling……

It pays getting up early in the morning to explore one of Europe’s most magical cities. Even more so if it is a bright Sunday morning and your means of transport are your somewhat worn but trusted running shoes….

Setting off at the impressive fortifications of Vysehrad at the South of Prague, the road is decending gently to the East shore of the Vltava river. A slight downhill slope – I think – always makes a great start to a scenic run, as it gives the body an opportunity to wake up and to adjust to the running routine, especially in the morning.

Vysegrad gives a commanding view over both the river and the surrounding hills

and in the cemetery of the Basilica of St.Peter and St.Paul rest the remains of great Czech composers like Dvorak and Smetana. The latter immortalised the river below with his famous symphonic poem “Vltava” (The Moldau).

The river continues to be busy with nummerous restaurant boats taking visitors from all over the world up and down the stream, enjoying classical music and Bohemian culinary delights while passing underneath its famous bridges.

None more so than the Charles Bridge with its impressive towers and its alley of 30 statutes. Until 1841 it was the only crossing between the Prague Castle and the Old Town and one of the most important bridges connecting Eastern and Western Europe.

With the bridge continuing to be arguably the center of tourism in Prague, it is also a great platform for political statements – something that can be seen in many places in the city at the moment….

Continuing my run along the Eastern shore of the Vltava, I am coming across an instalation that is absolutely no-Czech, however such is the draw of this city that music of all composers and works of artist from all over the world appear to have made it their second home.

Leaving Salvador Dali’s unicorn (admittedly with not much of a horn left…) and the sleeping beauty at its feet behind me, the river is now starting to turn towards the East and at the Stefanikov bridge I decide to leave the Vltava to return to the starting point of my run through the still sleepy Old Town.

The Art Noveau fassade of the Czech National Bank

standing in direct juxtaposition to the 15th century Powder Tower , not only offers another photo opportunity, but it is also a symbol how different architectual styles and periods are coexisting peacefully here in a unique composition.

No question that I am not far from the old Jewish Quarter when I am passing another Golem….

and a few moments later I am running past “ Prague Crossroads” , a Church now converted into an art centre

where Czechia’s famous Poet-President Vaclav Havel is fondly remembered.

Before hitting the 10 km mark , I am coming across the evidence of another “Art Tourist” more frequently seen on these shores

and I can’t supress the feeling that Antony Gormley must have brought his influence to bear here as well……

With a sharpe shooting “Godmother” in hot pursuit…

I am then paying the price for the altitude loss at the beginning of my morning outing, when a sheer endless number of steps right at the end of my run force lactic acid into my thighs and make me crave for a shower and a well deserved breakfast.

What would make for a convincing title for a cold war thriller by the likes of John le Carré, had a far less sinister but still quite entertaining back ground:

With the help of a corporate sponsor, we had managed to invite a group of ten veterinary students from different European countries to Prague to enjoy together with us our 27th FECAVA EuroCongress, which after a year’s delay was now finally happening as a physical event.

With the welcoming of the students being part of the opening ceremony, I suddenly found myself confronted with the task to transform it from a mere agenda item to a truly memorable event for both the students and for us the organisers. (For some unexplainable reason these challenges always seem to land on my doorstep…..)

To solve this problem, I had a couple of hours time and I had to find a solution that was not stretching the already very tight conference budget much further. A non-controversial, positive and eye-catching souvenir from Prague or from Czechia was asked for, which the students could take home and enjoy even after the event.

Rated as typical Czech souvenirs I found :

• Czech beer – Certainly world famous, but not everyone is a beer drinker and with a group of thirsty students unlikely to even survive for the duration of the conference…..
• Glas ware – Yes nice…..but lacking the fun part and probably unlikely to make it in one piece back home (before then being passed on to a grateful granny….)

• A Golem – This mystical creature, conjured out of clay of the Vltava River in the late 16th Century to protect Prague’s Jewish community is certainly a very typical souvenir for the Czech capital, but possibly a bit too gloomy and lacking the positive take home message required.

….and so entered Krtek !…..

“…and who the hell is “Krtek” ?”, some of you might ask, while all the others might have to dig deep into their own childhood memories…..

Krtek, or the “Little Mole”, is a very benign cartoon character created in 1956 by the Czech Animator Zdenek Miler. This always busy, always curious and adventurous and never really talking little creature was arguably the star of the incredible successful Czech children TV productions, that with other protagonists like Pan Tau or Spejbl and Hurvinek managed – despite the harsh political realities in the 1950-1980th – to cross the Iron Curtain to entertain and to educate children (and their parents) in a non-confrontational way all over the world. (Not sure if the same can be said of today’s popular cartoon characters like ‘the Simpsons”…..).

With other words: Krtek was the perfect present for our guests.

Investing 20 CZK (= £ 0.69 (!)) in a Metro ticket, I found myself a few minutes later in the center of the old town, scanning the countless souvenir shops for “my perfect mole”.

Eventually, I spotted one – sizable and in form of a puppet – in a tiny shop not far from the world famous Charles Bridge. The shopkeeper, a lively Bulgarian lady, was happy to sell me the puppet at a good price, until I mentioned that I would need nine more ……….

My opposite hesitated, then replied to me with just so slightly dilated pupilles……

“Oh my God !….. nine more ?!” – “Yes!”

“By when ?” – “Now.”

“Oh my God !….not possible……wait……yes, it will be possible !……”

What then followed is hard to describe…….

First of all, three more moles were mustered from storage at the rear of the shop. Next the whole shop was closed and I was taken on a walking tour of each individual souvenir shop in the neighborhood to source more of the same subterranean toys, with a final yield of ………zero!

However, by now I was so impressed by the sheer determination of this lady to help me in my task, that we agreed that I would take with me the four moles that were already available now and that she would organise six more for me by noon the following day.

Pretty pleased with my decision and laden with my initial purchases, I returned in time for my next meetings to the conference center, when I ran into my Ukrainian colleague Vlad Ushakov with his wife and their young son….This automatically reduced my tally again from four to three moles…..

The next day came and skipping my lunch break, I found myself again in the Metro heading North towards the old town.

Already waiting for me – as promised – were another six boxes with the desired content. However, imagine the face of the shop keeper when I cautiously indicated that I was still one mole short…….

Well, what followed was a repeat of the guided tour through the neighborhood, but thankfully this time with far more luck, as the news seemingly had got around that mole puppets were suddenly in high demand and some of the other shop keepers had immediately stocked up with them …….

Finally with another seven moles in bags and fortified by an emergency coffee break in one of Prague’s beautiful outdoor cafes

I left for the presentation with a couple of hours to spare….

As it turned out not only a single mole is pretty photogenic,

but a whole row of ten is quite a sight

and they eventually made for a great start for our forthcoming colleagues at their first international conference – with hopefully many more for them to come in the future.

Lets hope that the virtues of the “Little Mole” – digging deep, working hard, being curious to see new things and to learn new techniques, but also to take some risks will guide them through their forthcoming profession lives.

The next stop on my itinerary was a return to Slovenia and to be more precise to the beautiful capital of Ljubljana.

EERVC, the Eastern European Regional Veterinary Conference is the brain child of my Serbian colleague Denis Novak. After having enjoyed part of his training in England and now running the most renowned veterinary clinic in Belgrade, Denis pretty much single handedly redefined continuing education especially for young veterinarians in large parts of Eastern Europe.

Traditionally post graduate education had been a remit of the universities, but that limited the access to new trends in small animal medicine as these institutions often remain very focused on farming animals.

EERVC took a very different approach – starting as a cooperation between the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) and leading veterinarians especially from the Balkan countries, the conference is delivery cutting edge knowledge and speakers, but this at a fraction of the cost of similar events in Northern Europe, because of the much cheaper venues and general cost of living.

For years, at least until COVID, regardless if it took place in Bukarest, in Zagreb or in Thessaloniki (see my blog post in 2019) , EERVC had been a solid entry in my diary.

Even more so this time, as I had the honor of chairing the neurology presentations of Elsa Beltran, one of Europe’s best veterinary lecturers and a magnet for veterinarians and for veterinary students where ever she goes.

This has to no small degree to do with the fact that Elsa is able to make a very complex area of medicine look so simple and logical. She is achieving this with interactive illustrations which are taking her hours to put together and which are then devoured by her listeners within seconds (and unfortunately due to the sheer amount of information to a large degree again forgotten….). Still – what a pleasure enjoying CPD delivered like this…

The conference was – after 2 years of COVID restrictions – also the first truly international event for me and for most of us one of the first opportunity to meet again with a lot of colleagues from other countries and to enjoy together the – by now obligatory – Saturday evening party with Perpetuum Mobile from Belgrade.

Next year EERVC will be in Greece again – my place is already reserved.

The car was swerving slightly as we were speeding around a corner just before the worn suspension was hitting another pothole…..

I leaned back into one of the rear seats having long ago resigned myself to fate and to the driving skills of Lea Kreszinger, my friend and colleague from Zagreb. With us in the car was Siraya Chunekamrai from Thailand, the current President of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association who was busy touring Europe.

Over the last few days we had visited Split on the Dalmatian Coast and got lost in the forests of the Plitvice National Park on a whistle stop tour of Croatia.

I considered myself very lucky not only for leaving the driving to Lea, but also for the opportunity to spend a few days together with these two remarkable colleagues who I hadn’t seen for over 2 years, other than as interviewees at FECAVA VetChat.

Our destination today was the vet school of Zagreb where Lea had arranged a tour of the clinical departments and our journey was just interrupted by a brief visit at the Macola road side restaurant

which is famous in Croatia not only for good local food and its somewhat eccentric owner, but also for the largest collection of stuffed local bears which would easily rival that of the National History Museum (but don’t worry – there are still a lot of them remaining in the mountains of the former Yugoslavia….).

Still with time to spare we arrive at the faculty where we were greeted by the senior lecturers of the internal medicine department.

What followed was a detailed tour of the surgical, the reproductive and the internal medicine clinics of the university.

Dividing the case load like this is dating back to the teaching of veterinary medicine during the Habsburg Empire and the system can also be found at the vet schools of Munich and Vienna. While being suitable for the treatment of Human patients, this system in a veterinary context is requiring a more complex housing of patients (all species under one roof) and a fair amount of running for the emergency vets who have to attend to patients of the same species but in different buildings.

The alternative to this are species specific clinics – something I am more familiar with from my own Alma Mater in Hanover and from the British vet schools.

The facilities we were shown were spacious and although housed in some older (in fact listed) buildings, they were surprisingly modern, organised and they provided a great environment for both students and clinical staff to attend to their patients.

Like many other vet schools these days, Zagreb too is trying to improve their funding by providing a English spoken course for paying students from abroad. Considering the location of Croatia in Europe and having enjoyed the restaurants and the nightlife of Zagreb myself in the past, I could think of a few worse places to study veterinary medicine….

As always with visits like this I came across a pretty clever idea with a practical application for day to day companion animal practice – an inventive soul had constructed an ultrasound table out of a steel frame and a mesh of car safety belts to allow cardiac ultrasonography.

The norm is a plank of wood or thick plastic with a cut out triangle with the inherent problem that very small patients might fall through it…..

This alternative design struck me as rather ingenious and I might consider now raiding the local scrap yard for old safety belts.

Our visit concluded with an inspiring exchange of ideas over coffee and chocolates before the road was taking us to another veterinary institution…..