Love your liver: Liver disease in dogs and cats (2023)
This veterinary thought exchange online tutored course takes a more detailed look at the investigation and management of liver disease in dogs and cats.
The liver plays a critical role in many biologic processes essential to life. The liver has a remarkable regenerative capacity after significant loss. However, liver diseases associated with fibrosis, inflammation or viral infections impair this regenerative process and liver function deteriorates. Liver enzymes can become increased for many reasons, not always due to primary liver disease. Clinical signs can also be non-specific, which can make diagnosis challenging. We will cover diseases of the liver from acute toxicity to portosystemic shunts.
The course is run by our very own Scott Kilpatrick (EBVS and RCVS Recognised Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine). The course runs over a ten-week period and takes around 12 hours to complete. The course is delivered via video webinars and supplemented with discussion forums and live chats with the course tutor, giving you the opportunity to ask questions or discuss cases you may be facing in your practice.
(Access to this course is for 12 months. If you sign up to the course after the live sessions have run, you will still be able to access the recordings from the live sessions).
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Course Content
- Get the most out of your biochemistry… which enzymes really matter?
- Understand what truly tells us about liver function.
- Ultrasound and FNA… what’s really useful?
- Review the evidence surrounding the treatment of liver disease.
- Understand if there is really a role for steroids and antibiotics.
- Consolidate your understanding of copper and its management.
- Learn the most common infectious diseases to affect the liver.
- Inflammation in the liver… does it really matter?
- When to biopsy and how.
- Cats are not small dogs… and why.
- Review the most common causes of feline liver disease.
- How does treatment differ… cats and dogs?
- How much does the blood tell us… ammonia to bile acids?
- Review the imaging modality of choice.
- Surgical vs medical… what is the best treatment?
- Review the most common drugs that cause liver damage.
- Understand the most common metabolic cause of liver disease.
- What is the best treatment and does the Scottie dog care?
- Understand how various toxins can lead to toxic insult of the liver.
- Learn about how two specific commonly seen toxins (paracetamol and xylitol) affect the liver and how we should treat them.
- Why are cats always different?
- Understand the pathophysiology of hepatic lipidosis.
- Review the best way to diagnose this condition.
- Learn the most up to date treatment options for treating cats with hepatic lipidosis.
- Review the most common disorders of the gallbladder.
- What is gallbladder sludge, and do we need to treat?
- What does the evidence say regarding treatment of gallbladder disease?
- Take away advice from the discussion and apply to your cases in practice.
- We will bring along a few interesting cases too!
Meet the speakers
Scott Kilpatrick
Director, Internal Medicine Specialist