A room with a zoo…

It is not often that a veterinary conference is held in a “room with a zoo”.

The 30th Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA) EuroCongress did just that, at the Elisabeth Center Antwerp in the heart of the Belgian city, right next to okapis (the signature animal of Zoo Antwerpen’s collection), lions and chimpanzees.

Delegates from all over the continent were treated to four days of meetings, workshops and lectures, which were all conducted in English, aside from one lecturing stream in German.

The FECAVA EuroCongress is an annual event in always-changing locations, often combined with the national companion animal veterinary congress of the hosting country.

Across borders

Going by the attendance figures, EuroCongress is the only event in Europe that appears to be equally attractive to veterinarians from the English speaking world, from Eastern Europe, from the Baltic states and the Nordic countries as well as from the Mediterranean.

The congress offers an opportunity for face-to-face networking across borders and the discovery of new treatment and management modalities, which might be less common within national boundaries.

This year’s event was organised by newly elected FECAVA president Ann Criel and her team of supporters, and the scientific programme was put together by Denis Nowak, the leading figure behind the very successful Eastern European Regional Veterinary Conference.

Several parallel lecturing streams in the very fittingly named Gorilla and Okapi halls were dedicated to subjects as diverse as soft tissue surgery, dentistry, feline medicine, sustainability, dog breeding and general reproduction, and recent developments in laboratory diagnostics.

There was a fair amount of lectures exclusively for veterinary nurses, as well as presentations catering for the interests of both veterinary nurses and vets.

Double acts

Definite highlights were the mostly unscripted double acts of Paulo Steagall with Ana Nemec, Kris Gommeren and Holger Volk, where the knowledge and practical skills of one of the world foremost anaesthetists and co-author of the WSAVA Pain Management Guidelines was pitched against the practical experiences and personal preferences of opinion leaders in veterinary dentistry, emergency and critical care, and neurology, based on practical case scenarios. It included the, at times, lively involvement of the audience in the fully packed conference rooms.

A format to be repeated

The event was rounded off with a well-attended party night in one of Antwerp’s numerous Art Nouveau-style restaurants, with music and dancing lasting into the early hours of the morning. That the lectures started an hour later the next morning was appreciated by most party goers.

Next year’s FECAVA EuroCongress will move from Antwerp to Warsaw on 13 to 15 October, and as the 31st FECAVA EuroCongress will then be combined with the 51st WSAVA Congress, delegates can be assured of an even broader scientific programme and an even richer gathering of delegates and exhibitors from all over the globe.

Earmarking the dates in your diary soon might be a good idea.

• This article appeared in Vet Times (2025), Volume 55, Issue 49, Page 8