This year saw 3,300 vets and nurses attend the third London Vet Show and it was another roaring success!  This year the show moved halls in London Olympia to accommodate even more exhibitors and delegates.  Speaking to delegates and exhibitors alike they all liked the new venue as it kept everything on the same floor and meant you could flow seamlessly from lectures to trade stands.

I attended the London Vet Show last year and was thoroughly impressed with the quality and relevance of the lecture streams and this year was no exception.  London Vet Show is starting to earn a reputation for practical, affordable CPD and that is certainly very true for exotic lovers.  This year lectures such as “Cluck Cluck – treating the pet chicken” and “Rabbit dentistry” were just a few of the exotic lectures to go along with those given by the excellent Simon Girling.

If like me exotics aren’t your thing though there was still more than enough to keep your grey matter learning.  Dr Arthur House gave several imaginatively named lectures including “Smelly knickers in unusual places – managing intestinal foreign bodies” which gave practical advice on yes you’ve guessed it... intestinal foreign bodies.  There were also several imaging lectures, which although they’re no substitute for hands on experience still gave a very useful refresher for interpreting radiographs as well as opening my eyes to the power of CT! 

All the lectures I went to would have benefited everyone from recent graduates right up to older clinicians who needed a bit of a refresher.  If you’re at the cutting edge of your discipline though and looking for research biased CPD then this probably isn’t the event for you and you would be better off sticking to BSAVA.  For the vet in practice though I think you’ll struggle to find more practical CPD for the price of a ticket to London Vet Show.

There isn’t time to cover every lecture but I would encourage anyone thinking of going to pester their boss for next year.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to attend the party at Chelsea football ground on Thursday night but I did hear good reports and just catching up with friends in lectures still makes it a fantastic social occasion. 

Everyone I spoke to was positive about the event although the popularity of some lectures even took the organisers by surprise with delegates being unable to squeeze in to one or two of the lecture theatres.  The organisers however have already acted to ensure next year’s show will have yet more room with some of the lectures moving into the adjacent hall.  This should also address one of my few complaints of last year’s show that the lecture theatres were a bit noisy as the new lecture theatres will be divided from the trade stands by a solid wall and hopefully make room for some larger chairs!

So overall another excellent London Vet Show and next year promises to be even better.  The London Vet show was advertised as “Big on quality.  Small on price.” And I think it’s fair to say that was exactly what it was.