We Never Stop Learning

We at the Scottsdale Cat Clinic are dedicated to continuing education for all our staff. Indeed, we go far beyond the minimum requirements. To remain licensed in Arizona, a veterinarian is required to attend 10 hours of education a year. So far this year, while at the Western Veterinary Conference in Last Vegas in February, Dr. Karnia attended 24 hours of lectures and spent many hours in the exhibit hall learning about new products. Last year, Dr. Karnia earned over 60 hours of education at conferences and webinars. In addition, she reads leading veterinary journals including Journal of American Veterinary Medicine and The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery among others. When she needs a specific answer for a difficult case, she consults the Veterinary Information Networks, a team of experts that answer questions from other vets. It's no stretch to say that Dr. Karnia is a part-time student as well as a doctor. A good veterinarian never leaves school.

At the WVC in Las Vegas, over 6000 veterinarians gather for five days of continuing education on medical, behavioral, and management issues for all types of animals. In the past, the industry skewed toward the treatment of dogs - a frustrating experience for people like Dr. Karnia. But in the last few years, veterinary conferences have increasingly added lectures focused exclusively on feline medicine.

During this conference, Dr. Karnia attended lectures about chronic sinusitis, feline heartworm, kitten behavior, Herpes virus, inflammatory bowel disease, anesthesia, and many other disease processes. At the lecture about feline heartworm disease, vivid pictures showed the damage to the lung tissue due to exposure to the heartworm larva even when the cat's body is able to fight off the worm from forming in the heart. Dr. Karnia also learned a new technique for clicker training to assist with difficult introductions of a new cat to the household.

Our continuing education doesn't stop with Dr. Karnia. The SCC team constantly learns about patient medical care and client care by attending lunch seminars with our product representatives and specialists in various fields, reading journals and veterinary websites, and taking online courses through veterinary education sites. Dr. Karnia also holds staff meetings at least monthly to review information and discuss proper patient and client care. Our team members are also very interested in the individual patients. Dr. Karnia will often discuss test results, treatments and procedures with the staff, ensuring that all our employees are conversant with the medicine we practice.

Our goal is to be the most knowledgeable feline practice and provide high quality medical care for all of our patients. We hope to pass that knowledge along to our clients so they can take the best care of their cat family.