Looking backwards and forwards: What a year

This year has seen unprecedented changes across society, and the small animal veterinary profession. 2020 has brought challenges and experiences that no vets could have anticipated in their wildest dreams. The small animal profession has responded and adapted rapidly, enabling vets and their teams to ensure that pets have received the essential care that they needed. We still face a backlog of routine work, the conundrum of how to return to more normal ways of working and the frustrations of missing the benefits of face to face education. The silver lining is the development by the CPD suppliers of remote delivery of education, enabling those in remote locations or with family and caring commitments to fully participate in learning experiences. Companion Animal has always strived to ensure that it supplies high-quality, relevant educational material and we will continue to do so as we move into the next phase of practice.

As the year comes to a close, we have been looking back over the articles Companion Animal has published this year. A few that have stood out are those that discussed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on companion animals: dogs (10.12968/coan.2020.0032), cats (10.12968/coan.2020.0036), equines, parrots, birds and rabbits (10.12968/coan.2020.0037). The trio of articles by Clare Hargrave not only drew attention to how pets would be affected by the restrictions and changes imposed on their human carers, but will have led to vets and practices reflecting on an aspect of animal health and wellbeing that can often come in second place to their physical health (usually the reason the client has brought their animal to the vet in the first place). Another popular article was ‘How do I know if this tortoise is dead?’, by Sarah Brown (10.12968/coan.2020.0023), highlighting the ways in which we can ensure best practice for tortoises and their owners.