This particular event has now been running for six years and has grown rapidly. This year it was attended by 3,500 vets and veterinary nurses, had over 350 trade stands and six streams of lecture content and practical workshops.

My wife, also a vet, was working on a trade stand for a Veterinary Imaging and Telemedicine company she works for and Karen's husband, who is one of only a handful of veterinary equine dental specialists, had his own stand in the exhibition detailing his services and introducing his expertise to the equine vets attending.

The exhibition covers all manner of things veterinary; farm, equine and domesticated pets, drug companies, food companies, animal behaviourists, diagnostic and practice equipment… as well as pet toys! The list is endless but I did some research into a novel type of anaesthetic gas tube we will start to use for rabbits and cats to try and improve their anaesthesia and recovery as well as some novel drugs.

The lecture stream for 2015 was good including a hugely entertaining US speaker who is an expert on respiratory disease and was very practical and a joy to listen to. Up-dates on diabetes and thyroid disease in cats, skin disease, and ultrasonography lectures were others I attended.

Away from the vet show itself we enjoyed a meal on the first evening at a family run Italian for the company my wife works for, a beer at lunchtime with two of my veterinary school classmates I rarely see these days, and by pure coincidence my wife's brother, who was on a business trip from Singapore and in the area, enabled us to catch up for a Chinese in Chinatown on the other free evening.

It was a great couple of days with some new ideas and knowledge on my return to general practice at Hillside - the phrase 'work hard play hard' springs to mind. The trip home from central London at 6pm on a Friday evening reminds me, whilst great for a visit, life in suburban Dorset suits me better!

Keith Moore  BVSc MRCVS