About
Maintaining good hydration is critical for health. While most cats self-regulate their water consumption effectively, there are many situations where it’s beneficial to be proactive and promote water intake.

This Purina Institute symposium delves into the science of hydration and discusses various conditions where good hydration can play a role in management. The talks cover different ways to encourage water intake in cats, including the novel approach of using nutrient-enriched ‘water supplements’. Participants can learn more about this new approach and see the latest data from Purina’s scientific investigations.

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Agenda
  • Understand more about feline preferences and other factors that affect voluntary fluid intake
  • Find out how to encourage cats to drink more using simple feeding strategies and changing how water is offered
  • Learn about monitoring feline hydration via hydration indices
  • Discover more about the impact of poor hydration in relation to specific conditions such as feline lower urinary tract issues
  • Review the latest scientific studies that form the evidence base for hydration strategies and explore the role of nutrient-enriched water
Presenters
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Dr Andy Sparkes BVetMed, PhD, DipECVIM, MANZCVS, MRCVS
Independent Consultant
Andy has worked as a feline-only vet since 1987 and trained as a specialist at the University of Bristol. He is a popular speaker and internationally recognised as one of only thirteen specialists in feline medicine working in the UK. He has published widely in international journals and is founding editor of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.
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Dr Sarah Caney BVSc PhD DSAM(Feline) MRCVS
Feline Medicine Specialist
Sarah Caney is Chief Executive and Founder of Vet Professionals Limited (www.vetprofessionals.com). Sarah has worked as a feline-only vet since 1994. She is a University of Bristol graduate and also completed her feline medicine residency and PhD (studying feline immunodeficiency virus infection) at this institution. Sarah spent four years as a lecturer in feline medicine before leaving to pursue a career in private practice. Sarah has always enjoyed seeing a mixture of first opinion and referral feline medicine patients and has a particular interest in elderly cat medicine. Sarah is internationally recognised as one of only thirteen veterinary specialists in feline medicine working in the UK.
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Dr Brian Zanghi PhD
Research Nutritionist
Dr. Brian Zanghi joined Purina in 2005, where he currently serves as a senior research nutritionist in the Molecular Nutrition Group at the Nestlé Research Center in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a doctorate degree in canine nutritional physiology from the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 2004. He continued his training at the University of Kentucky as a postdoctoral research scientist working on nutrient metabolism in aging animals. Dr. Zanghi has been studying canine and feline nutrition in the areas of body composition, sleep, cognition, behaviour, and hydration to better understand how nutrition can help maintain overall health in adult and older pets. Dr. Zanghi has written several peer reviewed publications in these areas.
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Dr Libby Sheridan MVB MRCVS
Purina® Veterinary Technical Affairs Manager, UK & Ireland
Libby graduated from Dublin vet school and after 10 years working in mixed and small animal practice, she entered industry working in pet nutrition. She then set up and ran her own company Mojo Consultancy, specialising in technical communications, PR and project management, before joining Purina Petcare in 2018 as Technical Affairs Manager for the UK & Ireland.