vetprac

Small Animal Respiratory Disease & Coughing

6 months of access to all recordings
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Flexible CPD whenever you want it
CPD value: 10 points
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Certificate on completion
Small Animal Respiratory Diseases and Coughing

Developed by popular demand, The GP Vet’s Roadmap to Respiratory Cases – you asked, we deliver.

Respiratory cases are a common challenge in daily practice. They are multifactorial with complex physiology and include a huge range of presentations. One simple cough can lead to a long list of differentials, and just like that you are knee deep in diagnostics. We want to cut through the noise and make respiratory medicine a little clearer.

Welcome to our Respiratory Disease & Coughing series.

Over five weeks, learn how to optimise your exams, localise lesions, pick the right tests, interpret the noises, and build plans that work in reality. From the nasopharynx to the pleural space, we will journey through the whole respiratory tract, breaking down the theory and arming you with consult-ready strategies for common scenarios.

All practising vets are welcome. If respiratory cases have ever left you second-guessing or panic-listening into your stethoscope, this one’s for you.

Your roadmap to relief

Despite their complexity, solid frameworks and logical thinking make respiratory cases another fun puzzle to solve in the rewarding challenge of clinical practice.

Turning congestion into clarity

Respiratory cases often feel vague and fuzzy, just like that Retriever’s thoracic rads. From fungal infections and airway collapse to neoplasia and foreign bodies, the list of differentials can feel overwhelming.

Want the good news? You’ve already got everything you need to successfully manage many of these patients. No fancy gear or referral required.

Activate detective mode

Led by Dr Caitlin Mack, small animal medicine specialist and respiratory guru, this interactive series will reboot your love of respiratory medicine. In five interactive sessions:

  • Optimise your history and exam
  • Localise the problem
  • Develop solid differential lists
  • Make smart diagnostic choices
  • Know when to refer, and when you’ve got this
  • Formulate management plans
  • Choose appropriate therapeutics
  • Solidify antimicrobial stewardship principles

Flexible learning for busy clinicians

Fully online, immersive classes help you fit your learning around your work. All you need is your brain and your laptop. We will bring the rest.

If you’re ready to turn congestion into clarity – this is your roadmap.

  • SIX MONTHS OF ACCESS TO ALL MODULES

  • FLEXIBLE CPD WHEN YOU WANT

  • DOWNLOADABLE NOTES

  • CERFITICATE UPON COMPLETION

  • MOBILE FRIENDLY INTERFACE

COURSE FEATURES

Get clear

  • Clinical reasoning
  • Understand history and exam factors that allow disease localisation
  • Common cases: URT, LRT, and the pleural space
  • Formulate solid differential lists
  • Patient-specific diagnostic choices
  • Therapeutics and supportive treatments

 

Revise

  • Anatomy and physiology of the respiratory tract
  • Diagnostic techniques in practice
  • Correlating test results and patient presentation
  • Formulating management plans
  • Respiratory pharmacology: indications, mechanisms and side effects
  • Antimicrobial stewardship

Course Modules

Module 1: Clinical Reasoning in Respiratory Disease

Learn to trust what you know, and what you see. Strong clinical reasoning builds confident decision-making, whatever the case may be. Covering common presentations, we’ll refresh the physiology, then drill down on the clues in your physical exam and history.

  • Coughing
  • Sneezing (both directions!)
  • Wheezing
  • Stertor
  • Stridor
  • Gagging
  • Abnormal respiratory patterns

Module 2: Smart Diagnostics for Lesion Definition

It’s not always easy juggling tricky pathologies, diagnostic tools, and client budgets. Dr Caitlin shows how smart test selection can drive better outcomes. We’ll break down what to choose and when using everyday diagnostics like radiography, TFAST, BAL, TTW, swabs, biopsies, and more. You’ll also learn when it’s time to refer for the big guns like CT and when you’ve got it covered.

Module 3: Nasal and the Upper Respiratory Tract

This isn’t your typical lecture series – it’s a clinical collaboration. Case-based sessions bring concepts to life through real clinical scenarios.

Covering nasopharyngeal and tracheal disease, this module revisits core pathophysiology, connecting it directly to the common cases you see every week, like the GSD with epistaxis, the sneezing cat, or the retching retriever.

Module 4: Lower Respiratory Tract and the Pleural Space

We continue deeper into the airways with lower respiratory tract and pleural space cases, perfect for those emergent tachypnoeic cats and chronically coughing white fluffies. Brush up on bronchitis, pneumonia, neoplasia, and effusions, while considering red herrings like cardiovascular and neuromuscular disease.

Module 5: Therapeutics and Case Management

Now we bring it all together: interpreting diagnostics to formulate the best therapeutic plan possible. We dive into the role of antimicrobials, consider our stewardship, and explore how inhalation and nebulisation therapies revolutionise long-term management.

A VETPRAC COURSE YIELDS TANGIBLE BENEFITS

INVEST

From coughing to CTs, deepen your respiratory knowledge with real-world cases. Join us for 5 sessions for $497.

LEARN

Hone diagnostics interpretation to guide optimal therapy and improve outcomes.

RETURN

Grow your role, expand your impact, and find satisfaction in every case. This course is the kind of CPD that open doors.

Your Educator

Caitlin Mack Educator Profile

Dr Caitlin Mack

Qualifications: BVetBio BVetSc DVetClinSci DACVIM (SAIM) MANZCVS (Small Animal Medicine)

Caitlin is a Small Animal Medicine specialist and Lead Clinician at the University of Queensland Veterinary Teaching Hospital. After graduating from Charles Sturt University in 2014, she worked in mixed practice across Australia and the UK before discovering her passion for small animal medicine during an internship at UQ. She completed her Internal Medicine residency in 2021 and passed her ACVIM exams the same year.

Her clinical interests include medical oncology, hepatic, respiratory, and immune-mediated diseases, as well as clinical reasoning and teaching. She also conducted research on antimicrobial resistance in canine urinary tract infections.

Caitlin lives on a farm near Toowoomba with her husband, two young children, an aging Labrador, two lazy cats, and an unruly herd of beef cows.

CHOOSE YOUR PAYMENT OPTION

ONE-TIME INVESTMENT

$497 AUD

PAYMENT PLAN

x 4 monthly instalments of $134

Your Questions Answered

What is “On Demand”?
We created the On Demand series because you asked us for longer course access. The veterinary industry can throw busy times at us, and we received more and more requests from individuals who needed more time to complete their online courses. We think 6 months is the sweet spot – you have plenty of time to work through your CPD, and we can regularly review and update the content to make sure the course stays relevant. You can revisit the materials as often as you wish.
How and when do I access learning materials?

We use a one-stop learning platform for our web-based courses. It’s intuitive, simple and easy to navigate, and we’ll email login details to you as soon as your purchase is confirmed. You can access notes, recordings and resources any time of day or night via your personalised course library. You don’t have to watch a whole video in one sitting, and you’re in complete control. 

How long is course access open?

You’ll have 24/7 access for the full lifespan of the course on the On-Demand platform, starting from the date of your purchase. Your access begins immediately and remains available for as long as that course stays active on the platform.

We’ve structured access this way because veterinary medicine moves fast, and our goal is to provide up-to-date learning materials to the VetPrac community. Our education team regularly assesses, reviews, and updates each course to ensure we’re offering only current and relevant information.

If a course is scheduled to be removed from the platform, you’ll receive six months notice.

What kind of learning materials are included?

Each course is different but they all include video presentations recorded live during our most popular online courses and webinars. Our educators may provide a variety of other resources, so you can expect images, diagrams, course notes, slide presentations, journal articles, links to further reading, and more.

Is there learning support available?

Of course! We’ll stay in touch with a monthly email to check in with you, and share important information with you. We’ll also remind you when your access is about to finish. If you need a hand (or if you just want to chat) our online learning team is available via email [email protected] or on 0491 943 260.

Are there assessments to complete?

Yes, but they’re not mandatory. At the end of the course there will be multiple-choice questions available through the learning platform. You’ll need to pass these to receive your CPD certificate.

Will I get CPD points and a CPD certificate?

Each registration is worth a specified number of CPD points. Once you complete the quiz questions at the end of the course, a certificate will be generated and emailed to you. The certificate will be issued in the name of the person listed on the registration form.

What happens when time runs out?

At the end of 6 months, your subscription will end. You’ll still be able to log in to your course library, but the On Demand course you’ve completed will disappear from the list of courses available to you. You will receive an email when you are nearing the end of your access period, so you can download any resources you need for future use.

Still have questions? We’ve got answers.
Call
0491943260