Spanish FECAVA Travel Scholarship winners visit Belgium

20 February 2017

Frida Quintano and Marisa Suárez recently travelled to Belgium on the first leg of the FECAVA Travel Scholarship.

The Spanish vets visited Bieke Lannoy and Koen De Bleecker in Brakel with the aim of learning more about the veterinary world in Belgium.

The first morning was spent at Bieke’s practice watching consultations and sharing knowledge and expertise.  During the afternoon, Beike took Frida and Marisa to a local animal shelter and carried out some canine physiotherapy sessions.  In the evening, the vets attended a charity music concert for a Gambian project the Belgian vets are involved with.

The next day was spent sightseeing and eating typical Belgian food (mussels) in Bruges.

Monday was spent at the Ghent Veterinary School where the vets were taken on a tour of the facilities including the hospital, operating theatres and museum.

After lunch and more sightseeing, the vets headed for Brussels to attend to a VSF (Vets Without Frontiers) meeting at the European Parliament. The group found the meeting very interesting.

The last day was spent consulting back at Bieke’s practice. The vets exchanged experiences and advice on how to deal with difficult clients and during the afternoon, the vets visited a canine sport dogs training centre.

Marisa has fond memories of her time in Brackel: “We enjoyed nice sightseeing, interesting meetings and visits and had a nice time with our Belgian colleagues with whom we have been able to share great talks. Frida and I are looking forward to their travel to Northern Spain for the second part of the scholarship.”