Feline Research Pioneer and Community Vet Honoured at 2026 NSW Centenary Awards

For cat owners and shelter advocates, veterinary medicine is about far more than routine check-ups—it is about protecting vulnerable felines and honouring the quiet, deeply grounding bond between cats and the people who love them.

That commitment took centre stage at the Veterinary Practitioners Board of NSW’s Annual General Meeting in Parramatta on Monday, 9 November, where four standout practitioners received the 2026 Centenary Awards. Marking 100 years since formal veterinary registration began under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1923, the awards recognise leaders advancing One Health, One Welfare, and clinical excellence across the state.

“Being a veterinarian is not simply about what you know clinically. It is also about what you contribute,” said Board President Dr Magdoline Awad. “It is about sharing knowledge, mentoring others, improving animal health and welfare, and leaving the profession and the community a little stronger than you found it.”

While this year's recipients span aquatic biosecurity, equine dentistry, and chronic joint pain, One Welfare Award winner Dr Mark Westman has made a particularly profound impact on the lives of Australian cats—both in the research laboratory and on the streets.

Spotlight: Dr Mark Westman – Saving Shelter Cats & Supporting Vulnerable Owners

Dr Mark Westman, a veterinary microbiologist at the NSW State Veterinary Laboratory and co-founder of the national charity Pets in the Park, was awarded the Centenary One Welfare Award for his landmark feline viral disease research, veterinary education, and grassroots community work.

Transforming FIV and FeLV Outcomes for Australian Cats

For decades, a positive point-of-care test for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) often meant automatic euthanasia for rescue and shelter cats across Australia.

Westman has dedicated much of his scientific career to changing that reality. Having authored more than 20 peer-reviewed papers on feline retroviruses, he serves as chair of the Australian Feline Retrovirus Advisory Panel, where he championed mandatory confirmatory testing guidelines to prevent healthy shelter cats from being unnecessarily euthanased due to false-positive initial results.

Building on that progress, he is currently supporting clinical trials investigating the use of human HIV antiviral medications to treat affected cats—offering new hope for felines living with viral disease.

From Rural Dreams to Street-Level Welfare

Westman’s path into shelter medicine and community welfare began far from a pathology lab. Inspired by James Herriot and childhood holidays on his grandparents’ Wagga Wagga dairy farm, he initially planned to become a rural vet. However, a university talk at the University of Sydney about volunteering with street animals in Bali shifted his trajectory. After graduating in 2003, he spent five formative years with the RSPCA in Sydney, immersing himself in shelter animal welfare.

The spark for Pets in the Park came when a high school friend running a Parramatta soup kitchen mentioned that visitors seeking food relief were also struggling to afford basic care for their companion animals. Westman began heading to the park with vaccines, parasite treatments, and veterinary advice. Alongside co-founders Dr Leah Skelsey, Linda Warlond, and Vicky Cawsey, that grassroots effort grew into a nationwide charity providing free veterinary care to cats and dogs belonging to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Protecting the Human–Animal Bond

“Pets in the Park starts as free vet care, but it gives us unique access into people’s lives to help in other ways,” Westman explains.

He recalls one long-term client—an Iranian refugee who attended clinics for 15 years with his two beloved small terrier crosses. Over the years, the volunteer network rallied well beyond veterinary medicine: a volunteer lawyer assisted with his visa and immigration paperwork, and colleagues helped him secure accommodation in a granny flat at a local veterinary clinic, where he is now exploring casual work.

For Westman, challenging stigma around disadvantaged pet owners remains central to his mission.

“People can be quick to judge and assume that people experiencing homelessness have pets for self-serving reasons or that the animals aren’t well cared for,” he notes. “After almost 15 years with Pets in the Park, I can tell you that our clients absolutely love and adore their animals. They often put their pets’ needs ahead of their own.”

Next on Westman’s agenda is Community Vets—a student-led veterinary hospital model designed to pair hands-on clinical training for vet students with free or low-cost care for disadvantaged pet owners.

“Do what you can with what you have so you can help make your own little sphere of the world a better place,” Westman says. “Small actions can grow into something much bigger.”

Also Honoured at the 2026 Centenary Awards

Left to right: Dr Oliver Liyou (Professional Practice Award), Dr Mark Westman (One Welfare Award), and Dr James Fensham (Early Career Award) at the AGM in Parramatta. Recipient A/Prof Sanaa Zaki (One Health Award) was unable to attend.

Alongside Westman, three other NSW veterinarians were recognised for leadership across clinical practice, research, and biosecurity:

• Associate Professor Sanaa Zaki – One Health Award: Leading the University of Sydney’s One Health Musculoskeletal Research Group, A/Prof Zaki bridges human and animal medicine to tackle osteoarthritis and chronic pain—research with major benefits for senior cats and dogs living with mobility issues. She also develops resilience and self-care curricula for veterinary graduates.
• Dr Oliver Liyou – Professional Practice Award: Based in Northern NSW, Dr Liyou is a pioneer in equine dentistry education through Equine Veterinary & Dental Services (EVDS), opened his South Grafton clinic to house displaced horses during the 2022 floods, and advocates strongly for vet mental health.
• Dr James Fensham – Early Career Award (Inaugural Recipient): Recognised within his first ten years of graduation for his work in commercial aquaculture, focusing on preventive biosecurity, food safety, and responsible antibiotic stewardship.

With more than 5,100 registered veterinarians across NSW, the 2026 Centenary Awards underscore how modern veterinary leadership—from advancing life-saving FIV research to caring for animals on the streets—extends well beyond the consulting room.

For more information, visit the 2026 Centenary Awards.

Hero image: Dr Mark Westman swabbing Mr Woo during feline retrovirus research. Photo: Dr Anne Quain.

Victoria’s Shelter Cats Urgent Christmas Appeal

The $30-a-Day Reality: Why Hundreds of Rescues Need Our Help This Festive Season

As November rolls in and warmer weather settles across the state, animal welfare shelters throughout Victoria are quietly preparing for their most demanding time of the year.

The onset of "kitten season" brings a dramatic spike in feline births, stray arrivals, and surrenders, prompting The Cat Protection Society of Victoria (CPSV) to launch its 2026 Christmas Appeal. The goal is urgent and clear: to secure the funding needed for essential food, warm beds, and life-saving veterinary care for hundreds of vulnerable cats awaiting a second chance.

The Rising Cost of Care

Specialised veterinary treatment and recovery care represent one of the shelter’s most vital operational costs.

Behind the gentle purrs of an adoption room lies a significant operational reality. On average, a rescue cat spends 58 days in shelter care before finding a forever home.

Providing a safe sanctuary, daily nutrition, and standard veterinary checks costs roughly $30 per day, per feline—totalling an average investment of $1,740 for each cat that walks through CPSV’s doors.

During the three months leading up to Christmas last year alone, 420 stray and surrendered cats entered the shelter, and intake figures are projected to climb even higher this season. Across 2025, CPSV poured more than $2.2 million into animal care, enabling the team to reunite or rehome 1,288 cats and kittens.

CPSV Marketing and Communications Manager Rachel Bitzilis emphasizes that community generosity directly underpins these rescue operations.

“Every single contribution translates into immediate, tangible relief for animals that have nowhere else to go,” says Bitzilis. “Behind every cat that finds a family is a network of donors who funded their veterinary recovery, daily nutrition, and safe shelter. These donations keep our doors open to vulnerable felines when they need us most.”

Chops’ Long Road to Recovery

After extensive medical treatment and a year of patience, safe shelter gives rescues like Chops a true second chance.

While healthy young kittens often find homes in days, older cats and injured strays frequently arrive with complex medical and behavioural challenges that require months of patient rehabilitation.

Nobody embodies that reality more than Chops, a sweet-natured tuxedo cat who arrived at CPSV as an unowned stray in dire condition.

• The Condition: Chops arrived suffering from a severely matted coat, a debilitating bout of cat flu, and severe dental disease that made eating excruciatingly painful.
• The Treatment: His recovery required more than $3,000 in veterinary care, including full body grooming, dental extractions, medical treatment for flu, microchipping, and desexing.
• The Rehabilitation: Beyond his physical wounds, Chops was deeply frightened of humans. Over nearly 12 months, dedicated shelter attendants have worked with him daily, helping him shed his fear and reveal his gentle, affectionate personality.

Today, after almost a full year in shelter care, Chops is physically thriving, emotionally restored, and quietly waiting for the patient adopter who will offer him a permanent home.

“Chops embodies the exact reason our Christmas Appeal exists,” Bitzilis explains. “While younger kittens often find homes in days, older rescues and injured strays require significant medical intervention and gentle rehabilitation to rebuild their confidence. We will always stand by cats like Chops, and our donors make that unconditional care a reality.”

How You Can Help

Whether covering a single day of food and shelter ($30) or contributing toward major surgical interventions, every tax-deductible donation ensures that no vulnerable cat is turned away as the busy holiday period approaches.

• Donate to the Appeal: Visit catprotection.com.au/christmas-wish to support a cat’s recovery journey.
• Adopt or Foster: If you have room in your heart and home for a cat like Chops, explore adoption opportunities directly through the shelter.
• Spread the Word: Share the campaign with fellow animal lovers across social media to give shelter residents the visibility they deserve.

Sereno: A Dedicated Health Record for Cats Living with Long-Term Illness

When a cat receives a chronic diagnosis—whether it is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), diabetes, hyperthyroidism, or Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)—the initial vet consultation takes an afternoon. But what follows is a year or more of daily care at home, where owners navigate fluid sessions, changing medication dosages, and fluctuating symptoms.

To help cat parents manage this long-term reality, independent Italian developer Ivan Salgarello created Sereno—a dedicated pet health record app purpose-built for chronically ill animals.

Built for the Day After Diagnosis

Unlike general pet apps that add basic health-tracking tabs as an afterthought, Sereno assumes three core facts: the illness will not go away, the treatment will evolve over time, and the person observing daily subtle changes is at home, not in the consulting room.

Asked why he built it, Salgarello gives a simple answer: 

“I built it because I saw how hard it is to look after a sick animal.” 

To ensure the app solves genuine daily struggles, Salgarello built it piece-by-piece using direct feedback from veterinary professionals and support group moderators—the forum admins who answer owners' questions every day for free. Many of Sereno’s most practical features exist only because community admins asked for them:

✔  A litter-box log tailored for cats managing kidney disease.

✔  Food consistency notes inside the feeding diary.

✔  A specialised regurgitation tracker (recording what comes back up) built for megaoesophagus management, suggested by Donna Challender of the Upright Canine Brigade.

✔  Dedicated tracking for gastrointestinal lymphoma (arriving in the next app update).

Condition-Specific Customisation

Sereno supports 17 named conditions alongside a free-text option. When an owner adds their cat and diagnosis, the app automatically activates only the tools relevant to that specific illness, keeping the interface clean and uncluttered:

• Kidney Disease: Enables subcutaneous fluid tracking, blood-value panels, and litter-box records.
• Hyperthyroidism: Triggers specialised thyroid bloodwork panels (such as T4, Free T4, and TSH).
• Diabetes: Activates blood glucose curves, insulin reminders, and injection-site logs.

The Sereno app handles detailed daily logs like glucose curves (left) while maintaining an instant, offline emergency summary for veterinary visits (right).

Crucially, Sereno does not tell owners what numbers mean or use artificial intelligence to speculate on diagnoses. It simply provides an organised space to record data. Which tests to run and what results signify remain entirely between the owner and their veterinarian.

Key Features for Everyday Management

✔  Smart Medication Reminders: Tracks complex dosing schedules—including multiple daily doses, every few hours, or monthly injections. Every dose change is recorded with its date, turning a year of adjustments into a clear timeline.

✔  Custom Bloodwork & Vet Ranges: Rather than using generic averages, owners enter their own vet’s reference ranges. Values are flagged as out-of-range only against your specific clinic’s benchmarks.

The Sereno app generates clean, exportable PDF health summaries for vet appointments (left) alongside real-time tracking graphs for critical lab values like Creatinine (right).

✔  Two-Minute Vet PDF Reports: Before an appointment, owners can export a customised PDF covering a specific timeframe (e.g., two weeks or three months). Vets can digest a full year of symptoms, weights, and treatments in two minutes.

✔  Family Sharing with Safety Nets: Multiple caregivers can sync in real time to mark doses. If a medication is not marked as given within 30 minutes of its scheduled time, Sereno alerts everyone to prevent missed or doubled doses.

✔  Offline Emergency Card: A dedicated "Show to the Vet" screen compiles diagnoses, current medications, allergies, and contact details. It stays stored locally on the phone, opening instantly even in clinic car parks without cellular reception.

Availability & Pricing

Sereno is independent, ad-free, and contains no pet-food sponsorships. It is available on iOS and Android in English, Italian, and Spanish, with payments processed natively in Australian Dollars through the App Store and Google Play.

• Free Plan: 1 pet, 2 active medications, 1 PDF report per month.
• Plus Plan: Approx. $7.50 AUD/month ($4.99 USD) or $60 AUD/year ($39.99 USD)—saving users 33% when paying annually. Covers up to 3 pets, 10 medications, 5 reports/month, plus family sharing.
• Pro Plan: Approx. $15 AUD/month ($9.99 USD) or $120 AUD/year ($79.99 USD)—saving users 33% when paying annually. Covers up to 10 pets, unlimited reports, blood-value panels, and glucose curves.

(Note: Local AUD amounts are approximate conversion estimates; exact store prices will reflect Apple/Google's localised AUD tier rates upon checkout.)