Last weekend, Russ and I packed up and headed to Kansas City for the Fetch veterinary conference - my all time favorite yearly conference, hosted by dvm360 - my all time favorite veterinary group.
Pre-pandemic, we used to go with the kids and dogs every year. For a very fun season, I worked for dvm360 doing some writing projects and serving on the Veterinary Economics Advisory Board with a great group of awesome people.
The night of the annual get together at Fetch, Russ and I were walking around the Power and Light District - a very fun area even for the most introverted among us (us). We waited outside this bar the hostess was preparing for the evening till she finished then took a photo because - polka dots!
It was so good to be back after years away. I missed you all dvm360! The leadership has mostly changed since I was around, and I sure miss that group too, but the new team is also amazing. They did such a great job from the speakers to the decor down to the notebook doodles. (I KNOW. But it is important to ME.)
Our favorite decoration of course! The whole conference venue looked amazing. I do think it would be best to keep it all up - who doesn’t love pets? Nobody (sane) doesn’t love pets.
RUSS AND I GOT TO MEET WALTER BROWN!! I have loved his social media presence since Neubert and I found his video about wildlife years ago. You will too! Also, watch that video!
And he is as nice in person as you would expect. Besides making a hilarious video years ago, Walter Brown is a veterinary technician specializing in emergency care at a thriving hospital and an accomplished comedian who also uses his impressive reach to provide excellent education to veterinary team members and pet lovers. Very nice to meet you Sir :)
Dr. Dryden - always my favorite speaker
It was great to see and attend classes with current and previous team members from over the years.
One of my favorite encounters was with the speaker of a talk on Kindness in the Veterinary Field. I was like a moth to a flame. And I brought Russell, who was a good sport about attending so many of the conference events, especially ones - like this one - where I could almost guarantee no blood or necropsy photos. Those are his favorite. Mine too, to be honest.
We sat down, and I wrote, “Kindness - Dr. Dan Bieck” in my aforementioned beautifully pre-doodled Fetch notebook. Russ glanced at the Fetch booklet, and glanced up front and sat back and said, “That’s your classmate, Dan.” IT TOTALLY WAS!
Dr. Dan Bieck, Kansas City Fetch 2025 speaker and oh yeah, vet school friend!
I apologize Dan that it did not even click when I saw your name or wrote your name or sat down in front of you! That’s how good your content is! And how single-focused - and a bit clueless - I can be. Russ and I got to talk with Dan afterwards. It was so good to catch up with you! Classmates, Dan is doing well in Illinois, is a veterinary school professor and an excellent speaker :)
Russ LOVED the view from our hotel room. I did too, honestly. The sunrises and sunsets were gorgeous (my take). The area in the block between our hotel and the conference center is being completely redone, and we were able to watch it all from above, including the work done with this giant crane (Russ’s take). Very fun!
Repping for our OTHER favorite veterinary group, VCA Midwest Vet :)
The exhibit hall had NO kids. What made us the most sad about that though is that it didn’t have OUR kids (all in their 20’s though!) We told Blue, Max and Abby that we would like them all - and Doug Dog - with us next year! It was fun, but not the same as when Blue and Abby and Joy the Puppy and Luna the Westiehuahua would come when the kids were little.
This is a hibiscus! Isn’t the arrangement gorgeous? Kansas City does outdoor plants so well. Plants and fountains.
Yup, that’s a hibiscus all right.
At the afterparty with this cute date. Very fun to hang out with the group and try all the snacks - and shuffleboard - with Russ.
Nexgard hats! They light up!
At No Other Pub in the Power and Light district with the group. Very fun setting because if you are socially awkward (me), there are still games and snacks, and everyone is so nice. Thank you for sponsoring such a fun evening Boehringer Ingelheim!
Fetch signs out in the world!
With all the amazing decor and signage, this sign was by far my absolute favorite.
I found a sticker! Best day ever.
When we were not at classes and events, Russ and I did a few of our favorite KC things, and a new thing - for us, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Such a great museum! And we are very spoiled here in Omaha with the Joslyn! We would like to go back and spend an entire day at the art museum in Kansas City. It was wonderful.
We found the Monets <3
This is a fun aside. Very close to Fetch was Collect-a-con. We kept wandering into each others’ spaces. Those guys were arguably much cooler, many of them in costume. One of the veterinary speakers said she saw three Wolverines! Russ and I thought it would be fun for everyone to exchange itineraries for one day of our conferences. Well, I would have liked it!
I did lose at least one round of a game we play at every conference - Vet/Not a Vet. So I suspect we are all deep and nuanced people with many interests, and maybe I should not do so much judging books by covers. Maybe. It is a fun game though!
Russ said the tote this guy was wheeling probably had tens of thousands of dollars worth of cards! I kinda wish we had crashed their party just for a bit! Very cool!
Thank you dvm360 and Kansas City Fetch 2025 team. We had an excellent time. I would love to help again in the future, so keep me in mind for backstage duties! Great conference all around. The speakers and talks were excellent. We will get back to attending yearly, and bring the kids and Doug Dog from here out!
See you next year!