We are a collegial group of veterinary surgeons interested in the orthopaedic conditions suffered by our animal friends.

Our organisation was founded in 1963 as the BSAVA’s Orthopaedic Study Group with original founding committee members Professor Leslie Vaughan and Brian Singleton. Now we are approximately 300 members strong and our 60th anniversary is imminent.

We are of various intellectual and experiential provenance, and we feel strongly that sharing our knowledge with colleagues through all stages of their orthopaedic journey is essential to successful patient outcomes.  We recognise learning is a journey which is never complete; our legacy is to support this learning journey in veterinary orthopaedics especially that of our junior colleagues. As an orthopaedic surgeon our success and failure are evident for all to see on any radiograph. Therefore, it behoves us to always reflect on what works well whilst recognising suboptimal work so that we do better next time.

Continuing education offers us the possibility to learn whilst mentoring refines a surgeon’s technique to optimise patient outcomes. We all agree a pain-free happy pet completes the family unit. Our key aim is to provide affordable continuing education in an environment that supports and encourages attendance with discussion. BVOA holds an annual one-day Spring meeting and three-day Autumn meeting. With support from sponsors Veterinary Instrumentation and Freelance Surgical, members of the committee provide one-day courses in basic orthopaedics specifically for veterinarians new to orthopaedics.

We support and fund good quality research designed for animals with orthopaedic diseases, and we encourage young members of the profession to present abstracts at our meetings describing their investigation into orthopaedic disease. In recognition of the contribution made to our profession by our colleague the late Professor Leslie Vaughan, we award the Leslie Vaughan prize to the abstract presenter who best demonstrates the ability to investigate and present subject that is relevant to our animal friends.

BVOA hosts a Google group discussion forum to encourage members to pose queries, share knowledge and stimulate discussion.

We welcome people starting out with an interest in orthopaedics looking for mentorship and collaboration. The orthopaedic journey requires shared experience; join now and enjoy the learning journey with camaraderie and support. You will have fun and make lifelong friends.