As some of you may know I was asked to represent Lynchburg at the Best Friends Animal Society’s National Conference this summer in Atlanta. I spoke to a full house and was thrilled to see so many people eager to hear how we accomplished all we did here in our small city. With most conferences, even if I am going to teach, I always learn something new. We learned some new techniques and ideas on marketing and fundraising but the ideas and operational things we learned are where you will see the most change. Our biggest change is with FIV cats. The new movement is to not test for FIV because the chances of spreading it to another cat is slim if they are living peacefully with other cats. Many cats can co-habitat with one being FIV+ and the other cats will never get the virus if they live harmoniously. The new movement at LHS is to let FIV+ cats into group rooms; as long as they are socially compatible, they will be fine and many FIV+ cats live long liv