There are certain conditions that we see really commonly in older cats that were unheard of even 40 years ago and they seem to be becoming more and more common.

Veterinarians play a crucial role keeping our pets happy and healthy. And technology has made a real difference in the quality of care provided to pets.

But the last few decades of research have revealed the grim reality that cancer and disease in animals is rising, with cancer now just as common in cats and dogs as it is in humans.

The rates of cancers in dogs and cats in particular are really high. I think that raises questions why they're suddenly emerging. Not only for animal health but also for human health.

Technology has transformed the veterinary profession and health outcomes for animals.

But every new tool reveals new layers of complexity in animal health. To keep up with the constantly evolving industry, specialisation has become crucial. Even though we have a diagnosis, there is stuff that we can do to help improve animals' lives.

They're more than pets, they're family, providing us with huge sources of comfort. And just like us, they face health battles we never imagined.

So, how are veterinarians at Murdoch University helping solve the health challenges they face, both now and into the future?

For centuries, there has been a bond between animals and humans. When Murdoch University opened its School of Veterinary Medicine in the early 1970s, the focus was on production animals and agricultural systems.

But since then, pet ownership has exploded and many animals are now considered family.

The focus of the animal hospital has changed to reflect that, with more personalised medicine being applied to pet care. Paired with modern science, veterinarians are equipped with more tools and data than ever before.

The animal hospital at Murdoch University is quite unusual because you have a large breadth and depth of specialists in a variety of different fields. We're the only hospital in Western Australia that has specialists in both large and small animal areas, as well as those areas such as diagnostic imaging and clinical pathology.

This makes it really exciting to work here, because we tend to try to approach every case in a really collaborative manner, trying to basically put all of our knowledge together to work out the best course of action for the individual animal.

But with deeper understanding comes greater challenges, with conditions like cancer, endocrine disorders, diabetes and gastrointestinal disease becoming more common. As more information comes out, new and better treatments are developed.

But this requires constant learning, not just from vets, but from the institutions that train them. There's a huge need for high quality veterinary oncology care. Unfortunately, the statistics we have are that the rates of cancers in dogs and cats in particular are really high.

And probably those rates are going to continue to grow as better diagnostics and treatment options become available.

My own particular area is endocrinology, which is for mono diseases. So looking at diseases of the thyroid and adrenal glands, for example. Many of the endocrine diseases appear to be on the rise that were unheard of even 40 years ago, and they seem to be becoming more and more common.

Today, veterinary medicine is moving beyond one size fits all treatments, drawing inspiration from personalised approaches used in human medicine to tailor care for each individual animal.

My role at TAHMU is seeing cases, offering treatment options and hopefully extending quality and quantity of life for those patients that come and see me. We're starting to now look at targeted therapies, particularly human drugs that are translated into animals for common diseases.

As we uncover more connections between animal and human health, and as diagnostic tools become more advanced, it raises an important question. Are we facing more disease or are we simply getting better at finding it?

One of the examples would be a condition called hypersomatotropism in cats, which is an overproduction of growth hormone by the pituitary gland. This condition was once considered extremely rare in cats, but there's been work done in the UK and in Europe and in other countries that suggest that it may be the underlying cause of diabetes in up to a quarter of cases in some countries.

The reasons for this or why we missed this before is not really clear, but one of the theories is that there may be an increase in chemicals in the environment, for example, flame retardant chemicals that may be increasing the likelihood of developing this disease.

Technology has enabled vets to keep track of the bigger picture of animal health and disease. Each case contributes to a growing pool of knowledge, drawing from an extensive history of diagnoses and treatments.

Every day in the clinic, I'm doing clinical research, so every case that we see adds to the data sets that allow us to then go on and look back at different diseases, different outcomes and different treatments.

So we see a good range of cases coming through the hospital and they can present in very different ways. In many cases, it can be affecting their thirst, it can be affecting their appetite or their coat. The treatment really depends on what we find.

Sometimes surgery is the best treatment option. In other cases, we have medical treatment that's more appropriate. We really try to tailor the plan around the individual animal.

As veterinary medicine continues to evolve, specialisation has become key to the future of animal care. I think the future of veterinary medicine is quite hard to predict, but very often it tends to follow the same path as human medicine. We're starting to see some of those changes being introduced into veterinary medicine as well.

I think overall we're going to be seeing much more sub-specialisation within the profession.

And again, this is only going to improve the patient outcome if we've got vets, nurses, teams that are dealing exclusively with these types of diseases.

It's going to be much easier for these individuals to recognise, treat and hopefully cure these patients. Providing the best care to animals while keeping up with constantly evolving technology and new practices requires ongoing investment, not only for the technology and equipment, but also training vets, old and new.

But an extraordinary gift of $100 million by Western Australian businessman and philanthropist Ted Powell will fund a complete rebuild of the Murdoch School of Veterinary Medicine, ensuring students, academics and veterinary staff will have access to cutting-edge technology.

My work does make a difference to animals' lives, both in terms of their quality of life, but also their quantity of life. What really gets me up in the morning is knowing that there's cases that I treat that do exceptionally well, well beyond what everyone was expecting in terms of their lives, and that is quality of life with their owners. And that really is why

I'm a veterinary oncologist.