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Plain English summary The first meeting for the Companion Animal Genetic Health (CAGH) conference invited scientists from around Europe interested in dog and cat health to discuss their research. The meeting was open to all aspects of companion animal research but discussions mainly covered three central themes across the conference. The first was the importance of obtaining high-quality data for the characteristics that are under investigation. Examples presented were appetite, cardiac measurement, and skull shape, which along with genetic data can be used to investigate specific disorders. Detailed owner questionnaires formed a large part of these endeavours and are crucial to generate detailed information about certain characteristics such as behaviour. The second theme centred on the use of whole genome (DNA) sequences to investigate a range of inherited diseases and the importance of the field’s successful international data sharing for this purpose. Talks given also highlighted the need for an updated reference dog DNA sequence and tools to help identify more complex DNA variation (i.e. not simple single-base (letter) changes; larger insertions or deletions of DNA of more than 1000 bases for example). Lastly, there is now a real focus on understanding the biological processes underlying a mutation that has been associated with disease. As well as informing veterinary and possibly also human medicine, these studies will be important for complex diseases such as cancer that may not be amenable to DNA tests, but that research will inform in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Introduction This inaugural meeting of geneticists, clinicians and epidemiologists encompassed discussion, presentations and abstracts from researchers working predominantly in the field of canine genetics and health, but also included representatives working in feline genomics. The conference sought to bring together researchers in the field from around Europe to share their latest research findings, discuss new techniques and establish new collaborations. Dr. Cathryn Mellersh and Dr. Jeffrey Schoenebeck hosted the two-day meeting which saw forty-five delegates from seven European countries present seventeen short talks and nine posters largely covering canine research but also including feline abstracts. Dr. Robert Ogden, senior lecturer and Head of Conservation Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, gave an intriguing keynote lecture on his work using animal genetics in molecular ecology, population genetics and conservation projects to guide species management and law enforcement across the world. The Royal (Dick) School for Veterinary Studies, the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Genomics helped sponsor the meeting. Following the success of this inaugural meeting, CAGH organisers are looking to repeat the event in the summer of 2020 with the ambition to appeal to the wider companion animal veterinary research community. We present here a summary of the meeting in which we will discuss its central themes, referring to the accompanying abstracts in this issue of the Journal, and the directions in which the field is moving in relation to these themes.

Meeting report from the Companion Animal Genetic Health conference 2018 (CAGH 2018): a healthy companionship: the genetics of health in dogs