It goes without saying that, as veterinary staff, we are champions of animal welfare. However, it can be easy to focus only on the physical complaint in front of us – the giant thorn sticking out of an eye, the exceedingly high blood pressure or the broken leg that needs amputation. We treat these physical complaints, often with high levels of success. “How is our patient feeling?” is a question that veterinary staff and owners alike can sometimes leave a little in their rearview mirror. We often answer this simple question with “painful” or “nauseous” and then treat those physical symptoms. Again, this means we are missing another dimension of our patient that is often screaming at the top of its lungs, “anxious”, “fearful” or, if we’re really lucky, “excited”.
The term “welfare” has an unimaginable number of definitions, most of which reflect the author’s own values or priorities. We can, however, agree that throughout many of these definitions, emotional well-being and subjective experience are not only included, but often at the forefront (Green and Mellor, 2011). Fordyce (2017) called for attention to be on the patient’s frame of reference, for which we should be asking, “What would our patient want?” The question now is, “Are we asking this?”
Stress in practice
Some studies suggest that veterinary staff have come to expect stress behaviour from their patients (Lloyd, 2017). This expectation can result in overlooking how our treatment can impact the emotional welfare of each patient at the time of treatment and afterwards, as well.
While it goes without saying that stress is well documented in practice, it is important to recognise the negative impact it has on the animal’s emotional state (Fraser, 2008). Ongoing exposure to an uncontrolled stressor, which is often seen in veterinary practice, can lead to a state of distress that impairs biological function (Downing, 2011). This fact leads us to a call to action to consider the importance of emotional welfare in the practice.
Considerations of emotional welfare in practice
Dolby (2020) suggested a positive shift towards a more holistic approach to veterinary medicine and patient care. This suggestion was further reflected in other studies that focused on the importance of reducing negative emotional states in practice (Lloyd, 2017).
Low-stress handling techniques and sedation to decrease the stress experienced by the patient are now more commonly favoured (Main, 2022), and more consideration is being given to environmental inputs to make veterinary practices more patient-centred (Williams et al., 2019). While these changes are a welcome addition to reducing negative welfare states, they may miss the opportunity to promote positive welfare states in clinics.
Providing animals with a consistent approach towards interaction allows them to feel more in control and, therefore, less anxious
There is undoubtedly an increase in patient-centred interactions that are beneficial to create positive emotional welfare states, such as the provision of treat jars and cuddle clinics focusing on positive reinforcement; however, these are often practice-specific. Therefore, the benefits of these applications can only be seen for specific patients in certain practices and perhaps even among a variation between staff and owner priority at the time of the patient’s visit. This inconsistency can raise its own problem for patients during their veterinary care, as providing animals with a consistent approach towards interaction allows them to feel more in control and, therefore, less anxious (Bassett and Buchanan-Smith, 2007).
Welfare assessment
So, perhaps the question of emotional well-being is larger than individual patients or, indeed, individual practices and teams. To truly integrate our patients’ emotional well-being into our veterinary care service, we should be considering a broader application.
The question of emotional well-being is larger than individual patients or, indeed, individual practices and teams
Quality of life (QoL) assessments are used regularly throughout the veterinary industry (Roberts et al., 2023); however, their effectiveness is still limited by owner values (Roscoff et al., 2018) and the lack of an agreed definition of quality of life (Mullen, 2015). Despite its limitations, these assessments are beneficial when considering the entire picture of an animal’s welfare (Piotti et al., 2022). Therefore, implementing a similar framework aimed at patients currently undergoing treatment in the practice may benefit our understanding the global picture of our patient’s welfare.
The AWAG shows a difference in the behavioural profile of a patient, allowing veterinary professionals to highlight any emerging behavioural concern that may be detrimental to both that patient and the people involved in its care
For this kind of assessment to be beneficial, a multidisciplinary approach would be required, one that includes behaviour and welfare experts (Bruckner, 2020) to fill the current knowledge gap: the patient’s subjective experience. The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG) may be the tool for the job, as it allows veterinary professionals to track global welfare at the time of treatment, from hospitalisation into recovery (Wolfensohn, 2020). A recent study has suggested that the AWAG shows a difference in the behavioural profile of a patient, allowing veterinary professionals to highlight any emerging behavioural concern that may be detrimental to both that patient and the people involved in its care (Malkani et al., 2024).
Veterinary education
Further clarification on the salience of welfare teachings within veterinary education would be beneficial
The answer to the larger question of animal emotional welfare in practice may lie in education. The lack of training in animal welfare among veterinary professionals has previously been highlighted (Lloyd,2017), with studies noting that those who do undergo training choose to pursue further education on the topic following their initial qualification (Endenburg et al., 2022). This suggests that further clarification on the salience of welfare teachings within veterinary education would be beneficial. This would help students further understand how this aspect of education would affect how emotional welfare should be integrated into individual practice.
Conclusion
While we are certainly making headway when it comes to considering animal emotional welfare and well-being within our veterinary practices, we are still lacking vital pieces of the puzzle. The shifting status of companion animals in response to our understanding of their emotional depth (Yeates and Savulescu, 2017) has made the need to effectively balance not only the triad of welfare but the triad between profession, client and patient more important.
Considering the impact of patient emotional health on physical health, we could argue for more regular advocation for the topic, not just between practices but from a broader clinical perspective
The precise reason for the lack of formal recognition and treatment of animal emotional welfare in practice is not well understood. However, considering the impact of patient emotional health on physical health, we could argue for more regular advocation for the topic, not just between practices but from a broader clinical perspective.
