Mismatch Between Pet Owner Concerns And Veterinary Decisions

The results of a recent survey of over 1000 dog owners¹, carried out on behalf of Vétoquinol, have been released today. The survey focused on attitudes to pain and owners’ thoughts on choice of long-term medication. The first set of results relate to choice of long term medications and provide food for thought for all vets and nurses. Choice of Medication Owners were asked to rate how important various factors were to them when it came to giving medicine long term to their dog. They were also asked to consider what they felt was most important to their vet when it came to choosing a medicine. Effectiveness 85 per cent of dog owners felt this was highly important to them. Side effects A total of 77 per cent of dog owners rated a limited range of side effects as highly important (47 per cent) or important (30 per cent) in determining their preference for a particular medication for their dog. Vets were perceived to be slightly less concerned about side effects than the owners were (only 34 per cent of dog owners thought this was highly important to their vet). Easy to give/ dog likes taste given the focus on this parameter as a key influencer on compliance, it is interesting that only 24 per cent of owners rated this as highly important and most (28 per cent) rated it of medium importance. Established brand 30 per cent of dog owners felt this was of medium importance, and 24 per cent felt this of least importance. Low cost surprisingly, the cost of medication was found to be one of the least important factors, with only 14 per cent saying it was highly important to them. Many vets will be pleased to learn that dog owners rate the effectiveness of a medication much more highly than the cost. This means there is very little reason to compromise on treatment based on a presumption of what clients will want to pay. These findings are also largely very positive in that they suggest that dog owners believe that in many areas vets are making decisions based on criteria that are important to owners. The area where there is the greatest mismatch is over the risk of side effects of medication. Pet owners think that vets may take the risk of side effects from long-term medications less seriously than the owners themselves might prefer. It suggests that the risk of potential harm, no matter how small the risk of actual harm is, may be more unacceptable to the dog owner than vets and nurses might otherwise presume. When prescribing long-term medication there is a need to talk about the risks associated with medication more openly and to take the client’s attitudes to risk into consideration. 1. A survey of 1048 dog owners, carried out by petbuzz, on behalf of Vétoquinol, March 2011

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