Scenario 1:
One of your regular clients has had to re-home her dog, Patch, due to her own ill health. You had been treating Patch for 4 years after he was diagnosed with elbow dysplasia. You receive a phone call from Patch’s new vets asking for more information about his treatment. What would you do?
Answer:
The Data Protection Act 1998 means that you cannot disclose any information without a person’s permission, so even though this is a vet contacting you it is not possible to provide this information. It would not be a problem to supply this information with the permission of the owner.
Scenario 2:
You have been treating a client’s horse, Merrylegs, for a number of years after she was diagnosed with ringbone in the near hind. She has never been completely sound since. You arrive to treat Merrylegs today and when she trots up you notice the lameness is has worsened.
Answer:
You would not provide therapy. You would recommend that the owners contact their vets. Under The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 you are only allowed to provide therapy following a referral from the vet. You are not allowed to diagnose. In this case how do you know it is a flare up in the ringbone when it could be something else.
Scenario 3:
You arrive to meet a new client and her dog Jo-Jo, Jo-Jo is a Fila Braziliero. The first thing the client asks you is to help her fit a muzzle as she is not sure how to do it. What should you do?
Answer: Fila Braziliero is a banned breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. The first thing you need to do is check the dog has a Certificate of Exemption, which means it is on the Index of Exempted Dogs and therefore is legally allowed to be kept by the owner.
Scenario 4:
You treat a horse, Barney that has damaged his back muscles after a fall on a cross-country course. After six months Barney is sold and passes a 5 stage vetting. The people who purchase Barney are also your clients and shortly after they get him they take him hunting and he appears to have a sore back again, probably a re-occurrence of the previous injury. Your clients ask you to look at him, what do you tell them?
Answer:
Again the Data Protection Act 1998 comes into effect here but you also have to think about client confidentiality from an ethical perspective so you should not say anything. Of course you also need a veterinary referral too if appropriate.
Scenario 5:
You are asked to treat a dog belonging to a pedigree dog breeder. This is a new client and when you arrive at his house you are surprised at how many dogs he has. He tells you he has six or seven bitches pup a year. You are quite concerned about the conditions the dogs are being kept in and how much space they have. What do you do?
Answer:
As the client has five or more litters of puppies a year they need to be licensed under the Breeding and Sales of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999. There are some guidelines for sizes of kennels but the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs does not specifically state what size kennels should be. Look at the guidelines, discuss with the owner but if you think based on the guidelines that the dogs do not have enough room, do not have ability to escape other dogs you would need to report to RSPCA who can investigate under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the legislation that is also associated with the Code of Practice). It will damage your reputation if you do not report something that is later found out to be considered a welfare issue but equally you will not be popular if you are seen to create a fuss over something that is not an issue, so make sure you are as clear as possible about guidance/regulations on husbandry before pursuing.
