The British Veterinary Association has announced the results of the Voice of the Veterinary Profession survey, which found that 84% of veterinary surgeons give up time to work with animal charities and shelters. 

72% have a formal arrangement with charities to provide their time and veterinary expertise at a reduced rate, while more than 43% work completely unpaid for animal charities and shelters; treating thousands of abandoned, mistreated or injured animals each year.

The charitable work undertaken by practitioners varied from practice to practice, but included:

• Work with local animal shelters and national animal charities to provide a range of pro bono or reduced fee services, such as health checking, medicating and treating, neutering and vaccinating.
• Provision of veterinary care at animal shelters and rescue centres, ranging from treating injured wildlife to caring for abandoned and mistreated dogs and cats.
• Giving veterinary advice to homeless people and those in housing crisis, and care for their dogs as part of the Dogs Trust Hope Project. Vets also support other projects, such as the Freedom Project, which temporarily fosters animals belonging to families fleeing domestic violence.
• Teaming up with charities to provide neutering, especially for owners on limited incomes. Vets helped neuter 158,000 cats and kittens with Cats Protection in 2014 alone.
• Over 300 veterinary practices undertake work for the charity PDSA, providing treatment to animals of owners on means-tested benefits. The scheme ensures some of the most disadvantaged people in society can access veterinary treatment to keep their pets healthy.

On top of all that, veterinary surgeons also provide emergency treatment for stray and wild animals brought in by the public. Although they will sometimes receive a charitable donation towards the cost of treatment through schemes like the RSPCA Initial Emergency Treatment (IET) Scheme, that is by no means always the case.

RSPCA Chief Veterinary Officer James Yeates said: "Vets’ work in this area can go unrecognised but it is appreciated by the RSPCA that they are part of the team trying to help animals. The RSPCA is dedicated to helping animals most in need and relies on vets’ welfare work to help bring a stop to the suffering of all animals." 

BVA President Sean Wensley, said: "Behind these statistics are countless stories of veterinary teams – who already often work long, demanding hours – giving their time for free to support animal rescue staff and charities to care for abandoned, injured and neglected animals, as well as help owners to keep and care for much loved animals in times of hardship and crisis. The UK’s network of animal charities and rehoming centres do a fantastic job protecting wild and domestic animals each year. Animal welfare legislation is clear that animal keepers and owners are responsible for meeting their animals’ needs, and prospective animal owners must be aware of the cost and time commitment involved in animal ownership, but we appreciate people’s circumstances can change."

Photo: Javier Brosch/Shutterstock

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