Healthcare Providers

Our veterinary professionals collaborate with healthcare providers as part of a multidisciplinary team approach to assist patients in need of an assistance animal.

Consulting with a veterinarian when considering using an animal for a therapeutic purpose is important for a multitude of reasons. A veterinary pre-consultation provides a more comprehensive approach to healthcare and allows our veterinarians to provide the contributions of the veterinary field to assist in improving the patient’s health and wellness. The health and welfare of both humans and animals involved in animal-assisted intervention programs must be considered and ensured, therefore, veterinary consultation from the beginning is critical. Overall, pre-consulting with our veterinarians can aid in developing an appropriate plan of action for the patient and the assistance animal, aid in optimizing the function of the human animal partnering team, aid in creating positive human-animal interactions and aid in improving overall patient outcomes.

Consulting with a veterinarian after the human-animal partnership is in place and after the animal’s obedience and task training is complete is imperative to evaluate the effectiveness of this alternative therapy plan. Our post veterinary consultation not only allows for the evaluation of the assistance animal and the human-animal interaction, but it also allows our veterinarians to provide guidance for any concerns that may have presented.

Performing a post consultation with one of our veterinarians helps to ensure the animal-assisted therapy or animal-assisted intervention plan is working properly. This post consultation also aids in optimizing the therapeutic application of the human-animal bond.

Our veterinary consultants provide animal related guidance and education to support and assist human healthcare professionals to responsibly prescribe animals for their patients.

How our consultations help:

Determine the best working animal for the patient (patient allergy compatibility or service dog versus assistance animals versus emotional support animal)
Discuss working animal welfare, care and cost
Guide and make recommendations for veterinary preventive care services
Provide veterinary medical care guidance to supporting veterinary facilities
Provide guidance to assist animal trainers
Evaluate assistance animal training which provides veterinary oversight to ensure the service dog task training is complete and functional
Evaluate assistance animal training which provides veterinary oversight to ensure the emotional support animal has basic and functional obedience training
Evaluate temperament and behavior of assistance animal to decrease public health and safety risk

Strategic Evaluation

We have identified three main points which should be discussed with the healthcare team and patient when determining if the patient is truly ready for the responsibility of an assistance animal. We are here to help guide a thorough conversation with the patient and patient's family prior to selecting the assistance animal.

Animal Evaluation:

Assesses overall animal health and welfare
Identifies and screens for potential diseases which can compromise an assistance animal’s ability to perform job function appropriately which could compromise handler’s health
Screens for temperament and behavioral traits which threaten public health and safety

Human-Animal Evaluation:

Assesses the effectiveness of the human-animal partnership
Assesses mutual benefits of the human-animal bond
Allows the DVM the opportunity to be an advocate for the assistance animal
Optimizes the function of the human-animal bond in collaboration with the human healthcare professional

Human-Animal Interaction Evaluation:

Allows DVM to work with the patient and human healthcare team to optimize the function of the human-animal bond
Evaluates the patient’s home and lifestyle to recommend an assistance animal that works best for their disability and home lifestyle
Establishes an emergency plan of action for the assistance animal if patient becomes incapacitated
Assesses animal temperament and behavior which threaten public health and safety

CONTACT US

If you prescribe assistance animals for your patients, we want to work with you. We want to be part of your multidisciplinary team.