Survey of pet owners' expectations of surgical practice within first opinion veterinary clinics in Great Britain

Abstract

The expectations of small animal pet owners in Great Britain were evaluated on a number of issues regarding aseptic practice and clinical management and compared with final year veterinary students' assessment of actual veterinary practice. A survey was completed by 328 small animal pet owners and 56 veterinary practices in Great Britain. Questions from the pet owner survey related to expectations and opinions on a number of surgical issues and questions from the veterinary surgeon survey examined veterinary practice in relation to the same issues. Comparisons were made to determine whether there were any differences between pet owner expectations and veterinary student assessment of actual practice of small animal first opinion clinics. In the majority of issues examined there was a significant mismatch between client expectation and provisions made. Of particular importance was the discrepancy regarding the use of surgical gloves and administration of analgesia. These results suggest that attempts should be made to understand and improve the disparity that exists between small animal pet owners and veterinary surgeons in Great Britain.