The conclusions and opinions made in these papers are not necessarily those of the School of Veterinary Medicine or St. George’s University but those entirely of the author. We hope that you will enjoy and learn from what you will read.

VETERINARY MEDICINE AND THE HUMAN ANIMAL BOND

Kelly Kropilak

Ethics and Jurisprudence Class

SGU SVM – Fall 2006

After coming home from his fifth round of chemotherapy the boy looks down at his cat and says “I love you and wish you could come to the hospital with me.” The cat who loves to attack people as they walk to the kitchen lets the boy pick her up, bounce her around, and hug her for ten minutes the whole time purring to welcome the boy home.  Now imagine not being a part of the world but having people push you to touch and try to relate to them on the adult communication wavelength.  A young child diagnosed with autism by the time he is two years old, has never talked to his mother and rarely looks or recognizes that his family is in the room.  However, he has been participating in the assisted therapy program promoting horse back riding for four years now, and one day he looks at his aunt, touches her face and makes a “nay” sound.  For a split second the child and his aunt connect and are on the same wavelength.  Finally, think about being in a nursing home, rarely seeing your family, desperately wanting to talk to someone but the guy in the bed next to you smells and is tied to his bed because he has had one of his episodes last night. You look at the calendar and smile because you see today is special, it is the day that “Fosse” the therapy dog comes to the nursing home.  He always gives you kisses and lets you give him treats, which reminds you of the dog you had when you were younger who used to follow you everywhere. The loneliness you feel most other days melts away for those few minutes with “Fosse.”

          Above are all examples of what is referred to as the human animal bond.  Since the human medical field has discovered that animals play an integral role in people’s lives, there have been numerous studies conducted and papers written on the affects of the interactions between humans and animals. Studies have proven that owning pets decreases loneliness, stress, depression and aggression for people ranging from little children to working adults and then to elderly living in a nursing home.  One study even showed that robotic pets in a nursing home increased the residents overall health, wellness, social interactions and decreased their feelings of despair and loneliness.  Other studies have shown that when placed in a stressful situation with a pet, a friend, or alone, women felt less stressed and threatened by the challenges she faced when her pet was in the room.  The women in that study also excelled in the challenges more when their pet was with them then when they were with a friend.  Maybe that says something about their friendship, or maybe it proves that pets give people comfort, relief, and especially unconditional and nonjudgmental love and, that the bond and love that people have for their pets transcends age, time and explanation.

          What does this have to do with veterinary medicine? Maybe everything and maybe nothing, but it does bring up some very important issues.  The first is the awareness by the veterinarian and his/her role in the human animal bond.  Most veterinarians have experienced the human animal bond in one form or another; it may have even driven them to go to veterinary school in the first place.  Being aware of the human animal bond is not the main issue; it is what this awareness means for the veterinarian and the oath that they take to care for animals.  It is important to note that, most of the early studies on the human animal bond were conducted by human doctors.  However, many of the more recent studies on the human animal bond have been conducted at veterinary schools around the world by human doctors, veterinarians and veterinary students.  Conferences, studies, and articles on the human animal bond have become an integral part of veterinary medicine.  In fact most of the organizations and studies developed to explore the human animal bond are veterinary based.  This shows that today’s veterinary medicine is not just focused on the animal but also on the people who have animals in their lives, and that vets are fully aware that the human animal bond exists and is an important part of what they do.

          What does this mean for the practicing veterinarian?  Should a practice be 100% “bond” based, and what does that mean for patient care?  While the true bond based practice details and specifics are still being worked out, a practicing vet must clearly define what the human animal bond means to them and how they want to use that definition to shape their practice.  If a client comes in and wants to euthanize an assisted therapy dog because the client is moving, does that break the “bond” based practice rules that the vet has advertised?  Also, what does it say for euthanasia in general?  Some clients take the human animal bond very seriously and even question the use of needles to give vaccines because they can “feel their pet’s pain.”  While many believe that this is taking the human animal bond too far, others would say it was a valid argument.  Maybe the best answer to a bond based practice is that more research on the subject needs to be done.  Maybe “bond” based practices will head in the direction of one organization where the participants have tried to start animal hospice care in place of euthanasia and maybe that is their way to better promote the human animal bond.

          Where will “bond” based practices take the veterinary field and what will this mean to future veterinarians?  Only time will tell.  It is widely accepted that pets enhance and enrich people’s lives.  Just as practices put up signs requesting that owners allow their employees restrain pets being treated, so must a “bond” based practice make their intentions clear to their clientele.  The only way that a “bond” based practice will work is through clear communications. Veterinarians must keep their clientele informed and must not falsely use the human animal bond to exploit clients.  If a practice spells out the procedures that they feel a “bond” based practice is entitled to perform and the client enters into a veterinary client patient relationship knowing this information, then “bond” based practices will be successful.

But what does this have to do with the three examples of the human animal bond at the beginning of the paper?  Well, what if each situation involved a veterinarian?  What if it was their son with cancer or autism, or what if it was their dog that was used as an assisted therapy dog?  How would that affect the way they practiced?  Does promoting the human animal bond in that way make them a better vet, or is it part of what being a vet is about in today’s society? One article states that it is the veterinarian’s role to convince government how important the human animal bond is and that they should conduct programs aimed at understanding and promoting that bond.  While that responsibility may or may not fall on future vets shoulders one thing is for sure, and that is that more vets are getting involved in these programs.  This is exemplified by the fact that “Fosse” is a real assisted therapy dog owned by a veterinarian that I work with, who not only takes “Fosse” to nursing homes, but visits hospitals and classrooms with “Fosse” to show people how pets can enrich their lives.

          No definitive answers have been explored in this paper, and in fact it has probably posed more questions than answers to the topic of the human animal bond.  This paper is not about answering questions but about the exploration of a question.  The question being “what is the human animal bond and what does it mean to a practicing vet?”  That is the question that I asked myself when I started writing this paper and here is my answer.  My brother is the boy with cancer and my nephew is the boy with autism.  Their experiences as well as my own have made me realize that being a “bond” based vet does not mean that you do not vaccinate, treat, or even euthanize an animal, but that you understand that each animal in some way shape or form enhances someone’s life.  Working with animals is just as much about people and what their animal means to them.  Every feeling someone has for their pet is valid no matter how crazy and misguided I think it may be and, hopefully I will practice veterinary medicine in a way that promotes the bond that my clients have with their animal and uphold the oath I will take when I graduate.

Bibliography:

1.   http://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/vad/cae/indcon.htm

• http://members.aol.com/guyh7/hospice.htm
• http://www.deltasociety.org/TextOnly/ChildrenAndAdolescents.pdf
• http://www.deltasociety.org/TextOnly/DogInClass.pdf
• http://www.deltasociety.org/TextOnly/EffectsGroupAAT.pdf
• http://www.deltasociety.org/TextOnly/AnimalsHealthGeneralLonliness2.htm
• http://www.deltasociety.org/TextOnly/AnimalsHealthGeneralCoping.htm
• http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/diseasesall/a/humananimalbond.htm
• http://www.deltasociety.org/TextOnly/AnimalsHealthGeneralPhysiology.htm