Health Plans

Question 1

Where are health plans used and why not usually for companion animals
- vets

Answer 1

• commercial animals
• sometimes see health plans for companion animals in kennels, breeding fav=cilities = health as a whole protected
• plans need to think about whole life of animal
• vet health plans = financial budgeting plans for vaccinations, worm/flea treatment - for monetary gain for vet and maintain customers
• think of pets as individuals so discourage thought as commodeties like farm animals

Question 2

What to include in animal plans

Answer 2

• Neutering = prevent disease and behavioural issues
• nutrition = optimal health, not too much/little
• routine hygine = clearing faeces, use disinfectants to keep areas clean
• zoonotic disease = animal disease that can be transmitted between humans and animals (benefit owner and pets if controlled)

Question 3

Pollari and Bonnet - neutering

Answer 3

• looking at post operative complications following castration, ovariohysterectomy and onychectomy (declawing)
• found that the percentage of surgeries carried out which ended up having complications = 1-24% for all complications and 1-4% for severe.
• The whole process of surgery is stressful to the animal (unfamiliar surroundings and people).
• Post operative complications occurred most in dogs that had ovariohysterectomies with between 4 and 35% of surgeries across 5 vet practices that resulted in postoperative complications.

Question 4

Whole life companion animal plans - breeding

Answer 4

• selective/pedigree
• breed animal with potential for good health to reduce problems later in life
• health plans should start before conception = selecting parents with priority health rather than aesthetics, not too young/old, STDs, how bred (bull dogs not naturally)

Question 5

Whole life companion animal plans - infectious disease prevention

Answer 5

• Vaccination – control life threatening diseases
• Vaccination schedules – duration of immunity, non-responders, maternally derived antibodies, behaviour vs infectious disease protection.
• Isolation and quarantine – importing animals (pet travel scheme – UPDATED after Brexit in JAN), pets, rescues/vets
• Hygiene (cleaning and disinfection) – using right disinfectant for environment

Question 6

Whole life companion animal plans - parasite control

Answer 6

• Ectoparasites – common in companion, lots of treatments, zoonotic implications
• Endoparasites – common, careful selection of treatment – resistance

Question 7

Whole life companion animal plans - nutrition

Answer 7

• Life stage diets – Young, adult, senior
• Physiological state diets – pregnancy/lactation, working animals
• Breed – for associated predispositions
• Prescription – support disease (kidney, liver, cancer, heart disease)

Question 8

Whole life companion animal plans - psychological

Answer 8

• Enrichment and socialisation with people and animals
• Breeding
• Normal vs abnormal behaviour
• Behaviour problems – over vocal, over grooming, jumping, howling – can cause health issues – due to stress

Question 9

Whole life companion animal plans - neutering

• Sweden study
• risk of prostate cancer

Answer 9

Ethical considerations – surgical mutilation – unwanted litters, strain on rescues
- prevents diseases

• There is a risk of reproduction – study in Sweden found the incidence of mammary tumours in intact females was 1% at 6 years, 6% at 8 years and 13% at 10 years. This varied between breeds. Incidences for mammary tumours for springer spaniels was 319 dogs per 10,000 dog/year at risk whereas for rough-haired collies this was 5 dogs per 10,000 dogs/year
• Neutering dogs increases the risk of prostate cancer by 2.4-4.3 times compared with intact dogs and in most cases, this will be malignant

Question 10

Whole life companion animal plans - euthanasia

Answer 10

• Needs to be appropriate by a vet

- Ethical or financial reasons

Question 11

Business use of animal health plans

Answer 11

• Formulated to individuals and collection as whole
• Discuss with named vet
• Part of licence – formal document
• No formal health plan? – reputation, profit – poorly kept animals = complain/leave
• Spot inspection – licence revoked if animals seen poor health, welfare and behaviour = shut down business