Assessing Differences in Understanding of Companion-Animal Preventive Care between a Veterinary Health Care Team and Pet Owners in a Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

ABSTRACT

Preventive health care visits to primary care veterinary practices in the United States have been on the decline over the past decade. One of the main factors that has been identified is a lack of understanding by pet owners regarding the importance of preventive care. The Partners for Healthy Pets Opportunity Survey was adapted for use in this study to determine whether there were differences in perceptions of a veterinary health care team between team members and clients, specifically regarding preventive care specifically within the Community Practice service of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Results of this cross-sectional study revealed that the clients and veterinary health care team tended to be aligned in most areas regarding companion-animal preventive care. There were some specific areas that differed, including a disconnect regarding components of feline wellness visits, reliable sources of medical information, and strength of recommendations from the veterinary health care team. The Partners for Healthy Pets Opportunity Survey could be adapted for use in other university-based companion-animal general-practice teaching environments to better understand differences between clients and the veterinary health care team regarding preventive care and thereby improve educational and service goals of primary care veterinary education. Efforts to better understand and mitigate potential communication gaps between pet owners and veterinary health care teams have the potential to improve preventive care not only in university-based practice but also in private clinical practice.