We believe that it is our choice to decided which alternative health treatment would best suit our pets. We do not need the approval of a licenced veterinarian to make that choice or give us the ok to seek alternative advice or treatment for our pets. Humans do not need their doctor's permission for massage therapy, acupuncture etc. so what valid reason could the College of Veterinarians possibly have to prevent us from making those same choices for our pets.
Ms. Karen Smythe
Policy and Quality Assurance Manager
College of Veterinarians of Ontario
2106 Gordon Street
Guelph, ON N1L 1G6
06 April 2009
Dear Ms. Smythe,
We the undersigned have a problem with a proposal that has come to our attention. The proposal that is being brought forward by the College of Veterinarians of Ontario in regards to alternative treatments for our animals. The essence of which is that all types of alternative treatments must be conducted by a licensed veterinarian or under the supervision of one. Our understanding is that any practitioner performing any alternative or complementary medicine without a veterinary license or is not referred by a licensed vet will be charged with practicing veterinary medicine without a license.
It is also our understanding that some of the practices they want included (taken from the proposal): Veterinary treatments therapies, and/or modalities that are currently considered complementary and/or alternative including (but not limited to) the following: chiropractic care, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy, massage therapy, homeopathy, acupuncture, nutraceutical therapy and phytotherapy.
We see a real problem with the College of Veterinarians even thinking they should have the right to tell us that we can not chose what we think is the best preventative steps for the healthy life of our animals without their approval first. Will they also want to have the right to refer us to the dog or cat food we must feed our animal? We do not need a vet to tell us whether any of the above alternatives to veterinary medicine is ok. Our human doctor does not have that right and we can see absolutely no valid reason why we can make the decision to go for acupuncture for ourselves but must have our vet%u2019s approval to get it done for our dog. This makes absolutely no sense.
If the veterinarians want to make a profit from the ever-expanding need for this type of treatment for animals then we suggest they go back and get trained in all of the above or have the treatments offered at their clinics. In the human world you see chiropractic clinic%u2019s offer massage therapy, acupuncture etc. to their clients and they are performed by different specialists working together for the better health of their clients. We see no reason why veterinarians could not work with other specialist this way.
We believe the College of Veterinarians of Ontario would be better off spending their time and energy on ways to bring back the faith and trust of the animal owner. We have seen a huge drop in this trust level for may valid and varied reasons. This is one of the main reasons why there is such a huge swing by pet owners to the alternative choices. We no longer trust our vets to do what is best for our animals. This needs to be addressed by the college before it gets any worse.
I will reiterate that we can chose for ourselves the alternative treatments we want for the betterment of our health without having to pay for a consultation with our doctor. We see absolutely no reason why we should have to pay to see our vet so that they can then tell us that we can take our animal to the treatment we want.
We have started a petition against this proposal, which we will submit to you on the 15th of April 2009.
Thank you for the opportunity to express our concerns in regards to the proposal put forward by the College of Veterinarians of Ontario.
Regards,
