kit279
Well-Known Member
This is a purely theoretical question as I'm fortunate enough to have my own yard and land so all of mine do have a guaranteed future with me. However, there are lots of owners out there who do not have that luxury and may have a horse that has physical and/or behavioural problems that they can no longer care for. There are a lot of threads on whether you should PTS or sell on and also a number of threads where owners have been stung where the horse has gone on to an uncertain and unsavoury future.
So, what is the vets perspective on this? If an owner requests that the vet puts a horse to sleep, without there being an obvious clinical indication, what is the vet required to do? Is it service provision - i.e. whatever the client wants, the client gets? Or can the vet refuse on the grounds that it is not in the animals best interests? Presumably this would be difficult as the owners could easily send the horse to a hunt yard or similar to have it PTS.
I am just curious as my father was a vet and I can remember him helping several owners in that situation (moving abroad, didn't want the cat/dog to have to be rehomed via a shelter so came to have it PTS) to find new home, however he never did this for any of the equine clients. I am curious as to what the current guidelines are.
Any thoughts or experiences?
So, what is the vets perspective on this? If an owner requests that the vet puts a horse to sleep, without there being an obvious clinical indication, what is the vet required to do? Is it service provision - i.e. whatever the client wants, the client gets? Or can the vet refuse on the grounds that it is not in the animals best interests? Presumably this would be difficult as the owners could easily send the horse to a hunt yard or similar to have it PTS.
I am just curious as my father was a vet and I can remember him helping several owners in that situation (moving abroad, didn't want the cat/dog to have to be rehomed via a shelter so came to have it PTS) to find new home, however he never did this for any of the equine clients. I am curious as to what the current guidelines are.
Any thoughts or experiences?