Veterinary clients prefer benefit-focused online communication while clinic websites uncommonly communicate benefits of preventive care services.

Objective: To explore client preferences for how value is communicated via written means and to assess the consistency of this preference with how veterinary clinic websites present this information for preventive care services.

Methods: First, a questionnaire was developed to assess clients' preference between 2 researcher-developed paragraphs recommending senior pet screening (one focused on the function of screening, the other on pet benefits of screening) and distributed from August 17 to November 2, 2023. Second, veterinary clinic websites were retrieved with a search engine using predefined search phrases related to 4 preventive care topics (flea and tick prevention, heartworm prevention, dental cleaning, and senior bloodwork).

Assessment of owner perceptions of caregiver burden, veterinarian-client relationship and satisfaction with the provider in canine pruritus: An experimental vignette study.

Background: Complicated treatments for skin disease are linked to owner-caregiver burden and poorer perception of the veterinarian-client relationship, regardless of disease severity.

Hypotheses/objectives: Using experimental vignettes, we explored the impact on owner perception of the interaction of treatment complexity and skin disease outcomes. We hypothesised that: (i) vignette conditions involving injection therapy would result in lower burden, better veterinary-client relationship and greater satisfaction relative to multimodal therapy conditions; (ii) the vignette condition of injection therapy with a completely effective outcome would be superior to all other conditions; (iii) ineffective vignette conditions would be inferior to all other conditions; and (iv) the vignette condition injection with a mostly effective outcome would be similar or superior to the multimodal therapy with a completely effective outcome condition.

Perception and usage of short-term prednisone and prednisolone in dogs.

Background: Corticosteroids are widely used with low rates of reported side effects and a broad level of comfort in the hands of most veterinarians. With a low side effect reporting level of < 5% and high level of comfort there may be complacency and underestimation of the impact side effects of corticosteroids may have on a pet and pet owner.

Objective: The objective of this clinical study was to describe the experience and perception of an owner who administered anti-inflammatory doses of oral prednisolone and prednisone to their dog for up to 14 days.

Caregiver burden in cat owners: a cross-sectional observational study.

Objectives: Caregiver burden has been found in owners of seriously ill pets; however, research to date has been heavily represented by dog owners. Prior caregiver burden work has neither intentionally focused on cat owners nor been appropriately powered to examine differences in owners of cats relative to owners of dogs. We expected that owners of an ill cat would exhibit greater caregiver burden than owners of a healthy cat but lower burden than owners of an ill dog.

Use of Cytopoint in the Allergic Dog.

Allergic dermatitis is the most common type of skin disease in dogs. Of all dogs, 20 to 30% present with some type of allergic dermatitis. Pruritus is one of the most important signs of allergic dermatitis and is often the most challenging to control.

Caregiver burden, treatment complexity, and the veterinarian-client relationship in owners of dog with skin disease.

Background: Increasing complexity of treatment plans is associated with higher levels of caregiver burden in owners of dogs with skin disease. It is possible that elevated caregiver burden resulting from treatment complexity could, in turn, affect the veterinarian-client relationship.

Hypotheses/objectives: We expected that treatment complexity, caregiver burden, and the client's perception of the veterinarian-client relationship would be related to each other.

Treatment complexity and caregiver burden are linked in owners of dogs with allergic/atopic dermatitis.

Background: Skin disease severity and treatment plan complexity are both related to owner experience of caregiver burden; however, to date they have not been examined simultaneously in owners of dogs with atopic or other chronic allergic dermatitis.

Hypotheses/objectives: We expected to replicate and extend previous work by showing that caregiver burden is linked to treatment complexity and disease severity in this population. Moreover, we hypothesized that a relationship between burden and treatment complexity would be present in both subjective (owner report of experience) and objective (number of weekly treatments) measures, and that these relationships would exist independent of skin disease severity.

Development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of an owner-completed measure of feline quality of life.

Due to improved healthcare and pet longevity, measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is increasingly important in companion animal medicine. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the content and psychometric properties of an owner-completed assessment of health and quality of life (QoL) in cats for use in general veterinary clinical practice. A 23-item feline QoL measure, drafted based on findings from an online survey completed by 45 pet owners, was revised following qualitative interviews with 10 pet owners of healthy cats to assess content validity.