"Veterinary medicine is not finished when I have diagnosed an incurable disease, that's when it starts for me." A qualitative interview study with small animal veterinarians on hospice and palliative care.

In the wake of recent medical developments in small animal practice, curing animals of their illnesses and restoring their health can be realized better than ever before. However, the growing medical possibilities are also leading to an increase in demand for better care for patients suffering from terminal illnesses. Consequently, the field of animal hospice and palliative care has become increasingly available, enabling veterinarians to optimize the quality of life of patients, such as dogs and cats, who no longer have a prospect of full recovery.

"How long is life worth living for the horse?" A focus group study on how Austrian equine stakeholders assess quality of life for chronically ill or old horses.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) provides a comprehensive concept underpinning veterinary decision-making that encompasses factors beyond physical health. It becomes particularly pertinent when seeking responsible choices for chronically ill or old horses that emphasise their well-being and a good QoL over the extension of life. How different stakeholders use the concept of QoL is highly relevant when considering the complexity of these decisions in real-life situations.

Does "Dr. Google" improve discussion and decisions in small animal practice? Dog and cat owners use of internet resources to find medical information about their pets in three European countries.

Modern dog and cat owners increasingly use internet resources to obtain information on pet health issues. While access to online information can improve owners' knowledge of patient care and inform conversations with their veterinarian during consultations, there is also a risk that owners will misinterpret online information or gain a false impression of current standards in veterinary medicine. This in turn can cause problems or tensions, for example if the owner delays consulting their veterinarian about necessary treatment, or questions the veterinarian's medical advice.

Cat and dog owners' expectations and attitudes towards advanced veterinary care (AVC) in the UK, Austria and Denmark.

Modern veterinary medicine offers a level of care to cats and dogs similar to that available to their owners, including blood transfusions, chemotherapy and MRI scans. The potential benefits to the animals of owners who can afford such care are obvious, but there can also be negative consequences if owners with strong emotional attachments to their pets pursue treatments that significantly reduce the quality of the animal's life while attempting to prolong it. Moreover, caring for a chronically or seriously ill animal can lead to emotional distress and financial and practical challenges for the pet owner.

Do people really care less about their cats than about their dogs? A comparative study in three European countries.

Previous studies have shown that cat owners seem to care less about their cats than dog owners care about their dogs - both in terms of their emotional state of attachment and in their willingness to pay for services that potentially benefit the animals. One study speculated that this difference is "driven by the behavior of the pet" - that the behavior of dogs encourages care more than the behavior of cats - and therefore is a universal phenomenon. However, previous studies mostly relied on convenience sampling of owners and were undertaken in single countries.

Seeing the benefits, but not taking advantage of them: Dog and cat owners' beliefs about veterinary telemedicine.

Background: Telemedicine offers benefits to clients and their animals, but potential disadvantages are also being debated.

Methods: Using a questionnaire, we investigated dog and cat owners' (N = 2117) use of and beliefs about telemedicine and whether beliefs impact past and expected future use.

Results: Although the majority of owners are aware that telemedicine can lead to the risk of something being missed, they see great potential in remote consultation in terms of usefulness for follow-up appointments or improving access to a specialist.

Between Leisure and Pressure-Veterinarians' Attitudes towards the Care of Competition Horses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Equine veterinarians face a range of challenges when attending competition horses. Athletic goals may significantly impact veterinary decision making, and the veterinarian's work can be complicated by reputational considerations and rival opinions during an assessment of whether a horse is "fit to compete". Using an online questionnaire, we found that the majority of German, Austrian and Swiss equine veterinarians (N = 172) surveyed agreed that the owners of competition horses are more likely than owners of leisure horses to approach them with clear treatment ideas, and that the former have higher expectations of the medical services provided.

Complications secondary to endotracheal intubation in dogs and cats: A questionnaire-based survey among veterinary anaesthesiologists.

Objective: To investigate anaesthesiologists' attitudes towards endotracheal intubation and the perceived incidence of complications secondary to endotracheal intubation in dogs and cats.

Study Design: A cross-sectional online questionnaire-based study.

Methods: Using an online questionnaire distributed via electronic mail, the perceived incidence of complications secondary to endotracheal intubation in dogs and cats was investigated.

Compete or Cooperate with 'Dr. Google'? Small Animal Veterinarians' Attitudes towards Clients' Use of Internet Resources-A Comparative Study across Austria, Denmark and the UK.

Veterinary medicine is increasingly affected by animal owners having the opportunity to become better informed on pet health issues by using various internet resources. Using an online questionnaire including a section on clients' use of internet resources to obtain medical information, this study aimed to investigate veterinarians' estimates of the percentage of clients using internet resources, how often clients question veterinarians' professional medical advice based on online information, and veterinarians' attitudes towards clients' use of internet resources, across Austrian, Danish, and UK veterinarians ( = 641). The results show that 48.

Digital opportunities to connect and complain - the use of Facebook in small animal practice.

Background: Social media is increasingly used in small animal practice, enabling veterinarians to connect with clients and promote their business online. It can also be used by clients to quickly distribute complaints via online communities.

Material/methods: Using a questionnaire study we investigated Austrian, Danish and UK veterinarians' attitudes towards Facebook, the contents of clients' online complaints and how they were handled by veterinarians ( = 648).

Wanna See My Dog Pic? A Comparative Observational Study of the Presentation of Animals on Online Dating Profiles in Vienna and Tokyo.

Online dating applications offer new ways for people to search for social contacts. While previous studies have indicated that the inclusion of animals in profiles can increase users' dating success rates, the question of how many users display animals, and what kinds of animals are shown on dating profiles, has not yet been empirically investigated. Using a structured observational study of profiles in Vienna and Tokyo on a popular online dating app ( = 2400), we therefore looked at how many profiles show animals and what kinds of animals are shown.

Comparing veterinarians' attitudes to and the potential influence of pet health insurance in Austria, Denmark and the UK.

Background: Health insurance offers many benefits to clients and veterinarians, such as the ability to perform necessary and possibly cost-intensive medical interventions without financial constraints, or to potentially prevent euthanasia based on financial challenges. However, concerns about negative consequences, such as the overuse of diagnostic tests or overtreatment, have also been raised.

Methods: Using an online questionnaire distributed via e-mail, which included a section on health insurance, we investigated the relative number of insured dogs and cats treated by Austrian, Danish and UK veterinarians (N = 636) and the attitudes of those veterinarians toward health insurance.

Managing conflicting ethical concerns in modern small animal practice-A comparative study of veterinarian's decision ethics in Austria, Denmark and the UK.

Small animal veterinarians frequently have to manage conflicting interests. Beside the key consideration of the patient's interests, small animal veterinarians are often challenged to consider not only client's emotional needs, but also their own personal aspirations to provide quality patient care and to make a good living as a professional. Further, veterinarians have an interest in continuous professional development and the use of the newest treatments, which may influence their decision-making process.

"Patients' interests first, but … "⁻Austrian Veterinarians' Attitudes to Moral Challenges in Modern Small Animal Practice.

Small veterinary practice is experiencing steady improvement in diagnostics and therapies which enable veterinarians to offer evermore advanced medical care for their patients. This focus group study of veterinarians ( = 32) examined the impact of these improvements and the potential challenges they introduce in small animal practice. It shows that while advanced diagnostics and therapies deliver benefits in patient care, they also add complexities to decision-making.

Austrian Veterinarians' Attitudes to Euthanasia in Equine Practice.

Euthanasia of companion animals is a challenging responsibility in the veterinary profession since veterinarians have to consider not only medical, but also legal, economic, emotional, social, and ethical factors in decision-making. To this end; an anonymous questionnaire-based survey of Austrian equine veterinarians examines the attitudes to the euthanasia of equine patients in a range of scenarios; to identify factors which may influence decisions on the ending of a horse's life. This paper describes the distributions of demographic and attitude variables.

Comparison of emergence times and quality between isoflurane and sevoflurane in rhesus macaque ( Macaca mulatta) undergoing neurosurgical procedure.

Volatile agents for anaesthesia are widely used for anaesthetizing laboratory primates, and isoflurane is one of the most frequently used agents. Sevoflurane has been shown to offer a more rapid recovery than isoflurane in a number of species, but no comparisons have been made in non-human primates. This study compared the recovery characteristics of isoflurane and sevoflurane in rhesus macaques undergoing experimental neurosurgery.

Attitudes of Austrian veterinarians towards euthanasia in small animal practice: impacts of age and gender on views on euthanasia.

Background: Euthanasia of pets has been described by veterinarians as "the best and the worst" of the profession. The most commonly mentioned ethical dilemmas veterinarians face in small animal practice are: limited treatment options due to financial constraints, euthanizing of healthy animals and owners wishing to continue treatment of terminally ill animals. The aim of the study was to gain insight into the attitudes of Austrian veterinarians towards euthanasia of small animals.