CAV update
Understanding current veterinary advice about vaccination and socialisation in puppies: a CAV survey Lorelle Barrett,
NZVA Veterinary Manager (Companion Animals)
In late 2020, representatives from Companion Animals NZ approached the CAV committee about anecdotal reports that the messaging from veterinarians to puppy owners regarding vaccination and socialisation was highly variable. The concern was that inconsistencies in messaging was leading to confusion amongst puppy owners about the right thing to do for their puppy. The CAV committee and CANZ agreed to work together in 2021 to better understand the advice veterinarians are currently providing their puppy owners, and to assist with resources if veterinarians thought they were needed. The first step was to undertake a survey of NZVA members asking them to tell us about the advice they are currently providing to puppy owners. The online survey was run via SurveyMonkey for 6 weeks during May and June of this year and was open to all NZVA members. Notification of the survey occurred in e-CAV, Vet News emails, and on the NZVA member Facebook page. A summary of findings follows:
Jametlene Reskp for Unsplash
Demographics
The survey was completed by 113 veterinarians. Figure 1 shows the distribution of respondents’ geographical location and practitioner type (companion animal veterinarian in companion animal only practice, companion animal veterinarian in
Figure 1. Demographics of responding veterinarians (n = 113) by region and practitioner type. CA = companion animal veterinarian in companion animal only practice; CAM = companion animal veterinarian in mixed animal practice; M = mixed animal veterinarian.
Contact: cav@vets.org.nz
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Companion Quarterly: Official Newsletter of the Companion Animal Veterinarians Branch of the NZVA | Volume 32 No 3 | September 2021
