Animal Welfare Conversations

This week, we had the privilege of speaking with Professor Eddie Clutton and Dr Polly Taylor, both distinguished anaesthetists and two of the co-editors of Veterinary Controversies and Ethical Dilemmas. Their book, now highly regarded within the veterinary profession, raises important questions about the current veterinary landscape, approaches to treatment, and standards of animal care. Our discussion covered a range of complex topics, including moral dilemmas, euthanasia, and over-treatment, offering diverse perspectives and highlighting unresolved issues within the profession.

The conversation explored the financial, emotional, and societal costs associated with animal treatment, prompting reflection on what outcomes...

This week we catch up with Dr Jos Bongers, a veterinary neurologist from Glasgow Vet School, and Professor Sameer Zuberi, a paediatric neurologist at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. They discuss their career paths, the similarities and differences between human and veterinary neurology, and the impact of epilepsy on welfare of both animals and children.

We consider a variety of different topics including seizure classification and video diagnostics, similarities between human and veterinary neurology, welfare and quality of life, treatment of epilepsy and clinical trials, one medicine, and future breakthroughs in the treatment of epilepsy.<...

Decision making mini-series - episode 3 - Bias

In this episode we discuss the complexities of decision-making in veterinary medicine, focusing on biases that can impact clinical reasoning and client communication. We look at how biases can lead to misdiagnosis, affect treatment choices, influence client trust and ultimately impact on animal welfare. 

We consider some of the more common biases, such as confirmation bias, anchoring bias, and availability bias, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing and mitigating these biases to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient safety.

As usual, we have more resources on this topic at V...

In the second episode focussing on Clinical Decision Making, this week we look at clinical reasoning. Last week we discussed the way in which vets make decisions and all of the things that they are juggling at the one time, considering their own knowledge and experience, alongside the needs of the owner and the needs of the animal. 

Clinical reasoning encompasses all of the processes that take place in a consultation, and that lead to the decision making process. It can be described in different ways, but one approach is to consider: collecting information, processing it, identifying p...

In this episode of the Animal Welfare Conversation podcast, we take a break from the interviews, and will spend the next few weeks looking at the complexities of decision-making in veterinary medicine and how this relates to animal welfare.

In this first episode we look at the ways in which vets make decisions, and the mental gymnastics that go on when making clinical decisions. We look at the ways in which vets consider their own knowledge and experience, the owner wishes, and the needs of the animal. 

Find out more about clinical decision making at: Duration: 00:16:23

Welcome to the next episode of The Animal Welfare Conversation. 

This week we meet Dr Rowena Packer, of the RVC.

Rowena is the Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science at the Royal Veterinary College, London, where she leads a research group exploring diverse topics in this area, including the impact of chronic and inherited disorders on dog behaviour and welfare, the impact of owner knowledge, attitudes and behaviour on canine welfare, and caregiver burden.

In this episode we delve into the controversial world of dog breeding, where human preferences for "c...

Professor Andrew Knight
BVMS BSc PhD PFHEA DipECAWBM DipACAW MANZCVS FRCVS

Welcome to the next episode of the Animal Welfare Conversation. And this week we caught up with Prof Andrew Knight, animal welfare advocate, researcher and campaigner. In this episode we about Andrew’s journey of campaigning for animal welfare. We hear about the impact of livestock farming on climate change, the future of vegan diets and how this relates to animal welfare. We also consider how the veterinary profession can play a pivotal role in advocating for systemic change beyond the clinic.

Andrew es...

What makes a good life? Part 2

In this episode of the Animal Welfare Conversation, we continue the conversation with Dr Dan O’Neill of the RVC. Dan is well known in the veterinary profession for his work with VetCompass and animal welfare. Dan is a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and has received many awards in recent years from BSAVA, Kennel Club Charitable Trust, and was awarded the RCVS Impact Award in 2025.

In this 2 part podcast episode we examine an animal’s capacity for a good life and the opportunities they get to fu...

What makes a good life? Part 1

In this episode of the Animal Welfare Conversation, we meet Dr Dan O’Neill of the RVC. Dan is well known in the veterinary profession for his work with VetCompass and animal welfare. Dan is a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and has received many awards in recent years from BSAVA, Kennel Club Charitable Trust, and was awarded the RCVS Impact Award in 2025.

In this 2 part podcast episode we examine an animal’s capacity for a good life and the opportunities they get to fulfil that. In th...

Welcome back! 

In this episode we catch up with Dr Toby Trimble, the founder of Trimble Group, a film production company, reinventing education for animal health. Listeners to the podcast will know that education features a lot in conversations about animal welfare, so, in this episode we get the chance to look at this in more detail and discover just why education is so important. 

You can find out more about Toby's work at Trimble Group or find Toby on LinkedIn 

Biography

Toby is an RCVS Specialist in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Ana...

After a slightly longer break than we had anticipated, I'm really happy to let everyone know that we're back!

With so much happening in the world of animal welfare it's difficult to know where to start, but we're going to try. 

Join Mary this week for a short introduction to the new series.  

Our first full episode of this new series goes live on 16th May, when we catch up with Dr Toby Trimble to find out more about the importance of education in relation to animal welfare. More information about that episode to...

It’s the end of the year, so we took the chance to review the podcast. I still can’t believe that we’ve being doing this for a year now and had the chance to talk to so many people, about the great work they’re doing in relation to animal welfare.

It would be great, if you get a chance to go through the back catalogue and listen to some of the older episodes, but we wanted to highlight a few different things.

Welcome to the next episode of The Animal Welfare Conversation. This week we are joined by Prof Simon Girling. Simon has worked with zoological collections for the past 15 years, and has been involved with many different reintroduction programmes in Scotland and across the UK. In this episode we find out what it takes to successfully reintroduce a species.

The Scottish Beavers Reinforcement Project | BIAZA

Scottish Beavers | Beaver reintroduction | Scottish Wildlife Trust

Saving Wildcats | Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery | Saving Wildcats

Cairngorms Connect | News Item

Prof Simon Girling Duration: 00:33:32

In this episode we were lucky enough to catch up, earlier this year, with Mike Flynn MBE, Chief Superintendent of the Scottish SPCA, and we caught up just before he retired, to find out more about his 37-year career protecting animals both across Scotland and further afield. We consider the achievements of this career and challenges of working in animal welfare, including organising the largest dog-fighting capture in Europe, in 1991, that resulted in 31 arrests and convictions.

We highlight the work of the Scottish SPCA, and how they work within current legislation. 

We look at the A...

Trigger warning

This is part 2 of an episode that we recorded with Dr Paula Boyden, Veterinary Director at Dogs Trust. This extra episode focusses on domestic abuse, and how the work of the Dogs Trust and The Links Group supports people, and provides foster homes for the dogs of people who find themselves affected by domestic abuse. 

16 days of activism against gender based violence takes place from 25th November until 10th December - you can find out more about this here. 

If you are interested in supporting Dogs Trust as a foster carer th...

In this episode we catch up with Dr Paula Boyden, Veterinary Director at Dogs Trust, to find out more about their work. Dogs Trust is the largest dog welfare organisation in the UK, rehoming 14,000 dogs a year and many of you will be familiar with their work.  Alongside their rehoming work, they work across public affairs, outreach, and dog behaviour. A current focus for them is  the push for stronger legislation to address puppy smuggling, a topic which we find out more about, as well as discussing the current challenges of dangerous dogs legislation. But their work doesn’t just...

In this episode we sit down with Professor Cathy Dwyer of SRUC and Edinburgh University. 

Prof Dwyer will be known already, to many of our listeners, as an advocate for animal welfare. There were so many take-aways from this episode that it's difficult to highlight a few main points, but here goes - sentience, current challenges in animal welfare, generating and applying evidence to animal welfare, education, and influencing government policy to name a few! 

We also reflect on people, rather than animals, as I came away from our conversation thinking about how human behaviour im...

In this episode we focus on the work of the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, otherwise known as the USPCA. 

Established in 1836, the USPCA is the second oldest animal welfare charity in the world, and we were delighted to have the chance to talk to Nora Smith, Chief Executive. 

The USPCA work across many different areas of animal welfare including rehoming, working with wildlife, providing veterinary care, animal cruelty investigations, community support and campaigning, particularly around the illegal puppy trade and badger baiting, amongst other things. 

There are lots of...

Episode 17 - What impact does behaviour have on animal welfare?

With Nikki McLeod BSc(Hons) PGDip(CAB) NCert(Behav) RVN ISFM CertFN & AdvCertFB 

In this episode we focus on animal behaviour and the impact behavioural problems can have on animal welfare. We consider how important it is for all veterinary professionals to understand animal behaviour both to prevent and cure problems. We also focus on veterinary nursing, and the need for veterinary nurses to play a key role in improving animal welfare through behavioral awareness and education. Along the way Nikki tells us more about her...

Welcome to the latest collection of conversations, focussing on the world of animal welfare. We’re going to start this season by considering pain, analgesia and arthritis, with Professor Stuart Carmichael.

Did you know that 40% of all dogs, across all ages, have pathological osteoarthritis? And that the condition can be detected in dogs as young as 6 months of age. 

Or that 80% of cats over 10 years old with have arthritis? 

In this episode we consider osteoarthritis, consider how this can affect young and older animals, and the challenges associated with recognising chronic pain. We look...

Sneak preview!

We are still finalising things, but I wanted to let you know that Animal Welfare Conversations is launching a new award for Animal Welfare. 

The Alex Fraser Medal for Animal Welfare will be awarded on an annual basis to someone who has shown outstanding commitment to improving the lives of animals. 

More information about how to nominate someone (or put yourself forward for consideration) will be available soon, but I wanted to let you know that this will be happening later in the year, so you can start thinking about your an...

Welcome to the next episode of the Animal Welfare conversation. This week we’re joined by Dr Bronwyn Orr, who is a veterinary surgeon in Australia.

Dr Bronwyn Orr has a particular interest in animal welfare, completing a Master of Science majoring in International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law from the University of Edinburgh and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from University of Sydney. She is a Member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists by examination in Animal Welfare, and has spent much of the past decade of her career working in animal wel...

In this episode we catch up with Dr Marc Abraham OBE, BVM&S MRCVS, or ‘Marc the Vet’ as he’s usually known, a multi-award-winning veterinary surgeon, author, broadcaster, and animal welfare campaigner. 

Marc qualified from Edinburgh University in 1995, and during one nightshift at his Brighton out-of-hours emergency clinic in 2009 treated some poorly pups, then decided to campaign against irresponsible dog and cat breeding practices such as puppy farming. He founded awareness campaigns #WheresMum and Pup Aid, led the successful ‘Lucy’s Law’ campaign in Parliament to ban commercial third-party puppy and kitten sellers, e.g. pet shops. With Luc...

In this episode we catch up with Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today Magazine. 

Beverley Cuddy has been the editor of Dogs Today magazine since in launch in 1990 when it was part of the Daily Mail group. From childhood she was dog mad and worked at the weekly show dog papers before six long years at the Kennel Club trying to reform them from within! She has campaigned for a better dog world for decades - some of the successes include an end to quarantine and the start of Pet Passports, the end to cosmetic ta...

In this episode we meet Sam Fontaine MSc PGCAP BSc DipAVN(Med) RVN FHEA SFRET

Sam qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2002 and after a short time in general practice, joined the University of Glasgow’s Small Animal Hospital as their first dedicated oncology nurse in 2003. She spent 16 years in the SAH working both in the oncology service, and latterly as the deputy nursing services manager, where she co-led a team of over 50 veterinary nurses and veterinary care assistants.

During her time in clinics, Sam gained her RCVS Diploma in Advanced Veterinary Nursing in Medicine an...

In this episode we meet Emma Ruggles RVN CertVNECC APVN (Wildlife and Zoo Animals) L3CertSAHydro. 

Emma has worked in the veterinary industry for 10 years and qualified as a registered veterinary nurse in 2016, and has always had a passion for small animal emergency and critical care and wildlife conservation. After 1 year of working as an RVN in practice she started the CertVNECC qualification, and became a Locum RVN as of June 2018. Since then as well as working as a locum across the UK in both referral and general practice, they have travelled/worked and volunteered abroad in S...

In this episode we chat to Lacey Pitcher RVN about the world of veterinary nursing, and that impact of that on animal welfare. 

We consider the importance of understanding socio-economic factors in animal welfare, sharing personal experiences and emphasizing the need for empathy and understanding towards pet owners. It’s likely that we’re going to see a shift in the veterinary profession's approach to care, and we consider the importance of collaboration, empathy, and contextualized care. Trust and relationships were also discussed as crucial in veterinary medicine, with a focus on building trust with clients through open...

In this short intro episode, we highlight new episodes for May, otherwise known as Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month. So, we're focussing on the impact of veterinary nursing on animal welfare. 

In our first 3 episodes we chat to Lacey Pitcher of the VN Times, Emma Ruggles, hydrotherapy vet nurse, and Sam Fontaine, programme lead for the MSc in Advanced Veterinary Nursing Practice at Glasgow Vet School. 

The first new episode goes out on 17th May so we hope you will join #TheAnimalWelfareConversation. 

In this episode we take a break from interviews, and Mary considers the impact of the CMA report on animal welfare. 

Recent years have seen many changes in veterinary practice, and in particular the corporatisation of the industry. Whilst there are still independent practices out there, many of the UK's veterinary practices are owned by small number of large corporates. In this situation vets and veterinary nurses are employees of a larger company, and are not responsible for pricing decisions. 

The Competitions and Markets Authority recently examined the provision of veterinary services, and has decided to...

This edition of Animal Welfare Conversations focusses on veterinary life in Australia. We’re joined by Dr Tanya Stephens BVSc, MSc, IAWEL, MANZCVS, FRCVS.

Tanya is a veterinary practitioner in Australia, who has been able to combine a clinical career in practice alongside research on kangaroos, actively supported the profession, completed further studies in the area of animal welfare, and received a number of awards for her veterinary work.

Her main interests are in animal welfare, research, evidence based practice, ethics and sustainability.

She has recently edited One Welfare in Practice, The Role of...

In this episode of The Animal Welfare Conversation we are joined by Joe Bailey, CEO of the Humanimal Trust, a charity set up in 2014 by Professor Noel Fitzpatrick to support collaboration between human health professionals and veterinary professionals, to enable knowledge sharing for the benefit of humans and animals. We find out more about one medicine and discover why education is central to improving animal welfare. We consider sentience and how important it is to ensure that all animals have choice; and look in more depth at why complacency can be one of the biggest challenges to animal welfare...

In this episode we catch up with Dr Matt Morgan, Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine, adjunct Professor, regular BMJ columnist and author of One Medicine - What animals can teach us and why it matters. 

We chat about the physiological, anatomical and behavioural similarities between humans and animals and how we can improve veterinary care for animals, alongside improving medical care for humans. We find out more about the concept of one medicine, how human medicine advances were inspired by the animal world, the importance of a joint education for vets and medics, and consider what the m...

In this episode we chat to Dr Simon Doherty. With experience in veterinary practice, industry, academia and professional representation there is a lot to talk about, including how innovation and sustainability can improve animal welfare and what the UK can learn from around the world. As always, we ask Simon what animal welfare means to him. 

More information about the podcast and our guests can be found on the podcast website, where you can also subscribe to our newsletter.  Animal Welfare Conversations

Further information and links:

QUB Institute for Global Food Security:

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In this edition of Animal Welfare Conversations, I’m delighted to chat to Dr Sean Wensley. We discuss a diverse range of topics starting with what animal welfare means to Sean – that takes us into a fascinating conversation about the physical and mental wellbeing of animals, alongside animal welfare science, ethics and law. We delve into the complexities of each of these, how we can understand what an animal needs and wants and how to assess welfare.

We discuss Sean’s book Through a Vet’s Eyes – How to Care for Animals and Treat Them Better a book which...

This edition of AWC focusses on wildlife with Veterinary Nurse Emma Onyejekwe.

Many of you will know Emma as The Wildlife Vet Nurse and I’m sure that after listening to this discussion you will want to follow in her footsteps working with some amazing animals around the world, and here at home.

In 2023, Emma was awarded a 30 under Thirty Award at the London Vet Show for her work promoting wildlife care. 

In this episode we cover a diverse range of topics, including how to raise awareness about the veterinary nursing role, the important...

We were delighted to chat with Amy Lyons in our more recent edition of Animal Welfare Conversations. Working as a veterinary nurse in Australia Amy sees a variety of different animals – anything from wombats and kangaroos through to rabbits and dogs.

We look at how the role of the vet nurse is central to animal welfare – through vet nurse training, the challenges of working with wildlife, common husbandry conditions, owner education and the reality of working in practice.

We compare life as a vet nurse in Australia with that in the UK, and identify similarities between t...

Welcome to Animal Welfare Conversations

A podcast for veterinary nurses, vets, vet students, and anyone who just loves working with animals.

This podcast is for you if you want to feel part of a larger conversation and community around animal welfare in the UK and beyond.

Our first season is all about highlighting the good work that’s already going on in animal welfare.

We have an inspiring list of guests for season 1. We’ll be talking to vet nurses, writers, vets, policymakers, and huma...