Following on from launching Animal Welfare Conversations I was reviewing some of the discussions to see if there were any topics that seemed to crop up in every conversation. And yes, it seemed that education is a topic that is mentioned throughout most of the episodes. Educating the public, owners, veterinary professionals about animal welfare, nutrition, husbandry, animal behaviour all featured.
So, that got me thinking about the importance of education and how the provision of educational resources, like the Advanced Programme in Vet Nursing of Exotics, supports veterinary professionals in practice to treat cases, but also enables those professionals to share that knowledge with owners, in order to improve the home care of these animals and thus prevent problems. This ensures that the animals are healthy, the owners are happy and the veterinary team doesn’t have to deal with the results of poor nutrition, housing or handling.
In reading about this, I came across some very interesting work from SRUC looking at rat tickling. Inducing positive emotions and providing animals with positive handling experiences.
Well worth a look.