Pets, Vets, and Frets: What Relationship-Centered Care Research Has to Offer Veterinary Medicine

Communication skills are an important and underrepresented area of education, research, and practice in veterinary medicine. In a 1999 survey, practicing veterinarians identified communication skills as one area in which their training was inadequate and should be improved. At the same time, when owners/clients were asked about the most important factors in selecting a veterinarian, they identified caring and kindness, respectful treatment, and ‘‘informativeness’’ as most important.