Shelters frequently don’t think they get enough support from veterinarians in their communities. Private practice veterinarians often think shelters are taking business away from them. A recent study, however, suggests there’s plenty of common ground between the two groups – as well as a few misconceptions.

The study, which focused on cats, was conducted by the CATalyst Council in partnership with AllPoints Research, Inc., and involved interviews with 455 private practice veterinarians and 772 shelter staff members about their attitudes toward and beliefs about the other group.

The study found that 12 percent of private practitioners perceive their profession in general to have an adversarial relationship with shelters, while only 2 percent of shelter representatives see relations with private practice vets as adversarial.

When the question is limited only to the practices and shelters in the respondents own community, however, only 5 percent of private practitioners and 1 percent of shelter representatives believe they have adversarial relations with the opposite group.

Large segments of each group have very different perceptions of how the other group views them, with 36 percent of private practice veterinarians saying they support shelters but that shelters don’t always support them, and 24 percent of shelters saying they support private practices but that support is not returned.

Other findings include:

• Shelters say private practice veterinarians overestimate the amount of veterinary services the shelters provide to the general public.
• 36 percent of shelters believe a successful relationship between the two groups means private practices will provide veterinary care to shelters at reduced rates.
• Private practice veterinarians say they offer free services to newly adopted cats at a greater rate than shelters believe they do.
• Veterinarians in private practice also say shelters refer fewer cats to them for post- adoption exams than the shelters believe they do.
• Two-thirds of each group reported they are interested in working together to see newly adopted cats get into community veterinary practices.

The American Veterinary Medical Association publication JAVMA News reported on the study in their March 15, 2013 issue:

“Nationwide, shelters euthanize cats by the millions,” [CATalyist Council Executive Director Dr. Jane] Brunt said. “And so there is, poof, gone an opportunity for a family to have a cat; two, an adoption to happen with a happy ending; three, a veterinarian to have a cat to care for.”

[…]

Dr. Brunt said CATalyst is enhancing its resource tool kit for practices and shelters that want to work together on common goals. Among other plans, the council hopes to identify certain communities in which it can facilitate partnership building.

The JAVMA News article about the study is here.