Episodes

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, o...

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 ve...

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 rec...

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...

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...

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 ep...

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 ...

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 ...

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 op...

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 Spec...

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 abou...