What is contextualised care?
Contextualised care is an approach to veterinary care that adapts to the unique needs of each animal and their owner. It relies on a strong partnership between pet owners and the vet team, working together to support the best possible quality of life for the animal.
Understanding contextualised care – our research
Our research aimed to understand how pet owners and veterinary teams can put contextualised care into practice. It explored:
- what contextualised care means
- what needs to be in place for it to work well
- what might be preventing it from happening
- what changes are needed to help it happen consistently.
The research, which was supported by Battersea through their grants programme, took on board insights from more than 1,000 cat and dog owners and veterinary professionals.
What pet owners told us
Pet owners shared that they value:
- care that takes their personal circumstances into account
- clear, accessible information about all available treatment options
- transparency around costs and likely outcomes
- support to make decisions that prioritise their pet’s quality of life.
They also said they felt emotional when their pet is unwell, and guilt when they can’t afford all the treatment options. Barriers to achieving contextualised care – including a lack of continuity of care (when pet owners see different members of the vet team at each visit) and affordability/financial constraints – were mentioned by both pet owners and vet professionals.
How to improve delivery of contextualised care
Both pet owners and veterinary professionals agreed that applying a contextualised care approach can bring benefits including:
- improved trust between owners and vet teams
- better quality of care
- reduced rehoming of pets.
Following the findings of this research, our roadmap sets out what support is needed – and what success would look like – in five broad areas to improve the delivery of contextualised care, including pet owner empowerment and support for vet teams.
Resources for pet owners
We’ve created two practical tools to help you prepare for and take part in veterinary consultations:
These resources are designed to help you feel confident and informed when making decisions about your pet’s care.
What’s coming next
We will be developing more resources for pet owners based on what we learned from this research. To make sure these tools meet the needs of pet owners, we will be working directly with owners throughout the process.
If you’d like to be involved in shaping future resources or would like to hear about opportunities to take part in our future work, you can sign up below.