Table 5. Pet owners’ attitudes towards advanced veterinary care (AVC) in small animal veterinary practice considered by country (all N = 2117; Austria n = 800; Denmark n = 626; UK n = 691).
| It is important that… | Level of agreement* | All countries N = 2117* (%)** |
Austria n = 800* (%)** |
Denmark n = 626* (%)** |
UK n = 691* (%)** |
Test* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My pet should have access to the same diagnostic tests that are available to human patients | Disagreement (1–3) | 483 (23.0) | 157 (19.8) | 234 (37.7) | 92 (13.8) |
H(2) = 160.925, p<0.001 UK vs. DK: p<0.001 UK vs. AT: p<0.001 DK vs. AT: p<0.001 |
| Neutral (4) | 552 (26.4) | 216 (27.8) | 178 (28.1) | 158 (23.3) | |||
| Agreement (5–7) | 1082 (50.6) | 427 (52.5) | 214 (34.2) | 441 (62.8) | |||
| Mean ± Std. ** | 4.45±1.59 | 4.58±1.49 | 3.79±1.65 | 4.87±1.47 | |||
| 2 | My pet should have access to the same treatment options that are available to human patients | Disagreement (1–3) | 357 (17.0) | 87 (11.0) | 218 (35.3) | 52 (7.8) |
H(2) = 253.496, p<0.001 UK vs. DK: p<0.001 UK vs. AT: p = 0.008 DK vs. AT: p<0.001 |
| Neutral (4) | 510 (24.6) | 184 (24.1) | 182 (28.9) | 144 (21.3) | |||
| Agreement (5–7) | 1250 (58.4) | 529 (64.9) | 226 (35.8) | 495 (70.9) | |||
| Mean ± Std. ** | 4.71±1.53 | 4.95±1.35 | 3.87±1.66 | 5.20±1.29 | |||
| 3 | I would enrol my pet in a research study to help advance veterinary care, as long as the risk of potential complications was low. | Disagreement (1–3) | 673 (32.2) | 266 (34.3) | 268 (43.3) | 139 (20.2) |
H(2) = 123.456, p<0.001 UK vs. DK: p<0.001 UK vs. AT: p<0.001 DK vs. AT: p<0.001 |
| Neutral (4) | 614 (28.8) | 224 (27.9) | 190 (30.1) | 200 (28.5) | |||
| Agreement (5–7) | 830 (39.0) | 310 (37.8) | 168 (26.6) | 352 (51.3) | |||
| Mean ± Std. ** | 4.00±1.64 | 3.97±1.60 | 3.46±1.67 | 4.51±1.49 | |||
| 4 | My vet should offer my pet the most advanced treatment that is available. | Disagreement (1–3) | 248 (11.6) | 62 (7.7) | 158 (25.3) | 28 (4.0) |
H(2) = 233.001, p<0.001 UK vs. DK: p<0.001 UK vs. AT: p<0.001 DK vs. AT: p<0.001 |
| Neutral (4) | 523 (24.8) | 182 (23.2) | 208 (33.1) | 133 (19.4) | |||
| Agreement (5–7) | 1346 (63.6) | 556 (69.1) | 260 (41.6) | 530 (76.6) | |||
| Mean ± Std. ** | 4.90±1.38 | 5.07±1.23 | 4.18±1.52 | 5.34±1.14 | |||
| 5 | It is important that my vet contributes knowledge to the advancement of veterinary care for future patients. | Disagreement (1–3) | 168 (8.0) | 56 (6.9) | 80 (13.3) | 32 (4.0) |
H(2) = 105.439, p<0.001 UK vs. DK: p<0.001 UK vs. AT: p = 0.090 DK vs. AT: p<0.001 |
| Neutral (4) | 585 (27.6) | 184 (23.5) | 235 (37.2) | 166 (23.9) | |||
| Agreement (5–7) | 1364 (64.4) | 560 (69.6) | 311 (49.5) | 493 (71.5) | |||
| Mean ± Std. ** | 4.97±1.26 | 5.08±1.20 | 4.53±1.32 | 5.23±1.18 | |||
| 6 | The advanced care available in modern veterinary medicine has gone ‘too far’, putting animals through ‘too much’ | Disagreement (1–3) | 483 (22.6) | 206 (24.8) | 122 (20.6) | 155 (22.0) |
H(2) = 2.467, p = 0.291
|
| Neutral (4) | 954 (45.3) | 339 (43.8) | 314 (49.6) | 301 (43.3) | |||
| Agreement (5–7) | 680 (32.0) | 255 (31.4) | 190 (29.8) | 235 (34.7) | |||
| Mean ± Std. ** | 4.13±1.29 | 4.09±1.27 | 4.08±1.24 | 4.21±1.35 | |||
| 7 | The advanced care available in modern veterinary medicine is unnecessary—animals should not be treated in the same way as humans. | Disagreement (1–3) | 860 (40.1) | 394 (47.9) | 194 (31.2) | 272 (39.2) |
H(2) = 51.189, p<0.001 UK vs. DK: p = 0.057 UK vs. AT: p<0.001 DK vs. AT: p<0.001 |
| Neutral (4) | 657 (31.5) | 222 (29.5) | 234 (37.5) | 201 (28.5) | |||
| Agreement (5–7) | 600 (28.4) | 184 (22.6) | 198 (31.4) | 218 (32.3) | |||
| Mean ± Std. ** | 3.65±1.61 |
3.34±1.61
|
3.90±1.46 | 3.76±1.68 |
*Number of respondents (N,n) and analyses with inferential statistics were calculated with unweighted data
**Proportions and mean±std were calculated with weighted data; rounding errors lead to some differences between rounded-off numerical values and actual values