Animal Welfare and Decision Making

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 animal. 

Find out more about clinical decision making at:

Vet Your Decisions: Essential Vet Advice for Pet Owners

Vet Your Decisions Blog

Speaker Biography

Mary Fraser is the founder and host of The Animal Welfare Conversation podcast and Vet Your Decisions. 

Dr Mary Fraser is a veterinary surgeon who has bridged the gap between human and veterinary medicine. She began her career in mixed practice, completed a PhD in canine dermatology funded by The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and then moved into education and clinical research in both further / higher education and the corporate sector.

Along the way she has set up her own small animal veterinary practice, developed new training pathways for veterinary nurses, worked with Stirling University’s Innovation Centre and is now Executive Director of Education at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

She is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at Glasgow University, and in 2017 she was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (FRCVS) for Meritorious Contributions to the Profession.

Her main interests, alongside One Medicine, are animal welfare, veterinary and medical education, clinical decision making and charitable work through Humanimal Trust and UHI Perth.