Veterinary education shapes the welfare practices of a generation of practitioners, and integrating welfare into training is essential for advancing animal care.
Veterinary education shapes the welfare practices of thousands of practitioners who will collectively affect millions of animals over their careers. The integration of animal welfare science into veterinary curricula - not as an add-on but as a core competency - determines whether graduating vets have the knowledge and skills to apply welfare science in practice. Pain recognition training using validated scales like the Glasgow Pain Scale and species-specific tools is an example of welfare science successfully integrated into clinical training. Communication skills that allow vets to raise difficult welfare conversations with clients - discussing euthanasia timing, addressing inadequate husbandry, recognizing financial constraints - are as important as technical skills for welfare outcomes. Veterinary students who experience moral distress from welfare compromises they are expected to make in training require support and institutional frameworks that acknowledge rather than dismiss these concerns.