Veterinary training shapes professional attitudes to animal welfare for decades. Improving welfare content and clinical training produces better welfare outcomes for animals.
The veterinary profession is the primary professional guardian of animal welfare in clinical settings. Vets who lack welfare science training, communication skills and professional confidence to advocate for patients provide inferior welfare protection. Curriculum developments embedding welfare science - behaviour, pain recognition, quality of life assessment, end-of-life communication - throughout the five-year programme produce graduates equipped for welfare advocacy. Student wellbeing in vet schools also matters: compassion fatigue and burnout reduce clinical welfare outcomes.