Veterinarian’s Oath – Will Your Vet Follow the New Version?

As we told you in the last CatsWalk newsletter, the American Veterinary Medical Association (recently updated the Veterinarian’s Oath that every vet student takes at graduation. New language was added regarding animal welfare and prevention of suffering (in bold).

“Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering….”

The new oath applies only to veterinarians graduating after the Oath was revised; current practitioners (about 90,000 of them) are responsible only to the version of the Oath that they took when they graduated from vet school. However, AVMA agrees that there some way for practitioners to affirm they will uphold the new Oath. Therefore, we’ve started a petition to the AVMA for veterinarians to sign, agreeing to abide by the new provisions. Please ask your veterinarian to sign our petition.