I am taking my dog to a Mctimoney chiropactor next week, she said that legally i must inform my vet. This was my text message when she sent me her address. Can anyone on here tell me why? I thought i could do with my animals what ever i wanted as i have no legal contract with a vet?

Your dog will be receiving treatment from someone other than your vet, so technically your vet needs to be made aware of it.

Think the law says that only veterinary surgeons can treat someone else's dogs therefore the chiropractor can only treat your dog if your vet asks them to (the referral system) sensible when you think of it as there may me a contra indication that the chiropractor knows nothing about.

The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966

This Act states, subject to a number of exceptions, that only registered members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) can practice Veterinary surgery... ie.A VET!

Veterinary surgery is defined as -

"....encompassing the art and science of veterinary surgery and medicine which includes the diagnosis of diseases and injuries in animals, tests performed on animals for diagnostic purposes, advice based upon a diagnosis....".

This quote is taken from the RCVS Guide to Professional Conduct 2000 which has been made public for the first time. If you want to read the full text, click on the link in this paragraph to go to the RCVS site. The section to look for is "Treatment of Animals by Non-Veterinary Surgeons".

The exceptions include: -

Veterinary students and Veterinary nurses - governed by various amendments to the Veterinary Surgeons Act.
Farriers - whilst farriers have their own Farriers Registration Acts they are also governed by the Veterinary Surgeons Act and are not allowed to perform acts of veterinary surgery.
The other exceptions (including Complementary Therapies) are governed by The Veterinary Surgery (Exemptions) Order 1962.

The Veterinary Surgery (Exemptions) Order 1962
With the movement of Complementary Therapies into the field of animal treatment, this Order was introduced to amend the Veterinary Surgeons Act to take such legitimate therapies into account.

As far as Complementary Therapies are concerned, this Order refers to 4 categories:

Manipulative Therapies

This covers only Physiotherapy, Osteopathy and Chiropractic and allows these therapies where a vet has diagnosed the condition and decided that this treatment would be appropriate.

Animal behaviourism

Behavioural treatment is exempt, unless medication is used where permission must again be sought from the vet.

Faith Healing

According to the RCVS Guide to Professional Conduct, Faith Healers have their own Code of Practice which indicates that permission must be sought from a vet before healing is given by the "laying on of hands"

Other complementary Therapies

"It is illegal, in terms of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, for lay practitioners however qualified in the human field, to treat animals. At the same time it is incumbent on veterinary surgeons offering any complementary therapy to ensure that they are adequately trained in its application." (RCVS Guide to Professional Conduct 2000 - treatment of animals by non-veterinary surgeons)So, apart from the manipulative therapies, behavioural treatment and faith healing, all other forms of Complementary Therapy are illegal in the treatment of animals.

The Veterinary Surgery (Exemptions) Order states that: -

1. The Veterinary Surgery (Exemptions) Order 1962 allows for the treatment of animals by 'physiotherapy', provided that the animal has first been seen by a veterinary surgeon who has diagnosed the condition and decided that it should be treated by physiotherapy under his/her direction.

2. 'Physiotherapy' is interpreted as including all kinds of manipulative therapy. It therefore includes osteopathy and chiropractic but would not, for example, include acupuncture or aromatherapy

Both dogs see a Mctimoney chiropractor every six months, any time I think they are unbalanced or having problems their chiropractor is the first person I turn to. I am aware that at times the senior vet has been unhappy about it, before it was confirmed that one had suffered a whooper of a slipped disc he said  'if it was his dog he would not be letting a chiropractor near it'. Yet when Lucas saw the specialist - who has seen both - he remarked that it was probably with her help that Lucas was as mobile and on his way to recovery.
Never realised that I should ask the practise for a referral (where I know one vet would say yes go for it & the other no), and then the specialist has always said that he would back me every time they go and see her. The chiropractor is always kept update with everything else.

Thank you, that explains it. I have never used a chiropact before but was advised to by my dogs breeder.
I have a friend who used one and it saved her dog's life. He was in alot of pain and couldn't move.The vet couldn't find what was wrong and advised her that has the dog was 9 years old it would be best to Pts. My friend felt that the time was not right yet for him to go, so got in touch with a chiropactor. He found a disc out of place at the base of the dogs neck and muscle damage, after acouple of session the dog recovered. She refuse to pay the vet's bill in total, only pay for drugs. The vet took her to small claims court and lost!! The dog went on to pick up 4 more tickets. I would like to add that my dog is not that bad, just doesn't move right on the back end,HD as been ruled out by My vet.

IME vets often don't pick up on misalignments that can cause huge problems.  Soli's aggression at the beginning was in big part caused by pain from her pelvis - tilted and twisted - and all the vet could find was "a touch of arthritis in one hip but only very small".  She didn't have arthritis at all at the time - all the pain was her pelvis.

And no vet has made any comment on Paige when she's been seen - her whole spine was curved like an S following being beaten and kicked as a pup :-(

And, when Remy injured his shoulder he'd whacked a vertebrae out of line.  Again, nothing found by the vet through multiple manipulations and two x-rays, but the chiropractor found it straight away.  It didn't cure him - the main injury was to soft tissue - but it certainly did help him heal faster.

> 'if it was his dog he would not be letting a chiropractor near it'.

I wonder if he thought it would be similar to the usual human chiropractic treatment?  Huge manipulations, popping and what have you.  I know that's what any person has thought when I've mentioned it to other dog owners - I've always had to explain that it's really very gentle (and that I've used a McTim chiro myself for the same reason, I find 'normal' chiropractic quite painful at times).

Thank you, Nikita, my dogs breeder said to make sure it was a Mctimoney chiropactor, as I said my friend now swears  by them. I have never used one, that could be why she was booked until mid May!!