Responding to the Reform of the Veterinary Act 1966 in the UK 

The UK Government is reviewing the Veterinary Surgeons Act (1966) the law that decides who is legally allowed to help animals in matters of health and wellbeing. 

This reform could profoundly affect animal welfare. It may determine whether animals retain access to plants and innate choices that form part of their biology, an ability through which animals have always maintained health, or whether care becomes limited to conventional medical intervention alone. 

To remove or fail to recognise this possibility is to move animals further away from nature itself. 

Many of you have witnessed animals recover, stabilise, or regain quality of life when allowed to participate in their own healing. This consultation is an opportunity for practitioners, guardians, and the public to ensure these lived experiences are recognised before decisions are made. 

Your voice matters. Individual responses carry weight: 

IMIM: Inform Motivate Influence Make a difference

Call-to-Action

🗓 Consultation closes: 25 March 2026
⏱ It only takes a few minutes to respond. 

Please share widely, this is about protecting animal welfare, choice, and agency for the future. 

The easiest and most effective route is to send an email to the addresses below, use it as a template and just input your statement, examples below (there is an online form but it is not context dependant and does not talk about complementary medicines).

To:
[email protected]

CC:
[email protected]

[email protected]

Dear RCVS Consultation Team, 

Please record this email as my formal response to the Veterinary Surgeons Act consultation. The questionnaire format does not allow adequate contextual explanation of interdisciplinary and welfare-led practices. I therefore wish my written submission below to be considered in full as my consultation response.

[PASTE YOUR TEXT HERE] 

I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt and inclusion within the consultation record. 

Kind regards,

My reply will be as follows: (other samples below)

Over four decades of professional observation across multiple species, often in collaboration with veterinary professionals, consistent improvements in animal welfare have been observed when animals are given the opportunity to engage in self-medicative behaviours using the principles of applied zoopharmacognosy. These observations need to be clearly recognised within current legislation, given the profound implications for animal welfare should access to such methods be restricted or withdrawn. 

Evidence from practice includes: Ronja, a Siberian tiger, an endangered species, facing euthanasia, due to uncontrollable behaviour and welfare concerns. Following applied zoopharmacognosy, her behaviour immediately transformed, and she later successfully raised three cubs. In another case an orphan elephant at the Sheldrick Trust, no longer responded to antibiotics. There were fears for her survival, however, using this approach with essential oils of garlic and clove alongside green clay, she made a fully recovery in 11 days. 

Across zoological settings, animals have reinstated natural behaviours rarely observed outside wild environments when given appropriate opportunities for plant interaction and selection. In domestic and clinical cases, animals have demonstrated the ability to communicate conditions such as ongoing pain or gastrointestinal disturbances through consistent remedy selection patterns. Importantly, this approach has also contributed to the survival of animals suffering from multi-drug antibiotic resistance, where conventional treatments alone were no longer effective. 

Such outcomes illustrate a category of non-diagnostic, welfare-led support grounded in science, observation and collaboration, which warrants recognition within modern legislation to ensure animals do not lose agency or access to plant constituents, that support health, communication, and recovery. 

Kind regards,

Caroline Ingraham

Sample replies: Responses: Please adapt this wording to reflect your own experience and professional perspective rather than submitting verbatim, as this would lead to responses being rejected. 

As the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 is reviewed, a critical question must be asked: what happens when conventional medical treatment alone cannot resolve suffering? 

Many animals experience improved welfare when supported through behaviour-led, choice-based approaches that allow them to participate in their own regulation and recovery. These approaches do not replace veterinary medicine; they extend compassion where medicine alone reaches its limits. 

If future regulation fails to recognise complementary pathways, animals risk losing access to support that has helped them when other options were exhausted. This consultation is therefore not simply about professional roles, it is about safeguarding animal welfare, preserving agency, and ensuring collaborative care remains possible for the animals. 

In my professional experience working with animals, welfare outcomes are often improved when behaviour-led, choice is available. This work does not involve diagnosis but facilitates environments in which animals can express their innate, adaptive behavioural responses that support regulation and recovery. 

Modern legislation would benefit from clearly distinguishing veterinary medical practice from non-diagnostic welfare support roles. Clarification would strengthen professional boundaries while allowing collaborative, multidisciplinary care models. This would better reflect the current understanding of animal behaviour and welfare science. 

I am responding as an animal guardian who has witnessed the importance of supportive, behaviour-led approaches alongside veterinary care. There are times when medical treatment alone does not resolve an animal’s suffering. In these situations, approaches that allow animals to express natural behavioural choices and self-regulatory responses have significantly improved welfare and quality of life. 

Personal observation sentence 

For example: 

• “In my work with rescue dogs…” 
• “As a veterinary nurse…” 
• “As an owner of chronically ill horses…” 

This alone makes the submission unique. 

Closing emphasis 

Each person stresses what matters most to them: 

• welfare 
• collaboration 
• clarity for owners 
• professional boundaries