Speak Up! Tell the AVMA You Want the Freedom to Choose an Acupressure or Massage Practitioner for Your Animals
Horse owners have until February 14, 2011, to comment on proposed changes to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Model Veterinary Practice Act (MVPA). The official comment period is open to the public so you can make a difference. If you click on to the link: www.avma.org/issues/policy/mvpa.asp you can read the proposed language and make comments. The wording about complementary and alternative therapies is found in Section 2- 7 and Section 2-19, followed by wording under the heading Commentary to Section 2.
One of the proposed changes includes the “use of complementary, alternative and integrative therapies” under the definition of the Practice of Veterinary Medicine. This language, if adopted by individual states as law, legally excludes non-veterinarians from applying massage and acupressure to horses, dogs and other animals. Animal owners would no longer have the freedom to choose a well-trained practitioner to apply massage or acupressure to their animal unless that person is a licensed veterinarian.
Considering the fact that there are very few veterinarians that have taken the time to educate themselves in these methods, I find this proposed change quite disturbing.
Also, I don’t have to ask my medical doctor for permission to get a massage or work with an acupressure practitioner for myself. Why should I legally be required to get permission from or pay my veterinarian for these services for my animal? Here in California, animal owners recently voiced their concerns and successfully blocked such language from being put into state law.
I believe that providers of massage, acupressure and other alternative therapies for animals should absolutely have adequate training. They should not have to be a licensed veterinarian or veterinary technician to provide these services. They should also not be required to be supervised by a veterinarian to provide these services. For example, I have fulfilled the California educational requirements to become a certified practitioner of human massage. This certification does not require me to work under the supervision of a medical doctor in any way. It allows a person to individually choose whether or not they want a massage and which practitioner they work with – all without the involvement of their medical doctor.
If you click on to the link: www.avma.org/issues/policy/mvpa.asp you can read the proposed language and make comments. The wording about complementary and alternative therapies is found in Section 2- 7 and Section 2-19, followed by wording under the heading Commentary to Section 2.