Large animal practitioners' perspective of their patients and clients and their professional responsibilities

Veterinarians have obligations towards both the animals they treat and their clients, the owners of the animals. Veterinarians have complicated, and often conflicting, relationships with both groups. In this article, Q-methodology was used as a method for discourse analysis to determine how Dutch large animal practitioners conceptualize animals and their owners and their professional responsibilities towards both. The article focuses on four different perspectives that Dutch veterinarians have of their animal patients and their owners, and of their professional duties and responsibilities.