Animal Welfare Conversations

In this expansive and deeply grounded conversation, we hear from Manda Scott, to explore why personal healing and systemic change must go hand in hand if we want to leave a healthy planet for future generations. Tracing her journey from veterinary medicine in Scotland and Cambridge to award‑winning writing and spiritual practice, Manda shares her understanding of today’s interconnected poly crisis, the sixth mass extinction, breached planetary boundaries, and why incremental solutions can’t mee

With Crufts taking place this weekend, we explore the future of dog breeding. Recent media attention has focused on breeding practices, conformation, the Innate Health Assessment Tool, and the Royal Kennel Club’s new nose‑to‑tail assessment / Breeding For Health Framework. Mary catches up with Beverley Cuddy, a former podcast guest, to discuss these developments. A key theme of the conversation is the importance of involving breeders in discussions about the future of dog breeding. Beverley r

In this episode we are joined by Dr Beatriz Monteiro, to discuss in more depth the impact of pain on animal welfare. We consider the differences between acute and chronic pain, how pain impacts on all aspects of animal welfare, the use of validated pain scales such as the Feline Grimace Scale and the importance of evidence based medicine. We talk a lot about the WSAVA and their resources on pain management, and you can find the links to these at the end of these notes. We hope you will joi

Welcome to 2026, and new episodes of the Animal Welfare Conversation. In this introductory episode we have a sneak preview of the new interviews, covering a broad range of topics including animal welfare science, climate change, the sixth mass extinction and dog breeding. So much is happening in the veterinary profession at the moment, including the CMA report and review of the Veterinary Surgeons Act. There are many opportunities here for the veterinary profession to have a greater influence

This week, we had the privilege of speaking with Professor Eddie Clutton and Dr Polly Taylor, both distinguished anaesthetists and two of the co-editors of Veterinary Controversies and Ethical Dilemmas. Their book, now highly regarded within the veterinary profession, raises important questions about the current veterinary landscape, approaches to treatment, and standards of animal care. Our discussion covered a range of complex topics, including moral dilemmas, euthanasia, and over-treatment, o

This week we catch up with Dr Jos Bongers, a veterinary neurologist from Glasgow Vet School, and Professor Sameer Zuberi, a paediatric neurologist at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. They discuss their career paths, the similarities and differences between human and veterinary neurology, and the impact of epilepsy on welfare of both animals and children. We consider a variety of different topics including seizure classification and video diagnostics, similarities between human and ve