Offering the best to patients: ethical issues associated with the provision of veterinary services.

Veterinary surgeons have long been perceived as animal advocates and yet their income is usually dependent on a third party: the owner. Given the ever-increasing options now available to treat complex clinical conditions, it is important to consider which services should, rather than could, be offered to clients. Does the professional obligation to act as an animal advocate conflict or concord with the desire to operate a successful business? David Main discusses the ethical issues associated with the provision of professional services to clients and their animals.