Ethics and human-companion animal interaction. A plea for a veterinary ethics of the human-companion animal bond.

For both moral and practical reasons, the veterinary profession must begin to nurture a serious veterinary ethics of human-companion animal interaction. Among the central concerns of such a discipline will be the moral value of the veterinary patient: the moral significance of human-animal companionship; the proper response of the practitioner to conflicts of interests between the patient, its owner, and himself; and the proper role of the practitioner in the client's decisions. Approaches that urge moral equality of man and animal or encourage the veterinarian to control the client's decision undervalue the moral status of the animal owner in the human-companion animal bond.