# Vetbridge's Obligation to Recognize Veterinary Ethics

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vetbridges-obligation-to-recognize-veterinary-ethics/357497>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [May 20, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vetbridges-obligation-to-recognize-veterinary-ethics/357497 "2006-05-20T05:00:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 9

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vetbridges-obligation-to-recognize-veterinary-ethics/357497/161 "2006-05-24T02:48:53Z")

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I should also add that I’ve taught many presentations about animal hoarding, and it’s certainly something to take seriously, possibly as [a mental illness](http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/). However, **vetbridge’s** decisions about whether to refer her to a shrink for help need, IMO, to be separate from his decisions about whether to tell her about a relative sneaking around behind her back trying to thwart her choices about how to spend money. Obtaining too much vet care for one’s animals is **not** a symptom of animal hoarding; on the contrary, it’s [a contraindication](http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/abthoard.htm#A1):

> [@](#):
>
> The following criteria are used to define animal hoarding:
> 
> -More than the typical number of companion aniamls  
> - **Inability to provide even minimal standards of** nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and **veterinary care** , with this neglect often resulting in starvation, illness, and death  
> -Denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household, and human occupants of the dwelling

(emphasis added).

If she’s not afflicted with animal hoarding, of course, it’s possible she’s got another mental illness–but at that point, it’s not one that **vetbridge** is in a situation to do anything about at all.

Daniel

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