Exercising / Walking Small Animal Patients

Implementation Date: 3/18/2010

Date of Last Revision: 2/9/2017

Next Review Due: 3/2023

 

Reviewed by VTH Administrative Team: 2/14/2020

Reviewed by VTH Board: 3/18/2010; 1/26/2017

 

Reviewed by Legal Counsel: N/A

Reviewed by Biosecurity Subcommittee: N/A

Subject to modification by the VTH Director without approval.

Policy

Exercising/walking client owned small animals is prohibited outside of designated fenced areas.

Guidelines

To help prevent the possibility of a client’s animal from getting loose, patients may not be walked or otherwise taken outside of the designated fenced areas by college faculty, staff or students unless the client is present or except when medically indicated and owner authorization has been documented.

Procedure (if applicable)

Patients are to be exercised/walked on a leash in any of the fenced-in walk areas of the VTH. 
Patient is to be on a leash while exercising/walking.

**If medically indicated for the patient to be walked outside of the fenced-in walk areas, the following procedure must be followed.

1. Owner consent must be acquired and documented in the Health Information System.
   a. Telephone authorization may be obtained when a client is no longer in the building. The clinician must obtain the owner’s verbal permission and understanding of the procedure and document within the Health Information System.
2. Patients walked outside of the fenced-in walk areas must be double-leashed.
3. Patient must be accompanied by two people while out of the fenced-in walk areas.

Definitions (if applicable)

Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH): The collective clinical services of the Large Animal Clinic, Midwest Equine, the Small Animal Clinic, and the Veterinary Medicine South Clinic.