Key Facts:  Supervised Consultation

Overview:
An advanced pet behaviour student will be leading the consultation under the direct supervision of one of our senior behaviourists. An initial behaviour assessment and a later follow-up session are included as part of the service. If you have a cat or parrot, both sessions are conducted virtually.  However, if your pet is a dog, one of these sessions will be conducted virtually, while the other is in your home or out on a local walk. Other students may be sitting in in-person or via an online video link.

When:  takes place monthly between 10am and 4.30pm (usually at a weekend)

Where:  virtually and at your home

What you need to do to prepare:

□          Get your vet to complete the referral form through our website, or ask them to post, email or fax it to us;

□          Complete and return the questionnaire at least a week before your appointment;

□          Without putting your pet under any further stress and while ensuring your own and others’ safety, take a video recording or any other form of recording (e.g. diary) of the behaviour;

□          Draw a house plan of your home and garden and take photos or do a ‘video tour’ of all the rooms your pet has access to;

□          Read the safety precautions below.

What we will do:

• The initial behaviour assessment generally lasts 2 hours and ideally, everyone in the household should be present.  To work out what’s going on, we take a full and detailed case history.
• Other than the student leading the consultation and the supervising behaviourist, another pet behaviour student may quietly sit in on the consultation and make notes during the process. Sometimes up to five other students may silently ‘sit in’ on our consultation via an online video link, such as through Zoom.  All the students have signed a strict confidentiality agreement.  They will receive a copy of your pet’s veterinary referral and behaviour questionnaire.
• Together we work out a treatment plan that is realistic and tailored to you and your pet’s needs.
• Soon after the consultation, a report is sent to you, which is later copied to your vet.  This outlines the reasons behind the problem and highlights the key steps of the behaviour modification plan (BMP). Note that as this is a learning experience for the students, the formation of the report may take up to a month to complete after the initial consultation. However, you are welcome to contact us at any point if you require further information and support.
• About a month later there will be a 1-hour follow-up session to help you get started on the BMP and explore any further questions you may have. Normally these sessions are scheduled 9am-5pm weekdays.
• Cat and parrot sessions are generally always conducted virtually.
• If your pet is a dog, out of the initial session and the follow-up session, one will be conducted virtually while the other is in person (at your home or on a local walk).
• Your vet is kept informed of how your pet progresses through the BMP.
• The student leading the consultation will be available for remote support through email for 3 months after your initial behaviour assessment. Please note this is subject to our fair use policy. If we feel that you are contacting us too frequently (e.g. more than three times a week) or correspondence takes longer than 30 minutes, then we may suggest another face-to-face follow-up session, or we may have to charge for our time. Our normal office hours are Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. We aim to return your message within five working days. Please bear in mind that support across our current caseload will be prioritised according to the relative risks and animal welfare factors involved in each case, rather than when different correspondence was received, so you may need to wait for longer than five working days to receive a response. Alternatively, you can book an extra telephone call with a behaviourist by contacting the office. We reserve the right to block your telephone number or email address if you disregard these terms. If urgent advice is required, please contact your normal vet immediately.
• If during the development of the case, some additional expertise of a Veterinary Behaviourist (VB) is required, then you can opt for a VB Case Review, which incurs an additional fee at an hourly rate. The VB will review and discuss the case with your referring vet. All communications with the VB are handled directly by us. Note this will not be necessary if your initial assessment was conducted by our VB.

Please note:  Be aware that the supervised consultations depend on student availability.  They are also not a suitable service for all individuals or problems.

Safety for you and your pet:

Please note that if the following precautions are not followed, we reserve the right to not enter the premises/leave the meeting place and either cancel the appointment and retain the fees for the consultation or change the appointment to an online consultation.

• Shut your pets in another room prior to our arrival for our own personal safety. You can then bring your pet in (and if a dog on the lead and possibly muzzled) once we are settled.
• Any information regarding the pet’s health and/or existing medical conditions/treatment must be disclosed prior to any consultation, or training, or supply of equipment. Where relevant any health issues regarding you, the handler, should also be disclosed to avoid injury and other issues pertaining to the services/equipment supplied.
• Any information regarding behaviour issues in relation to your pet MUST be freely disclosed, for example, fear, aggression, pet’s previous behaviour history etc. Failure to do so could cause serious harm to your pet, you the owner, your behaviourist, or other members of the public.
• If your pet is showing signs of ill health (such as vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing), or if you have a bitch in season, please advise your behaviourist as soon as possible in order to rearrange your appointment. This also applies to post-operative recovery periods. Your cancellation clause arrangement will of course apply in this case.
• All pets must be free from disease and up-to-date with worming, flea and tick treatment prior to consultation.
• Children, friends and family members are welcome to join in with consultations – this is at your own discretion. All involved must also comply with the Health and Safety recommendations advised herein and take proper reasonable care during and after the consultation. We accept no liability for the health and safety of those you choose to involve.
• Children must always be supervised when around animals and you should take proper care to ensure that they do NOT attempt to replicate any training, or behavioural modification recommendations on your pet without proper, adult supervision. This applies in all cases, even if the children have been actively involved with behavioural consultations or training sessions with Second Nature Behaviour.
• It is your responsibility to ensure that your pet does not harm in the future. You may wish to consider taking out third-party insurance for your pet.
• Second Nature Behaviour does not endorse the use of physical punitive correction. For more information, please see our Animal Welfare Policy at www.secondnature.bio/animal-welfare-policy.pdf
• In emergency situations for your animal, please call your normal vet practice straightaway.

How to get the best results:
It is important for you to follow the behaviour modification plan (BMP) if any improvement is to be seen. However, the BMP is not always successful, and success cannot be measured by results. The BMP may be modified as the animal’s behaviour develops. Each animal is different, and it may take a long time, depending upon the individual needs of the animal and your own circumstances. Behaviour problems are usually complex and can be hard to eliminate completely. Your animal may need additional ongoing support. Therefore, whilst we will do our very best to assess the animal’s behaviour and make recommendations, success is not guaranteed, and we cannot be held responsible if the animal’s behaviour does not improve or change.

Cost and payment terms:

All fees quoted include VAT.

The supervised consultation fee for dogs is £420, whereas it is £210 for cats and parrots. This type of booking is secured by a full payment in advance, which can be paid over the phone or online.

Paying via direct claim from your pet insurer:  We accept direct claims from select pet insurers as listed on our website here: www.secondnature.bio/accepted-insurers-for-direct-claims.pdf

Please provide us with your pet insurance certificate and policy details, including the insurer, policy number, when you first took out the policy and any excesses payable by you. In order to book an appointment, you need to pay the excess deposit and authorise us to securely store your debit/credit card details on file.

By making the booking and paying the deposit, you authorise Second Nature Behaviour to raise a claim with your pet insurer on your behalf for the above-agreed services and you grant your pet insurer permission to discuss this insurance claim with Second Nature Behaviour staff in full. Some insurers only process claims via pet owner online accounts, so in such circumstances, you need to raise a claim with your insurer, requesting them to pay Second Nature Behaviour directly and ensure we have received confirmation of this claim at least five working days prior to the appointment. Failure to do this may result in the consultation being cancelled. We are not responsible for helping to process claims involving third parties, such as psychoactive medication prescribed by your veterinary surgeon.

You are responsible for understanding the limits of your policy. If, for whatever reason, we do not receive the full payment from your insurer within 4 weeks after the appointment, then we will invoice you and take payment for the remaining balance from your card details within 5 working days.

Paying in instalments: There is an option to pay for your initial consultation in instalments via ClearPay or Klarna, which you can request upon booking. Note that your terms of payment agreement is with this third party and so any questions should be directed to them.

Travel costs:  There may be additional travel costs, which will be added to the invoiced fees. Travel costs are calculated using the fastest route suggested by Google Maps (maps.google.com) between your post code and one of our office hubs’ post codes (B30 1NP, ST11 9RB, TF10 9DX or CV1 2NT), whichever is nearest. If you are outside our normal travel zone (up to 20 miles from one of our office hubs), then £2 is charged per mile return journey in addition to our normal service fees. Mileage calculations are rounded up to the nearest mile. The travel costs will be added to your invoice, payable in advance of the session.

Additional appointments: Any additional follow-up appointments are £240 per session and these will be invoiced and payment taken in advance upon booking the appointment. If Veterinary Behaviourist Case Review support is required, it will be charged to you at the hourly rate of £240/hour. You will be invoiced for this, and payment is due within 14 days of the invoice date.

Other costs:  You may need to incur expenses which are related to your pet’s behaviour treatment plan, but not due to Second Nature Behaviour Ltd, such as to your vet or other animal care professionals, or in terms of equipment that may be helpful, such as enrichment items. Second Nature Behaviour Ltd do not receive any benefits or commission by recommending particular equipment or professionals providing related services.

Refunds and cancellations:
Regrettably, we only provide refunds in exceptional circumstances, which unfortunately excludes an animal no longer being in your possession or having passed away.  The full fee of a behaviour consultation is due even if you choose not to go ahead with all aspects of the service or disagree with our advice.

If you cancel at least one week before the appointment, then half of the fee is retained to cover administration costs, or you can reschedule your appointment (no more than two times). Any cancellations received within less than 7 days of the appointment will result in the retention of all of the consultation fee. Follow-up session cancellations with less than 7 days to the appointment will result in the retention of the full fee for the follow-up session. Follow-up sessions can be rescheduled a maximum of two times.