Veterinary Referral
Our team of clinical animal behaviourists work on veterinary referral only. Click here to find out more about us.
Online veterinary referral form
If you would like to refer a patient to us, you can fill out your referral online. Alternatively, you can download our referral form and table of services, or the longer RCVS approved referral form*. The forms and clinical history can be returned to us by post, fax, or email*. It is important for us to receive a clinical history for a full picture of the client.
Refer Now
complete our quick behaviour referral form online
Why refer your patient to us?
Behaviour problems are common among household pets and the statistics for relinquishment and PTS for behaviour problems are alarming. It can be difficult for pet owners to know where to go to for help, especially as the pet behaviour profession is not yet fully regulated. This can be alleviated by qualified, experienced behaviourists working on veterinary referral.
We offer a range of services to referred dogs, cats and parrots in the Midlands area, with hubs in West Midlands, Staffordshire and Warwickshire, but also offering some consultations virtually worldwide. In most cases, the best solution is a home visit for an extended consultation. Every client receives comprehensive resources, which tie in with their tailor-made behaviour modification plan. With inclusive telephone and email follow-up, this is an all-embracing service. We have the time to listen and support your clients.
Your clients can often claim back our fees on their pet insurance and we accept pre-authorised direct claims from PetPlan, Animal Friends and Agria Pet Insurance.
We only work on veterinary referral, so if your patient approaches us, we will ask them to visit you first. Thorough veterinary investigation rule outs any underlying physiological causes prior to a behaviour consultation. Where there are physiological causes, there may be additional behaviour elements that can be referred to, but only once the medical issues have been resolved.
We believe it also important to keep you as the animal’s vet up to date, so you will receive a copy of our report and feedback on how your patient is progressing. While we attempt to keep in close contact throughout behaviour modification, we ask you also to kindly keep us informed of any development from your perspective on the patient’s behaviour problem, so that we can best serve the patient.
Second Nature Behaviour sometimes works closely with a veterinary behaviourist, when extra advice is needed on a particular case. They are independently accredited by CCAB Certification (formally the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour) but also a MRCVS. Therefore, they can provide you as the referring vet with behavioural medicine advice that may be relevant to a case. Please note though that they will be providing this advice remotely based on an animal’s clinical history and our behaviourist’s assessment, so they will not be able to physically examine the animal in person or provide a definitive diagnosis. Therefore, you will remain the veterinary surgeon overseeing our management of the behaviour case, thus you will also be responsible for any prescription of medication and provision of emergency care. Alternatively, you may wish to make a referral to an appropriately qualified veterinary behaviourist.
Contact Us
any case queries – get in touch
*In order to safeguard the welfare of your patient and indicate your approval of referral or delegation to the Second Nature Behaviour team, please make a written referral.
Some remote advice for the case may need to be sought from a veterinary behaviourist (MRCVS CCAB), who works with Second Nature Behaviour. Please indicate on your referral whether you are happy for this to happen. The veterinary behaviourist will be remote from the patient and will not be able to perform a physical clinical exam, so the veterinary behaviourist cannot provide a diagnosis, but they can provide advice to the referring vet about treatment or further investigations relevant to the case. Second Nature Behaviour will then implement the advice according to your instruction and report back to you on the outcome. Please note that you, as the client’s normal veterinary surgeon, remain responsible for the treatment, provision of 24-7 emergency care, advice and any prescriptions given for the referred animal. If it becomes apparent that the case would need to be fully referred to a veterinary behaviourist, then they would need to be contacted separately.
As we are active in the training behaviourists working towards independent accreditation, pet behaviour students may sit in on your patient’s consultation, or advanced students may lead the consultation under the direct supervision of one of our senior behaviourists. All students sign strict confidentiality agreements and are appropriately insured. If you would prefer your client not to be offered a student consultation or for students not to sit in on the case, please let us know.
Data protection notice: Second Nature Behaviour will use personal data about this animal for the purpose of providing animal behaviour counselling services, as well as for our internal administration and management purposes. We will treat all of this information in confidence and keep it secure. We may need to share it with veterinary staff and other animal care professionals for the purpose of helping us to provide animal behaviour counselling services, but will only do so with your permission and your client’s permission. For more information about how we use your data, please see our Privacy Policy, which also contains information about your privacy rights.