SCAS-funded research from the 2022 funding round is now published in Disability and Rehabilitation. Congrats to Joanna Foster, Danielle Stephens-Lewis, and Kimberley C. Schenke for their paper “Profiling hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS): factors in health and wellbeing with chronic conditions and opportunities for improving self-management”!
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638288.2025.2458187
In the afternoon session of SCAS 2024, Dr. Rise VanFleet presented a workshop which focused on ethical considerations in animal assisted services (AAS). This discussion revolved around rethinking the human-animal relationship in animal assisted services, focusing on a relation of partnership and mutual respect as opposed to one of exploitation and control.
Continue readingFlorina Hica, Master’s student from University of Agricultural Studies and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Attending a conference with all my companion animals is a rare opportunity. But this happened last October when I was fortunate enough to participate in the Society of Companion Animal Studies (SCAS) annual conference.
Since this was a virtual event, I sat in front of my computer in the morning and one cat promptly jumped on my lap, another took up a position on the desk, and my dog curled up on the armchair behind me. I’m sure there’s no better way to learn new things about the human-animal bond than this!
Anita Franklin, PhD student, Flinders University (Australia)
As I clinical play therapist and mental health social worker, with a keen interest in non-human animals, I knew of Dr. Risë VanFleet’s work prior to the SCAS 2024 conference. Now that I have started my own PhD research, learning from disabled people and their pets about how home design and accessibility influence their experiences and interactions in shared household environments, I was excited to attend her workshop on ethical considerations in animal assistance. I think her work has implications in a lot of areas of human-companion animal research.
Continue readingLeading human and animal welfare organisations have called on MPs to support policies that recognise the positive impact of the human-companion animal bond on mental and physical wellbeing. The issue was highlighted at a parliamentary event attended by 39 MPs last month (21 Jan 2025). The drop-in session at Westminster was hosted by vets Dr Marc Abraham OBE, Dr Belinda ‘Bin’ Johnston, founder of Our Special Friends (OSF), and Dr Elizabeth Ormerod, Chair of the Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS). The session, jointly organised by OSF and SCAS, featured presentations from organisations that promote the welfare of both people and dogs through structured animal-assisted interactions. Read more in this article published in DogsToday magazine.
To learn more about the All-party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG) and how you can get involved, visit their official website.
The SCAS Board of Trustees is delighted to announce that Dr Clare Thomas-Pino has been appointed as a trustee. Welcome on board Clare!
Continue reading
The 2024 Bob Harvey Award goes to the Interspecies Home Care and Interspecies Team of the Street of Samaritans Foundation in Cali, Colombia.
Continue reading
Dr Elizabeth Ormerod BVMS
This was a few weeks ago, and it got me reflecting on some of my more difficult consultations. As a young veterinarian I was very direct when informing clients if their beloved companions were obese. This approach was ineffective as the clients didn’t follow my well-meaning advice. In fact, many of these clients became very angry, did not return to the surgery, and I lost the opportunity to care for their animals.
Continue readingWe are excited to share that Hartpury University has launched the first UK Masters degree in Animal Assisted Counselling and Psychotherapy, this is a course ONLY for people who have already have been practicing as a BPS, BACP or UKCP accredited counsellor or psychotherapist for at least a year and having clinical supervision during this time.
There are still some places left to enrol! Read more about the course from SCAS Member and Hartpury Senior Lecturer, Dr. Clare Thomas-Pino:
Continue readingSafe Animal Friendly Environments (SAFE) is a companion-animal, multi-species risk management tool that was developed in 2021 by an Australian team of expert academics, veterinarians, (human) health and consumer representatives. This project was supported by a SCAS research grant, awarded in the 2020 funding cycle to Dr Janette Young, University of South Australia.
This resource was created as a framework that could assist in the process of assessing how companion animals across the key species that live in close human contact could safely be included in communal aged care settings.
A new page has been added to the appendix in 2024, based on advice from a physiotherapist (page 31)
Download the SAFE Toolkit for free here: