Caring is core to our success

IVC Evidensia is leading the way in setting a new standard of veterinary care, developing the unique concept of Animal Wellbeing. This novel approach recognises that our patients are healthiest and happiest when care is provided in a holistic fashion across every aspect of their lives, both in our clinics and at home.

Our method follows the now well-recognised example set in human healthcare where ‘health’ is defined as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

By leading this initiative, we are able to challenge the existing view that we can fulfil our commitment to animals by simply meeting basic needs – the ‘Five Freedoms’. This classic model considers success to be freedom from pain, injury, disease, hunger and thirst, among other factors. While these remain critical, we believe that we should aspire to provide more than ‘just enough’.

IVC Evidensia has chosen to follow the ‘Five Domains’ model. This update to the traditional approach continues to provide for basic needs, fulfilling the historic five freedoms, but also looks to enrich an animal’s life by considering all the building blocks of physical and emotional health ie animal wellbeing.

The Five Domains of animal wellbeing are:

Health and Veterinary Care

Veterinary Care is the cornerstone of our business, provided through our expansive network of clinics across 12 countries. We provide the highest standards of care through both our first opinion clinics and our large-scale European referral network. This makes IVC Evidensia the best solution for pets, horses and farm animals, from routine preventative healthcare and wellbeing advice, through to cutting edge treatments and technology.

Nutrition

There is no greater influence on our pets’ health and wellbeing than what we feed them. IVC Evidensia has unparalleled knowledge in this area, providing training and resources to our teams to ensure they are able to advise owners of the very best options at all stages of life, during health and illness, youth and old age.

Environment

Our Quality Improvement Programme actively drives clinical standards across all aspects of care. This ensures we always provide safe and effective evidence based treatment. Critical to this is our approach to hygiene, infection control and the responsible use of antibiotics.

We understand how the environment impacts on our patients and the challenges of the modern world. In response, we have developed a market-leading sustainability platform which helps us fulfil our responsibilities to you, your pet and society.

Welfare and Behaviour

IVC Evidensia is well recognised across Europe as providing strong leadership in all aspects of animal welfare. Our international teams collaborate to identify the needs of all species, and respond with tools and solutions to make their lives better. This involves working with charities and other organisations to ensure that our company provides any support needed. Great examples include our project to tackle the relationship between animal and human domestic violence often known as ‘non-accidental injury’.

We are particularly focused on how we can improve the experience of pets within our clinics. We aim to reduce anxiety by enriching the environment and creating tools and training materials to help our staff interact with animals in a positive way.

Mental State and Happiness

The fifth ‘domain’ is an accumulation of health and veterinary care, nutrition, environment, welfare and behaviour. This is a measure of the balance achieved in each of these areas. At IVC Evidensia, we consider success to be pets who are well fed and provided with outstanding healthcare in a safe and sustainable environment where all our teams endeavour to create a welcoming and calm experience.