Do you want the freedom to take your animal to the holistic practitioner of
your choice? Or, are you an animal practitioner in Colorado that would like the
freedom to legally practice on animals within the scope of your professional training without
having to obtain a veterinary degree? If so, please support this
important legislation!
Colorado Alliance for Animal Owners Rights (CAAOR) is a lobbyist organization
established in 2006, modeled after a grass roots alliance, the Florida Alliance
for Animal Owners Rights (FAAOR) and the Illinois Alliance For Animal Owners
Rights (IAAOR). The CAAOR is primarily focused on protecting the right of the
animal owner to pursue all facets of animal health care, including
complementary, integrative and cooperative health care with or without
veterinary referral. We are an owner’s rights organization, not an animal rights
organization. We do not consider ourselves to be ‘guardians’ of the animals but
we feel strongly that as owners we have the final responsibility for the humane
and enlightened care of our companion animals and livestock. Currently there are
sister organizations like the FAAOR, the IAAOR and the CAAOR sprouting up all
over the country, dedicated to very similar positions. The Alliance is committed
to the task of replacing restrictive and over-broad animal health care rules and
regulations with common sense, owner-friendly, statutes.
Why support CAAOR?
Did you know your right to have your animal massaged without a vet's
supervision is in jeopardy?
Do you want to pay your vet to supervise your animal massage
practitioner?
Would you like to take your animal to a massage practitioner,
acupressurist, animal communicator, physical therapist or other type of
cooperative practitioner?
If you would like to be able to take your animal to the practitioner of your
choice without veterinary permission or supervision, please donate to support legislation that will make
it your right to do.
In 1999, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
began a national campaign to universally describe veterinary medicine for all
state vet boards. Using common boiler-plate language they redefined the
'practice of veterinary medicine' so broadly and vaguely that this language, if
enacted into law, could be used to restrict owners, alternative/complementary
therapists, massage therapists, breeders, sportsmen, trainers, boarders, equine
dentists, farriers, groomers and others from handling animals in any fashion
without first consulting or eventually hiring a DVM. The AVMA devised this
cookie-cutter strategy after a research study they commissioned predicted
the inevitable dwindling of their market share as consumers began to distance
themselves from mainstream veterinary medicine in pursuit of complementary and
alternative animal health care options. This campaign was largely financed by
drug companies and other vested 'joint-venture' corporations who use
veterinarians as a clearinghouse for their products. Many working veterinarians
were totally opposed to the AVMA Model approach. They were worried it could
backfire by holding them legally accountable from a malpractice standpoint for
approving therapies and modalities with which they have no training or
experience, not to mention burdening them with the additional responsibility to
oversee common sense things which breeders, trainers and owners now do with
their animals on a daily basis.
Note: While the AVMA takes full credit for instigating the Model Practice Act,
they insist they bear no responsibility for its enactment into law from state to
state in its various forms.
Why We Had to Organize to Secure Owner’s Rights
After successfully enacting the AVMA Model Practice Act legislation in states
like New Jersey and threatening enactment in Florida, it was Illinois' turn in
2003. Illinois House Bill HBO464, the VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY PRACTICE
ACT OF 1994, was re-written to include the new over-broad and restrictive
language at its core. A concerned group of people quickly organized and formed
the Illinois Alliance for Animal Care Alternatives which eventually became IAAOR.
The grass roots response against the passage of HB0464 was overwhelming and so
the group began to take steps to raise money for further lobbying before it was
too late. The end result of this effort was the bill’s Amendment Number Three
which gave animal owners the freedom to pursue any humane course of animal care
without fear of being charged with illegally practicing veterinarian medicine.
It was too late to get the contested, restrictive language actually removed from
the bill, but this amendment effectively nullified it. The action and result of
the IAAOR’s successful initiative spurred the formation of the CAAOR, encouraged
that they may be able to secure animal owner’s rights in Colorado and help to
allow Colorado animal body workers the freedom to practice without threat of
legal action by the CVMA (Colorado Veterinary Medical Association). In response
to a written inquiry to the CVMA in 2005 by the IAAMB, International Association
of Animal Massage and Bodywork, the CVMA wrote “Unlicensed person practicing
veterinary medicine are required to do so only under the direct supervision of a
licensed veterinarian. The board looks at each instance individually to
determine whether or not something is the practice of vet med and therefore
requires veterinary supervision (it depends on what is being done to the animal,
if a diagnosis is being made, etc.) Due to the broad language used in their
response a follow-up letter was sent to the board on June 13, 2006. The
follow-up response was “The board has never formally considered whether or not
animal massage is the practice of veterinary medicine so the question has not
been dealt with to date”. However, the written CVMA Practice Act of 2004,
12-64-104 (j) states “No person may practice veterinarian medicine in this state
who is not a licensed veterinarian. No person may practice artificial
insemination or ova transplantation of cattle or other animal species in this
state except in accordance with the section 12-64-105 (9) (c). This article
shall not be construed to prohibit: j. any person from performing duties other
then diagnosis, prescription, surgery, or initiating treatment under the
direction and on-the-premise supervision of a licensed veterinarian who shall be
responsible for such person’s performance. Given that not many veterinarians are
trained in massage (or other cooperative health care modalities) nor do they
seem to have the time or interest in directly supervising it, this wording makes
it impossible for animal body workers to work in Colorado without the
possibility of legal action by the CVMA. The CVMA’s non-committal response and
written Colorado Veterinary Practice Act combined with the AVMA’s purely
restrictive model makes it nearly impossible for an animal body worker to
practice in the state of Colorado without the threat of legal recrimination.
What Can I Do to Protect My Rights as an Animal Owner?
Help spread the word about the need for legislation to protect animal
owners rights (publicize the
www.CAAOR.org website and Yahoo Group, get other animal owners and
practitioners involved)
Nothing on this website has been evaluated by the FDA. This information
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Please
see a qualified healthcare practitioner for any disease or illness.