Pet-ownership inquiry and cross-species referral are clinically relevant priorities for human and veterinary medical care providers: a cross-sectional survey.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the importance human and veterinary providers and nonproviders place on One Health interprofessional collaboration and identify factors associated with provider comfort in making cross-species referrals.

Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey was given to human and veterinary providers via professional associations and snowball sampling (January to February 2025) and to nonproviders via a nationally representative panel. Analyses included frequencies, ordinal logistic regression, and χ2 tests.

Results: A total of 1,660 respondents were enrolled (144 human providers, 50 veterinary providers, 1,466 nonproviders). Among human providers, pet ownership was associated with higher importance for pet-ownership inquiry (OR, 3.44; range, 1.53 to 7.70), cross-species care inquiry (OR, 2.29; range, 1.09 to 4.78), and greater comfort making cross-species referrals (OR, 2.18; range, 1.04 to 4.57). Specialty human providers assigned lower importance to both inquiries versus primary human providers, with ORs of 0.46 (range, 0.21 to 1.00) and 0.45 (range, 0.21 to 0.98), respectively. Among veterinary providers, viewing client health as a proxy for patient health was statistically significantly associated with greater referral comfort (OR, 4.39; range, 1.11 to 17.36).

Conclusions: Pet ownership among human providers is the strongest predictor of engagement with One Health inquiry and referral. Specialty human providers are a key gap One Health training opportunity. Veterinary providers who frame client wellness as relevant to patient health show markedly higher comfort with client referral to a human provider.

Clinical relevance: Questions about pet ownership and cross-species health may yield relevant insights for providers. Incorporating One Health inquiries into standard intakes could improve patient/client outcomes and advance interprofessional collaboration.