To: The Texas State House, The Texas State Senate, and Governor Greg Abbott
All animals deserve adjustments!
1. Require providers, veterinarians, or chiropractors that offer adjustments for animals to have adequate training for the services they provide such as an AVCA or an IVCA certification
2. Encourage open access to alternative health options by removing the need for referral, provided the person administering treatment is TRAINED and CERTIFIED.
3. Allow equal opportunity of service marketing without threat of license suspension due to pre-existing scope of practice legislature.
Why is this important?
1. Redefine the scope of practice and educational requirements for chiropractors AND veterinarians wanting to offer animal adjustments (also known as: musculoskeletal manipulation, veterinary chiropractic, animal chiropractic adjustments, veterinary osteopathic manipulation, animal bodywork, etc).
All chiropractors and veterinarians need to be trained by the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA) or International Veterinary Chiropractic Association (IVCA) so they are intimately aware of the anatomy they are working with, red/yellow flags as to when NOT to administer treatments, and how to safely administer treatments. Adjustments are an ART that require someone have more than 6 months/200 hours of training. Adjustments are a SAFE therapy when administered by someone TRAINED and CERTIFIED. The AVCA and the IVCA are the ONLY 2 associations that require 200+ hours of training and then a BOARD exam in order to be certified. They also REQUIRE continuing education in order to stay up to date.
2. Allow and encourage open access for animal owners seeking supplemental, holistic, and natural therapies such as animal adjustments. Currently, state laws require that an animal owner:
A- seek out a veterinarian (who, many times, do NOT have training in or even an UNDERSTANDING of such therapies) to conduct and/or recommend alternative treatments or
B- request DIRECT or INDIRECT supervision via a referral form so that the animal may see a specialist (many times, a trained chiropractor). This referral slip is designed to make sure the patient is eligible for treatment/ rule out red flags. The laws do NOT mention that the specialist has to have any specified training, but this specialist DOES have to be signed off the the animal's primary caregiver and the veterinarian overseeing care.
This process has resulted in many owners being told NO by their primary treating veterinarians and having to "go shopping" for another vet in order to get their pet "signed off" so they can start treatment. This is COSTLY and FRUSTRATING and puts a monopoly on the alternative therapy market based upon what veterinarians are recommending.
With this limited access, animals can be over-recommended drugs, surgery, and unfortunately euthanasia which puts undue stress on the owner, the economy, and the animal. Alternative therapies are often LESS expensive, get BETTER results, and are targeted at promoting POSITIVE patient outcomes above all else.
3. Allow for equal opportunity marketing via scope definition. Currently, the Texas Board of Chiropractic defines chiropractic as a therapy for HUMAN spines only whereas the Texas Veterinary Medical Association defines that veterinarians can perform chiropractic adjustments, regardless of training or certification. Veterinarians are allowed to market themselves and their services with the terms "animal chiropractic" whereas chiropractors are NOT. There is an obvious disconnect on those who are allowed to market themselves as "animal chiropractors." Chiropractors that perform adjustments on human AND animal spines are being threatened with having their HUMAN license taken away due to "practicing veterinary medicine" when adjusting animals REGARDLESS of their AVCA/IVCA certification or proper referral forms signed. This is an unfair monopoly and decreases the reach of holistic and alternative therapies to animals that could benefit from care.
Animals deserves holistic options rather than the BIG three Western options: drugs, surgery, or euthanasia. Animals are PROPERTY in Texas and have ZERO say in their health care decisions. Therefore, all health decisions on their behalf are made by the animal owner and their allocation of resources.
This should be a top priority to all animals owners because holistic therapy options MINIMIZE financial strain and MAXIMIZE health benefits for the animals receiving them.
I personally benefit from this petition as a provider, but I want to help ALL owners looking to help their pet so that they can know all their options when taking care of their pet.