I don't suppose you have any advice on how to persuade someone to take their animal to a vet? There's a woman I know who has a horse who is lame both front and behind, and it's rather quickly becoming worse and worse. Everyone around her can see it but she refuses to, and insists that she's going to go compete him over summer (inevitably he won't be able to do it and it'll make him worse). It's not a monetary issue, and his welfare doesn't seem to be being placed at the forefront
There is certainly an art to persuading somebody to do what you want them to do. It’s not something I can explain in detail in a blog post because it takes practice and experience, and is admittedly somewhat manipulative and a bit ethically gray, even if you’re doing it for a good reason.
People are fascinating, interesting creatures. We’re complex, but when it comes to someone not seeking veterinary care I think about factors in terms of carrots, sticks and hurdles.
Carrots are positive things, or perceived positive things. You need to have more carrots than sticks and hurdles to make somebody do something willingly. There is, admittedly, not a whole lot of carrots you can use in a veterinary contest, but some of them are these.
Animal might not be as bad as you thought
Animal might get better
Sticks are punishments. There are a bunch of different things that can be perceived as sticks in this context, and figuring out which is the more effective will vary from case to case.
Threat of prosecution
Death of animal
Loss of animal
Hurdles are probably the biggest factor in convincing someone to go to a vet. These are also the factors you can do the most about changing. A few examples are:
Cost, or perceived cost
Transport
Time
Fear of phone calls
Inability to handle the animal
Difficulty actually making the appointment
Hurdles will be different for each person. I tend to believe that everybody fundamentally wants to be a Good Human, but sometimes things get in the way. If you can reduce these hurdles then is is easier for someone to be a Good Human most of the time. Failing that, perhaps you do need to use a stick to get over the hurdles you can’t remove.
