When a companion animal’s quality of life is the central question, this consultation gives you and the owner a structured, independent welfare assessment across all Five Domains. It works alongside your clinical care and does not replace it. You keep clinical responsibility. I contribute the welfare and quality of life read.
The consultation is led by Dr Kat Littlewood, New Zealand’s only Registered Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics, and Law.
The consultation produces an independent quality of life assessment using the Five Domains Model, the internationally recognised framework for systematic animal welfare assessment.
Evidence is collated across the four input domains: Nutrition, Physical Environment, Health, and Behavioural Interactions. The specific mental experiences supported by that evidence are then inferred and integrated within Domain 5 (Mental State). The method is applied consistently across cases, so the assessment is structured, repeatable, and grounded in the welfare science literature.
The assessment considers what is going well as well as what is not. This matters when the question is whether an animal is having a good life, not only whether it has a particular condition.
Available for dogs now, and cats from late 2026.
For cases where the question of quality of life is in active focus. Common situations:
There are three routes into the service
An owner who is thinking about their animal’s quality of life can book the consultation themselves through the AkoVet website. With the owner’s consent, you receive a short summary. This is the route most owners use.
When quality of life is the key concern in one of your cases, you can refer the owner for an independent assessment. The process is the same as a direct booking, initiated by you, and the summary goes to you as the referring vet.
For a vet-to-specialist discussion about a case, with no direct owner contact, I provide written welfare advice to you. Contact me to discuss how this works and what it costs.
The owner completes a detailed intake form covering history, current condition, and observations across all Five Domains.
I review the intake material and, with the owner’s authorisation, the clinical records, and prepare a structured working document before the consultation.
A 45-minute video consultation with the owner.
Delivered to the owner within 5 working days. A short summary goes to the treating vet with the owner’s consent
As the treating vet, you receive a short veterinary summary, organised by the Five Domains. It contains:
What it adds for your clients. A structured, independent interpretation of their animal’s quality of life across all Five Domains, with the specific mental experiences named. Individualised indicators to watch at home, set as observable thresholds. A set of questions to bring to you, so the next appointment starts from a shared picture.
What it adds for your practice. A full welfare interpretation that a standard appointment does not have time to produce. The owner comes to you having already worked out their priorities and the questions they want to ask, along with indicators to watch at home, so your appointment time stays on clinical decisions. The assessment covers quality of life, not diagnosis or treatment, so it does not duplicate your own consultation.
No diagnosis, no medication or dosing advice, no clinical management plans, no home euthanasia.
The service is only available for animals under the care of a regular treating vet, so there is always a clinician to receive the summary and continue clinical management.
The service is outside the clinical referral pathway. Where my assessment raises a clinical question in your discipline, I ask the owner to raise a referral with you. I may signpost self-referable allied support such as physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, or behaviour. I do not contact specialists on an owner’s behalf.
Dr Kat Littlewood is New Zealand’s only Registered Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics, and Law.
Kat holds a PhD in end-of-life care for companion animals, with a research focus on how owners and vets make quality of life and end-of-life decisions. She co-authored the 2020 update of the Five Domains Model and is lead author on several book chapters on the Model’s use, alongside Emeritus Professor David Mellor, the originator of the Model.
Kat is passionate about helping owners make the best decisions possible for their animals.
I would welcome a conversation about how the consultation could work for your cases.
Helping people understand animals and each other