Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966

PART I Treatment and Operations which may be Given or Carried Out by Unqualified Persons

Any treatment given to an animal by the owner thereof, by another member of a household of which the owner is a member, or by a person in the employment of the owner or of any other member of such a household.

Anything (except a laparotomy) done, otherwise than for reward, to an animal used in agriculture, as defined in the [1947 c. 48.] Agriculture Act 1947, by the owner of the animal or by a person engaged or employed in caring for animals so used.

The rendering in an emergency of first aid for the purpose of saving life or relieving pain.

The performance by any person of or over the age of eighteen of any of the following operations, that is to say—

(a) castration or caponising, whether by chemical means or otherwise ;

(b) the tailing of a lamb ;

(c) the docking of the tail of a dog before its eyes are open ;

(d) the amputation of the dew claws of a dog before its eyes are open.

The performance, by any person of the age of seventeen undergoing instruction in animal husbandry, of any operation mentioned in the last foregoing paragraph if either of the following conditions is complied with:—

(a) the instruction is given by a person registered in the register of veterinary surgeons or the supplementary veterinary register and the operation is performed under his direct personal supervision ;

(b) the instruction is given at a recognised institution and the operation is performed under the direct personal supervision of a person appointed to give such instruction at the institution:

and in this paragraph ' recognised institution ' means—

(i) as respects Great Britain, an institution maintained or assisted (in England and Wales) by a local education authority or (in Scotland) by an education authority or in either case an institution for the giving of further education as respects which a grant is paid by the Secretary of State or an institution recognised for the purposes of this paragraph by the Secretary of State ;

(ii) as respects Northern Ireland, an agricultural college maintained by the Ministry of Agriculture for Northern Ireland.