1975: A research report was commissioned by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) documenting "The Human Health Responsibilities of Veterinarians." This paper, co-authored by Drs. R.K. Anderson, Michael McCulloch, William McCulloch, and others was the first official recognition of the triangular interrelationships among people, their D.V.M.s, and their pets.

1977: Three veterinarians Drs. Stanley Diesch, R.K. Anderson, and William McCulloch, along with a psychiatrist Dr. Michael McCulloch coined the phrase "human-animal bond" and founded, along with Dr. Leo Bustad and others, the Delta Society, the first professional, interdisciplinary organization to focus on the various aspects of the human-animal bond.

1979: A pet owner claiming 'emotional distress' filed a lawsuit against an animal hospital and won a $700 settlement. The practice had switched the cremains of her poodle with those of a cat. The judge's ruling set a national precedent that the relationship between a human animal and a companion animal has intrinsic value.

1982: The Executive Board of the AVMA recognized the human-animal bond as an emerging discipline within the field of veterinary Medicine.

1987: The NIH held a landmark technology assessment workshop examining the health benefits of human-animal interactions. The group recommended that further interdisciplinary, collaborative research look critically at the relationships between companion animals, people and medicine and recommended that more funding be appropriated for the needed research. Veterinary medicine benefited from the 1987 NIH workshop because experts in various fields agreed that sustaining relationships with animals can have human health advantages. Clearly, these relationships would be impossible if the animals' veterinarians were insensitive to the needs of their clients.

1993: The AVMA formed the American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians and established the Human-Animal Bond Committee.

1999: A massive economic study (the "Mega Study" or "KPMG Study") was commissioned by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the American Association of Animal Hospitals (AAHA), and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). A significant portion of this study addressed the human-animal bond in depth. The study concluded "in veterinary practice, recognition of the human-animal bond is an important determinant of successful practice...Those who understand the bond apparently will be more successful in private practice than those who do not." These findings were published in JAVMA in an Executive Summary entitled "The Current and Future Market for Veterinarians and Veterinary Medicine in the United States."


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Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital