CATHERINE O'DRISCOLL

CONDOLENCES

Tributes by Ilse Pedler and Chris Day

It is with tremendous sadness that we learnt of the death last week of Catherine O’Driscoll, the founder of Canine Health Concern. CHC was set up by Catherine to raise awareness of the poor quality of many commercial pet foods and also over vaccination of pet animals. She was a great advocate of raw feeding and homeopathy and did a huge amount to increase their popularity over the years.

Ilse Pedler writes
Rarely do you meet someone with such determination and dedication in improving the life of animals. Her selfless and committed campaigning on vaccine issues and improving nutrition by raw feeding have had far-reaching consequences. Protocols on vaccination have changed dramatically and are continuing to do so and the movement she started will carry on gaining momentum for many years to come. She had the ability to turn talk into action, to cut through doubt and prevarication and showed huge bravery in tackling difficult issues.

Her support of homeopathy was of immense importance and we shall be forever grateful. Her postcard campaign when the RCVS changed its position statement on CAM in 2017 was a shining example of this and was incredibly effective as well as being a moral support to us homeopathic vets whose work and livelihoods were being put at risk.

She was a pioneer and an inspiration

Chris Day writes
Catherine was one of the bravest, most enlightened and most accomplished women ever and she lit a spark which will never be extinguished. She never wavered and met each challenge head-on. Her will and resolve to research so diligently in her chosen field and to turn the fruits of that research into a clear message was beyond fair expectation.

So many people have been inspired and helped and so many dogs have been liberated by her passion for truth, for common sense, for justice and for science. In losing her we have lost a true champion but she left us a wealth of written guidance and had the foresight to set in motion a network of like-minded people who can continue her fantastic work.

The dreadful sense of loss is tempered by a realistic hope and belief that her legacy will live on and her work will continue.