Triangular communication structures in healthcare settings often involve patients, healthcare professionals, and an additional caregiver (e.g. in paediatric settings). These triangular communication structures are particularly complex in veterinary consultations as they involve not only the pet owner and veterinarian but also the pet itself (which is not expected to verbally contribute but whose presence nevertheless influences the interaction in complex ways). 

Drawing on audio and video recordings of veterinary consultations recorded in UK small animal clinics, this PhD project first uses thematic coding to examine how pets are linguistically included and addressed during different stages of the consultation stages, to then analyse the pragmatic functions of such inclusion. In a next step, this project utilises discourse analysis to focus on the relational work and identity construction in triangular communication structures involving client, veterinarian and the pet.

In these interactions, the pet emerges as a social subject rather than a purely medical object, where various identities are co-constructed for the pet as part of the consultation discourse.  The inclusions of the pet by veterinarians forms part of their professional repertoire while constantly managing the relationship with their clients.