88 A Nurse mistreatment covers various deliberate acts and intended consequences that cause harm to non-human animals Passive mistreatment can include neglect caused by ‘failure to act’ such that non-human animals are insufficiently cared for and harm is caused either as a result of misunderstanding an animal’s needs or through deliberate neglect This chapter’s focus is neglect as animal abuse and looks specifically at neglect involving nonhuman (companion) animals (henceforth, non-human companions), examining neglect as both acts and omissions which inflict harm and cause unnecessary suffering to non-human companions whether deliberate or unintentional This chapter’s focus on non-human companion neglect reflects the reality that legal systems generally consider that a greater level of care is required in respect of non-human companions that share human homes (Nurse and Ryland 2014; Schaffner 2011) While neglect occurs in a range of settings, animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws arguably provide for a higher level of protection and redress in respect of non-human companions, although generally legal systems not recognise non-human companions as crime ‘victims’ This chapter also discusses the link between animal abuse and other offences arguing that much abuse of non-human companions is caused by a conception of animals as property and an anthropocentric view of animals which fails to adequately consider their status as sentient beings with specific needs (Wise 2000) Accordingly, this chapter argues that there is a necessity for a changed perception of animal abuse which includes accidental animal harm and neglect However, via a case study of the UK Animal Welfare Act 2006, this chapter also argues that a contemporary conception on neglect as animal abuse already exists and could be adopted by other jurisdictions.2 Schaffner identifies animal law as ‘legal doctrine in which the legal, social or biological nature of non-human animals is an important factor’ (2011, p 5), with animal law being socially constructed according to specific notions of animals’ value and place within society—for example, different protections apply to wild animals than apply to non-human companions sharing a human home Most individual jurisdictions (for example, countries) have animal protection laws codifying what constitutes animal abuse by defining abuse within their animal protection laws Schaffner (2011) also identifies that I am indebted to my research partner Diane Ryland of Lincoln Law School with whom I worked on research commissioned by International Cat Care (iCatCare) into the implications of UK animal welfare law on feline companions In particular, we examined the changes brought about by the UK Animal Welfare Act 2006 which redefined how non-human companion neglect is viewed by UK legal systems Our joint work significantly informed this chapter and it is referred to throughout