Blog Archives

What’s a PVP?

EFear, anxiety, and stress can make veterinary visits challenging for both pets and their owners. Our What’s a PVP? handout helps pet parents understand how Pre-Visit Pharmaceuticals (PVPs) can reduce fear and create a calmer, more positive experience at the vet. Share this resource with your clients to help them feel confident in supporting their pet’s emotional wellbeing.

Want to provide even more guidance? Share this expert blog with your clients for additional insights on how PVPs can help pets feel safer and more comfortable at the vet.

ASPCA’s Top 10 Toxins for Pets in 2024

Each year, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) analyzes nationwide data on toxic exposures in pets. In 2024, the APCC received over 365,000 calls related to toxic substances, highlighting the most common risks encountered by dogs and cats. This handout provides professionals with essential insights into these top toxins, helping you educate clients, prevent toxic exposures, and ensure prompt, effective treatment when needed.

Helping Shelters & Fosters Raise Confident, Healthy Kittens – Video Series

Caring for young kittens in a shelter or foster setting means more than just meeting their physical needs—it’s about supporting their emotional wellbeing, socialization, and stress-free development.

This series of short, practical videos are designed to help shelter teams and foster caregivers create a healthy, low-stress environment for kittens in their care.

In this video series, you’ll learn:

How to create a calm, stress-free space for kittens
How to recognize and respond to early signs of fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS)
The importance of early socialization and how to set kittens up for a lifetime of confidence

Sponsored by our friends at Virox. Narration by Tabitha Kucera, CCBC, RVT, KPA-CTP, VTS (Behavior), Elite FFCP-V

Video #1 – Environment

Creating the right environment is the first step to helping kittens thrive. Watch this video to learn more about building the perfect environment for kittens to feel safe and ready for their forever homes.

Video #2 – Identifying FAS

Did you know kittens communicate through their behavior from birth? Recognizing fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) early can make a world of difference in their development. Learn why identifying FAS can support kittens on their journey to adoption.

Video #3 – Socialization

The critical window for socializing kittens is between two and nine weeks. During this time, positive experiences with people, other animals, and new environments shape their ability to handle future stress. Discover how early socialization helps prepare kittens for their forever homes.

Building Trust, Preventing Bites: Proactive dog bite prevention and handling strategies

Building Trust, Preventing Bites: Proactive dog bite prevention and handling strategies

Join us as we explore how being proactive, rather than reactive, can significantly enhance workplace safety and foster a harmonious environment for both humans and pets. Discover practical techniques and approaches to mitigate potential aggression and create a happier, safer workplace for everyone involved.

Mealtime Mayhem in Multipet Households

Mealtime Mayhem in Multipet Households

Does mealtime feel frenzied or nerve-wracking when caring for multiple pets in the same household? It’s not uncommon for pet professionals, and even pet parents themselves, to feel frazzled or even anxious during these moments, but have you also considered how the pets might be feeling in the frenzy?

Marketing Your Fear Free Certification in the Digital Age

Our friends at Latah Creek Animal Hospital displaying their certifications at their clinic.

So, you’ve completed your Fear Free® Certification or Fear Free®Veterinary Practice Certification. First and foremost, congratulations, and thank you! You have taken a huge step in alleviating fear, anxiety, and stress for your clients, their pets, and even your team. Now it’s time to start spreading the word!

As you move through your Fear Free marketing journey, keep in mind that like all of us, pet owners are busy, and their attention is demanded by many other businesses as well as personal obligations. However, as their trusted Fear Free Certified Professional, the messages you share are often held in their highest regard. To get the most out of this benefit, always ensure that you are crafting your content and messaging in a way that addresses how your Fear Free Certification benefits your clients and their pets as quickly as possible. Align your goals with theirs and you’ll end up with happier, healthier, more relaxed pets and, in turn, happier pet parents.

Whether you have achieved your individual Fear Free Certification, or your clinic has achieved Fear Free®Veterinary Practice Certification, we recommend starting by choosing a few goals, defining specifically what success looks like to you, and then outlining and deploying your marketing plan.

As you work on developing your goals and success measures, here are some tips for getting started:

Marketing Your Individual Fear Free Certification

Your individual Fear Free Certification is a powerful tool that can be used to market not only your personal brand, but also elevate the work you do.

Display Your Fear Free Certified Professional Badge. We recommend adding your certified professional badge to your team member bio on your company’s website and updating it to include more about Fear Free, your certification, and the difference it brings for the pets in your care.Additionally, add a homepage spotlight on your company’s website highlighting the presence of Fear Free Certified Professionals on your team. We encourage you to take that a step further and link the spotlight to another page where you explain what Fear Free is, how having Fear Free Certified Professionals on your team benefits your clients and their pets, and links to where they can learn more (here’s a great page to send them to).
Educate Clients Directly. Weave Fear Free principles into your touch points when preparing clients for appointments, during their visit, and in follow-up communications. Let clients know you are a Fear Free Certified Professional and what that means for their pet by walking them through what to expect and following up with them on that education throughout their Fear Free visit. If they have a pet who experiences fear, anxiety, or stress in the veterinary, grooming, training, or boarding & daycare environment, discuss how their Fear Free visit will be a different and a more positive experience for their pet and themselves than what they may have experienced in the past. Discuss how your team will allow their pet to tell them if they’ve had enough and stop the treatment or appointment if their FAS level becomes too high. Continuing that education from your marketing messaging through to their in-person visit can have a significant impact.
Shine a Spotlight on Your Certification. Ask your company’s marketing team to create a team member spotlight about your Fear Free certification. This can be shared on social media or even in an email newsletter. Have someone snap a photo of you in action practicing Fear Free techniques and pair it with a brief write-up about you, your certification, what it means for pets in your care, and where clients can find more information.
Be a Fear Free Champion in Your Professional Community. Odds are, you are one of many Fear Free Certified Professionals in your community. Use the Fear Free Online Directory to find other Fear Free Certified Professionals in your area. Reach out to them, build relationships, and discuss how you can promote and refer clients to each other to strengthen the Fear Free ecosystem in your community.
Grow Your Professional Brand. Are you working on amplifying your professional brand on social media? Map out your goals for your brand and utilize your certification to support them. We recommend developing a campaign across all the social media channels you use with a few different posts highlighting Fear Free, what it means to be Fear Free Certified, and how that certification can benefit your audience. Use photos of you in action, share success stories, and include calls to action for your audience to take on each post. Our Fear Free Marketing Toolkit, which can be found on the left side panel of your member homepage on our website, includes several social media posts and cover photos to help you get started spreading the word.
Achieve Your Career Goals. Are you looking to move to the next level in your career, find a new role, or build your network? Share regular posts on LinkedIn about the work you put in to become certified, how it is helping you in your everyday practice, and the difference it makes for the pets in your care. Add your certification to your resume and utilize the Fear Free network to find a company that aligns with your professional goals. Find and connect with like-minded Fear Free Certified Professionals through our private member community on Facebook to further work toward your professional goals.

Marketing Your Fear Free Veterinary Practice Certification

Fear Free Veterinary Practice Certification allows you to not only bring a higher level of Fear Free care to your patients but also opens the door to many new opportunities for marketing Fear Free to your clients and community.

Define Your Differentiators. One of the first steps in your clinic’s marketing strategy should be developing and advertising your clinic’s differentiators. If you haven’t already, gather your team and brainstorm 3 to 5 things that make your clinic unique from others nearby. Fear Free Veterinary Practice Certification is a built-in differentiator and a great place to start. Once you define some additional differentiators, highlight them on your website’s homepage, on social media, and in client communication. Tell the story of not just what you do differently, but how you do it differently. Looking for a great example of highlighting Fear Free as a differentiator within a Fear Free Certified Veterinary Practice group? Check out PetVet365’s homepage and Fear Free Experience page.
Display Your Certified Practice Badge. Add your certified practice badge to your clinic’s website homepage with a brief write-up on what it means to be certified and what it means for your clients. Couple your homepage highlight with an additional page on your website that dives deeper into your Fear Free Certified Veterinary Practice designation, the hard work your team completed to get there, and how it will positively affect your clients’ experience with your clinic. Need some inspiration? Check out how Family Pet Health in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, showcases their veterinary practice’s certification on their homepage and an additional Fear Free page.Additionally, your team’s professional certification badges should be included on their website biographies. Spotlight them on social media or in your clinic’s newsletter to continue spreading awareness. Our Fear Free Marketing Resources page, which can be found on your member homepage on our website, also includes social media graphics and client-facing videos you can share to spread the word.
Walk the Walk, Don’t Just Talk the Talk. Marketing can fall flat when it isn’t backed up by your clients’ experiences. Make sure clients and their pets can recognize your differentiators, especially your Fear Free Veterinary Practice Certification, in every interaction, from their search online to the preparation for their appointment, from their time inside your clinic to the follow-up after their visit. Don’t let the initial marketing of your certification be the end; keep reminding, educating, and impressing your clients with the Fear Free principles your team practices every single day.Also, remember that word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools you have at your disposal, so arm your clients with the education they need to shout your clinic’s name from the rooftops to their families and friends!
Attract and Retain Qualified Team Members. We all know that attracting strong candidates and retaining them is a pain point many practices are experiencing right now. Recruitment marketing is just as important as client marketing and can make a big difference in the types of applications you receive for open positions. Being a Fear Free Certified Veterinary Practice is a powerful recruiting tool that you should use to elevate your practice above the rest. Include that you are a Fear Free Certified Veterinary Practice in your job ads, the careers page on your website, and on your clinic’s LinkedIn page, explaining how that designation improves your team’s experience, safety, and medical standards, as well as delighting your clients.
Network, Refer, and Cross Promote Within Your Fear Free Ecosystem. There are likely many other Fear Free Certified Professionals in your community who are looking to ensure that their clients have a Fear Free experience everywhere they go. Use the Fear Free Online Directory to find certified groomers, boarding and daycare facilities, trainers, and pet sitters in your area. Connect with them, build relationships, and develop strategies for referring clients and cross promoting each other. This could look like a postcard or flyer you each give out to new clients that includes a special gift or discount, highlighting each other on social media or on your websites, and referring clients who are looking for a new professional service to a fellow Fear Free Certified Professional.

As with any new marketing endeavor, failing to ensure that you have the resources you need can result in missing goalposts. The great news is that our Fear Free team is here to support you and provide those tools you need to achieve your goals and alleviate fear, anxiety, and stress for not just pets, but people too.

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Since 2016, Fear Free has helped to change the way pets receive care from both veterinary and pet professionals. By closely listening to the needs of pet care professionals, Fear Free has built a robust catalog of certification programs and courses that focus on emotional wellbeing, enrichment, and reduction of fear, anxiety, and stress in pets. Over 100,000 Fear Free Certified Professionals are working to change the standard of animal care across the world. We thank you for being an important part of this initiative.

To learn more about Fear Free, register for a new membership, renew your membership, or learn more about Fear Free Veterinary Practice Certification, visit www.fearfreepets.com.

Basket Muzzle Training

Link to Schoox Content

Muzzle training is essential training for a new dog. Creating comfort and ease with wearing a muzzle can help build confidence and make treatments easier for both you and the dog. Mikkel Becker, CBCC-KA, KPA CTP, CDBC, CPDT-KA, CTC, and Debbie Martin RVT, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior), will show you how to safely and effectively muzzle train.

You must be a Fear Free member and logged in to view this webinar

Addressing Noise Aversion in Dogs

Course Overview

It is estimated that a third of dogs suffer from some form of noise aversion. If you saw 12 dogs yesterday, four of them are likely to develop noise sensitivities in their lifetime. Not only can a fear of sounds be physiologically and emotionally damaging for dogs, but it can also strain the human-animal relationship. In this presentation, Kenneth Martin, DVM, DACVB, and Debbie Martin, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, LVT, VTS (Behavior), will provide you with strategies for how to approach, prevent, and treat sound sensitivities, including teaching desired coping skills.

This course is approved for one hour of RACE CE and one hour of IAABC CE. In order to obtain the CE and certificate, you must enroll in and complete the course quiz with a score of 80% or better.

Brought to you by our friends at Zoetis

Resource Guarding in Dogs: A Fear Free Approach

Course Overview

Resource guarding is a common problem in dogs with a wide variety of behavioral presentations. The condition is sometimes referred to as possessive aggression, and it poses a serious risk of injury when aggression is directed toward humans or other animals. Resource guarding can negatively affect the human-animal bond and the dog’s social relationship with other animals. In this webinar, Kenneth Martin, DVM, DACVB, and Debbie Martin, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, LVT, VTS (Behavior), will discuss prevention, establishing a diagnosis, and treatment recommendations.

This course is approved for one hour of RACE CE and one hour of IAABC CE. In order to obtain the CE and certificate, you must enroll in and complete the course quiz with a score of 80% or better.

Brought to you by our friends at Blue Buffalo

5 Steps to Heartworm Disease Awareness

By Jennifer Merlo, DVM, CVBMC, Fear Free Director of Veterinary AffairsWe mention heartworm prevention to pet parents during almost every veterinary visit. So how is it that more than 1 million pets in the United States have heartworm disease¹? American Heartworm Society (AHS) study data collected in 2022 shows that rates of heartworm disease continue to trend upward in both recognized “hot spots” and in locations where heartworm disease was once rare.²

Due to the increased incidence of travel and remote work career options, the United States is experiencing spread of heartworm prevalence throughout the country. Despite our best intentions, our pet parents are still unclear on the severity of the disease and the importance of maintaining proper heartworm prevention.

Here are five ways to help increase your client compliance and decrease the incidence of heartworm disease in your area:

Discuss heartworm prevention at every visit for every pet.

Veterinarians and veterinary staff recognize the importance of discussing heartworm prevention at puppy appointments. However, often we forego discussing it during adult and senior canine patient visits. The AHS reports that only 37 percent of the U. S. canine population is on heartworm prevention!³ This is a staggering number, and it is our job to educate our clients on the importance of prevention for every pet, year-round. We must make it a point to have this discussion with them at every visit and reinforce the importance of prevention rather than treatment.

Cats get heartworms, too!

Too often we neglect to have this important conversation with our feline pet parents. Fewer than 5 percent of cats are on heartworm prevention³. Most feline pet parents do not think about their cat being at risk, since most of them are indoor-only pets. It is important to have open discussions with cat owners about the spread of heartworms. Educating them that even “indoor” cats are still at risk for mosquito bites and heartworm disease can help reduce the incidence within our feline population. Pet owners may not be aware that there are multiple options for adequate heartworm prevention in cats that do not include giving an oral medication; something we know that causes lower compliance rates in cat owners.

Heartworms travel and so do our pets.

The last few years have seen an increase in the number of remote workers, as well positions that require travel across state lines. Our pet owner population now looks at their dog companions as part of the family who often travel with them. As veterinary professionals, we can no longer rely on heartworm incidence maps as they relate to our direct location since our patients are traveling on a regular basis. Heartworm disease has now been diagnosed in all 50 states and without proper education our pet parents may not be aware that they are unintentionally putting their pets at risk. Be sure to ask questions about travel, including vacations as well as work travel, and be sure that pet owners understand that all pets, in all states, are at risk for contracting heartworms.

Ensure that pet parents are regularly giving heartworm prevention.

When I was in practice, I was always in awe of the fact that most pet owners had an ample supply of heartworm prevention at home, yet our records indicated they should need to buy more. This is often because most pet owners only give their pet’s heartworm prevention one-third of the time. With the numerous options available on the market today, there is an option available for every pet parent to become compliant with their pet’s prevention routine. Discuss different prevention options and gauge what your client feels they can be most consistent with. By opening the conversation and talking through what works best for them, you increase your veterinary-client bond while simultaneously reinforcing the human-animal bond.

Recommend heartworm testing annually.

Despite everyone’s best intentions, sometimes doses of prevention get missed, and it’s our job to help our pet parents provide the best medical care for their pets. Recommend yearly heartworm testing to ensure that their pet is free of heartworm disease. Make obtaining the blood sample a Fear Free experience by using a Considerate Approach through positive rewards such as delicious treats or petting and using small-gauge needles to minimize discomfort. My staff was great at using insulin syringes to obtain the minimal amount of blood necessary to perform this annual test while the pet parent offered the patient treats. Most of our patients did not even realize venipuncture had occurred! Remind owners that unless we test, we won’t know, and that it’s just as important to monitor for heartworms as it is to prevent them.

It only takes one bite from an infected mosquito to transfer heartworms to a cat or dog. Let’s join with our pet parents to ensure that all our canine and feline patients are well protected.

Resources

American Heartworm Society, 2023; https://www.heartwormsociety.org/
American Heartworm Society Incidence Map, April 11, 2023
The Truth About Cats and Dogs, American Heartworm Society

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

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