Blog Archives

Communicating the Value of Fear Free to Your Clients

Dr. Julie Reck, Owner, Veterinary Medical Center of Fort Mill, Fort Mill, South CarolinaMore than ever, pet owners have a strong bond with their pets. That means they are expecting their pet’s experience at the clinic to be enjoyable. Fear Free provides that excellent “customer” experience for both the pet and the pet owner. However, a client’s first Fear Free experience will likely be different from previous veterinary visits and could seem strange. It is important to ensure that each client fully understands that Fear Free considers both the medical and emotional well-being of their pet and realizes the significance of taking both aspects of the pet’s care into consideration.

Three Key Messages for Our Practice

We believe in the power of positive reinforcement. Patients will be treated kindly and receive lots of treats and verbal encouragement.
Fear Free is reinventing the definition of a successful veterinary visit. It is no longer acceptable to “just get it done.” We take into consideration where the patient is emotionally and proceed appropriately, which may mean that some things will not get done during a visit. For example, toenail clipping may have to be done another day if the patient elevates to moderate signs of fear, anxiety, and stress (Level 3 FAS).
Our hospital has a consistent approach to handling and treating our patients: Everyone is practicing Fear Free techniques with every patient.

Below are tips for successfully communicating the benefits of Fear Free to your clients.

Maximize Your Social Media Presence

Currently I have owners seeking out my clinic specifically for the Fear Free experience, but in the beginning this was not the case. It became obvious to me that the benefits of the Fear Free visit needed to be stated clearly in all my communications.

For the pet owner, the Fear Free journey begins before they get to the clinic. I want my clients to be educated consumers, so they “know before they go,” or, in other words, they know what to expect when they arrive at my clinic. My website and my clinic’s Facebook page fully communicate this to pet owners. We take a proactive approach to prepare the client for a positive experience. This includes stating our philosophy on what a good veterinary experience looks like for the pet and the pet owner using videos, testimonials, news feeds, or stories to keep pet owners informed and prepared for that great Fear Free experience.

The Customer Service Representative (CSR) Prepares the Client and Pet for the Visit

Our CSRs are the next line of communication. They are trained to answer any questions about Fear Free and are critical in making sure that the pet arrives safely and prepared for the visit.

Safety includes recommending that the pet is either in a carrier or harnessed/seat belted while in the car, and that they have a collar and leash if walked into the clinic or stay in the carrier until in the exam room. The carrier can provide the pet a sense of comfort.

Being “prepared” for the visit means making sure the pet arrives hungry and that we have their favorite treat ready for them when they arrive. A day or two before the visit, we send the owner a reminder email and/or text with these same instructions.

Continuing to Communicate During the Examination

The examination provides an opportunity to have a conversation with the pet owner, allowing them to feel more involved with the entire process. I will explain what I am doing, such as standing behind the patient instead of examining their head and face first. I will also describe the patient’s emotional status based on the patient’s body language and my physical findings. This prepares the owner for any diagnostic and/or treatment recommendations that I make, and they are more likely to be compliant with my plan.

Additionally, if the patient’s level of FAS does not allow the completion of the exam or planned procedures, such as nail clipping, the client will be more likely to understand because of the ongoing conversation about the patient’s behavior and emotional status.

It is also important that the pet owner understands their pet’s level of fear, anxiety, and stress will change, based on the situation. A dog who typically loves coming to the clinic may behave differently when coming in for examination and treatment of a painful ear infection. Where we may have never needed to sedate in the past, it is necessary now to ensure that the patient had the best possible experience because the dog’s pain has exacerbated his level of fear.

For patients with a history of severe veterinary visit FAS who we are seeing for the first time, we will inform the pet owner that the first visit will be a consultation. We take the patient’s history, perform a visual examination, but forgo the physical examination to keep the FAS level as low as possible. We may prescribe PVPs and/or schedule a series of “Happy Visits” where the patient arrives, receives treats, then leaves before we ever get to the hands-on physical exam.

What About the Client Who Fails to See the Benefits of Fear Free?

For clients who are more interested in “just getting it done,” I will inform them that the goal is to consider the long-term emotional wellbeing of their pet rather than the short-term approach of “just getting it done.” Some clients will understand and comply. For those who do not, we will agree to disagree and part ways.

It is important that the clinic owner and staff back this decision and uphold the values the Fear Free team has agreed upon. This is especially true if the pet owner is loud and unpleasant. Professional affirmation for the decision and support from colleagues can reinforce that one negative encounter with a client cannot undermine all the positive feedback and improved patient outcomes that comes with being Fear Free.

I have found that it is the small consistent changes that accumulate over time that get you to Fear Free. You might start with pheromones and see a subtle difference, then add in Considerate Approach and Gentle Restraint with liberal use of treats and see more of a change. As you continue to master the techniques and communicate the benefits of Fear Free, you will find that you and your staff are emotionally enriched, your clients have a renewed feeling of trust and bonding to you, and your clinic and your patients are actually happy to see you!

Sponsored by our friends at Zoetis Petcare. NA-02292

As Seen on TV? A Brief Discussion of Punishment and Dominance (Part 2)

Rachel Lees, RVT, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior)We’ve all seen the many animal-training programs on cable TV and streaming networks. Some of the concepts depicted in these programs are appropriate for veterinary behavior cases and some are questionable. This article will discuss the learning theories and training philosophies demonstrated in these programs and review why veterinary behavior professionals are using alternative protocols.

Whether you are a veterinary team member working in general practice or interested in behavior, it is important to recommend up-to-date Fear Free information for patients and clients. Giving outdated information can potentially damage the human-animal bond and potentially end with the patient being rehomed or even euthanized.

The first part of this blog post looked at punishment. Punishment is not recommended in treatment as it can slow learning and cognition, suppress behavior, increase fear and fear-based aggression, create damaging and unintended associations with owners and other environmental stimuli, and damage the human-animal bond.

This blog post discusses “dominance” theory, a commonly used training philosophy recommended by many traditional trainers. We will dive into the origins of this concept and discuss current recommendations.

Do You Really Need to Be Alpha?

The word “dominance” is one of the most misunderstood terms in veterinary behavior. The dictionary defines dominance as “the predominance of one or more species in an animal community.” The word predominance is defined as “possession or exertion of control.” When reviewing these definitions, it is hard to imagine that some trainers use them to describe how to train domestic animals. When an owner shows “exertion of control” over a pet, it increases the likelihood of behavior suppression, increased fear and anxiety, and can make owners and their actions conflicting to the pet. This can damage the human-animal bond and even increase owner-related aggression.

Here is the question veterinary professionals and owners have asked for years: If this training is so aversive, why did we start using it in the first place? In 1947, a Swiss scientist, Rudolph Schenkel, published a paper suggesting parallels between domestic dog behavior and that of wolves. In 1970, wildlife biologist L. David Mech built on that notion in his book “The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species,” reinforcing the “alpha wolf” idea Schenkel had promoted (a concept Mech recanted later in his career after studying wolves in the wild). The adapted theory had gone as far as to assume that the human family makes up the dog’s pack, and if behavior problems are present, it is because dogs are working to raise their social rank in the “pack.” But as science has advanced, so has our understanding of canine behavior. Schenkel’s and Mech’s research had significant flaws, including the following:

Their original research was based on captive wolves. These captive social groups show little resemblance to the normal behavior of free-living wolves. Free-living wolves are all related to each other, which is quite different from artificial colonies of captive wolves.
Dogs and wolves may be from the same “genus” but are not the same. When these theories were published, they did not take into account the 15,000 years of domestication that separate modern dogs and wolves. These theories were generalized to the human-dog relationship and resulted in increased human-related aggression and behavioral problems. Comparing a dog to a wolf is like comparing a human to an ape. We are similar but not the same.
The original ritualistic body language displays were misinterpreted as forcible dominance displays. For example, it was reported that the “dominant” wolf will place the subordinate onto the ground. In reality, the subordinate or more fearful wolf will voluntarily assume this position to avoid conflict in a ritualistic appeasement behavior, which is the opposite of the original findings.

Meghan Herron, DVM, DACVB, at Ohio State University, published research concluding that use of forceful techniques can increase the likelihood of aggression toward owners. Unfortunately, the conflict inherent in the alpha-dog theory makes for appealing television, so the idea has been widely disseminated. Veterinary behavior professionals are now working to teach updated concepts that will enhance the bond between humans and dogs instead of putting a barrier between them.

As veterinary professionals it is important that we ask questions about training recommendations and behavioral concerns at each physical exam to confirm that clients are getting the most up-to-date behavior and training information. Clients value your opinion and recommendations and your advice can be lifesaving. Observe training classes you may recommend to ensure that they use Fear Free techniques.

Recommended Reading for Owners or Veterinary Professionals

From Fearful to Fear Free
- Author(s): Marty Becker, Lisa Radosta, Wailani Sung, and Mikkel Becker
Decoding Your Dog
- Author(s): The American College of Veterinary Behavior
Dog Sense
- Author: John Bradshaw

Other Resources

Herron, Meghan E. Shofer, Frances. Reisner, Illana R. 2009. Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired

Shaw, Julie K. Martin, Debbie. Canine and Feline Behavior for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2015.

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

Rachel Lees, an Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, is a veterinary technician specialist in behavior, a KPA certified training partner, and lead veterinary behavior technician at The Behavior Clinic in Olmsted Falls, Ohio. She loves helping people create and maintain a strong human-animal bond.

The Business of Fear Free: How to Positively Impact Profitability & Practice Value

The Business of Fear Free: How to Positively Impact Profitability & Practice Value

A Fear Free approach to veterinary care is better for our patients, but what about our practices?

This presentation from Michael Hargrove, DVM, MBA, will demonstrate how becoming a Fear Free Certified Practice has business benefits that extend well beyond improved patient care. Every stakeholder in the practice benefits from Fear Free: the patients, the clients, the staff, and the practice owner.

Dr. Hargrove will discuss improved client experience, the development of a clearer brand image for the practice, and increased loyalty from clients, as well as how the change in practice culture improves staff satisfaction, increases employee retention, decreases workplace injury, and boosts employee recruiting. As a certified business appraiser, he also discusses how adopting a Fear Free practice culture can translate to an improved practice value when it comes time to sell.

Dr. Michael Hargrove is the owner of a 7-doctor small animal practice in Duluth, Minnesota. His practice has been AAHA-certified for 41 years and in 2018 became the first Fear Free Certified Practice in Minnesota. Dr. Hargrove is a certified Fear Free Professional and is also Certified in Low Stress Handling and a member of the Fear Free Advisory Group.

Dr. Hargrove also works with Summit Veterinary Advisors as a veterinary management consultant. He has an MBA and is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) who works primarily with veterinarians who are buying/selling veterinary practices or are looking for more information on how to improve the financial health of their practice. Dr. Hargrove is married with one son and three stepsons as well as three cats and a stepdog.

Brought to you by Ceva.

Fireworks Fears Can Change Over Time, Study Shows

Linda Lombardi
Fireworks and other loud noises are a common cause of fear and anxiety in dogs. A recent study provides some insight into the progression of this fear over time and provides evidence of the effectiveness of training and the importance of preventive training before fear develops.

“Not a one-way road—Severity, progression and prevention of firework fears in dogs” by Stefanie Riemer, published in PLoS ONE in September, analyzes the results of an online survey of dog owners who answered questions about the severity and development of fear, demographic factors, other behavior issues, and efforts made to address the problem. Out of 1,225 responses analyzed, 52 percent of dogs were affected by this fear to some extent. The severity of the fear was assigned a “Welfare-impaired score” based on the question “Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: The overall welfare of my dog is strongly compromised by fireworks,” answered on a five-point scale from “disagree strongly” to “agree strongly.”

This fear often showed up early: in 45 percent of cases, at under one year. However, it also developed later, although in almost all cases before six years of age. Responses also showed that this fear can change considerably over time, both for the worse and the better, even if nothing is done to address it. Great improvement was reported for 10 percent of dogs and almost one-third of dogs tended to improve; just under one-fifth reported the fear had gotten worse, and 8.5 percent, much worse. One-third of dogs were reported to have shown no change.

Improvement was not always due to training or medication. For the subset of dogs whose owners had not sought advice for the problem and were not professionals such as trainers or veterinarians themselves, there was slightly less improvement, but also less deterioration – about half reported no change.

Owners of 530 dogs (43.3 percent) reported doing some training to prevent or treat firework fears. Preventive training was most effective: the median Welfare-Impaired score was 1 (lowest possible) in dogs trained in puppyhood and 2 in dogs trained as adults, compared to a median score of 4 for dogs with no training before the onset of fear. Statistical testing showed no significant difference between preventive training as a puppy and as an adult. However, there was a significant difference between having preventive training and having training only after fears had developed.

Training after fears developed was nevertheless shown to be worth doing, as those dogs were significantly more likely to show improvement. The effect of training was independent of whether the dog was treated with medication, as there was no difference in the proportion of dogs in groups that did and did not receive training.

The importance of some other factors investigated, including potential correlations with health problems and other behavior problems, were unclear, but one finding was that certain breed groups were more likely to suffer from this fear, including herding dogs. At the same time, one of the two most significant risk factors was being a mixed-breed. These results may seem contradictory, but they suggest that both genetics and upbringing are relevant. “Mixed-breed dogs originated from shelters or from the street more often so, on average, mixed-breed dogs probably had less positive socialization experiences,” says author Stefanie Riemer.

The other significant risk factor was older age. Again, at first glance this might seem to contradict the finding that fears develop at an earlier age, but fears are not static with aging. “While in over 70 percent, firework fear was noticeable before the age of two years, firework fear often does not disappear on its own, even though it may be improved, as I found in my study,” says Riemer. “Therefore, the longer the dog has been in the world, the more likely it is to have developed a fear of firework at some point in its life. Moreover, often the fear gets worse over time, which may lead to higher average fear scores in older dogs.”

The high number of owners who sought help for the problem (45 percent overall and 70 percent of owners of fearful dogs) was large compared with what has been found in other research. Riemer says, “I am sure the owners in the sample were above-average motivated to work with their dog. I don’t think this invalidates the finding regarding the effectiveness of training but of course a higher level of experience might make them more effective trainers.”

The results suggest that because preventive training is most effective, it’s a good idea to do some training with dogs who are not showing fear, but even after fear develops, it’s not too late. “This study shows that if your dog is afraid of fireworks or other loud noises, it’s important to do something about it, because it can make a difference,” says Zazie Todd, PhD, author of the blog Companion Animal Psychology. “There are several ways to help dogs who are afraid of fireworks, including gradual desensitization and counter-conditioning using a recording of the sound.”

Todd notes that Riemer’s recently published followup study on the effectiveness of various training methods found that owners reported that both ad-hoc counterconditioning and relaxation training helped.

She also observes that while some dogs’ response to noise is too obvious to miss, owners may need to be educated to notice it in others: “Other research has shown that sometimes people miss the signs their dog is afraid of fireworks, so it’s important to be aware and look for them.”

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

Linda Lombardi writes about the animals that share our planet and our homes for magazines including The Bark, websites including National Geographic and Mongabay.com, and for the Associated Press. Her most recent book, co-authored with Deirdre Franklin, is The Pit Bull Life: A Dog Lover’s Companion.

Certified Practice Exclusive: Location! Location! Location! How to Prevent & Alleviate FAS Through Stress-Mapping Your Practice

Location! Location! Location! How to Prevent & Alleviate FAS Through Stress-Mapping Your Practice

Fear Free proudly presents animal welfare and behavior expert Jennifer Barg, MS, ACAAB, CDBC, for a Fear Free Certified Practice exclusive webinar: Location! Location! Location! How to Prevent and Alleviate FAS through Stress-Mapping Your Practice.

Ask any realtor what the three most important things to think about when buying a home are and they’ll tell you location, location, location. Where a pet resides while in your care can have a significant impact on his or her fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS). Identifying “hot” and “cool” areas of your practice and knowing which pets to put where will have a positive impact on them and your team. This webinar will help you learn how to make the most of your real estate.

Training as Enrichment: Your Questions Answered

Training as Enrichment: Your Questions Answered

You asked, and we will answer! Fear Free Head Trainer Mikkel Becker and Education Manager Lori Chamberland will discuss some of the most common questions we’ve received from previous Fear Free training webinars. We’ll talk about leash reactivity/pulling on leash, teaching dogs and cats to live in harmony, counter surfing, and more! We will leave time at the end for you to ask questions in real time, as well. Join us – your dog or cat will thank you!

Set Up the Perfect Exam Room for Cats

Heather E. Lewis
As veterinary practices implement Fear Free design for their patients, it becomes more important to cater specifically to felines. Even if you have a smaller facility, at least one exam room should be properly outfitted to care for cats. Many ideas are easy and inexpensive to implement. Here are some favorite cat exam room ideas:

Room Placement and General Features

Choose a room in a quiet spot. Reducing noise, traffic, and activity is a great way to sculpt a quieter and calmer experience for our feline friends. Ensure the walls around the room have sound insulation in them, if possible, to screen noise coming from other spaces.
If possible, use a room with a window. Cats see well in low-light conditions. Cats will prefer the room if artificial lights are lowered and the room is flooded with soft natural light. It is useful to have lights on a dimmer switch so they can be brighter for a proper physical exam and then lowered again for client consultation.

Furnishings, Cabinets, and Finishes

The exam table should be comfortable. Ensure that your table will have a non-slip surface for cats and that it can be outfitted with something soft. Any exam table is potentially acceptable and can be updated with a yoga mat for slip resistance and a towel for a soft surface. This said, we prefer a smaller table for less awkward maneuvering when working with a cat.
Create appropriate retreat spaces. Cats often need to hide to feel comfortable. Avoid designing trash access holes or flaps in cabinets or your feline patients will end up in the trash can! Extend upper cabinets to the ceiling to prevent cats from being able to get into ceiling panels (yikes)! Avoid chairs cats can get underneath; solid-fronted benches work better for seating. Create an appropriate space in the room for retreat, such as a wall-hung basket or a box in an appealing location in the room. The cat can enter this retreat space at will and coaxed out gently or examined there.
Choose light colors. We prefer to paint feline exam rooms with lighter colors, so they will function well when the lights are dimmed. However, avoid bright whites as sometimes these appear even brighter to a cat. Calming colors can help reinforce your goal for the room to be a retreat.

Equipment

While equipment may appear to be a small consideration, the right accessories will help your cat exam room become the Fear Free space you envision. Consider the following:

Feliway dispensers in the room.
A towel warmer to warm blankets and towels for use during examinations.
Non-figural artwork and no photorealistic images of cats. Cats can react negatively to this type of visual input. Use soft abstracts and landscapes.
Quiet casters on the stool so it does not clatter when rolled.

Feline exam rooms are easy and rewarding to design and finish. We consider cats to be our best architectural students; they tell us when we have executed spaces well. We create for them. Pair good spaces and good operations, and your feline patients will be happier and calmer. Happy patients make for happy clients!

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

Heather E. Lewis, AIA, NCARB, is a principal of Animal Arts, an architectural firm that has exclusively designed animal care facilities, including veterinary hospitals and animal shelters, for more than three decades. She has worked on dozens of projects across the country, both large and small in her 19 years with the firm. Heather is a member of the Fear Free℠ Advisory Board and assisted in creating the Fear Free facility standards for veterinary hospitals. Heather is a regular contributor to various veterinary industry magazines. She has spoken on the design of facilities for the care of animals at dozens of national and regional conferences including Fetch Hospital Design Conferences, the UC Davis Low Stress Animal Handling Conference, and the Humane Society of the United States Animal Care Expo.

Photo courtesy Loyal Companions Animal Hospital & Pet Resort, Tim Murphy / Foto Imagery.

Fear Free Dermatology

Course Overview

Dermatologic conditions, such as otitis externa, allergic dermatitis, and bacterial skin infections, are among the most common reasons clients bring patients to veterinarians. Additionally, dermatologic diseases are often chronic and recurrent, so procedures may be repeated on the same patient multiple times. This course provides tools for incorporating a Fear Free approach to common dermatologic techniques used in the clinic, including ear exams and cytology, skin scrape and cytology, and biopsy.

In addition, in-home bathing and ear treatments can also be a source of stress for both pets and clients. By providing suggestions for decreasing FAS during bathing and ear treatments, we can help increase compliance for topical therapy.

This course consists of four lessons:

Lesson 1: Classical Conditioning and Conditioned Emotional Responses
Lesson 2: The Ears: Exams and Procedures
Lesson 3: The Skin: Diagnostic Tests and Procedures
Lesson 4: Bathing: At Home and In Clinic

This course is approved for one hour of RACE CE.

Stress and a Cat’s Urinary System: Managing FLUTD

Tony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC
It is a frustrating condition with many names: Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease, Feline Urologic Syndrome, Feline Interstitial Cystitis, even the rather whimsical Pandora Syndrome. Anyone who has treated it knows the stress and anxiety it can induce in those treating the disease, as well as in patients suffering from it, not to mention their anxious owners.

That same stress and anxiety also contribute to the disease process itself. As an ER vet, I know the plumbing aspect of the disease very well and can usually get them unblocked and on more stable footing in short order. What I don’t usually have to deal with are the softer aspects of the disease – softer, but no less important. That usually falls to general practice veterinarians, who have to take the reins from ER vets like me and manage their patients long-term.

In the spirit of adhering to the Veterinarian’s Oath and reducing animal pain and suffering, I’d like to offer up some points to consider when either treating a cat with a urinary obstruction or managing a non-obstructed cat with signs of lower urinary tract disease.

Are you incorporating appropriate analgesia and sedation in your treatment protocol?

This is a painful condition. Pain causes stress, which can exacerbate the disease – and make future trips to the vet even more stressful. Making sure you have incorporated appropriate analgesia when unblocking a cat, and when managing a catheterized cat in the hospital, is a vital part of treatment – and one that is often overlooked. Proper (and safely chosen) sedation, and incorporation of a sacrococcygeal block while unblocking, good pain control with buprenorphine or a full-mu opioid agonist, and home analgesia for three to five days after discharge will help to minimize the pain and anxiety of an episode of urethral obstruction. Owners will appreciate advanced pain control protocols and knowing that you are taking their pet’s emotional wellbeing into consideration. It also makes cats easier to handle in the hospital and more likely to come back for future visits – everybody wins!

Suggested Protocols

Sacrococcygeal block:

Use 0.1 mL/kg of either lidocaine or bupivacaine
Unless the cat is very sick and moribund, this is typically done under heavy sedation or anesthesia
Move the tail up and down in a “pumping” motion, palpating the sacrococcygeal region.
The first movable space at the caudal end of the sacrum is either the sacrococcygeal or intercoccygeal space. Either site is okay and there’s no need to differentiate which site you are in.
Insert a 25-ga needle through the skin on midline at a ~45° angle.
If bone is encountered, withdraw the needle a few mm, redirect slightly at a steeper or flatter angle and reinsert. This is known as “walking” off the bone.
Repeat this process until the needle is in intervertebral space. A “pop” may be felt and there should be no resistance to injection.

Buprenorphine – while in hospital:

24 mg/kg Simbadol® SC q 24 hr up to 3 d
01–0.02 mg/kg IM, IV, SC q 4–8 hr

Buprenorphine – sublingual/outpatient: 0.01–0.02 mg/kg transmucosal q 4–12 hr

Fentanyl CRI – 1-5 ug/kg/hr IV

Note: Since many cats who are blocked may also have some degree of acute kidney injury, NSAIDs should be used cautiously or not at all in acute obstructions. They may be helpful in cats with normal renal function for non-obstructive episodes.

Are you reducing stress in the household? In your hospital?

Imagine you are a hospitalized blocked cat: fluorescent lights, a painful catheter, Elizabethan collar, barking dogs – sounds awful, right?

Do everything you can to reduce the stress of hospitalized cats. Put yourself in the patient’s position and imagine what their existence in your hospital is like. If you don’t have a “cat room,” try and keep cats in the quietest part of the hospital, out of sight and sound of dogs. Allow time for rest and a break from medical procedures and provide a box or other structure in the kennel where the cat can hide.

Both at home and in the hospital, use of feline facial pheromones (Feliway®) may help alleviate stress and anxiety. Consider installing one in your ICU and changing it regularly. A few sprays of Feliway® on your patient’s bedding may also help. The Feliway® diffuser can be particularly helpful at home.

Make sure cats at home have distractions and safe spaces to hide from dogs, children, and other cats. During stressful times (moving, boarding, redecorating, addition of new pets or children to the home) consider advising clients to spend extra time with their cats or discuss safe sedation and anti-anxiety protocols and environmental enrichment to reduce fear, anxiety, and stress.

Stress can bring on this condition, and the things we have to do to treat it are often stressful and uncomfortable, creating a continuous positive feedback loop. Owners are stressed, vets are stressed, and (most of all) patients are stressed. Do everything you can to reduce the anxiety and discomfort of feline urologic conditions and you will not only be keeping up your part of the Veterinarian’s Oath, you’ll be practicing better medicine as well.

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

Dr. Tony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC, is a 1996 Washington State University grad and obtained board certification in emergency medicine and critical care in 2003. He is currently Minister of Happiness for VIN, the Veterinary Information Network, an online community of 75,000 worldwide veterinarians, and is a former clinical assistant professor at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in Indiana. He has lectured for several international veterinary conferences (winning the small animal speaker of the year award for the Western Veterinary Conference in 2010) and is an active blogger and writer.

Interviewing Your Interviewer & Exam Room Secrets Revealed

Interviewing Your Interviewer & Exam Room Secrets Revealed

Knowing how to evaluate your interview experience will help you make a more informed decision about the opportunities being presented to you. Interviewing is a two-way street. The interviewee should be assessing the interviewers just as much, if not more. During this webinar, Paul Diaz, founder of Hire Power Consulting, will provide you information you can use to prepare yourself for an interview and to help you evaluate the employer’s culture.

Dr. Marty Becker, founder of Fear Free and dubbed “America’s veterinarian” by Dr. Oz, will also be joining Paul to discuss how to keep pets happy and calm and clients happy, engaged, and trusting, with an end result of the pet getting the care he/she deserves, the owner feeling like a VIP, and you, the vet, getting to practice great medicine. You’ll learn exam room secrets such as what to do when you first enter the room, what NOT to do with pets as you first greet them, how to express empathy, and more.

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