When many people think of a happy dog or a blissful cat, often images of a treat-spoiled dog or cat basking in the presence of some catnip come to mind. And it’s true. cats and dogs love those things. But when used in the right context, these seemingly simple little joys can be more than just recreational forms of happiness for our best friends. When it comes to reducing fear, anxiety, and stress in our pets during veterinary visits, the right use of treats and other tactics can make for powerful tools. In this podcast, featuring Dr. Natalie Marks of Blum Animal Hospital and Dr. John Talmadge of Bigger Road Veterinary Clinic, we talk about the treat ladder’s literal role in creating a Fear Free veterinary visit as well as its part in the larger Fear Free ideology and approach.
Featuring two renowned veterinary anesthesiologists—Tamara Grubb DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVAA and Ralph C. Harvey DVM, MS, DACVAA—we talk about how pre-anesthesia practices and procedures play a role in creating Fear Free veterinary visits and how new research suggests that in many cases, we should be taking a different approach than what was once the norm. It’s been a long-held practice that when it comes to feeding vs. fasting before going under, fasting was the hands down way to go. But that’s changing.
The fields and practices of emergency , critical care, and internal medicine are a vital part of the profession, and referral practices are often in a world of their own when it comes to many day-to-day practices. Things moves fast, patients are often in extreme amounts of pain and distress, and clients are often overwhelmed. Many professionals across all veterinary fields might ask how Fear Free can help address some of those issues. The answer is—a lot. In this podcast, we talk with us two of the most renowned board certified veterinarians in these respective fields—Dr. Alice M. Wolf, who is board certified in Internal Medicine. and Dr. Tony Johnson, a board certified veterinarian in Emergency and Critical Care—to help elaborate on the role Fear Free can play in these life-saving specialties.
It can often be said that technicians are the backbone of the veterinary clinic. They spend their days (and nights) in the trenches and see little of the glamour of veterinary medicine – if there is such a thing. With Fear Free certifications blossoming around the country (and world), it’s important to understand how technicians play a role in the Fear Free process. In this podcast, hear firsthand from two leading Fear Free certified technicians, Emily Korber and Tabitha Sias Kucera, talk about the role technicians play in Fear Free.
