COVID-19 Archives - Fear Free

Fear Free at Home: Helping Dogs With Separation Anxiety

Rachel Lees RVT, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior)Every year, many pets are relinquished and sometimes euthanized for a variety of behavioral concerns. Among them are separation related issues. Dogs with separation-related diagnoses make up 10 to 20 percent of the cases referred to veterinary behaviorists.

Cases range from mild–showing minor body language changes during the owner’s departure–to severe–dogs injuring themselves and destroying the home by chewing through drywall and jumping out windows. Regardless of severity, it is important to obtain a diagnosis and begin treatment to not only keep these patients safe from anxiety and self-injury and the family’s home undamaged, but also to keep intact the human-animal bond.

Beginning Treatment

Obtaining a diagnosis from a veterinarian is the first step toward treatment. The patient should be medically worked up and assessed as there may be underlying medical or anxiety-related concerns that will exacerbate this issue. After a medical workup, the veterinary medical team can assist the owner by reviewing the veterinarian’s treatment plan, including safety, prevention, management, and behavioral therapy.

Depending on the diagnosis and severity of the problem, the veterinarian may also prescribe medications to reduce patient stress and anxiety during departures. The veterinary medical team can discuss trialing medications and potential side effects on a case-by-case basis.

Eyes in the Sky: Videotaping Alone Time

With advances in technology, we have a variety of ways to watch pets who are home alone. For a potential separation-related issue, it’s vital to recommend that the client have video and camera accessibility to the pet during departures. Not only can we evaluate the pet’s distress levels during departures, but this can be an important tool for the veterinarian in determining a diagnosis. We may find that the patient is not always distressed during departures and that an outside stimulus is causing the dog to panic. The veterinarian would diagnose and treat this problem very differently.

Lonely No More: Avoiding Alone Time

For severe cases where self-injury and destruction in the home are concerns, the veterinarian may recommend avoiding leaving the pet alone. This is not a long-term fix but can help keep the pet safe during treatment and behavior modification. Owners may have a pet sitter stay at the home during work hours or use boarding facilities or daycares.

Changing the Meaning of Time Alone

Part of behavioral therapy for separation distress is to change the way the patient feels about being alone. A great way to start this process is with high-value food for the patient to enjoy during departures. A lickable item is easy to ingest and easy for a pet to focus on when distressed. Think peanut butter, cream cheese, spray cheese, cheese spread, canned pumpkin, yogurt, mashed potatoes, and canned dog food. Food-enrichment items such as food bowl mazes, Kongs, plates, bowls, and muffin tins can be used to administer these treats.

Another benefit of using food is that we can monitor the patient’s stress level. If a patient is a peanut butter Kong fanatic when the owner is home, but that same patient will not touch the peanut butter during a departure, this tells us the patient is too stressed and anxious to enjoy the food enrichment offered. Relay this information to the veterinarian so the treatment plan can be altered.

Long-Term Success

Medications can help to reduce the patient’s anxiety, but behavioral therapy is crucial to long-term success. A treatment plan should include the following:

Shaping relaxed and independent behaviors: The goal is to teach the patient that calm, cool, collected behavior brings reinforcement. Positive reinforcement and clicker training can be helpful in implementing this step.
Creating a non-stressful and consistent departure routine to reduce overall anxiety: Instruct the owner to start working on short departures with the pet showing limited signs of stress and anxiety. The home will be set up in a consistent, predictable way while food enrichment is offered. “Safety cues” (bandanas on the door, scents, etc.) can be added to communicate to the pet that the owner will be back momentarily.
Changing the meaning of current departure cues: Departure cues are common indicators that owners will be leaving the home: putting on shoes, picking up keys/purse, or putting on a jacket. Owners should perform these cues during times when departures are not taking place. With repeated exposure, the pet will not always associate these cues with departures. Positive reinforcement can also be added in with the cue to create an even more positive association.

Medications and Supplements

Combining behavior therapy with psychotropic medications and supplements can improve the prognosis for separation anxiety. Primary medications such as fluoxetine (Reconcile) and clomipramine (Clomicalm) are licensed for use for in dogs with separation anxiety.

Other as-needed, event, or triage medications can be used for the departure itself to help reduce panic and stress. Some of these medications include Trazodone, Clonidine, or benzodiazepine(s) and are off-label use. The prescribing veterinarian will select these medications on a case-by-case basis. Pheromones (Adaptil) and supplements such as Zylkene (milk casein), and Anxitane (L-theanine) may also be suggested.

Consider referring severe cases to a veterinary behaviorist to help prevent the problem from becoming worse. For more information about separation anxiety, see or refer clients to the videos on separation anxiety at FearFreeHappyHomes.com.

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, a Level 3 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.

Crisis Communication: Tips for Calming Pet Owners

Maggie MartonA 2018 article published in Veterinary Sciences synopsized a dissertation examining the connection between owner loyalty to their pets’ veterinarians and their perception of the communication from the veterinarian and staff. The study found that good communication delivered all kinds of benefits, from customer loyalty to trust in the veterinarian to likelihood of following treatment instructions to perception of a greater value for services rendered.

But good communication can be difficult, and it can feel nearly impossible in times of crisis–when a pet is ill or injured, when an animal is dying, or when a client doesn’t understand or can’t afford care options, for instance. While many communication tools are available, one promising model for veterinarians to help calm pet owners is Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

What is NVC?

The goal of NVC is to communicate and express yourself clearly, then receive what you hear back without judgment. The communication model avoids language that promotes disconnection, such as blaming, comparing, judging, or doling out advice.

Leslie Ritter-Jenkins, a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, says NVC is being practiced in the human medical field and fits veterinary medicine well. “Because veterinarians, like many people in the medical world, are people of authority, we tend to give them a lot of power,” she says.

Being mindful of language used matters because people tend to either rebel or submit to perceived authority. This is critical in times of crisis because when a client is triggered–by fear, anger, grief, and so on–that lack of control makes communication more difficult. As the “authority” in the room, using NVC tools can establish trust and confidence between the veterinarian and client while avoiding or mitigating conflict.

It’s just one framework for clear communication, but its principles fit veterinary medicine because the foundation is built on one thing: compassion. In times of crisis, especially when life and death decisions must be made, a compassionate response can shift the tone of the conversation.

The NVC Process

According to the Center for Nonviolent Communication, the model consists of two sides: empathetically listening and honestly expressing. You can’t control what your client says–or hears–especially while facing stress or fear, but you can control your listening skills and your response. Here are the four steps to the NVC process to employ:

Observations: without judgment
Feelings: underlying emotions
Needs: universal and what makes us human (e.g. mutuality, respect, freedom, choice, partnership)
Requests: a clear, doable ask

Ritter-Jenkins points out that what a client poses as a feeling is more often a need, so the NVC skill involves drilling down to identify what’s really going on. She says, “If someone says, ‘I feel disrespected,’ their feeling isn’t disrespect. The feeling is probably hurt or scared. Their need is respect.”

Listen closely to the data your client provides either overtly or through your observations and consider whether there’s an emotion or need masked by the language. It’s a skill that takes time to hone. Practice sessions during staff meetings may be helpful.

How Can NVC Help in the Exam Room?

“All humans share the same feelings and needs. When we get out of right and wrong thinking, better or worse, appropriate or inappropriate, and we speak this language of feelings and needs, we have a language that connects us universally. When a vet can hear behind what the customer, the human customer, is saying and then use a sentence or two of empathy, it’s very efficient connecting with feelings and needs. You can get to the heart of things, what’s really happening with the customer, fast,” Ritter-Jenkins says.

She shares an example from her own life when she faced an end-of-life decision with one of her cats. Her cat suffered from an undiagnosed GI disorder. They tried various approaches, and she ultimately went to the vet for help because her cat wasn’t eating, he was losing weight, yet he was acting completely normal.

“She could hear in that data and say, ‘It sounds like you’re feeling torn because you know that there’s something physiologically wrong and the cat is likely in pain and suffering, and you’re torn because you’re seeing some normal behavior and you’re needing clarity about what’s going on.’ That would’ve been exactly right–an empathic guess,” she says. “Or she could have said, ‘It sounds like you’re feeling exasperated and want some clarity or want some support in this decision.’”

When faced with a potentially costly procedure, a devastating diagnosis, or an end-of-life decision, client reactions run the gamut, but people often shift swiftly into panic or crisis mode. Listen, then present the data, the science, while being clear that you’re not telling the client what to do. Jumping in with unsolicited advice, especially when a client is in crisis, creates a barrier to empathy, as does judging, storytelling, one-upping, and philosophizing.

One of the easiest ways to achieve this? A quick question.

Take some time during or toward the end of an appointment to ask, “Have your questions been answered? Do you have anything else that you’re concerned about that we haven’t covered?”

Practice NVC

The science supports this model of communication. “What happens is the vagus nerve that goes from our brain and feeds our heart, our lungs, and our digestive system, empathy calms that. When someone empathizes with us, our whole body relaxes. We have the beauty of this connection, and it’s not just emotional. It’s physiological,” Ritter-Jenkins says.

Earlier this year, VIN offered a course on empathy and reflective listening, which included the Nonviolent Communication text as recommended reading. The concept is gaining traction in veterinary medicine. On its website, the Center for Nonviolent Communication posts practice group meetups open to anyone wanting to learn and practice the skills. Or pick up a copy of the book, Nonviolent Communication, and practice with your staff.

Bottom line: It’s a worthwhile endeavor to communicate well with your clients, especially during times of crisis, and it might even help build your business by increasing customer loyalty. The NVC model provides a framework to achieve those goals.

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

Maggie Marton is an award-winning pet writer based in the Indianapolis area. She covers dogs, cats, kids, and often the intersection of all three for print and online publications. Maggie is the author of Clicker Dog Training: The Better Path to a Well-Behaved Pup and the blogger behind OhMyDogBlog.com and TheZeroWastePet.com.

Can Special Music for Cats Reduce Their Stress at the Clinic?

Linda Lombardi

We know that music can affect human mood, but we don’t usually think about whether cats or dogs care if we play Mozart or Metallica. We probably should: Studies have shown that classical music reduces stress in dogs, and a study of cats under anesthesia showed differences in respiratory rate and pupillary diameter in response to classical, pop, and heavy metal music, with the lowest values for classical music and the highest for heavy metal.

Can we use these effects to our advantage? A recent study in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery shows that music specially designed for cats has small but significant effects on cats undergoing a veterinary exam. It’s worth considering other aspects of the sound environment of your clinic as well.

Sounds Cats Like

Music for Cats by composer David Teie incorporates sounds intended to be familiar and comforting to cats, reminiscent of purring and suckling sounds, with frequencies similar to cat vocalization ranges. “However, he also layers in a melody of music that is pleasing to people as well,” says researcher Amanda Hampton of the School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University. “That part of the music, it seems that cats don’t really respond to, but that way we don’t get tired of it.”

Previous research in homes testing this music against silence and regular human classical music showed that cats seemed to prefer it. “They found that cats would approach the speakers playing cat music more, or go into postures that were more relaxed,” says Hampton.

Effects of Music

Building on this, Hampton and colleagues tested the effect of cat music during a veterinary exam. Twenty cats took part under all three conditions: cat music, classical music, and silence, with two weeks between tests. Cats were placed in an exam room for 10 minutes and then given a physical exam that included a blood draw. They were evaluated at three points with a standardized Cat Stress Score (CSS) based on body language and behavior–before the music began, during the exam, and after the exam–and with a Handling Score (HS) during the exam. Cats showed lower CSS and HS when listening to cat music compared to classical music and silence.

The blood drawn was also tested for neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a measure of stress, but no differences were found. All cats had slightly elevated NLRs, which the authors suspect was an effect of the stress of travel to the clinic which had not had enough time to subside. “NLR goes up quickly but takes a little while to come back down, so what we could be seeing is the response they had to being put in the carrier or the car ride,” says Hampton.

How and When to Use Sound

Mikel Delgado, PhD, researcher at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, thinks that this study shows that cat music might be a useful additional tool, but cautions against making too much of it.

“They found that the cats who were listening to cat music were easier to handle and had lower stress scores, but my caveat is that the differences between the groups were fairly small,” she says. “It wasn’t like this is a game changer, like if you play cat music everything else is going to be easy.”

Delgado says music is no substitute for making sure you’re doing everything else you can to reduce the stress of the veterinary experience for cats.

“If you’re not already using Fear Free or low-stress handling techniques, music is not going to fix your handling methods for cats,” she says. “If you don’t have your hospital set up for other aspects of reducing stress, like minimizing the time cats have to sit in the lobby, providing towels to cover carriers if owners don’t bring their own, making sure they have a non-slip surface to lay on while they’re being examined, music is not going to overcome those things.”

If you’re already doing all of that right, adding music might help, but also take the opportunity to think more broadly.

“The implications really have to do with what humans do when they are working with cats,” Delgado says. “People might not realize that what they’re doing and the kinds of noises they’re making might have implications for their patients.”

Consider the whole sound environment before you consider adding any kind of music. “Here’s an experiment to do in your treatment room: they make all kinds of apps for your phone that tell you how loud your background noise is,” she says. “I think situational awareness could help a lot of practices improve their environment, because I think most of us are louder than we realize we are. People should consider, can they lower their voices? Can they do less banging and slamming?”

Shelters should think about these considerations as well. “Maybe people should use headphones if they want to listen to heavy metal music when they’re cleaning cages,” she says. If you have a loud PA system, think about whether you could use walkie-talkies or text messaging with phones on vibrate. “If you need Jim to come to the front desk, does everyone in the shelter need to hear that?” she says. “Try to refine your communication techniques to modify that ambient noise that animals that are already in a stressful environment are experiencing.”

If you’ve got all that under control and want to try cat music, some additional considerations are when and where to use it. The study had cats listen to the music for ten minutes before the exam, but further research is needed to know whether a shorter period will have the same effect. Be aware that there is as of yet no published research about how dogs react to it. And while the piece of cat music used in the study was specifically designed to be less repetitive and easier on human ears, like any music, not everyone will love it. “I actually find the music relaxing,” says Hampton. “But maybe you have it playing in a cat ward, or in the exam room while the cats are in there, but perhaps not throughout the whole hospital, so if you have a staff member who doesn’t like the music, they don’t have to listen to it all day.”

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.