Improving the Emotional Experience via Science of the Senses: Smell
This program will focus on the olfactory experience of canine and feline patients during the veterinary visit and the important role that it plays in the pet’s emotional health and physical health when under veterinary care. Join Jacqui Neilson, DVM, DACVB as she discusses the importance of protection against respiratory pathogens using Fear Free vaccination strategies.
Conoceremos en que consiste el programa Fear Free, sus pilares fundamentales. Revisaremos las características de la especie felina, como percibe el mundo, sus necesidades y como se comunica permanentemente. El comprender y reconocer estos puntos será clave para desarrollar una practica Fear Free. Determinar si nuestros pacientes presentan miedo, ansiedad y estrés será un punto clave para trabajar de una manera acorde, pero fundamentalmente prevenirlas. Nuestras clínicas y hospitales, pueden beneficiarse ampliamente incorporando estas prácticas, sin tener que realizar grandes inversiones ni cambios edilicios.
Psychological Safety for Veterinary Teams
Psychological safety is the most important aspect of successful teams. Our ability to feel safe to share ideas, to grow from failure, and to be honest with empathy allows our team to bypass the “interpersonal mush” that can exist otherwise. A sense of belonging, ability to be vulnerable, and strong interpersonal relationships are the initial ingredients to create this environment. We can assess psychological safety in a team using different tools. If psychological safety is lacking, we can help foster it using specific interventions, including civility and growth mindset work.
Improve Practice Efficiency with Shepherd Veterinary Software’s Fear Free Integration
Join Directory of Veterinary Affairs, Dr. Jennifer Merlo, and Shepherd Veterinary Software’s Christine Hinds – Senior Product Advisor as they discuss how Shepherd’s new Fear Free integration can improve efficiency within your hospital.
Explaining what Fear Free grooming is to all of your new clients can be exhausting! Use this handout to provide your clients with a basic understanding of why you are committed to Fear Free grooming, why Fear Free practices make such a difference for their pet, and what to expect from their visit.
There are many barriers to veterinary care, and cost is one of the most prevalent. As pet advocates and educators, you know that financial barriers cause stress for vets, pet parents, and pets themselves.
In this short course presented by Trupanion, we will discuss cost of care, the stop-treatment threshold, and how quality pet medical insurance, such as Trupanion, helps to lessen this burden, thereby alleviating fear, anxiety, and stress.
This course contains three lessons:
This course has been approved for .5 hours of RACE non-medical CE.
Presented by Trupanion
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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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Here are four conversation starters to help clients see the benefits of vaccinations, not only for their pets’ good health, but also how vaccinations can contribute to a positive and Fear Free experience in the clinic.
The risk of contagious diseases hasn’t gone away.
Canine parvovirus, canine distemper, and infectious canine hepatitis are highly contagious and frequently life-threatening.1 In cats, herpesvirus, calicivirus, panleukopenia, chlamydia, and feline leukemia are all widely distributed diseases that cause significant morbidity and mortality.2 Rabies is fatal in both species. Young animals are at highest risk, but any unvaccinated pet can acquire them. All of these diseases are preventable with vaccinations, and multiple combination vaccines are available for any protocol.
Combinations Are Key to Comfort
To prevent anxiety, reduce stress, and keep visits Fear Free for patients and clients, you can offer combination vaccines that contain only half the volume of most vaccines. That means not only fewer needle sticks but also shorter duration of the injection. For clients who are familiar with Fear Free techniques, those things are important.
Disease risks are changing.
Bacterial diseases such as Lyme disease and leptospirosis are increasingly seen in urban and suburban dogs and in areas where the infections were previously not considered to be a problem specific to leptospirosis.3 The Companion Animal Parasite Council reports that tick-borne diseases4 such as Lyme are spreading across much of the United States, in particular to the South and West, carried by deer, rodents, and migratory birds. A warmer climate, contributing to longer periods for tick reproduction, is also a factor. Adult ticks are active year-round any time the temperature is above freezing.
Climate change and increasing human and domestic animal contact with carrier wildlife have contributed as well to a greater incidence of leptospirosis. Dogs who previously were considered to be at low risk for these diseases, in particular city dogs and dogs weighing 15 pounds or less, are now the ones more likely to be exposed to them.
Lyme disease is spreading rapidly, and leptospirosis is now found in most areas.5 A combination Lyme and lepto vaccine provides protection with a single injection and less vaccine volume.
In addition to vaccinations, be sure to provide client education about vector control and exposure risk reduction through topical or systemic insecticides.
Clients with indoor cats may believe their pets don’t need vaccination for feline leukemia virus, but a single unsupervised escape outdoors can lead to exposure to the disease. All kittens should receive vaccination(s) for FeLV, followed by a booster when they are one year old.6 They can receive a lower volume 1/2mL FVRCP-FeLV combination for a more comfortable vaccination experience.
Vaccinating cats against FeLV has contributed to a decrease in the prevalence of the disease. Test for FeLV prior to vaccination so that cats who test positive aren’t vaccinated unnecessarily.
Technology designed to reduce the likelihood of vaccine reactions.
Unwanted proteins are associated with injection-site pain and swelling. Highly purified 1/2mL Ultra vaccines, using Purefil Technology, are designed to decrease vaccination reactions associated with unwanted protein and debris, reducing proteins by up to 75%. Their efficacy and safety have been demonstrated extensively in real-world studies.
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
TruCan, TruFel, Elanco and the diagonal bar logo are trademarks of Elanco or its affiliates. Other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. ©2023 Elanco or its affiliates. PM-US-22-2260
References
1 2022 AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines. https://www.aaha.org/globalassets/02-guidelines/2022-aaha-canine-vaccination-guidelines/resources/2022-aaha-canine-vaccinations-guidelines.pdf Accessed on December 13, 2022.
2 2020 AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines. https://www.aaha.org/globalassets/02-guidelines/feline-vaccination-guidlines/resource-center/2020-aahaa-afp-feline-vaccination-guidelines.pdf Accessed on December 13, 2022.
3 White, A., et. al. “Hotspots of canine leptospirosis in the United States of America.” The Veterinary Journal, 222 (2017), 29-35. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109002331730059X Accessed on December 13, 2022.
4 Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) 2022 Pet Parasite Forecast. https://capcvet.org/about-capc/news-events/companion-animal-parasite-council-releases-2022-annual-pet-parasite-forecast/ Accessed on December 13, 2022.
5 Smith, Amanda M., et. al. “Potential Drivers for the Re-Emergence of Canine Leptospirosis in the United States and Canada.” Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (2022). https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/7/11/377/htm Accessed December 13, 2022.
6 Little, Susan, et. al. “2020 AAFP Feline Retrovirus Testing and Management Guidelines.” Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 22, Issue 1 (2020). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X19895940 Accessed December 13, 2022.
This post is brought to you by our sponsor, Elanco, the maker of TruFel Ultra Vaccines.
Brought to you by Blue Buffalo.