Mitigating Fear, Anxiety and Stress for Dogs in Isolation or Quarantine
In this recorded webinar, join Meghan Herron, DVM, DACVB, as she reviews signs of animal stress, how to mitigate stress, and specific tips for promoting good welfare for dogs in quarantine or isolation.
Brought to you by our friends at Virox
Successful Medication Strategies in a Fear Free World
In this recorded webinar, Sharon Minninger, DVM, discusses how we can modify our thoughts and actions to improve the “just medicate my pet” problem. She also addresses what other medication forms can be considered and how to develop strategies to train your team and your clients for success.
Brought to you by our friends at Covetrus
Lindsay Pollard, FFCP (Veterinary), the hospital’s practice manager, says they began trying out some Fear Free methods after hearing about the concept. “A few of our staff members obtained individual certifications,” Pollard says. “After learning more and attending a few conferences where Fear Free was highlighted, we decided to go all the way.” Hanover Veterinary Hospital completed the program to become Fear Free certified in December 2018.
When deciding to become a Fear Free Practice, the biggest difference has been in the way he interacts with the animals after certification, says owner Jeremiah Bieszczak, DVM. “The biggest change has been reading body language and emotional state/stress level and addressing that instead of pushing through it. We are better able to read pets and have more tools and knowledge to deal with these situations.”
Many long-term clients are delighted with the constructive visits they’ve had with Fear Free, and new clients are thrilled with the difference between them and their previous veterinarian, says Pollard. Oftentimes they mention the care and compassion used when handling their pets. Pollard feels they’ve made much progress with many of the patients since becoming Fear Free certified.
Fear Free helps all pets, but scared pets often need Fear Free much more to turn their lives around. Pollard has one patient in particular whom she’ll always remember and says Fear Free methods changed everything for this dog.
The pet was a 14-year-old female shepherd mix. Sally, who has since passed away, desperately needed help. “Prior to our Fear Free certification, both Sally and her owner, Sara Zilz, dreaded coming to the vet. She also had some fear aggression and anxiety issues at home. She had a very high FAS and was fearful to the point of aggression,” says Pollard. “Our exams with her were very limited at best and it took several staff members to accomplish anything with her at all.”
Sally had been adopted by Zilz from the humane society when she was 9 weeks old. She didn’t notice any problems with Sally until she took her for training and Sally became spooked by large signs in the store hanging over her head. Then she began showing other fearful behaviors. Zilz says Sally disliked smoke from the grill and even hated when someone blew out a candle. She started having food-guarding issues and was even afraid of shadows on walks.
Zilz says she never thought about potential problems at the veterinarian’s office. “I had her boarded at Hanover. Dr. Bieszczak came out when I picked her up and nicely said something along the lines of ‘She needs to be medicated before we will take her for another boarding.’ This broke my heart. I did not realize she was that bad.”
A veterinary technician named Bobbi became Sally’s best friend when she was boarded. Bobbi would sit in her kennel with her and try to get her to come out. She wouldn’t even go outside to potty. Bobbi called Zilz several times and asked if she could do some things to help her. After that, Bobbi became Sally’s veterinary technician of choice.
After they became Fear Free certified, Bieszczak started Sally on fluoxetine, an anti-depressant. This medication was a game-changer for her. Pollard says they also started doing happy visits with Sally, using treats with her during exams and treatment, and including calming pheromone products during her happy visits and exams/treatment. They also tried to keep the same staff member working with her all the time, and kept detailed notes on her likes and triggers, constantly adapting their plan and approach to better suit Sally individually.
“She made more progress with each happy visit and regular visit until eventually she was happy to see several staff members,” Pollard says, “and she was happy coming into the building. Sally would readily accept most treatment from us with the help of some treat distractors and enforcers.”
“At one point, I felt everyone wanted to give up on Sally. Once I saw the Hanover Veterinary Hospital staff was not giving up on her, I knew things would be okay,” says Zilz.
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
“The Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (AWLA) has always strived to provide the best care to the animals in our facility, and by having all of our staff undergo Fear Free training, we are expanding the way we can help animals be healthier and more comfortable,” says executive director Stella Hanly. “I’ve been so excited to see how our staff has expanded upon these core principles to engage with each animal individually and help them on these next steps of their journeys.”
The Virginia-based nonprofit shelter has been a refuge for homeless pets since 1946. The shelter cares for more than 2,000 animals per year: everything from cats and dogs to iguanas and chinchillas. Five hundred volunteers provide a much-needed boost to day-to-day staff.
Gina Hardter, director of marketing and communications, first became aware of the Fear Free program several years ago when she was looking for a course on dog behavior.
After looking into the program, shelter management decided the entire staff would benefit from Fear Free certification. “We are always looking for ways to advance the level of care we can give to our animals, to keep them happy and healthy,” Hardter says. “The Fear Free approach provided structured guidance that could be used consistently by all of our teams.”
Becoming Fear Free certified gave the team direction in practices they had been considering, says adoptions manager Sean Furmage. “It was a good way for all of us to be working from the same set of information, especially about animal body language, as well as great advice on how to reduce stress in our interactions.”
The personal victories with certain animals have been another benefit of Fear Free certification. Furmage recalls a young terrier mix named Buddie, who was shy and appeared frightened of the men on staff. Furmage spent several weeks simply walking by and tossing her treats, not forcing an interaction, and eventually began to sit with her while attempting to take her outside the kennel. When two male adopters came to meet her, he explained to them what they might see with her.
“During their first meeting, she mostly just watched them from a distance. But then they came back a second time and a third time, and that time, she let them pet her and you could see in her body that she wasn’t as scared,” says Furmage. “We offered them the chance to foster her so they could get to know her even better, and I actually drove her to their house so she felt more comfortable. A week later, they adopted her and have sent us the cutest photos of how well she’s doing with them now.”
Julian Carter, animal care and behavior associate, says becoming Fear Free certified has made a difference in his awareness of animals’ boundaries and how respecting those boundaries can help each animal be more comfortable and less anxious.
“We’re lucky because we can give animals the time and space they need to feel comfortable and, by observing their behavior and reading body language, it helps to cut down on stress and injuries or actions that may result from it.”
Carter had his victory moment with a young, energetic dog named Juice. “He pulled a lot on his leash, was reactive in his kennel, and he didn’t really have any manners. We realized that he needed time to feel comfortable with people, and the consistency of a training plan so that everyone who was working with him was doing the same thing. It helped him to build expectations, which made him more comfortable around people as well as learning manners and tricks that would be helpful when he went to his new home.”
Several trained staff and volunteers worked with Juice. They took him outside so he could burn off excess energy, making his training fun. Soon, it was wonderful for staff and volunteers to see how far he had come from those days of barking and growling in his kennel. Carter says, “Juice actually just went home earlier this week because of the Fear Free treatment and training approach, which helped get him ready for a home environment.” While ultimately that home was not the right fit for Juice, the team at AWLA continues to work with the dog on his training plan to help him grow and be ready to meet his future family.
Working with sick and injured animals is certainly more challenging than healthy ones. Arianne Killen, senior manager of veterinary and foster care, has worked at AWLA for nearly four years. She says when she’s examining animals and performing standard care, she thinks more about the animal’s stress levels and what she can do to keep their anxiety levels down.
Whenever she’s in the veterinary suite, she remembers her Fear Free training. “They are already in pain and probably very stressed,” Killen says, “but by keeping calm, quiet, and moving slowly and predictably, I can help prevent that stress level from rising, which could make them feel even worse.”
A cat named Church came to the AWLA shelter after being at another shelter for about six months and not getting much attention from potential adopters. He hid under his bed when people came around.
“He was also a little shy about people being around his head because of previous medical treatments,” Killen says. “I realized he was the kind of cat that you just needed to follow his lead. If I put my finger out, he would slowly come up and sniff it, then rub his head against it. Once I did that, he was so much more comfortable with me, and then I could work with him much more reliably to provide medical attention.”
Hardter recalls an older Cocker Spaniel who came into the shelter. His leg had been amputated after an injury, and he would yelp or scream whenever anyone touched him, or even if he thought they were going to touch him.
“We could tell he was beyond stressed but did not know how to help,” she says. “We followed his lead by giving him space to be with us without forcing an interaction and soon found he was following close behind us, even though he still didn’t want to be touched. One evening when our office was empty, I just sat on the ground near his bed and started talking to him. I wasn’t looking at him but just chatting in a calm, even voice.”
She started reading him her emails because she didn’t know what else to say. Suddenly, she felt something on her arm. To her surprise, he had approached her on his own and leaned gently against her.
“Because of his location, I was able to pet him on his neck – and he didn’t scream. We sat that way for 20 minutes,” Hardter says. “He still had a way to go before he was ready to find his family, but that was our first sign that he was ready to start that journey and, because we followed his lead, I think he learned that he could trust that people were safe to be around and just wanted to help him.”
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
“It lit a spark in me and that passion has never subsided,” says Kincaid.
Going on to live 13 years, Lydia was never a social butterfly but, with Kincaid’s love and encouragement, she enjoyed seeing people and trying new adventures.
“Near the end of her life, we took a beach trip and she settled down on the patio for dinner with us,” Kincaid says, “It was truly one of the best moments of my life.”
Kincaid has now been a professional dog trainer for 15 years and, for the past nine years, has worked at Train My Dogs Austin and Onion Creek Kennels. Train My Dogs Austin is a positive training, boarding, and daycare facility in Austin, Texas, while Onion Creek Kennels in south Austin focuses on daycare, cat and dog boarding, and cat and dog grooming – all using positive reinforcement for the pet clients.
As head trainer at both facilities, Kincaid is currently enrolled in Animal Behavior College’s Grooming Instruction program, so she will soon become a professional groomer as well.
Fear Free certified in both training and grooming, Kincaid decided to take the courses when she began having an influx of training clients whose pets had been let go from their groomers for behavior reasons and needed a new facility for their dogs to be groomed.
Since Kincaid also groomed dogs, she began working with her training clients. “The Fear Free program has been very helpful in teaching me how to work with dogs in a manner that can help them grow to like grooming as well as a good foundation of knowing when to continue grooming and when to stop.”
Her training approach was already similar with the Fear Free program’s principles and techniques, says Kincaid, but what she lacked was concrete ways to illustrate and explain to clients and colleagues why she would continue working with a dog in some circumstances, and when she would stop and step back. The Fear Free certification program gave her great handouts with clear illustrations to help clients learn how to identify FAS (fear, anxiety, and stress). It has clear illustrations laying out various levels of stress such as when to push forward and when to stop and reduce stress.
The handouts have had a huge effect on client follow-through and understanding. She loves the continuing education available. “The Fear Free program has the best webinar on how to do a nail trim that I have seen,” says Kincaid. “Becoming Fear Free certified as a trainer and a groomer has really opened up a whole new subset of clients. It is also extremely rewarding to work dogs into grooming that were not able to be groomed previously. The clients are always so grateful.”
Kincaid says one case where her Fear Free certification was crucial was in working with a 6-month-old Schnauzer other groomers wouldn’t handle. He would start biting even while being brushed. Kincaid decided to take him on as a client because he was young and would need to be groomed for the rest of his life.
“We set up a training program where he came once a week and I worked on counterconditioning him to various tools and holds needed for grooming. We only ever pressed on if he stayed in the green level on the FAS ladder. We adjusted if his FAS started rising.
“We really leaned into the idea of need versus want,” she says, “meaning we stopped frequently, and he went home only partially done. But over a few months, we were able to complete an entire full groom and he went home looking great. This dog was labeled as a dog that couldn’t be groomed and now is able to be groomed and,” Kincaid says, “he loves his groomer.”
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
These battered bonds are often related to behavior problems such as destruction to the home, inappropriate elimination, and aggression. In a 2013 study by Jennifer Y. Kwan and Melissa Bain, 65 percent of owners relinquished pets for behavior reasons. This study also supported the use of positive reinforcement, finding that use of punishment-based methods resulted in less satisfaction with a pet’s behavior, which can be damaging to the bond.1
The word “repair” means to restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken or to restore to a sound or healthy state. How can we repair a nearly broken human-animal bond? The role of a veterinary technician or assistant can be crucial in mending and strengthening this bond.
A skilled veterinary behavior professional should be able to demonstrate the prescribed behavioral therapy plans, coach the client through them, and be flexible with both pet and owner learning styles.2 In my practice, I describe my role as “case manager”: the person with whom each client is in contact with most frequently. It is my job to relay information clearly and effectively to the veterinarian and be sure that the entire behavior team (veterinarian, trainer, and owner) are working toward the common goal of restoring the bond.
Counseling aspects of behavioral medicine and marriage/family therapy have many commonalities.3 One of the most profound similarities is how change occurs in the context of treatment. In behavior medicine, our clients may come in with negative thoughts, anger, and fears associated with their pet. The veterinary technician or assistant’s role in the behavior team is to change the emotional experience of the pet along with that of the pet owner. When a family walks into our practice and their pet has been displaying owner-related aggression, my first questions are the following:
The client needs to express their concerns if treatment is going to be attempted. Behavioral therapy is essential, but the context and triggers of the problem are less important until people can form a more positive association with the pet. After the veterinarian discusses the behavioral diagnosis, I typically break down the information in a more down to earth fashion so the entire family can understand the mental concerns their pet has developed. In this way, the family can begin to relate to the pet and see things through their eyes, and this can jump-start the process of rebuilding the bond.
A second similarity to human-based therapy is the difficulties and barriers associated with clients.4 Most of our clients walk into the consultation room and expect to be told they did something wrong. They may be defensive, anxious, and closed off, reluctant to give a detailed behavioral history, which can impact treatment.
Sometimes clients are fearful about sharing a pet’s aggressive behaviors because they do not want to euthanize their pet. They feel as if they will be judged and forced to make an unwanted decision. One of my strongest skills as a behavior team member is gaining the trust of clients and building a strong rapport early on. I want each client and pet to have a wonderful experience with our clinic, but I also want to have a strong connection with that client, share empathy, and understand each issue from their perspective.
Clients may be at the end of their rope, but usually there is an inch of that rope left to work with. I think of the rope as the bond between owner and pet. Hang on to that tiny piece as it is still technically intact! Each client walks into the practice for a reason even if there is only a tiny strand of the bond remaining. If you can open them up, connect, and gain their trust, you can begin to reshape the negativity they feel toward their pet and repair the relationship.
One of the most important terms when repairing the human-animal bond is “empathy,” the ability to have a deep emotional understanding of another’s feelings and experiences.5 For veterinary behavior team members, this ability is crucial for success with any client or patient. They should be able to identify and empathize with the fear and anxiety the pet and client may be experiencing. This is the first step in modifying the behavior of both. Psychologist Marshall Rosenberg stated it best: “When we understand the needs that motivate ourselves and others’ behaviors, we have no enemies.” 6
I think this is important to recognize when working to rebuild or strengthen a human-animal bond. It is important for the client and veterinary behavior team to see things from the pet’s perspective. The client can then learn that the pet is not their enemy. The pet is not performing these behaviors to spite them. The pet is fearful, stressed, or anxious and may be trying to keep themselves safe. Being able to take a walk in someone else’s shoes, or paws, is a vital step in deepening the human-animal bond.
Mending the human-animal bond is not an easy task. It takes the expertise of a strong, educated, and skilled veterinary behavior team to even begin to reunite and mend the connection between client and pet. When working in a general practice, any sign that the human-animal bond is deteriorating between a client and patient should be brought to the team’s attention so the veterinarian can make a referral to a veterinary behavior practice.
As veterinary team members, we all want to save the lives of pets. This begins with keeping a strong bond between client and pet. Giving appropriate, science-based recommendations on training and behavioral therapy can be the first step in this process, starting with puppy and kitten visits. If we all work toward a common goal, we can make a difference.
References:
2-6. Shaw K. Julie, Martin Debbie. Canine and Feline Behavior for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses. 1st edition. John Wiley; 2015.
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
When a patient is fearful of seeing me at a veterinary hospital, their world shrinks to two options: flee or fight. Neither one is fun for them or helps me do what I’m supposed to do for the patient and the family who loves them: find out what’s wrong and make it better.
With patients who are driven by fear, their natural instincts kick in and they resist everything we need to do to get them well.
I’m sure you’ve all been there when trying to treat a fearful patient. Patients displaying aggression are driven by fear. The vast majority of them don’t display this type of behavior at home – so why do they revert to aggression when we are trying to help them?
Think of their first few visits to the hospital and try to see it from their perspective. The car ride. They are likely apprehensive when loaded into the car or carrier. Their owner may try to soothe them with calming words, but fear takes hold.
The sights and smells. When they arrive at the hospital, they can smell the fear from dozens – hundreds – of other pets before them. They can smell the odors of the hospital – cleaning and disinfecting products, the cautery unit in surgery, the parvo dog in isolation. Their heightened sense of smell, many thousands of times what ours is, wafts all of these to them: smells of sickness and death. They sense that this is a bad place.
After this – needles, restraint. The inability to move. The fear of being atop the exam table with no place to run.
Is it any surprise, then, that they would grow to dislike this place and its occupants?
We know that we want to help them. We know that a vaccine will prevent deadly diseases, that a spay will prevent unwanted pregnancies and pyometra…but they don’t.
Lest I be misunderstood – I am not saying that a veterinary hospital is a bad place – not at all. I love them and I know the good that veterinarians do each and every day to protect and preserve animal health and promote healing. We just need to find a way to explain it to our patients.
Since we can’t use words (or my favorite means of communication – interpretive dance), we have to show them by our actions. We have to note the aspects of our places of work and our way of handling them and convey the concept that this is not a bad experience. We have to make their perception of this is a bad place become Hey, this ain’t half bad.
I know it can’t happen each and every time – I can’t take the time to cozy up to the Great Dane that just came crashing into my ER with a GDV – but I can take the time to make sure his post-op stay is as free of pain and anxiety as I can safely make it.
Fear Free is a mindset. It’s a new way of looking at our interactions with patients to suss out aspects that can be improved, spikes of fear that can be dulled, practices and protocols that can be improved.
Why?
You can look at it as a moral imperative – we have taken an oath. It’s the right thing to do. No patient should be worse off for seeing us.
You can look at it practically, as well.
Imagine the stress of trying to do a toenail trim or a heartworm test on a 90-pound dog displaying fear and aggression. That dog is probably recalling all sorts of memories, stretching back to puppyhood, of nauseating car rides, stressful physical restraint, triggering smells.
Now imagine a dog who saw each visit before this one as a chance for treats, pets, and gentle interaction. Happy visits – just in and out the door, and he didn’t even notice the DHLPP jab because he was too busy licking peanut butter off of a kind hand and the veterinarian giving the shot used a brand-new needle. Imagine a dog who received safe sedation for a laceration instead of being held down and receiving nothing but Brutacaine.
Which dog do you think will let you trim his toenails with less stress – for all of you?
Fear Free isn’t just about the patients. How many times do you think your top-tier tech will wrestle with that dog before she hears the siren call of nursing school? How many times will you look at the chart of the FAS 5 dog and feel your heart sink? Feel burnout creeping ever closer?
This doesn’t happen with a calm pet who knows that a visit to a veterinary hospital is a good thing, not a terrifying experience. In my 20 years of emergency practice, I’ve seen fear quite literally kill many patients – patients who are barely coping with illness at home, who then take a lethal turn when the fright of a car ride or veterinary visit tips them over the edge. Fear Free could have saved many of them.
If you take a patient who’s comfortable with the whole process in a veterinary hospital – check-in, physical exam, diagnostic tests, and going back home – you have a patient who doesn’t want to flee or fight me or my team. They’re cooperative and calm – they might enjoy the whole thing if we give them love, confidence, and, of course, plenty of treats). And judicious use of sedatives and analgesics can help offset the fear, anxiety, and stress of visits and procedures. Fear Free patients will let me run the tests and do the physical exam that gets me the answers I need to deliver the best care I can.
Without fear – when pets are Fear Free – it’s not only easier for everyone, it’s better medicine. It’s less stress – for everyone. It’s fewer shots in the dark. Fewer guesses, fewer misdiagnoses, fewer “let’s-see-if-this-fixes-it” treatments ending in lost time, bad outcomes, and problems like global antibiotic resistance. Fear Free practices mean more pets go home faster, and you and your staff are happier and more productive.
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
The situation was urgent because Oakley now snarled and snapped at the owner whenever he tried to put a collar or harness on him so he was unable to attach a leash to the dog to take him out for walks. I advised him to try to slip on a martingale collar and leave it on Oakley temporarily until we could get him to accept the harness. I don’t normally use a martingale but in this case it was a logical option.
When I arrived for the first session, Oakley—one of those dogs who never stop moving—showed interest in interactions and did not give distance-increasing behaviors, but he also didn’t ask to be touched. I began by using a clicker to mark and reward every time he stopped moving or made eye contact. Then I laid down a super-soft non-skid consent mat, sat in front of it, and used the clicker to shape Oakley into lying down facing me on the mat.
Then I showed the owner how to desensitize Oakley to first tolerating a stethoscope, then having his feet and ears touched, and finally to a fake injection with an empty syringe. We showed Oakley each item, marking and reinforcing him for sniffing it. We moved each item slowly toward him, always stopping if we observed stiff or avoidance body language. I name each item and procedure so the dog knows what to expect during these sessions, and I advise clients to use the same words while the veterinarian is performing an exam or procedure: “heart” for stethoscope, “feet,” “ears,” and “pinch-poke” for syringe/injection.
After this, we tried to use similar techniques to put a Sensation Harness and then a collar on Oakley. I saw the problem the owner described, so we switched gears. I wanted to know if 
Oakley was generally fearful, so I set up boxes for nosework, a Snuffle Mat, a Wobbler, and a Spin-it. Oakley engaged with these items enthusiastically, demonstrating no fear. We did a few behaviors on the consent mat (sit, watch me, touch, and down), allowing Oakley to disengage and go to the boxes or Snuffle Mat if he needed to de-stress and return to the consent mat when he was ready to re-engage. I instructed the owner to practice all of the above between our sessions.
During the second session, we repeated the above and added one behavior to the consent mat training: holding the harness for Oakley to see, clicking if he sniffed it or moved his head toward it, and eventually trying to lure his head through it while saying “Put it on” but not restraining him in any way. We were successful with this but not in clipping the harness. We then did some obedience/safety exercises, such as come and loose-leash walking and finished with a game of fetch.
At the third session, Oakley greeted me with distance-decreasing behaviors and physical requests to be touched. He was happy to interact and be touched. When I put the consent mat on the floor, he ran to it and lay down, eagerly awaiting our interactions. The owner and I slowly went through the desensitization-to-handling process and he was able to get the mini Sensation Harness (with its tiny little clip) onto Oakley and clip it, with no snarling, biting, freezing, or avoidance behaviors of any kind from the dog. I was pleasantly surprised and the owner was thrilled.
I advised him to continue to use food while putting the harness on or taking it off to keep the positive association going, to always use the phrase “Put it on” to alert Oakley to what was coming, and to continue the consent mat handling exercises so that Oakley would be comfortable during veterinary exams. I advised as well to always end with a short play session or walk.
The icing was the nice Yelp review from the owner, who described the problem and wrote, “Susan was amazing! She was great to work with and I am so happy with the results!”
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
Are you the only person in your clinic who has a passion for Fear Free? It’s easy to get discouraged and frustrated when we are surrounded by obstacles. This course provides tools to achieve your Fear Free goals even when you feel like you are all alone in your work. Learn how to get buy-in, implement strategies from the ground up, and encourage your colleagues to join your heart’s work of protecting the emotional welfare of our treasured animal patients.
This course, approved for 1 RACE CE hour, was written by Monique Feyrecilde BA, LVT, VTS (Behavior).
This course consists of five lessons:
Indy was a middle-aged mixed-breed dog who developed Stage 3a lymphoma requiring weekly treatment under a CHOP chemo protocol. Only one problem: he was an FAS 4-5 patient who did not like to be touched, let alone restrained. How were we going to treat weekly with IV catheter-administered chemotherapy? Spent a lot of time in the early days fine-tuning a PVP protocol that allowed us to work on touch gradient approach so we could eventually hold his paw and use a regular or butterfly catheter to administer therapy. We always had myself and one specific technician available to work on desensitization with gentle restraint and forelimb holding. Lots of treats. For longer IV treatments, we preemptively sedated Indy. By the end of his treatment cycles, he would walk into the chemo room, sit or lie on a padded mat, and let us treat without incidents. Amazing! It works!
Jeffrey D. Palmer, DVM, Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, Burr Ridge Veterinary Clinic, Darien, Illinois
A new feline patient with a high level of fear, anxiety, and stress went home with gabapentin as a pre-visit pharmaceutical. The exam we performed two days later was great. He was readily eating tuna and happy to be petted. He did well for a complete exam, including radiographs and blood draw. The Feliway-infused towel was also a great help.
Matthew Hudson, DVM, Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, VCA Blum Animal Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
We have seen so many success stories with numerous patients, but the best for me is my personal cat. He is an uncontrolled diabetic, and the first year I owned him he had a lot of blood
draws and vet visits. He was a wonderful-tempered cat at home, but at the clinic, while he never bit or scratched, he hissed and struggled every time he came out of the cage and became a difficult patient to handle. He is very food-motivated and after we started Fear Free practices and he got squirt cheese and baby food every time he was handled, he now purrs and rubs on everyone when he comes for treatments and is so much happier and easier to handle. I am overall so much more aware of a patient’s anxiety level the moment they walk in the door now, and it gives us a chance to start finding ways to alleviate their stress before it escalates.
Cheri Crane, Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, Customer Service Representative, Healing Paws Veterinary Clinic, Springfield, Missouri
For most of my practice career, I have been involved in student training. Some students embraced the things I taught them about the importance of minimizing fear, anxiety, and stress
in patients, while others felt I was “too soft,” “only cared about giving the animals treats,” or “was crazy or misguided in my efforts.” Fellow faculty members sometimes shared these sentiments and even accused me of not being able to “get the job done” when I would elect to postpone or re-plan a procedure for an animal. The revolution of awareness that Fear Free has helped to create in our profession has changed the way I am viewed by students and colleagues. No longer the “crazy Dr. Griffin,” I am the one they ask to teach them about low-stress handling and Fear Free techniques. The art and science of Fear Free have become valued: this is truly a gift for all of us, our patients, and their owners. I look forward to the day when Fear Free is taught in all veterinary colleges and is fully embraced as an indispensable standard of care in veterinary practice.
Brenda Griffin, DVM, DACVIM, Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Shelter Medicine, Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, Gainesville, Florida
I took a client’s puppy to our veterinary office for a happy visit after the previous appointment did not go well for them. We played on the floor, showed off some of their tricks, ate some really yummy food. I was able to ask for a nose target to get up on the scale all on his own! We were able to leave with a calm, happy puppy and his next vet visit went much better.
Jenn Hauta, Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, Fairy Dogmother Training & Pet Care, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada