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Feline Pheromones: The Science Behind Them

Ramona MarekIf you have a veterinary practice or manage a shelter, you’re likely familiar with pheromone products available in the form of diffusers, sprays, wipes, or collars. These products claim to stop unwanted behaviors such as scratching, spraying, litter box mishaps, hiding, and fighting. Do they really have those properties, and should you recommend them to clients or adopters? Let’s dive into the science of pheromones: what they are, how they work, and whether they can help cats.

Pheromone History

Scientists have long been fascinated by the notion of chemical communication between members of the same species. The first pheromone, a female silk moth secretion, was chemically identified in 1959 by German chemist Adolf Butenandt and his team.

Pheromones are odorless, colorless chemical signals used as a form of intraspecies scent communication. When detected they cause physiological and behavioral changes.

What Pheromones Do

Pheromones have a broad range of purposes that include alarm signaling, mating, social interactions, territory marking, and maternal bonding. Cats of all species send and receive messages via the pheromone message board.

Pheromones are secreted by specialized sebaceous or mucous glands on the body. For cats, these include facial glands (on chin, cheeks, and forehead), anal glands, paw pads, and mammary area.

When cats rub their heads against people, furniture, or objects, comforting pheromones are released from the cheek glands, marking this place as a comforting one for future feline reference.

Anal glands release pheromones in urine and feces that deliver messages regarding mating viability, expression of fear or stress, or territorial response (think urine marking or spraying). Scratching, a natural cat behavior, releases pheromones from the paw pads. Scratching delivers scent and visual cues about territorial ownership to other cats.

Mammary pheromones are activated in nursing mothers when kittens suckle. Kittens detect the pheromones, which produce a calming response. It also helps kitten and mother cat recognize each other if they become separated.

Pheromones are detected through the complex olfactory system and received via the nasal cavity, lined with millions of olfactory receptor cells. Once detected, cats tongue-flick the molecules to the vomeronasal, or Jacobson’s, organ, located on the roof of the mouth. This stimulates the flehmen response, which causes the mouth to gape open. It may look like a sneer, but this active process enhances pheromone perception. The pathway continues to the brain, which produces a behavioral or physiological response.

Natural pheromones perform a variety of important functions, but what about synthetic pheromones?

Using Synthetic Pheromones

Synthetic pheromones are lab recreations that mimic natural pheromones to help promote a sense of calm and security in stressful situations. The idea is to build a sense of confidence and prevent or alleviate fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) and related behaviors such as spraying, scratching, and intercat aggression. They are not sedatives, essential oils, or medication.

The first companion animal pheromone product, Feliway Classic by Ceva, debuted on the pet market in 1996. This product, available in spray and diffuser, is a copycat of the feline F3 facial-marking pheromone deposited when cats rub their cheeks on objects, marking the area as safe. Feliway MultiCat, based on the cat appeasing pheromone (CAP), premiered in 2016. CAP originates in the mammary region of nursing mothers and provides a sense of safety, security, and harmony. It helps to reduce conflict and social tension in multi-cat households. Feliway Optimum is the latest diffuser product. FELIWAY Optimum may help to reduce scratching, urine spraying, tension and conflicts between cats, fears, and reactions to changes.

Synthetic pheromone products can be layered and used together in the clinic, shelter, or home. For example, Feliway Classic and Feliway MultiCat diffusers can be used together in exam rooms, shelter cat rooms, and in homes. The diffusers can also be used in combination with the spray Feliway Classic on towels or mats in an exam room, shelter cat living area, or on a cat’s favorite blanket or carrier. In the home, Feliway Optimum can be used in preferred scratching areas.

Other companies have launched similar products, and there are dog versions too. Dog and cat products can be used together to promote peaceful compatibility in multi-pet homes. Because pheromones are species-specific, cat pheromones don’t work on dogs and vice versa.

Does this mean clients or adopters can plug in a diffuser, snap on a collar, or spritz a blanket and expect immediate and magical behavior changes? No. Some cats may be more receptive to pheromones and alter their behavior, but pheromone products aren’t magic elixirs. The underlying cause of the stress must also be identified and resolved.

Synthetic pheromones are an aid in a behavioral plan, not a one-size-fits-all cure. “Synthetic pheromones can be successful when a client follows the written-out behavior plan,” says Rachel Geller, Ed.D., Certified Cat Behaviorist. “Sometimes the addition of synthetic pheromones allows the cat to better access the behavior program. Alone, the products usually aren’t enough to resolve the problem but when used with behavior modification they can resolve some of the emotional part of the problem for the cat. I never put a timeline on resolving cat behavior problems. In these matters, it’s best to go at the cat’s pace!”

Whether used in veterinary clinics, shelters, or homes pheromone products are designed to bolster a sense of calm, comfort, and positive feelings in stressful environments. It’s important to assess the environment from the cat’s perspective.

Trips to the veterinarian usually induce high levels of FAS. Before the trip, advise clients to spray the carrier and a towel with the synthetic pheromone, and wait about 15 minutes for the alcohol to evaporate before putting the cat inside the carrier. Cover the carrier with the towel. The calming effect lasts four to five hours.
Scratching and spraying. “Synthetic pheromones can be used if you have a cat who is peeing to mark his territory. Cats don’t pee on territory where they facially mark, so these products trick the cat into thinking he has already marked the territory as his own,” says Dr. Geller.
Litter box avoidance. First, schedule a vet visit to rule out medical conditions. Recommend that clients set up the litter box arrangement to optimize cat-friendly preferences (size, location, number, preferred litter). Keep it clean! Owners should avoid punishing cats and add positive social interactions.

“Synthetic pheromones are especially helpful for those times where everything is completely new. Examples are moving to a new home, buying new furniture, or putting in new carpet. These products can be used on unfamiliar objects in the home to help a cat feel more safe and secure with them,” says Geller. Suggest that clients use the products in their home before bringing home a newly adopted cat to provide a sense of comfort and security upon arrival.

When a cat’s sense of wellbeing is disrupted, they can become stressed. Stressors can be environmental, physiologic, or social. Stress can be mild, moderate, or severe, temporary, or chronic.

Stress has a profound effect on emotional and physical health and behavior. Stressed cats may refuse to eat, become ill, or develop serious behavior problems. Minimizing stress is crucial to the health and wellbeing of cats. Synthetic pheromones can help to make cats feel safe and secure in their environment.

“Many times, cat behavior is 100-percent fixable and solvable through consistent behavioral interventions that are developed by looking at what is happening from the cat’s point of view. There is always a reason! If there is more going on, such as an emotional issue, stress, or anxiety, pheromones and even a pharmacological approach can be considered,” Geller says.

Pheromone products are versatile and easy to use, and they can be used in combination with a behavioral plan and medical treatments. While not magic, they may be the essential element your feline patients or shelter cats need to ensure a healthy, happy life.

Sources

Rachel Geller, Ed.D., Certified Cat Behaviorist

Gary Landsberg, DVM, DACVB, DECAWBM (CA). Fear Free webinar. The Science for Pheromone Therapy: Show Me the Evidence.

American Scientist. How Animals Communicate Via Pheromones. Tristam Wyatt.

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/how-animals-communicate-via-pheromones

Tristram D. Wyatt, Pheromones, Current Biology, Volume 27, Issue 15, 2017, Pages R739-R743,

ISSN 0960-9822, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.039.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982217307765

Prior, Miriam Rebecca, Mills, Daniel Simon. Cats vs. Dogs: The Efficacy of Feliway FriendsTM and AdaptilTM Products in Multispecies Homes. Frontiers in Veterinary Science Volume 7, 2020, Pages 399. ISSN 2297-1769, DOI 10.3389/fvets.2020.00399.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00399/full

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

Ramona D. Marek, MS Ed, is an award-winning writer and 2017 recipient of the prestigious Fear Free Pets Award. She writes about pet care, health and behavior, and cats in the arts. She’s also the author of “Cats for the GENIUS.” Her feline muses are Tsarevich Ivan, a joie de vivre silver tabby Siberian, and Natasha Fatale, a full-time diva dressed as an “anything but plain” brown tabby. You can read more about Ramona and her work at www.RamonaMarek.com.

Bird Brain: Learning and Problem-Solving in Psittacine Pets

Rachel Lees, RVT, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior)Parrots and other psittacine pets can be fascinating additions to a home. They are gorgeous, colorful, charismatic and captivating, and it’s all too easy for potential caregivers to think, “How hard can it be to have a pet bird”?

Then they acquire their new family member and find there is quite a bit to know about living with and caring for them, especially when it comes to dealing with common behaviors that are normal for psittacines but problematic for humans. They frequently turn to the internet for advice on how to “fix” these problems, which can include aggression to humans, vocalizing for attention, and self-mutilation such as feather picking.

As veterinary professionals, it is important that we understand how this species learns so we can educate owners accordingly at their first appointment. Living with a psittacine can be financially, emotionally, and mentally draining. Building a strong human-animal bond from the start is the best means to help create long-term homes for pet birds.

Learning is defined as a permanent change in the behavior of an animal after being exposed to a stimulus. Although changes may not be immediately apparent, they are real changes that will affect long-term behavior. It is important to communicate to clients that every interaction they have with their bird is a training session, whether they intend it that way or not. Any time a bird interacts with the environment, behaviors either increase, decrease, or become suppressed. Understanding this is crucial to communicating the best training and behavior recommendations based on science to clients with avian companions.

Increasing and Decreasing Likelihood of a Behavior

Operant conditioning is learning in which a behavior is affected by consequences. When a behavior is associated with something the bird wants, the behavior will strengthen. When a behavior is associated with something the bird finds aversive or dislikes, the behavior will weaken. There are four quadrants of learning common to all animals: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.

These terms are unfortunately misused by clients and even some veterinary professionals. They are defined as follows:

Positive (+): Adding something to the situation
Negative (-): Eliminating something from the situation

The terms reinforcement and punishment are defined as follows:

Reinforcement: strengthening a behavior
Punishment: decreasing a behavior

Below is a table reviewing each definition with an example of each quadrant:

Quadrant	Definition	Example
Positive Reinforcement	Addition of a stimulus to increase likelihood of a behavior or to strengthen a behavior	Presenting a finger and when the parrot steps up to station giving a treat. Adding a treat increases likelihood of the “step up” behavior.
Negative Reinforcement	Eliminating a stimulus to increase likelihood of a behavior or strengthen a behavior	An example of this is forcing a bird to step up by pushing a hand into the chest or prying toes off a perch. Eliminating pressure or discontinuing handling reinforces the behavior of stepping up to a perch.
Positive Punishment	Adding a stimulus to decrease likelihood of a behavior	A client’s cockatiel bites when a person reaches out to touch them. The client smacks them on the beak, adding an aversive situation to decrease the likelihood of the biting behavior.
Negative Punishment	Eliminating a stimulus to decrease likelihood of a behavior	A client’s macaw squawks for attention. The client turns their back to ignore the behavior. Taking away attention decreases likelihood of vocalization behavior.

Positive reinforcement and negative punishment are the most humane ways to train most animals. However, negative punishment can induce frustration, increasing FAS, so it’s important to use it with caution. Force or aversive methods are not recommended and can damage the human-animal bond between clients and birds. These methods can also increase fear, anxiety, and stress and can create more aggression concerns. They should be avoided.

Breaking Down Unwanted Behaviors With the Problem-Solving Model

Dividing each behavior and problem is crucial in creating a plan to alter unwanted behaviors. There is no single way to handle any particular behavior. Using the problem-solving model, we can break down the Antecedent, Behavior, and the Consequence to evaluate the trigger and the true problem. The ABCs in the problem-solving model are defined as follows:

Antecedent: stimuli, events, or conditions that immediately precede a behavior.
Behavior: actual behavior caused by the antecedent.
Consequence: stimuli, events, and conditions that occur after a behavior and influence probability of the behavior recurring.

For example: A client comes in and mentions that when their dog barks, the macaw (when out) will fly from her perch and chase the dog.

Breaking down this situation can be done as follows:

Antecedent: Dog barking
Behavior: Flying to chase dog
Consequence: Dog discontinues barking

Now that the behavior is broken down, we can determine motivation for the unwanted response. With animals in general we can simplify things and say that behavior is either self-rewarding (i.e., would happen regardless of the owner’s presence) or human-reinforced. In the example above, this behavior is likely self-reinforced, as the macaw’s behavior results in the dog discontinuing the barking. After this, we can figure out how to solve the problem. Some things to consider:

How to manage and prevent the situation from starting.
What to teach the macaw to do that is incompatible with flying down to attack the dog?
How to interrupt the behavior while it’s occurring.
Foundation skills needed by the dog and the macaw to eliminate and modify this issue.

Breaking down one behavior takes time, expertise, and patience. No behavior can be fixed easily as each behavior has many layers. Encourage clients with birds to seek help from a skilled positive-reinforcement trainer, veterinary behaviorist, or veterinary behavior technician experienced with birds if any behavior problem is mentioned.

References:

Luescher, Andrew. Manual of Parrot Behavior. Blackwell Publishing. 2006

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

Yeates, James. Companion Animal Care and Welfare: The UFAW Companion Animal Handbook. Wiley-Blackwell. 2019.

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 veterinary behavior technician at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. She loves helping people create and maintain a strong human-animal bond.

Compulsive Behaviors in Cats: How to Recognize and Manage Them

Sandy RobinsIt’s not only people highlighted in reality TV shows who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorders; cats do, too. Repetitive and exaggerated behaviors such as sucking on fabrics and chewing plastics, excessive grooming, or bolt-out-of-the-blue aggression are signs of typical compulsive issues in cats. How a pet parent reacts to and understands these issues can go a long way toward controlling and even eradicating them.

According to feline behaviorists, neither age and nor gender are mitigating factors in compulsive behavior. However, wool sucking along with repetitive meowing has been found to be more common among so-called oriental breeds such as Siamese and Birman cats.

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, president and CEO of the Center for Canine Behavior Studies (they study feline behaviors too), who authored The Cat Who Cried for Help: Attitudes, Emotions, and the Psychology of Cats, ranks excessive grooming, known as psychogenic alopecia, as the most common abnormal repetitive behavior among cats generally. Wool-sucking and pica, the ingesting of weird objects, come in second, and, lastly, Dodman says that feline hyperesthesia, often referred to as twitchy skin syndrome, which results in a cat launching unprovoked attacks or suddenly appearing startled and then dashing away, is often also considered to be a compulsive disorder.

Psychogenic Alopecia

Cats are often mislabeled as independent, selfish, and uncaring creatures. In fact, the opposite applies; they are very caring and empathic and very conscious of their surroundings. Thus, all kinds of changes and conflict in their lives can evoke stress and anxiety. One common reaction to their personal situation is over-grooming.

“Feline psychogenic alopecia may begin as a displacement behavior arising from situations of conflict, frustration, or anxiety, but might in time become compulsive,” says Dodman. In an article published on the CCBS website, he spells it out: “The diagnosis of psychogenic alopecia as a compulsive disorder is reserved for those cases in which no underlying medical problem is evident.

“In most cats, over-grooming resulting in alopecia where they have pulled out chunks of fur and licked their skin raw, has an underlying skin disorder such as an allergic reaction to fleas or other external parasites. Inhalant allergies and even food allergies could be the root cause, and it’s important to seek veterinary assistance to rule all these causes out before the excessive grooming can be diagnosed as behavioral.”

In her book Cat vs Cat, Pam Johnson-Bennett says: “Because cats are such meticulous groomers, a cat parent may assume that the behavior is nothing unusual. Displacement grooming is a normal way for cats to recue their anxiety and calm themselves during or after a stressful situation. You may see this after a cat miscalculates a jump and falls to the floor. Although it may look as if she is embarrassed, it has more to do with her need to get her bearings because she was caught off-guard. Also being denied something she wants like getting on a counter and being repeatedly removed and even scolded can prompt displacement grooming,” she explains.

However, Johnson-Bennett points out that it’s easy to dismiss these small stressors. So, they build and suddenly the cat has huge bald patches!

“Interactive play comes to the rescue yet again,” she writes. “Use it to boost confidence and release endorphins. Pouncing and play games offer mental and physical stimulation.” And she warns, “if you see your cat sitting in a particular position before she’s about to start compulsively grooming, get out the wand and other toys and play instead!”

But play may not be the complete answer. Sometimes medication is necessary to help break the cycle.

Wool Sucking and Pica

Cats who love to chew on a blanket or a piece of cloth may be likened to young children who walk around sucking on pacifiers or hugging security blankets. This behavior often occurs in kittens who have been removed from their mothers too young and have not had the opportunity to nurse until their mothers properly weaned them. Soft, cuddly fabrics become a substitute for mama cat.

The sucking itself is not a problem, but if the sucking turns into chewing and swallowing, it can lead to problems such as gastrointestinal obstructions. Boredom and loneliness, especially when cats are left alone all day, can lead to separation anxiety and can prompt them to turn to material sucking and chewing to soothe themselves. This can lead to pica, the ingestion of material, plastic, and other non-food items.

Often the urge to suck on fabrics subsides as a kitten becomes an adult. However, problematic chewing can recur in adulthood as a defense mechanism for dealing with a stressful situation such as household tensions between cats or separation anxiety.

In the case study on compulsive wool sucking published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior with which Dodman was involved, two hundred and four Siamese and Birman cats enrolled in the study were tracked for various physical characteristics, current and previous medical conditions, presence of an abnormally intense appetite, and environmental factors. The research ultimately showed that early weaning and small litter size were associated with increased risk of wool-sucking in Birmans only. The presence of a medical condition was associated with increased risk of wool-sucking in Siamese cats. The presence of an abnormally intense appetite was seen in all affected cats. However, no relationship was found between physical characteristics and wool-sucking in Siamese or Birman cats.

Dodman also points out that medical conditions that can trigger abnormal ingestion of inappropriate material include hunger, nutritional deficiencies such as anemia or inadequate dietary fiber, diabetes, or tumors.

Feline Hyperesthesia

“This is a complicated behavioral condition with some features that appear compulsive and others that appear frankly neurological,” says Dodman. “Because of the overlap between symptoms of other issues, it is thought to possibly be a form of partial seizures with compulsive components. There is an apparent sensitivity to touch (episodes may be induced by stroking along the spine), which can trigger attacks and accounts for the name of this syndrome,” he further explains.

Feline hyperesthesia is often referred to as rippling skin syndrome, rolling skin syndrome, or twitchy skin syndrome. Signs include dilation of pupils, excessive skin rippling, and frenetic self-directed grooming that may result in hair loss. Grooming may be so intense it may manifest as self-directed aggression often focused on the tail (tail-chasing).

Affected cats may emit excessive and unusual vocalizations and appear to hallucinate (act afraid of their tail) and run away. They may appear “manic” (excited look, frantic running, jumping) and are frequently extremely sensitive to touch. Sometimes aggressive bouts are preceded by attention-seeking and enhanced affection to people. Affected cats are often anxious and restless, constantly wandering and pacing. Sometimes the aggression can be directed at people.

“Almost all aggressive behavior can be traced back to a specific cause. Idiopathic aggression – the name given to totally unprovoked aggression that has no known cause — is rare,” says Johnson-Bennett. “This type of aggression is too difficult and too dangerous for a cat parent to try and correct without professional help.”

Helping Owners

Advise cat parents to be on the lookout for excessive sucking or chewing on fabrics, behaviors such as hunting and pouncing at unseen prey, running and chasing, paw shaking, freezing, excessive vocalization and a manic look, self-directed aggression such as tail chasing, and overgrooming to the point of pulling out fur in patches. While these may start out as signs of conflict or anxiety, if not attended to, they can become compulsive disorders over time.

Ask cat parents about conflicts in the home and whether there are ways to eliminate it. They may need a referral to a veterinary behavior specialist who can help them to recognize and manage such conflicts, whether they are between cats and humans, cats and other cats, or cats and other animals in the home. Other things to try:

Environment enrichment may help to distract a cat from compulsive behavior.
A tall cat tree or cat condo strategically placed near a window helps keep cats engaged.
A fountain not only attracts a cat to drink water but also adds sound and motion enhancements to the environment.
Offer the cat an indoor garden of safe plants to nibble on, ideally placed near a water fountain or water dish.
Wand toys allow cats to chase, pounce, and play.
For cats who enjoy exploring, leash-training can provide safe outdoor excursions. A catio is another option that can provide distractions from self-harming.
Suggest puzzles that can be filled with treats or a portion of a meal.
If wool sucking or over-grooming are involved, a diet that includes a high-fiber kibble may help redirect the cat from compulsive behaviors to focus on nibbling. A veterinary nutritionist may have suggestions.

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

Sandy Robins is an award-winning pet lifestyle journalist and author of For the Love of Cats, Fabulous Felines: Health and Beauty Secrets for the Pampered Cat, The Original Cat Bible, and Making the Most of All Nine Lives: The Extraordinary Life of Buffy The Cat.

Fear Free Pet Sitter Certification Program

Unlike any other pet professional, pet sitters spend an extended period of time with the animals they care for, giving them an intimate and unique glimpse into animals’ home lives. Because of this, pet sitters can readily identify opportunities for improvement and spot emerging behavior concerns, enrichment opportunities, and other areas that might otherwise go unnoticed.

This course will equip pet sitters with a scientifically sound knowledge base in animal body language, dog walking, behavior and training basics, enrichment, home life, travel, administering medications, and more so that they can offer top-level Fear Free care to pets and provide owners with basic support and advice. The Fear Free Certified® pet sitter will be empowered to help educate pet owners on reading dog and cat body language and provide ideas for how enrichment and training can be incorporated into the pet’s environment and routine, promoting not only a calmer pet-sitting stay but also a richer, more fulfilling life. We’ll cover everything from the very first greeting of a pet to creating calmer leash walks to delivering medications in a Fear Free manner and much more!

This course was reviewed by PSI (Pet Sitters International) and NAPPS (National Association of Professional Pet Sitters).

Fear Free Boarding and Daycare (Individual) Certification Program

Boarding and daycare environments are often fraught with potential stressors for dogs and cats. Pets are away from home, their family is gone, unfamiliar people and animals surround them, and their daily sleep/wake schedule is thrown off. But there are several steps you can take, from setting up the environment itself to adjusting the way in which you interact with dogs and cats, that can help reduce stress and increase calm and safety for both pets and staff.

The Fear Free Boarding and Daycare Individual Certification Program will help you ensure you are thoughtful in every interaction with boarding and daycare pets—from greetings to kennel introductions to overexuberance or shyness. You’ll learn what a Fear Free boarding and daycare environment looks like, feels like, sounds like, and smells like. And you’ll get practical advice on what to do in the moment if a dog or cat struggles when you try to give them needed medications or care, drags you into the play yard, or refuses to enter or leave their kennel.

The purchase of the Fear Free Boarding and Daycare Individual Certification Program provides you with a Fear Free membership, which requires an annual renewal fee and completion of additional annual CE to maintain your membership.

The Fear Free Boarding & Daycare Individual Certification Program is a wonderful educational addition to the pet care service industry. Boarding & daycare facilities will immediately see value in this certification program as staff learns to identify and mitigate fear, anxiety, and stress in pets. The pet owner will be assured that their pets are in the care of professionals who are knowledgeable about the physical and emotional needs of each individual pet. Boarding & daycare facilities will be proud to be considered as “best in care” providers as they promote the wellbeing of their staff and the pets in their care. IBPSA is proud to be part of the Fear Free programs. —Carmen Rustenbeck, CEO and Founder, International Boarding & Pet Services Association

This course was reviewed by the IBPSA (International Boarding & Pet Services Association) and PACCC (Professional Animal Care Certification Council).

The Path to a Great Bath: An In-Depth Look at Fear Free Bathing

Course Overview

Bath time is scary for many animals—whether it’s the sound of the water, the feel of it on their skin, being restrained, or the tub itself. This one-hour module will teach you how to break down the bathing process into individual components that can be worked on separately to allow for calmer, safer bathing experiences. We will provide step-by-step desensitization and counterconditioning plans for every component—introducing the shampoo bottle, entering the tub, introducing water, and introducing the sound and feel of the dryer. You’ll also learn what you can do to modify the bathing environment to make it more inviting and less stressful for animals.

There are three lessons in this course:

Lesson 1: Overview of Fear Free Bathing and Positive Reinforcement
Lesson 2: Introduction to the Tub
Lesson 3: Modifying the Environment for Success

This one-hour course was designed for Fear Free groomers but is also open to our veterinary professional and trainer members. It was written by Terrie Hayward, M.Ed., KPA Faculty Member, CPDT-KA, CSAT, co-author of the book Grooming Without Stress, and is approved for one hour of RACE CE.

A Close Look at Canine Enrichment: What, Why, and How?

Course Overview

True enrichment goes way beyond simply providing dogs with food puzzles each day. For instance, a comprehensive enrichment strategy incorporates all types of enrichment: social, occupational, physical, nutritional, and sensory. This course will show you how to engage all the senses, as well as how to thoughtfully determine which enrichment activities are most appropriate for individual dogs, how to enrich the lives of dogs in a veterinary clinic, and those who are recovering from an injury and on restricted exercise.

This course, approved for 1 RACE-approved CE hour, was written by Laura Ryder, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, IMDT.

This course consists of four lessons:

Lesson 1: Exploring enrichment using all the senses
Lesson 2: Identifying the right balance
Lesson 3: Enrichment for dogs in the vet clinic
Lesson 4: Enrichment for dogs on restricted exercise or cage rest

Pheromones to Help Pets Cope with Holiday Stress

Pheromones to Help Pets Cope with Holiday Stress

The holidays are often overlooked as a major time for stress in our patients’ lives. In this webinar, Valarie V. Tynes, DVM, DACVB, DACAW, will review the common triggers occurring from October through the end of December and how to equip your clients with the best information to make it a happy holiday season for everyone.

Brought to you by our friends at Ceva Animal Health

Prevention and Management: The Girdle Beneath the Glamour

Rachel Lees, RVT, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior)Teaching cued behaviors, working through desensitization and classical counterconditioning, and clicker training are the glamorous gowns of training plans or behavioral treatment plans. They’re rewarding because this is where owners and veterinary behavior team members can begin to see improvements in the patient.

But preventing and managing undesirable or unwanted behaviors are the foundation garments beneath the fancy dress of behavior modification. Prevention, safety, and management aren’t glamorous, but they are an important part of the plan. If the patient continues to engage in unwanted behaviors, the behaviors will continue to be reinforced (negatively or positively). To avoid this dynamic, the veterinary behavior team must coach clients as much as possible to set the patient up for success and manage any panic, stress, or anxiety present.

Avoiding Triggers and Controlling the Environment

Learning occurs with every interaction. This can work to our advantage when we can strengthen behaviors we like by adding positive outcomes. The goal with prevention is to control the environment and regulate the patient so we can prevent the patient from learning undesirable behaviors during non-training times. An example might be use of crates and playpens to eliminate urine accidents in the home.

Prevention includes setting each animal up for success and manipulating the environment to promote and reinforce desired behaviors. This can be as general as setting a puppy up for success using crate training for assist with elimination training or working with a puppy or kitten during the socialization period to promote positive experiences for lifelong learning.

Prevention can also be as detailed as using white noise to create a sound buffer for a storm-phobic patient or placing an opaque window treatment on front windows to eliminate displays at passersby. Below is a chart with some common behavioral diagnoses and types of prevention that can be recommended for these conditions until appropriate training and behavior modification have been taught and implemented. Some prevention techniques might be temporary, and others might be long-term.

Behavioral Concern	Types of Prevention
Aggression during Grooming and Husbandry Behaviors (Familiar and Unfamiliar People)	Discontinue all forms of grooming and medical care. If medical or grooming care must be performed (in an emergency) the veterinary team should use sedation to prevent increasing fear, stress, and anxiety during these situations
Inter-Dog Aggression	Keep all patients 100% separated to eliminate practice of aggression in any or all potential situations.
Redirected Aggression to a Canine Housemate	Eliminate and manage all triggers that may create arousal, aggression, and frustration. This may include opaque window treatments to eliminate the display at passersby or may include full separation between patients if triggers are unclear.
Fear-Based Aggression to Unfamiliar People	Discontinue walks and keep the patient away during all guest visits. This may include using a crate in a place where the patient cannot see visitors. This will help keep the patient as safe and comfortable as possible while the guest is in the home.
Coprophagia	Pick up stool immediately after elimination to prevent the patient from ingesting the stool later.

Management: Outlets to Minimize FAS While Practicing Prevention

Providing healthy forms of behavioral management can be helpful in creating a calmer and more confident pet. Providing mental, physical, and environmental enrichment can improve any domesticated animal’s overall wellbeing. Providing enrichment can help pets find appropriate outlets for innate behaviors and physical activity. Enrichment can also help to alleviate tension or any fear, stress, or anxiety the pet may be feeling. Enrichment may be used to eliminate unwanted behaviors such as chewing and destruction by young puppies or to decrease or eliminate barking in the crate during guests’ visits. Below is a short list of different forms of enrichment that can be used together or separately as needed:

Puzzle Toys: Puzzle toys that dispense treats or kibble provide human-approved outlets of stimulation, can double as meal opportunities, and can manage and prevent unwanted behaviors such as barking and other attention-seeking behaviors. This type of enrichment can be more mentally stimulating than a 5-mile walk. Advise clients to give these to patients ideally in anticipation of unwanted behavior or after unwanted behaviors have been interrupted. This can set patients up for success, so they do not continue to perform the undesirable behavior.
Sound Enrichment: Whether clients are away from home or looking to create a sound buffer to help prevent unwanted behaviors, their pets can be enriched through sound in a variety of ways. “Through a Dog’s Ear” CDs or iCalm units provide patients with biorhythmic classical music. Studies have shown that classical music can help to reduce respiration and blood pressure. DOGTV is another form of enrichment that can give dogs visual stimulation while also providing different forms of classical and calming sounds. White noise machines can be another buffer to eliminate sounds happening outside the pet’s home environment.
Enrichment Walks: These walks are an outlet to burn off energy while also allowing the dog to sniff and learn about the environment. In the text “From Fearful to Fear Free,” this type of sniffing is described as a form of social media for your pet. Think “Nosebook” and “Pee Mail.” This same type of enrichment can be used for cats who have learned to walk comfortably in a harness and leash. For patients who have been diagnosed with fear-based aggression issues on walks, enrichment walks can be performed in a space with limited human and dog contact such as industrial parkways.

There are many different forms of prevention and management. This article discusses only a few of the options for some diagnosable behavioral issues. This is something that can be recommended by any veterinary team member if a client and patient are waiting to be seen by a veterinary behaviorist. Suggestions such as using baby gates at doorways to prevent dog fights or keeping a patient leashed to a person can be lifesaving recommendations. Stating some of these more obvious recommendations is essential because not every client or dog trainer understands the importance of management and prevention.

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.

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.

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