The socialization period of puppies and kittens is extremely important in the formation of a happy, healthy, and well-adjusted pet. Help your clients take full advantage of this in a fun and engaging way with these socialization bingo cards!
Plan Ahead
Even before you work on the stress aspects, think about how to physically minimize chances of stress diarrhea. Ideally these pets are scheduled early in the day for their office appointments. That way the owners can skip the pet’s morning meal – and maybe even the evening meal of the night before if need be. Less in means less out. Obviously doing this depends on the health of the pet and how the owner manages feedings but it might be a solution.
There may be dietary changes that help with a specific pet. Think plain canned pumpkin for fiber to help keep stools firm. Advise owners to avoid any special or extra treats for a day or two before the appointment.
Travel Trauma
A careful history can enlighten you about the cause. Is it the car travel? Some pets just don’t handle car rides well. Or is it only when the pet actually senses and anticipates a veterinary visit? Sometimes it is both factors. The important thing to realize is that Fear Free procedures must be instituted ahead of the veterinary visit to help these animals.
If it is the car travel, consider dispensing anti-nausea medications ahead of the visit (yes, vomiting often accompanies stress diarrhea). Look at calming combos that help with travel anxiety such as Travel Calm, an essential oil combo for dogs who get carsick. Send clients home with canine or feline pheromone products—wipes or sprays—that the owner can use in the carrier and car to and from the clinic. For patients who have a history of travel-related diarrhea, offer to prescribe PVPs—pre-visit pharmaceuticals—such as gabapentin or trazodone to help them relax.
Encourage families to give the nervous dog an extra-long walk and possibly some playtime early on the morning of the appointment to try and stimulate bowel emptying before the dog gets in the car or enters the clinic. Playtime at home for a cat might help as well.
Counterconditioning
Long term, especially if the diarrhea is specifically associated with arriving at the veterinary clinic, you can try some counterconditioning techniques to help put a stop to loose stools. Encourage owners to take their pet for short trips ending up in the parking lot of the veterinary clinic. Then dogs can get out and get some special treats or, even better, some playtime with a favorite toy such as a tug. Cats can get favorite treats. Then happily turn around and take them home. Pets will come to associate trips, even trips that end up at the dreaded vet clinic, with some good things.
As pets deal with a clinic utilizing Fear Free practices, the fear and panic they previously showed when traveling to or arriving at the clinic should subside. As fear and anxiety decrease, so should episodes of stress diarrhea. Everyone will be happier!
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
In this course, you will learn ways in which the Fear Free Animal Trainer can partner in Fear Free efforts to keep animals calm during veterinary care, procedures, and even on the day of surgery. This includes teaching animals the concept of a Treat-Ment station, training them to accept passive restraint, and acclimating them to sounds and equipment used during common diagnostic procedures.
While it’s impossible to train for every possible scenario, general training strategies can be practiced, such as training a dog to lie on his side while being handled, preparing him for an injection, or teaching him to indicate his willing consent for handling or care.
Through several in-hospital and at-home video tutorials, you will learn step-by-step how to proactively prepare animals for procedures such as ECGs, radiographs, ultrasounds, surgery, and more.
This module has been approved for 1.5 CEUs from CCPDT, IAABC, and KPA as well as 1 RACE approved CE hour.
A recent PubMed search of PONV garnered almost 10,000 hits. For the human patient, PONV is unpleasant and results in dissatisfaction with perioperative care (Gan et al. 2014). Humans would pay extra to prevent PONV (Gan et al. 2014). Unfortunately, PONV is more than just an annoying occurrence. Vomiting itself can cause other postoperative complications, and PONV has been called “distressing” by humans who experience it (Gan et al. 2014).
As all veterinarians and veterinary technicians can attest, PONV also occurs in veterinary patients, and we should ask ourselves this question: is PONV distressing to our patients? Could PONV lead to or add to fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS)?
The author of a recent review of nausea and vomiting in veterinary patients makes a strong argument that these conditions could cause or compound FAS and could be considered an animal welfare issue (Hay Kraus 2017). The point is made in the review that Brambell’s Five Freedoms of animal welfare include freedom from discomfort, pain, and distress. PONV likely causes discomfort, could contribute to pain, especially in patients with preexisting abdominal pain, and could potentially be distressing.
Maybe we can’t definitively know whether an animal experiencing PONV is “distressed” or not, but we can argue that reduction of PONV is medically beneficial to our patients. Potential adverse effects of PONV include dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, esophagitis, aspiration pneumonia, exacerbation of pain, and elevated intracranial and intraocular pressure. In addition, PONV is likely to cause anorexia and may even contribute to agitation in the recovery phase of anesthesia.
Fortunately, we have drugs, such as maropitant, that decrease the incidence of PONV and the associated adverse effects. Numerous studies describe the anti-nausea and anti-emetic effects of maropitant in both dogs and cats (Hay Kraus 2017). One study also showed that dogs receiving maropitant returned to normal food intake postoperatively more rapidly than dogs not receiving maropitant (Ramsey et al. 2014). At 20 hours post-anesthesia, 93 percent of the dogs receiving maropitant versus 46 percent of the control dogs had returned to normal feeding. This could aid in alleviating dehydration, electrolyte imbalances and any nutritional deficits that might affect healing.
In the same study, dogs receiving maropitant had a better quality of recovery than control dogs. This could be due to decreased PONV and could add support to the theory that PONV is distressing to veterinary patients. In human medicine, administering sedatives that also decrease the incidence of PONV is recommended for treating emergence delirium in children (Dahmani et al. 2014).
Finally, reduction of PONV is not only medically appropriate for the patient, it is also important for maintaining the human-animal bond and pet-owner satisfaction with perioperative care. Nausea, vomiting, and anorexia are major concerns for pet owners, and presence of any of these conditions generally leads to owners assuming that their pets are experiencing diminished quality of life. As in human medicine, pet owners are concerned enough about PONV to pay extra money for its prevention (Hay Kraus 2017).
The bottom line is that PONV can be a medical concern both on its own and through complications caused by the act of vomiting or the vomitus itself (i.e., aspiration). PONV can exacerbate pain. PONV may contribute to FAS. Owners are concerned about PONV. We have drugs with high safety margins that effectively alleviate or eliminate PONV, and one of those (maropitant) may even play a role in analgesia. So why wouldn’t we treat or prevent PONV, regardless of the motive?
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
Care of Hospitalized and Boarding Patients
Dr. Rachel Abrams
Join Fear Free Practice Certification Manager Dr. Rachel Abrams for an overview of the path to practice certification and a discussion about preventing and alleviating FAS in your hospitalized and boarding patients.
What’s that you smell?
We know that dogs’ and cats’ sense of smell if far superior to ours. What can we do to to optimize their olfactory experience? In this webinar, Fear Free Practice Certification Manager Dr. Rachel Abrams will take a closer look at Optional Facilities Standard 4.8 “Cleaning protocols to improve olfactory experience for pet are in place.”
All webinars in this series open with a brief overview of the path to practice certification and conclude with a live Q&A session.
Fear Free Facilitates Clinical Success
Dr. Ralph Harvey
Join board-certified anesthesiologist Dr. Ralph Harvey for tips and tricks to taking your Fear Free sedation efforts to the next level. This webinar will feature a case discussion as well as sedation hacks you don’t want to miss!
The Fear Free Veterinary Certification Program Level 3 teaches veterinary healthcare professionals Advanced animal handling techniques, and Feline & canine development.
