Patient’s Comfort At Advanced Veterinary Care
Its important to note that the focus of this page is to help with overall patient comfort and not geared towards advice or recommendations for specific behavioral illness. If your primary concern with your pet is related to abnormal behavior (such as separation anxiety, aggression, urine marking, etc), please consult with your primary care physician. There are board certified behavior specialists as well, however your primary care physician can likely determine if your pet needs to be evaluated by them or referred to a behavior specialist.
What is Fear Free®?
Fear Free® is an organization founded by Dr Marty Becker, with a mission to prevent and alleviate fear, anxiety and stress in pets by inspiring and education the people who care for them.
In 2016, Dr. Marty Becker created a certification program that offers online and in-person education for veterinary professionals, pet owners, and the professional pet community, focusing on our pets’ emotional well-being, environmental enrichment, and the reduction of fear, anxiety, and stress.
How can you confirm if your veterinarian Is Fear Free certified?
The Fear Free program offers several levels of certification through online training that includes podcasts and lectures, with subsequent testing and additional annual continuing education requirements for maintaining certification. Most veterinary professionals who are Fear Free certified often indicate their certification in their email signature or showcase it by wearing a Fear Free Certified Professional pin, stethoscope tag, or treat pouch.
At Advanced Veterinary Care, we have several team members currently in the process of certification. The following members have completed certification and are proud “Fear Free certified professionals”:
- Kayla Abramowitz, CVT
- Gideon Daniel, DVM, DACVIM
- Samson Daniel, DVM, DAVCS
Is there a need for concern if my veterinarian is not Fear Free certified?
You don’t have to worry as many veterinarians use Fear Free techniques without being aware of it. The certification program highlights these techniques and trains veterinarians to improve their skills and maximize their potential.
How can pet owners contribute to your pets’ comfort before their veterinary appointments?
Fear Free has a portion of their website dedicated to owners with helpful information geared toward making the pre-appointment time the most comfortable possible, and also some ideas for alterations around the house to decrease stress levels.
https://www.fearfreehappyhomes.com/building-a-foundation-for-a-fear-free-veterinary-visit/
Here are some examples:
- The carrier shouldn’t be something foreign to your pets. Instead of it being stored away and only used for vet visits, keep them in your pet’s normal living space. This will allow the carrier to be more comfortable, some pets will even spend time in them voluntarily.
- Using pheromones. Canine (DAP) and feline (Feliway) versions of pheromones exist in a spray and plug in diffuser form. These can help to decrease signs of fear, anxiety, and stress. These can be applied to bandanas and harnesses, carriers and blankets, the car. We should wait 15 minutes before placing our pets in an enclosed space with the pheromones applied.
https://us.feliway.com/https://www.adaptil.com/us - Using treats to aide in getting in a carrier or the car. Any delicious treat can improve the comfort of the experience of going to the vet. Imagine if you could toss some delicious cat snacks into a carrier and they walked right into it. Or imagine if your dog jumped into the car to enjoy a special treat regardless of the destination. This can take some time and small steps to achieve this goal. **Some appointments will need your pet to be fasted, please check with our staff if you plan to give any treats before the appointment.**
- Keeping the car comfortable. While we may like our certain type of music or temperature our pets may not be comfortable with these choices. Studies have shown that classical music can improve comfort. We can also decrease the level of a fan if a carrier is on the seat or increase it if there is less airflow to the back seat of a car.
What about cats? Do fear free techniques apply to cats as well?
Absolutely! While there are some aspects of Fear Free® that are specific for dogs, there are plenty of recommendations for cats as well. Similar to Fear Free®, the AAFP (American Associates for Feline Practitioners) created the “AAFP Cat Friendly Certification Program” which ALL about cats and thus the content is able to go into more depth for feline-specific care and considerations. For additional information, please see the following link to The AAFP’s cat friendly homes website: https://catfriendly.com/cat-friendly-homes/.
At advanced veterinary care, we have several team members currently in the process of certification. The following members have completed certification and are proud “Cat Friendly Veterinary Professional”:
- Kayla Abramowitz, CVT
- Gideon Daniel, DVM, DACVIM
- Samson Daniel, DVM, DACVS
Additional resources:
- AVCB (American College of Veterinary Behaviorists): handouts on general information about dog and cat behavior:
https://www.dacvb.org/page/handouts. - The Ohio State University’s indoor pet initiative: this site was originally developed for cats (especially with focus on prevent stress-associated disease such as Feline lower urinary tract disease), however has expanded into information for living a stress-free lifestyle for dogs as well:
https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats. - Cornell Feline Health Center: Feline Behavior Problems (House Soiling):
https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/feline-behavior-problems-house-soiling - Cornell Richard P. Riney Canine Health Center: Fearful dogs:
https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/riney-canine-health-center/health-info/fearful-dogs.
