feline
Calm Vet Visits
Victoria Blais discusses how to avoid fear, anxiety and stress when taking reluctant,
distressed felines to the veterinarian
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Photo © Clever Cats Livonia
Photo © Clever Cats Livonia
Haddie had developed a fear of going to the veterinarian after having surgery, but working with her and providing tuna juice during handling at home and during veterinary visits contributes to lower levels of fear, anxiety and stress
Haddie's open carrier is a familiar location where she allows handling and her blood to be drawn. Veterinarian Dr. Kelly Flannigan and author Victoria Blais use considerate approach, gentle control, touch gradient, and food distraction for a successful exam and blood draw
et me set the scene. I was visiting a veterinarian I had never seen before, and had a rather sick feeling in my stomach when I was encouraged to put on protective leather gloves to hold my highly anxious cat, Haddie. My normally sweet, affectionate girl had flattened ears, a stiffened body and dilated pupils, and was leaning away from the doctor. Reading her body language, I knew we should stop, but reasoned to myself, “This vet specializes in felines and knows what is best.” As the vet approached Haddie, whose tail was thrashing, a loud guttural, fearful sound emerged from her drawn back lips. Then, like lightning, her opened mouth lunged toward the veterinarian’s hand. “We need to stop,” the veterinarian conceded. I’m sure there are quite a few cat owners who might be able to relate to an experience like this. You may wonder how Haddie had developed such fear of going to the veterinarian. Let me start by saying that over the 30 years of owning cats, I have always greatly appreciated my veterinarians’ knowledge and compassion. Unfortunately, however, after one particular surgery, Haddie was no longer able to tolerate vet visits. Her fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) would manifest in hissing and batting behaviors, motivating vet techs to scruff and immobilize her forcibly, which frightened her even
more. Disturbed by her distress, I longed for calm vet visits. But how could we accomplish that? In my case, it was the pioneers in low stress handling who planted the seeds of my learning in how to make vet visits comfortable for Haddie, including Dr. Sophia Yin’s Low Stress Handling of Cats and Dogs, and The American Association of Feline Practitioners’ (AAFP) Cat Friendly Practice® series. At the 2015 Clicker Expo in Dearborn, Michigan, I learned about the joys of desensitizing and counterconditioning dogs to vet visits and grooming. Then, Laura Monaco Torelli’s Ready… Set…for Groomer and Vet! seminar and workshop taught me skills that I could apply to training my cats. I was all set. From Marilyn Krieger’s Naughty No More, I had already taught my cats to enjoy touching a target stick and “go to mat,” but I had never done this at the veterinary hospital. As my cats were now having fun going from their carrier to their training mat, touching a target stick, and gobbling down a delicious reinforcing reward, after doing this in various rooms in our home, we moved the show to a beautiful park, grandma’s house, in the car at the vet clinic parking lot, lobby, and empty exam room. Lastly, an agreeable vet tech helped me with various towel wraps and holds. The clinic staff probably thought I was a bit odd, nevertheless they humored me. But my cats still had high FAS during exams. What was missing?
For cats, less really is more. This means less noise, less handling, less restraint, fewer loud voices, fewer odors, fewer bright colors, and fewer lights. 46
BARKS from the Guild/January 2019
Physical and Emotional Wellbeing
Fear FreeTM was the answer. I heard about it at the AAFP’s conference in Washington DC, in 2016. Immediately, I became a Fear Free certified