Many pets experience fear, anxiety, and stress during veterinary visits. These emotions not only result in suffering for the pet, but they also can skew a pet’s diagnostic test results and vital signs. If your pet’s health data are inaccurate or unusable, they hinder our Stanton Pet Hospital team’s ability to provide appropriate care for your furry pal. In addition, pushing an anxious pet through a stressful visit only worsens their anxiety for future appointments. Fortunately, by preparing and following Fear Free techniques, you can help your pet learn to accept veterinary care and remain calm in the clinic. Follow these tips to prepare your pet for a stress-free veterinary visit.

Understand pet anxiety, fear, and stress

Pets experience veterinary visit stress because they learn to associate the clinic with negative experiences such as painful needle sticks or forceful restraint. A negative or painful experience triggers an involuntary fight-or-flight response and creates a memory in the brain’s fear center. The next time your pet goes to the vet, their brain’s fear center goes into the same fight-or-flight mode as it did during the previous visit. As negative experiences pile on, your pet’s anxiety worsens. Stress and anxiety signs include shaking, hunched body posture, vocalizing, drooling, panting, yawning, hiding, or attempting to escape. 

Desensitize pets to handling

When you desensitize your pet to veterinary handling procedures, you help them feel more comfortable with exams and procedures. Practice touching sensitive areas on your pet, such as their ears, paws, and mouth, and reward calm behavior with treats and praise. Gradually increase the duration of the touch during short, frequent sessions. You can also use this technique to acclimate your pet to gentle restraint procedures. Ask our team to show you common ways we hold pets for exams.

Use calming aids and products to help pets relax

Calming aids, such as supplements, pheromone collars, anxiety wraps, or eye shades, can help lower your pet’s anxiety level before and during vet visits. If your pet experiences significant anxiety despite these products and our team’s low-stress approach, we may send you home with a stronger anxiety medication to administer to your furry pal before their next appointment.

Help cats learn to love the carrier

Car rides and carriers can set off your pet’s anxiety before you arrive at the clinic, setting the stage for a negative visit. You can help your cat learn to love their carrier by leaving it out where your whiskered pal can always see it. Encourage your cat to go in the carrier by putting soft, inviting bedding and treats inside. Once your cat begins using the carrier to rest, close the door for a few seconds and work up to longer periods with your cat confined, followed by short car rides. Keep each session positive and stop if your cat becomes stressed.

Bring your pet to the clinic hungry

Treats are crucial to Fear Free veterinary visits. We use treats to distract pets and keep them in a happy mindset during procedures, so they form positive associations to dilute previous negative visits. Bring your pet hungry and bring their favorite, high-value treats with you to our hospital. By bringing your pet’s favorite blanket or toy, you can also help them feel comfortable.

Keep veterinary communication lines open

Open communication with our veterinary team helps us adjust our techniques and procedures to accommodate your pet’s needs. We document what works for your pet and what doesn’t, including information about their favorite treats, how they react to calming aids and medications, and what to avoid. The more information you can share with us about your pet, the more we can tailor our approach for a positive outcome.

Drop in for happy veterinary visits

Drop-in “happy” visits occur when your pet comes into the clinic, has positive interactions with team members in various areas, and then leaves. By scheduling these no-stress visits for your furry pal, you help dilute past negative experiences by flooding your pet’s brain with positive chemicals. We can also schedule desensitization and counterconditioning visits to help your pet overcome specific handling fears such as nail trims.

By preparing your pet for veterinary visits and incorporating Fear Free techniques at the direction of our Stanton Pet Hospital team, you help alleviate your furry pal’s anxiety and foster positive experiences in the veterinary clinic. Contact us to learn more about our hospital’s Fear Free philosophy and schedule your pet’s next low-stress visit.