Nana recently started coming to our clinic since moving from Oregon! She is a 12 year old Korean Jindo that was adopted in Portland, Oregon in 2014. The owner stated that she was a rescue that came from a hoarding situation with many other dogs. She was very fearful of people and animals. Her owner is the main person she feels safe with.
In Nana's previous experiences with veterinary clinics she was always taken away from the owner to another room for her exams and treatments. Being away from her owner in a strange environment really increased her anxiety causing her to become reactive and evasive. This resulted in their staff having to enforce more manual restraint in order to provide the care she needed which unfortunately just further increased her distrust of strange people and environements. A friend had recommended that Nana should come to our clinic since we are Fear Free. The owner was super excited to hear that there might be a better option for Nana. He came with his friend to one of their appointments to see for himself and was impressed to see how we interacted with her dogs, allowing them to become more comfortable with our presence and making adjustments as needed based on their responses. He decided to give us a try!
We first saw Nana for a sick visit and she was obviously very nervous about our presence. She did her best to try to stay away from us. We discussed with the owner that sedation might be best for her so that we can do a complete exam and work up without pushing her into a panic. The owner was able to stay with her the entire time. Her appointment went well and she was sent home with medications to give prior to future appointments to help her relax. Nana continues to be nervous at her visits, but we have learned that less is more with her since restraint causes her fear to escalate. A little cheese doesn't hurt either! She has been started on additional anxiety medications to use on a daily basis since her fear of new people and strange things is something she struggles with constantly. Our hope is to continue to reduce her anxiety with a combination of medications, cooperative care training, and positive experiences so that we can continue to build a trusting relationship with Nana.
Many pets are anxious or fearful about coming to the vet. The good news is that there are many things that we can do to help alleviate or reduce that fear. In milder cases simply providing a positive experience using a combination of food reward along with low stress handling techniques may be enough. Pets with higher levels of anxiety may require additional support through medications to help them relax prior to their visits. The goal of these medications is to reduce their anxiety to a low enough level that they are able to interact in a strange environment and learn that things aren't as scary as they seem. Cooperative Care training is also a very valuable tool for reducing a pet's fear of exams and procedures. This method of training allows your pet to make a choice to participate knowing that they will receive something good in return and can choose not to participate if they become too stressed. We offer Cooperative Care sessions at the hospital to help jump start training at home or to supplement the training they already know. Pets that utilize this method are much more excited about coming to see us which means they are able to receive regular veterinary care.
For more information about Cooperative Care training that you can do at home, click here.
If you are interested in scheduling sessions with our hospital, give us a call!