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Fear FreeTM Veterinary Care For Your Pet

Anxious Dogs

Fear FreeTM Veterinary Care For Your Pet

Another guest post! Tanya from Play Pals NYC wrote this one for us. Fear-free vet care is right up our alley 🙂

Tanya Lim is the founder of Play Pals NYC – a boutique style dog training/walking & cat sitting service in NYC! Tanya grew up in with dogs, cats and love for all animals, so when the time was right, she started her own pet care service in London. Love brought her to the States couple of years later and she still couldn’t imagine doing anything else. She’s worked with many happy pets and their humans and is now focusing on dog training with the goal to improve the lives of dog owners and their best friends.
Check out her website Play Pals NYC!

What is the Fear FreeTM initiative?

Being a pet owner you’ve probably experienced that vet visit that no one is looking forward to. Your pet is anxious and the process doesn’t help. As the examination time approaches, your pet is being held down by the assistant while the vet examines them and somehow the whole situation just doesn’t seem right.
Wouldn’t your pet be more comfortable if they were eased into the procedure? If the room & the examination table were more inviting? If your pet didn’t need to be held by force?

While I was attending the 24th Annual Conference of the Association Of Professional Dog Trainers, I had a chance to hear Dr. Marty Becker speak about his new project and how his experience as a veterinary practitioner led him to create a different way in which pets can experience going to the vet.

The Fear FreeTM initiative offers a fresh new way of delivering veterinary care.
Here is some information from their website:”Fear Free provides online and in-person education to veterinary professionals, the pet professional community, and pet owners. Our courses provide learners and pet lovers with the knowledge and tools to not only look after a pet’s physical well-being, but her emotional well-being as well. We know we must feed the pet’s mind as well as the body so we make sure that in-home enrichment and Fear Free training are front-and-center with pet professionals and pet owners alike. Founded by “America’s Veterinarian,” Dr. Marty Becker, Fear Free has become one of the single most transformative initiatives in the history of companion animal practice, with over 29,000 veterinary and pet professionals committed to becoming Fear Free certified.”

And to put it more simple “A place where veterinary health care professionals “Take the PET out of PETrified” and “Put the TREAT into TREATment!” and where pet owners are “Helping pets live happy, healthy, full lives”.

Here are some of the components of a Fear FreeTM Veterinary Clinic:

  • Staff works on reducing or removing anxiety triggers;
  • Fear preventative training for dogs and cats;
  • Pet handling techniques;
  • Use of pheromones that help pets relax, as well as, having relaxing music play in the background;
  • Using treats and creating positive experience;Using procedures depending on the case;
  • Staff works on trick & muzzle training with pets;
  • Addressing areas of concern;
  • Species specific treatment area preferred;
  • Adjusting handling based on response;
  • Release restraint at precise moment of delivery (vaccine, ear/eye drops);
  • If necessary, start sedation protocols before pet owner leaves home.

It sounds like a vet visit reimagined in the best possible way. You can find the practitioner/clinic in your area by searching the Fear FreeTM website directory. Let’s work on making vet visits not to be feared again!