Is Your Pet Anxious?
The FAS Scale can help with finding out!
Familiarizing yourself with the FAS Scale and studying which signs your pet exhibits during stressful situations can not only help prevent general fear and anxiety, but also help you identify when intervention is needed before a snap, bite, or collar escape happens.
If your pet struggles with anxiety and fear associated with the vet specifically, we also have some tips that may help! Preparing for a vet visit can be as simple as acclimating your dog to car rides. Train your dog to be comfortable with car rides by giving praise and treats while the car is idle, running, and driving. This will help your pup associate the car with a positive experience.
If your dog needs to be in a carrier, keeping the carrier open at home and filling it with treats can help them associate it with positivity as well! Over time, they will start to see it as simply a part of their environment rather than that scary cage that only comes out when it’s time to go to the vet.
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If your dog experiences stress when visiting the vet, ‘happy visits’ may help create more positive associations with the hospital. Happy visits focus on making the veterinary environment feel less intimidating through positive experiences like treats, praise, and gentle interactions with our team. These visits are not a replacement for medical care, but they can help some pets become more comfortable with coming to the hospital over time. When your pup does need an appointment, these positive experiences may help them feel more relaxed and confident during their care.
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Some other tips for reducing stress at the vet may be:
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Bringing your dog’s favorite toy, treats, or other familiar item(s)
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Letting your pup gently play and get treats throughout their appointment (helps build a positive relationship with our staff)
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Checking in for your appointment from your car to avoid potential stressful interactions within our lobby
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Pre-medicating your dog with anti-anxiety medications prior to your visit to help your pup feel more relaxed during stressful situations.
WHY ARE PETS ANXIOUS?
Anxiety and fear in pets can take many forms. Dogs and cats may become aggressive or nip related to underlying fear, but most often the signs are more subtle. Fear and anxiety can come from new people or new environments, separation, car rides, storms, vet visits, or even subtle changes in their environment that we humans may not notice.
SIGNS THAT YOUR PET IS ANXIOUS
You may see destructive behaviors in dogs such as tearing up items or urinating/defecating inappropriately. They may tremble, hide, or look out of the side of their eyes, so you see more of the whites of their eyes showing than usual. Some dogs may even jump up more than usual, lick people, and try to get attention. This can appear almost as if they are very happy but with an added anxious energy.
In cats, signs can be even more difficult to recognize. Often a sign of stress could be going 'outside the litterbox'. Cats may also hide more, simply change their eating habits, or become more prone to hissing, scratching, or biting.
In both dogs and cats, their eating, drinking, or other habits may change. You also may take note of additional shedding during episodes of stress.
WHAT CAUSES ANXIETY IN PETS?
In both dogs and cats, there can be medical reasons for behavior changes that can resemble fear/anxiety. These conditions range from pain, to underlying hormone diseases. By thoroughly reviewing a history and performing a physical examination, we can often determine the underlying reason for changed behaviors and offer options that can help your pet.
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