Vet visits are hard. For most families and pets, I’m comfortable saying that vet visits are challenging. Whether it is the stress of transport, the worries about financial strain, the stress of the visit itself, or the concern of bad news, it can feel like the worst possible haunted house.

Because we work with families living with pets that have fear, anxiety, aggression, and other behavioral challenges, we often need to loop in collaborative veterinary support. Health and behavior are intertwined, and as we tell clients, we can’t train away a medical condition.

I tried to help Griffey feel safe and secure around the bug zapper for a good 6 months, and over the span of 2 weeks, proper pain management had him hearing the zapper, wiggle-wagging over to me, and woo-wooing for treats.

In Episode 108 of Enrichment for the Real World (the story starts around the 36-minute mark), Emily shares her story of medical intervention helping her 15-year-old pup, Copper go from hiding at the sound of bird calls to noticing and moving on with his day.

Since we work in the world of animal welfare and behavior, when we troubleshoot issues for our own pets, we have a lot of observational data to work with since we see them daily, and we often have well-established relationships with our vet teams.

Smoothing Out the Scares: Our Role in Vet Care Plans

We know the importance of prioritizing health and medical care when building a plan, and we also know that for our clientele, that can often be a HUGE hurdle. It can be stressful, scary, expensive, and something that people may want to avoid unless it becomes really serious. Since we believe in sustainable, doable plans for our clients, that means we often work very closely with them to help them get from point A to point B. We work with families and teach people to:

Find vets that will support them.
Build step-by-step plans for reducing stress during the visits.
Collect the information that their vet needs to assess the next step in the treatment plan.
Teach their pets skills that will make assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring smoother.
Develop skills to feel empowered and effective even when things are stressful.

We communicate with vets to ensure that we’re teaching skills that will help keep them, their teams, and everyone safe.

Because at the end of the day, sometimes things stink. It is a normal part of life. And knowing what to do when the chips are down to turn things around is empowering. But more on that another day!

All of that was to say: helping families have smoother, lower-stress vet visits, vet care, and health care for their pets is just a typical Tuesday for our team. So, let’s get into some tips we share with our clients that might make things a little smoother for you and your pet.

Trick or Treat? Start by Finding the Right Vet

Fear Free is a fantastic organization that started making waves in the veterinary field, and has rapidly grown to cover other pet care fields as well. They have some excellent resources for pet parents as well.

If you’re looking for a new vet, or for a lower-stress experience at the vet, I recommend the Fear Free Certified Veterinary Directory as the first stop.

I usually recommend that people start by looking for a Fear Free Certified Practiced, and if one isn’t available, then look for a Fear Free Certified Veterinarian near them.

And of course, not everyone will have a Fear Free Certified Practice or Veterinarian near them. When that’s the case, I usually look for Positive Reinforcement/LIMA/Fear Free trainers or behavior consultants in the area and reach out to see if they have clinics that they often refer to for sensitive, fearful, anxious, or aggressive pets.

Once you’ve found a prospective clinic or two, scope it out! Do a little internet sleuthing.

Look at pictures online. What do their rooms look like? What does the lobby look like? What does the parking look like? Where do they keep the scale? Do they have tables that go up and down? Do they have benches or chairs?
Read about their practice online. Clinics that specialize in pets with fear, anxiety, and aggression typically will discuss accommodations somewhere on the website.
See if the clinic offers the services that you’re specifically looking for if it is something other than general practice.
Check out the size of the clinic, larger clinics typically have more individuals being seen at the same time.

Once you know what to expect from a clinic, you can begin to prepare your pet and your team!

Avoid Jump Scares—Communicate Your Pet’s Needs

Let the clinic know what your pet struggles with (that is, if you know!). If your dog lunges, barks, growls, and pulls toward other dogs on walks, let them know. If your dog struggles with handling by you or others, let them know. If your cat is afraid of new places, let them know.

If you don’t have concrete information, it’s okay to say “vet care has been stressful in the past and I’d like to invest in making the whole process less stressful for everyone.”

If you found a Fear Free or a well-trusted clinic in your area, they typically appreciate and understand this information. If you feel dismissed, or unsupported, or have any concerns, it’s okay to end the conversation and look for another option. Remember, our goal is that vet care is LESS stressful for you and your pet.

Don’t Get Caught in a Web: Ask the Right Questions

I coach clients to ask several questions when making their appointment:

What is your least busy time of day? Most pets will have an easier time with the lowest traffic and additional stimulation/triggers/distractions in the clinic. Try to make an appointment at their slowest time.
Is it possible to be put in the room with the lowest traffic outside? Depending on the clinic’s size, how they assign rooms, and how their rooms are laid out, you may be able to get a room at the end of a dead hall, rather than the room right outside the boarding kennels. Sometimes it’s a wash, but sometimes it makes a difference!
Can I check-in and/or wait outside for the appointment? Lobbies can be… chaos, and if you have a pet that is scared of other pets or people, the traffic may be too much. Particularly after the pandemic, I haven’t had a clinic tell a family “no.”
If you have a high-traffic lobby, is there a back or side door I can use? Some facilities won’t have one, but others will. One clinic we’ve used was a large facility with boarding, daycare, and a lot of specialty services, they had a back door specifically because of the traffic. Other clinics have only had one accessible entrance and exit.

Stock Your Treat Bag—Goodies for the Vet Visit

While some vet visits are going to be stressful, that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun sometimes! Take something that your pet can lick, sniff, and snug(gle) in your bag and a variety of high-value treats.

I have a bag that goes with us to all vet visits, and you can see the standard contents here.

As I’m adding some of the extra fun things, for the visits I can, I look to bring:

A portable safe space (the snug)
A way to promote sniffing (which is usually just the portable safe space turned into a snuffle mat)
A way to promote licking, usually a lickmat with suction cups in a ziploc + something to smear lickable stuff with
A variety of treats: something high-ish value, something that will make my dogs turn into a cartoon swooning with hearts in their eyes, and something smearable

While you and the vet are talking, give your pet something to work on.

As a note, if your dog has a history of resource guarding, avoid bringing things that your pet will guard. The rooms are typically small, and again, the goal is to lower stress.

Potions, Protocols, and Pre-Visit Prep

There are a ton of options for ways to make the visits less stressful, but both you and your vet will need to agree on the next steps. From pre-visit medication protocols, to happy vet visits, to teaching care with consent skills, to a combination of all of the above, small changes can often make big differences. And I always recommend discussing options for the visits where we gotta do the gottas.

The Calm After the Storm—Helping Your Pet Recover

Plan time for recovery after the visit, for both you and your pet. You may opt to go for a long sniffy stroll after, or go home and take a long nap on the couch. What fills each family’s cup is different! Whether long-term calming projects or something else from your pet’s enrichment menu helps them shake off a stressful day, make time to help everyone complete their stress response cycle!

I hope that you find a least a couple of these tips helpful for you and your pet. And remember, we help families build personalized, step-by-step plans to make vet visits – and life – less stressful, more sustainable, and hopefully, much more fun.

Here’s to harmony,

Ellen

Now What?

If you’re looking for a new vet, check out Fear Free certified clinics and practitioners. Find a couple of options near you and scope them out!
If you already have a vet who supports you and your pet, put any of the other tips into practice, small things like having a room at the end of the hall instead of next to the lobby can make a huge difference!

Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy

Results are not guaranteed because behavior, human, canine, or otherwise, are not guaranteeable.

Vet Visits Don’t Have to Be Scary: Tricks and Treats for Anxious Pets