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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016
PARTING SHOT FROM JOSHUA BESSEX
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
Midnight on the Wallooskee River.
ODDITY
‘Fear-free’ veterinarians aim to reduce stress for pets
Like some
people, some
pups hate going
to the doctor
By SUE MANNING
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Trips
to the veterinarian leave Joy so
scared, she gets sick.
The black Lab-mix dog
shakes and shivers, her heart
rate jumps, her blood pressure
spikes, her temperature rises,
her eyes dilate and she cowers
under anything she can get
beneath.
After trying vet after vet
for 14 years, the dog’s owner
Debby Trinen of Sandpoint,
,daho, has ¿nally found relief
for Joy’s stress from a new
approach to veterinary care
called “fear-free.”
The fear-free movement
aims to eliminate things in the
vet’s of¿ce that bother dogs
and cats — like white lab coats,
harsh lights and slippery, cold
exam tables — while adding
things they like.
Big treat budget
For example, a fear-free
clinic “will have a big treat
budget,” said Dr. Marty
Becker, the initiative’s main
cheerleader and the vet chosen
to introduce it to the country.
All the dogs and cats at his
North Idaho Animal Hospital,
where Joy now gets care,
have space on their ¿les to
note favorite treats, from Easy
Cheese to hot dogs.
About 50 practices across
the country have gone
fear-free, Becker said. Later
this year, the initiative will
start certifying veterinary
professionals. The certi¿cation
takes about 12 hours of online
instruction. The movement
Erin Grote/Bigger Road Veterinary Center for Pet Health and Enrichment
Buster is enrolled in the puppy Montessori program at the Bigger Road Veterinary Cen-
ter for Pet Health and Enrichment facility in Springboro, Ohio. Puppies enrolled in the
program get all the same things as adults, but with particular focus on early develop-
ment training, behavior and socialization.
hopes to register as many as
5,000 people this year.
Hospital certi¿cation could
start in 2018, followed by
animal shelters and homes,
Becker said.
Pastels, mood lighting,
yoga mats
Heather Lewis of Animal
Arts in Boulder, Colorado,
which has been designing
animal hospitals since 1979,
says there are many ways to
make veterinary of¿ces more
pleasant for pets. Among them:
— Paint walls in pastels
and have staff wear pastel
scrubs and lab coats. To an
animal’s eyes, a white lab coat
is like a bright glowing beacon
and can be scary.
— 5emove old Àuorescent
lights. Dogs and cats have
better hearing than humans, and
the bu]] from those old ¿xtures
can bother them. — Consider
alternatives to lifting animals
up on to high exam tables with
cold, slippery metal surfaces.
Some clinics, like Becker’s, use
yoga mats for animal exams.
— For background music,
choose classical. Becker and
Lewis like collections called
“Through a Dog’s Ear” and
“Through a Cat’s Ear.”
A fear-free vet might also
use sedatives or pheromones
— chemicals secreted by
animals that serve as stimulants
for many things, including
mating — rather than muzzles
or restraints to keep animals
calm during treatment, Becker
said.
“Twenty-¿ve to 0 percent
of pets need sedation,” Becker
said.
Becker introduced veterinar-
ians to the fear-free initiative at
the North American Veterinary
Community convention last
year. He presented version 2.0
at this year’s conference in
Florida.
Becker, chief veterinary
correspondent for the American
Humane Association, has
written 22 books and is doing
the 2rd on the fear-free
initiative.
Like a walk in the park
One fear-free center is the
Bigger Road Veterinary Center
in Springboro, Ohio.
“We designed this clinic
to look like you were going
for walks in the park,” said
Dr. John Talmadge. “Support
beams look like maple trees.
I don’t know if we’re fooling
any pets but the exam rooms
look like cottages and it looks
like blue sky on the ceiling. It
has a very inviting feel.”
He also expanded from
2,000 square feet to 10,000
square feet so he’d have room
for better senior care and pain
management. And for owners
making end-of-life decisions
for their pets, the clinic offers
Erin Grote/Bigger Road Veterinary Center for Pet Health and Enrichment
Veterinarian Dr. John Talmadge poses with his golden
retrievers at Talmadge’s Bigger Road Veterinary Clinic in
August in Kettering, Ohio. He reopened his Springboro,
Ohio, office, which he transformed into a fear-free prac-
tice. He says they designed the new clinic to make you
feel like you were taking a walk in the park.
a private area.
“There is nothing more
important than making that
last treatment digni¿ed and
calming,” Talmadge said.
Becker says the fear-free
initiative is important because
stress and anxiety cause so
many problems for pets, both
physical and mental.
“Once pets know fear and
anxiety and stress, you can’t
undo it,” he said, adding, “You
can see it. You can smell it
because dogs are stained with
their own saliva from licking
themselves. You can hear it
and feel it.”
Stress and fear can lead
animals to hide the symptoms
that prompted the vet visit, and
may even alter their test results,
said Richard A. LeCouteur, a
veterinarian with a specialty
in neurology and a professor
emeritus at the University of
California at Davis’ School of
Veterinary Medicine.
Talmadge says the fear-free
approach is proving popular.
“We have more than doubled
our business through that
clinic since opening (in April)
and are well ahead of where
we thought we would be,”
Talmadge said.
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