Why Fear Free

There are a lot of pets that are not getting the veterinary care they should be due to fear, anxiety and stress (FAS). Many owners become stressed when seeing their pet’s anxious behaviours coming to the veterinary clinic.

Fear Free helps professionals deliver better care to their patients by looking after the physical and emotional well being of their patients. Fear Free is the answer to alleviate the FAS in our pets, so clients and their pets enjoy coming to their visits at the veterinary clinic and with the veterinarian. Fear free benefits the pet, client and the clinic staff because if we can get your pet enjoying the visit, everyone wins. We are striving to make the appointment that you and your pet are worried about a fun and exciting appointment that you both will enjoy.

Airdrie Animal Health Centre is a certified Fear Free practice, and all the staff are Fear Free certified. What that means to you is that we all took a certification course (as well as regular ongoing continuing education), allowing us to recognize when your pet is showing signs of FAS and how we as a team can help alleviate it. By communicating with you the signs of FAS and coming up with a plan to help relieve FAS.

It can be as easy as bringing your pet in hungry so we can feed treats all the way up to giving medication to help relieve FAS. Products, supplements and medications such as Pheromones (Feliway and Adaptil) are tools to help you and your pet alleviate FAS. We will be able to get a history from you starting before leaving your house to how the pet reacts to the car and of course, how they react coming to see us. The veterinarian with you will make a plan on what your pet needs based on your pet’s body language and emotional state. Pets communicate mainly through the use of body language via nonverbal gestures and movements. Messages are sent by body posture from the head to the tail. Communicating signs of fear are obvious to most, but signs of anxiety or stress can be subtle. Being able to read your pet’s body language allows us to identify signs of FAS, even the subtle can prevent communication from escalating to aggression.

Call us for more information or stop by and we can discuss fear-free more with you and your pets, so they are not missing out on the veterinary care they need.

Fear Free takes the pet out of petrified.

If you have any questions, give us a call at 403-948-2733.

Written by: Tanya Cajina, Registered Veterinary Technician