The Oceanside Animal Hospital has become the first and only animal hospital in B.C., and second in Canada, to become a Fear Free certified practice.
The Fear Free initiative was founded in 2016 and provides education to veterinary professionals and pet owners on emotional well-being, reduction of fear, anxiety and stress in pets.
The Fear Free Practice Certification process, according to a press release from the Oceanside Animal Hospital, is an exhaustive one, requiring a comprehensive on-site evaluation by a veterinarian with advanced training in animal behaviour, and requiring that participants meet 27 mandatory standards.
Achieving certification means participants have successfully incorporated Fear Free in all aspects of their practice and are committed to making the veterinary experience as stress free as possible for every patient.
“The first thing everybody has to do is each individual person has to get Fear Free certified as a professional and that’s nine hours of learning,” said Oceanside Animal Hospital owner, Dr. Leonie McKinlay. “Then we have to go through a big check list and a veterinarian who works for the Fear Free program comes out and actually certifies us.”
McKinlay said she was interested in the program because of the importance of minimizing stress in pets who visit the clinic.
“Obviously we all get into this (business) because we love animals, so it’s hard when we see (animals) come in and they don’t want to be here,” she said. “I think it’s important to try and minimize that stress as much as possible and try to make [the animals] have as much of a positive experience as they can.”
McKinlay added that many pets that come into the clinic are anxious to begin with.
“They know that we’re going to give them needles, they know we might be doing things they’re uncomfortable with, like feeling them and they’ve never met us before so it is definitely a major issue,” McKinlay said.
To calm the animals, McKinlay said they have incorporated pheromone diffusers, slip-free mats, calming music, treats and sedatives if needed.
“We generally ask owners to bring (their pets) in fasted or just eat half of their meals, so they’re coming in hungry and motivated to eat,” she said. “We’ll ask owners on the phone before they come in if there’s any issues with travelling, are (their pets) anxious in the car and we can give them some suggestions. We can give them some anti-anxiety supplements that the owner can pick up.”
The low-stress handling and calming methods, McKinlay says, allows veterinarians to do more with the animals.
“We’re able to do a better physical exam and accomplish more than you could if (animals) were really stressed and anxious,” she said.
Founded by veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, the Fear Free training program was developed by board-certified veterinary behaviourists, veterinary technician behaviour specialists, board-certified veterinary anesthetists, well-known veterinary practice management experts, and boarded veterinary practitioners experienced in Fear Free methods.
McKinlay said the Fear Free program offers calming and behaviour practices that aren’t always taught in vet school.
“There’s so much obviously that you’re being taught in vet school. We had probably a very short behaviour class but not a lot of room to delve into it in more depth. It’s more about teaching the medicine side of things so this is just expanding more on the behaviour aspect of it,” she said. “Aside from dealing with animals that actually have behaviour disorders of some sort, it wasn’t really addressed how to deal with regular run of the mill anxious pets that come into the clinic.”