Do you have feline patients who hate visiting the veterinarian? Take note: it’s time to change their purrrrspective about visiting the vet.
Counteracting the fear, anxiety and stress pets experience during care and improving the pet’s emotional experience is at the heart of Fear Free and the daily veterinary care delivered by Fear Free Certified Professionals. That’s why when it came time to present the Fear Free Pets Award at the Cat Writers’ Association Annual Awards, top cat Amy Shojai took the honors for her quick-tips guide MY CAT HATES MY VET! Foiling Fear Before, During and After Vet Visits.
The guide outlines specific steps to ease feline discomfort and help cat lovers better prepare their furry friends for veterinary care, from leaving the home safely and comfortably in a carrier, riding in the car, arriving at the clinic, undergoing the vet exam, and then returning home. “My Cat Hates My Vet! should help anyone who shares their love (and maybe pillow) with a special kitty friend. It explains why kitty fear is normal, but can go too far,” says Shojai, a CABC and Fear Free Certified Professional.
The information packed into My Cat Hates My Vet! isn’t just for those cats who are fearful of the veterinarian. The information it contains also helps to ensure emotional protection for friendly felines so they can continue to have happy experiences during veterinary care. And in many cases, cats who seem to be okay during care may secretly not be all that keen on the experience. Often, subtle signs of fear, anxiety and stress go unnoticed until the cat’s emotional turmoil escalates and boils over into a hissing, clawing display of fear. Better reading of body language can help cat parents recognize potential problems before they reach a level that causes the cat to act on those fears.
“Some readers may be surprised to discover their cat who “likes” the vet actually doesn’t protest because she instead ‘freezes’ from fear,” says Shojai.
Shojai was inspired to write the book after hearing Dr. Marty Becker speak about the Fear Free initiative. She accepted his challenge to spread the word.
“It was a “DOH!” moment for me. Why not create a quick-tips guide to help pet parents overcome their objections to bringing pets for vital health care? I wanted it short enough folks could easily digest it, but with enough content to make a positive difference for cats and those who love them. And I wanted to make it inexpensive so that as many folks as possible could access the material,” Shojai said.
For Shojai, the project was deeply personal, driven by her past experience as a vet tech and personal struggles with her own cats.
“The booklet includes my experience with Seren-Kitty (now 21 years young!). As a good pet parent should, I took her to the vet for a baseline blood panel when she celebrated her seventh birthday. The veterinarian called me, concerned about the results, to say he’d followed up with a urinalysis that confirmed diabetes. WHAT?! No, she’d had no signs. When I arrived to pick her up, they handed me a mesh “cat grabber” to get Seren out of the cage because she couldn’t be handled. I didn’t use it, but instead gentled her out with a towel. Once she returned home, she quickly settled. A week later, with a home-test kit, we determined that the test results were false and had been induced by stress.”
Shojai recognizes that fear of the veterinarian affects not only cats, but their humans as well.
“Many people hate taking their cat to the vet because of the cat’s reaction. They are embarrassed or are simply afraid to handle their terrified cat. Worse, high stress levels can worsen a cat’s condition or even skew test results, making it difficult for vets to diagnose and treat potential problems. It’s vital to have a great relationship with veterinarians and clinic staff who understand the issues of fear, anxiety and stress in cats (and in dogs). Once the staff and veterinarians discover that pet parent preparation helps them do their job more effectively, you’ll become even better partners in your cats’ health,” Shojai says.
Amy Shojai, CABC is an IAABC-certified animal behavior consultant (cats/dogs), Fear Free Certified Professional and the award winning author of 30+ pet care titles and pet-centric thrillers. You can learn more about Shojai on her website, or follow her entertaining blog, Bling, Bitches & Blood Blog. Her book is available on Amazon.
