Vet visits for anxious dogs

​Many dogs aren’t a big fan of the vet, and our Benji is no exception. They are invasive and scary, and usually someone will handle him in a way he does not feel happy about. It reached a point where my little Benji was shaking for fear in the waiting room. And we needed to step in and change protocol. ​Luckily most vet visits can be pre-planned. Here are some of our tips on how to make a vet visit more bearable for your anxious dog:

Prepare your visit at the vet

• The day before the visit I give Benji a double dose of Zylkene (OTC casein), the same on the day of the visit. We tried Trazadone before but the results were not great and it almost had the opposite effect.
• Make sure you take some super super yummy treats – think of roast chicken or raw meats. You will need them to feed your pooch and “sweeten the deal” for him when at the vet. It also helps to distract from what is going on.
• We take Benji’s handbag dog carrier to the vet. He feels safe in it, and it gives him a spot to retreat.
• Make sure you have a plan of what you expect from the vet, what you will expect at the visit and how far you are going to go that day.  
  
  

At the vet – Check up (No anaesthetic) 

• I usually have Benji wait in the car. I go inside, have a chat to the vet about my dog and how the consult will be run. Examinations the vet will need to do and how I would like my dog to be handled, what I would like them to do and what not - and how all of this will play together with the work the vet will need to undertake. A briefing basically where the vet and I agree on a strategy for the consult.
• On the first vet visit since changing strategy, we actually requested for the vet to examine him outside at the car park as just entering the clinic would make him shake.
• When the examination outside was not possible, I would carry Benji inside the clinic with him being in his handbag carrier. We’d go straight to the consult room, no waiting in the waiting room.
• If possible in any way, the examination will be done on the floor.
• It also helps if the vet isn’t dressed as a typical vet. Benji doesn’t like them wearing their dark veterinarian gown. 
• We sit on the floor, the vet and I, Benji is getting fed treats and slowly gets used to the room, the vet and potentially other people (nurses etc) in the room. Because he does not trusts vets, I am not aiming for them to make friends with him. This could be done if you always see the same vet but if you deal with changing doctors and so, this may not be a viable option. Therefore I like the vet to be neutral, toss a treat sometimes but not be creepy and forcing themselves on being Benji’s new best friend. He wouldn’t believe that, he’d take the treats and find them still creepy. That’s why I prefer neutral. This may take 10 minutes or so, while I have a chat with the vet I play some treat games with Benji (touch, treat chase, luring) to shift his mindset.
• When it comes to handling him, I am there with him during the examination. I advise when things need to slow down, I talk to Benji, I coach him through the situation, I reward him with treats for being so patient. 
• If any equipment is used for the examination, we make sure Benji has a chance to get used to the equipment by sniffing or looking at it, rather than being too straight forward and just going for it.
• We make sure the vet knows to not have other people enter the room during the consult if possible.
• We create a relaxed atmosphere – as much as possible.

At the vet – Treatment/ Procedure (With anaesthetic)

• In this case we would request for the vet to sedate Benji while he is in the car. It’s a quick injection and I let the staff know when has passed out.
• I would then bring Benji inside the clinic where the procedure is done.
• When the procedure is done, the team would wake him up with another injection. 
• Depending on the circumstances the wake up could either happen in your car so the dog would have no memory of being in the clinic, or like in our case we had Benji wake up in a consult room with direct access to the car park. When he opened his eyes and pulled his tongue in, I picked Benji up and carried him straight to the car.

After the vet visits

• Depending on how the visit went, you may put your dog back in the car after the consult and then go back inside to clear the bill. This way your dog doesn’t have to wait around in this (in his mind) dreadful place.

Fear is not rational and you will struggle to explain to your dog that it is “just a vet visit and not the end of the world” when your dog thinks that this is actually what the vet visit is. Benji never liked the vet and we are glad things weren’t going bad for too long, but I could just see that we were heading in a direction that wasn’t great for my dog. Changing our protocol and advocating for our animals seem to have helped a lot so far.