Most pet canines can be attached to their territory and have a sheltered and protected life with predictable daily activities that usually do not include traveling away from home. Visiting the veterinarian can be a challenging experience for cat and dog owners. Thankfully, we’ll discuss how to make veterinary visits less stressful and help your pet overcome the fear of veterinary visits.
5 Reliable Pointers to Keep Pets Calm During Vet Visits
During veterinary visits, pets frequently show stress symptoms like dilated pupils, vocalizations, attempts to hide, and frantic panting. If you’ve come here determined with your stubborn pet who does not want to cooperate with you each time you visit the vet, below are five reliable tips to help them conquer their fear.
1. Be knowledgeable about your dog’s symptoms
Pets can’t talk and will never speak. This is why you should be attentive and brave in informing your veterinarian about what your dog is experiencing. You may also create a list of signs your dog is suffering from. If you forget what to tell your vet the day of your visit, you have a list they can read. This may also help the vet to get clear and concise with the possible conditions your dog is going through.
2. Train your pet to be sociable before vet visits
Going to the veterinarian could be difficult for the pets as it’s a new place with strange animal smells and odd faces. To help your furry baby get used to settings like this, train them to be sociable with their fellows. Letting your furry buddy play with the pets in your neighborhood or taking them to dog and cat daycare facilities can help improve their familiarity.
Additionally, this can help skyrocket their self-confidence in socializing with new people and other animals, whether in a veterinarian’s clinic or in different locations.
3. Take car rides with them more often
Many canines love riding in the car as they’re off to run to a park and have fun with their fellows. However, some dogs only get in a car when going to a vet, causing their stress levels to increase. To prevent pets from thinking the same, take more car trips with your dog to different locations so they don’t only associate it with veterinary visits. Being consistent with this will help eliminate the thought that a car automatically implies vet visits.
4. Help your dog feel comfortable getting touched
Dogs should not retaliate when getting touched, and this is something you need to pay attention to before seeing the vet. Dogs aren’t usually comfortable having their tummy prodded, tails lifted, and feet and nails touched. Daily spending time doing these actions can help your pet retaliate less and ultimately enjoy getting handled. This will help the pet groomers when grooming your furry pet and the veterinary team when administering pet vaccinations.
Every pet parent understands that routine grooming and preventive care like checkups, puppy and kitten shots, sterilization, and parasite prevention are essential. Pet professionals will need to touch your pet for the said procedures. However, you’ll have no problems if you train your pet to behave when handled.
You may browse websites like amcofcumming.com for more details on the pet preventive care mentioned above.
5. Bring them hungry
This doesn’t mean skipping their breakfast that day. The point is to not feed them too much before the time of the checkup. A hungry pet will be treat-motivated, and providing treats can be a reliable distraction while the vet team is doing their job.
