Fear Free Veterinary Visits, Blum Animal Hospital
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Fear Free is an initiative created by Dr. Marty Becker to eliminate fear-anxiety and stress from veterinary visits. Blum Animal Hospital in Chicago is the first Chicago area practice that has gone through the formal process of becoming Fear Free certified, and co-owner Dr. Natalie Marks explains HERE on Steve Dale’s Pet World, WGN Radio.
Dr. Marks explains her perspective about seeing so many fearful pets. And why we must do better, for the sake of the pets’ emotional and medical health.
We’re talking about everything from ramping down anxiety in the waiting room to handling of pets by the veterinary staff, and so much more. The program is transformative!
Another problem with the pet feeling fear, anxiety and stress is that the owner’s feel it, and the pets then become even more afraid picking up on how their owners feel, and then the veterinary staff become anxious – call it the stress snowball.
It’s really all kind of simple – if the pet has a bad experience, and the human does too….a return visit for a check up isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. If you have a bad experience, you just aren’t likely to repeat it. If it’s a good experience, you are more likely to repeat it.
More on the Blum Animal Hospital Facebook page.
We run out of time, but briefly discuss the Stop Lyme campaign that Dr. Marks is also working on with me, partnering with the American Veterinary Medical Association and Global Lyme Alliance. She says, “Lyme disease is roaring across the country.”
At the top of the show, newsman extraordinaire Dave Schwanee and I talk about nature, even in the big city. I recount the event of a crow flying over, chasing and wanting to catch a rat.