Unfortunately, some dogs may become anxious when they visit the veterinary clinic. This can stem from a previous intense experience (e.g. where an injured pet required a very painful area to be examined), or may be related to generalised anxiety about unfamiliar places.

How can I tell if my dog is anxious at the clinic?
An anxious pet may manifest in several ways, based on the fight, flight or freeze responses:

• Fight: the pet may put on a defensive front to keep veterinary staff away, barking or growling when approached and even snapping or lunging to bite if they feel highly threatened
• Flight: the pet may try to hide, or will run or jump away when approached
• Freeze: the pet’s body posture will be stiff and still with a tense facial expression, and they will possibly “whale eye” (where they face away but still try to watch for the vet’s approach)

It’s important to bear in mind that any anxious dog may progress to aggressive behaviours (such as snapping) if it is pushed too far out of its comfort zone.

How can we help anxious patients to feel better about their visits?
Commonly, anxiety at the veterinary clinic is best addressed with both short-term and long-term measures.

Short-term measures to facilitate necessary veterinary treatment involve the use of calming sedative medications which can be administered by mouth at home, and/or by injection at the veterinary clinic (often with the owner present to help reassure their pet, provided it is safe for them to do so).

Long-term measures involve behavioural modification techniques to address any underlying anxiety and help reduce the pet’s fear response. In certain cases, some pets may require long-term anti-anxiety medications.

If your pet is very anxious about their veterinary visits, have a chat with our team about how we can help. We would love for all of our patients to be as happy to see us as we are to see them!