Fear Free Veterinary Visits
Tranquil Tabby Mobile Cat Vet is dedicated to providing the most calm and compassionate care to our feline patients. When it’s time to bring your kitty to a veterinary clinic, there are many places fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) show up to create a very frightening experience for your kitty. Just like many folks are nervous about seeing the dentist, an anxious cat will not go quietly or easily to the vet, and this can be a major barrier for cats to receive veterinary care.
Our team understands that there are no “bad” or “naughty” cats. We know that cats who hide, resist handling and interaction, and try to run away are simply frightened. We especially understand that even cats who become aggressive during vet visits are scared cats, scared enough that they feel they need to protect themselves. This is why everything we do during Tranquil Tabby’s in-home veterinary visits is aimed to reduce stressors and help cats feel safe, confident and secure.
While we can never completely eliminate fear, anxiety, or stress, our Fear Free Certified team members are dedicated to removing as many stressors from the veterinary experience as possible. As Fear Free Certified Professionals, we’ve completed a rigorous certification program that provides us with education, training, and tools to help us best identify and support our fearful patients. We are passionate about Fear Free practice and look forward to helping your cats, and you, feel more at ease about veterinary visits.
Examples of how Fear Free practice helps our patients:
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We saw Ratatouille after his mom noticed he was hiding more and was scratching his ears. We diagnosed him with an ear infection. Even for a confident and friendly cat like Ratatouille, ear infections are painful and can be stressful to diagnose. By providing care in the home, we were able to work with Ratatouille and allow him to take breaks in his favorite spots with his favorite things to help keep his anxiety and worry low. He didn’t appreciate his ear cleaning very much, but he was calm throughout the rest of the visit. We taught his mom ways to gently give him his medication to help prevent him from being too upset during treatments. Ratatouille had a rare type of ear infection that took 6 weeks to clear up, but his dedicated family was able to give all his medication and help him feel better!
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We met Yoder for his very first kitten wellness exam. He was only 1.8 pounds! We recognized straight away that Yoder was a bit more nervous than we like to see with baby cats. Nervous kittens are at risk of becoming progressively fearful of exams and the veterinary team, and this happens very commonly during in-clinic visits. During our in-home visits, we kept Yoder’s stress level down and helped him build a positive association with veterinary care through treats, toys, and lots of love in the place he calls home! He remained a typical super squirmy baby cat, but through his kitten visits we did not observe any increase in nervousness or fear over time. We were able to give vaccines while he ate treats, and he barely noticed! We are so happy to set Yoder up for success at future visits by ensuring his first interactions with veterinary medicine were fun, calm, and playful!
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Valerie is a sweet but very nervous young cat we saw for inappropriate urination. From previous experiences, her parents knew that the drive to the vet and being in an unfamiliar environment is very challenging for Valerie, so they contacted us! Valerie’s parents gave her a previously prescribed pre-visit calming medication that worked very well to relax her. This is a fantastic example of how our clients can be part of the care team! Even with the calming medication Valerie was still pretty nervous, so we took care to not worsen her nerves. We used considerate approach and gentle handling to examine Valerie and collect a urine sample to send to the lab. She was diagnosed with a urinary condition that is closely related to stress, and is commonly exacerbated by stressful visits to the vet. Because of this, ongoing in-home veterinary care will be very helpful in keeping her symptoms managed over time!
Becoming Fear Free Certified
To become Fear Free Certified, each of our team members complete 7 hours of continuing education from Fear Free Pets. Fear Free Pets is an organization that provides veterinary professionals with the tools and knowledge to prevent and alleviate different levels of fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS).
In the initial certification program we:
Reevaluate our interactions with our patients, clients, and each other to understand ways we may have increased FAS in the past and how to improve
Learn about gentle handling and considerate approach, and applied these skills while working with our patients
Consider every aspect of our veterinary visits from a cat’s point of view to learn how to predict and avoid ways our patients may become stressed
Learn how to improve client communication and improve workplace safety
To maintain our Fear Free Certification, each team member completes additional continuing education in different levels of Fear Free Certification as well as individual topics such as Behavior is Medicine and Helping our Feline Friends Feel Fear Free.
Dr. Maher became an Elite Fear Free Certified Professional by completing 35 hours of continuing education, and she continues to learn more and implement the knowledge and skills learned with her team to help her patients feel comfortable and secure.
Tranquil Tabby’s next goal is to become a Fear Free Certified Mobile Practice. This certification will show our dedication, above and beyond, to provide top-tier veterinary care and create an intentional environment that prioritizes the emotional and physical wellbeing of our kitty patients, our clients, and our team. We anticipate accomplishing this goal within the year!
