Posts about feline behavior
5 steps to take the stress out of medicating your cat One of the most common dilemmas cat guardians have is administering medication at home. Pills, eye, or ear drops often result in scratches, struggles, and bites. As a veterinarian, I never thought about the difficulty a client might have, as it was not difficult…
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Cats, disease, nutrition, and behavior The connection of physical health with behavioral health has often been considered by a veterinarian in practice. It makes sense when an animal is in pain, they will act aggressively when touched or approached or perhaps act "off" - less social, more anxious, or aggressive when there are biochemical changes…
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Lessons Learned from Curbside Care About a year and two months ago, the world changed for veterinary practice. The traditional model of a pet owner bringing the pet into the clinic, waiting in the waiting room, then being escorted by a staff member into the exam room changed. Now we had to meet the client…
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The wonders of Witch Hazel (Hamamelis) As I have grown in my expertise in reducing pet stress during care, I have paid attention to every item and every step of care. Decreasing noise, soft towels to insulate against the cold stainless exam table, and using rewards were some of the first items I kept consistent…
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Introduce cats to each other When you add an additional cat to your home, your existing cat may not accept this cat easily. Many cats need a formal introduction plan to learn to accept each other. Preparing the home for the introduction, and addition of the new cat needs to happen before the big meet…
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Low-Stress Blood draw using EMLA cream The use of lidocaine topical cream has become recognized as a way to decrease patient discomfort and stress for IV catheterization. One published study from the Journal of Feline Medicine and surgery journal article here looked at applying lidocaine 2.5%-prilocaine 2.5% combination cream 30 minutes prior to the jugular blood…
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From Cat fights to calm cats Calm Cats are happy cats. It is possible to stop cat fights now, when you work with your veterinarian to provide the medication and plan to create calm cats. Cats are interesting. They are affectionate, independent, and intelligent. Many homes have at least two cats, according to the AVMA…
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Stop scruffing struggles - transition techniques to stop scruffing cats I recently returned from the Mississippi Valley Veterinary Medical Association Conference in East Peoria Il, where I presented a full day of low-stress veterinary care topics including demonstrations and in-clinic exam videos. The afternoon was focused on specifically on the needs, clinic set up and…
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The drug resistant client - understanding why clients would refuse medications Advances in animal behavior has helped veterinarians provide less stressful care to many patients, both large and small. The ability to correctly read the body language of stress before it reaches aggression, and then respond to this by changing the exam room, treatment and…
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