"Look closely at the animal鈥檚 behaviour and reactions"
Stress-free handling in veterinary practice
A cat cowering in the corner of a cat basket, a dog with its tail between its legs hiding behind its owner. For an animal, a visit to the vet can be quite stressful. As a vet, how do you deal with this during a consultation? How do you make an animal feel at ease while it is in your clinic? According to behavioural biologist Claudia Vinke of Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 and vet , animal-friendly handling, i.e. treating animals in the clinic in an animal-friendly way, can help in this regard.
"The basic principle of stress-free handling or animal-friendly handling is that you look closely at the animal's behaviour and reactions during a visit", says behavioural biologist Claudia Vinke from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Utrecht 木瓜福利影视). "You discuss the animal's normal behaviour with the owner. Depending on the medical needs, you then work out how you can handle the animal in as stress-free a way as possible."
It sounds logical, but it isn鈥檛. "It鈥檚 a totally different way of doing things from holding the animal firmly so it can鈥檛 escape." Many vets have been trained to apply restraint techniques. Students who are training as vets have only been taught about stress-free handling in the last couple of years. "In some situations, restraining the animal is the only option, but with stress-free handling this is not the first thing the vet will do. It may be that you can examine the cat or dog on the table without applying pressure and they will be less anxious as a result."
What can vets do to reduce anxiety and stress in animals?
A visit to the vet can be a stressful experience for animals, especially if it involves procedures that are unpleasant for the animal. The leaflet '' (PDF in Dutch) produced by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine's (in Dutch) contains advice on what you, as a vet, can do to prevent and reduce stress and anxiety as much as possible in your practice.
Leave the door open
Vet Jolijn van Leeuwen from Dierenkliniek Koningsweg in Soest asks new clients who come into her practice room to leave their cat in their cat basket with the door open for a while. "While I discuss the animal鈥檚 medical history with its owner, I peek at the cat in its basket to see what kind of behaviour it鈥檚 displaying. Is it anxious or confident? In the meantime, the cat can acclimatise to the situation."
With dogs, Van Leeuwen takes a different approach. "I squat down, offer the dog a biscuit and explain what I鈥檓 doing to the animal鈥檚 owner." Most dogs feel at ease after that, but sometimes a dog is still scared and may bite. In that case, Van Leeuwen has to put a muzzle on the dog, a tube of thick fabric that goes round its snout. Sometimes a dog displays more significant behavioural problems. "In that case I talk to the animal鈥檚 owner about the issues involved and, if necessary, I refer them to a behavioural therapist."
Seeing things from the animal's perspective
The surroundings also play a role in animal-friendly handling. Vinke: "You look at the design of your clinic from the animal鈥檚 perspective. Animals sometimes find harsh lighting difficult, for example. They can also hear sounds that people can鈥檛 hear." In her clinic, for instance, Van Leeuwen has replaced stainless steel cages with enclosures with matt walls. "Stainless steel walls reflect light and sound, and animals sometimes find that scary", she says.
Everyone plays their part
While at the clinic the animal's welfare is in the hands of a vet, Van Leeuwen says that that doesn鈥檛 mean that you鈥檙e on your own. "For example, our veterinary assistants play an important role in taking blood from a cat. They are trained to place the cat in a natural position as calmly as possible." In addition, Van Leeuwen asks pet owners to bring something with a familiar smell with them and to make sure they have an animal-friendly cat basket. "Often, when they come to our clinic for the first time, animal owners are surprised at how calmly their pet behaves during the consultation. I really like it when animals feel at ease." And who doesn't love it when a cat comes over to you, or a dog wags its tail!
Positive relationship with owner and horse
"How you treat an animal is incredibly important in terms of how an animal owner perceives a visit to the vet", says Yteke Elte, equine vet at the Academic Veterinary Hospital of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht. "Thinking about the significance of a horse's behaviour and figuring out how to deal with the animal in as stress-free a way as possible, even when you have to apply restraint techniques, helps create a positive, long-term relationship with both the client and the horse. And it also makes your work more enjoyable."
Practical tip: , a series of short YouTube videos by the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) on ways to teach horses to relax during veterinary procedures. Scan the QR code for a direct link to the campaign.