Fear Free^TM Practice - With It You'll Thrive; Without It, You Might Not Survive

I've been a practicing veterinarian for over 35 years, and I've seen three previous transformations of significance:

1.  Feline medicine - I grew up on a family farm/ranch in rural southern Idaho. In that environment, cat and veterinarian didn't belong in the same sentence (would be as odd as smoking and healthy). By and large, the vast majority of cats were barn cats, lived in the haystacks or were outside cats. Very few ever went to a veterinary hospital for treatment, and even fewer for preventive care. Eventually veterinary medicine realized that cats, too, were beloved pets, weren't just small dogs, that they were a separate species that needed their own meds, dosages and treatment protocols.

2.  Dentistry - Circa my graduation in 1980, dentistry consisted of the occasional ultrasonic teeth cleaning and a lot of pulling rotten teeth. Talk of prevention was rare. Then came veterinary dentists and the blossoming of dental care with a focus on prevention (daily oral care), digital dental radiographs, dental suites and advanced therapy.

3.  Pain management - Have pity on this profession that for so long, we ignored the existence of and consequences from pain in pets. Thankfully, we started to focus on pain, developed multimodal pain management, and made the prevention or relief of animal pain or suffering a priority.

Of course, feline medicine is limited to cats that receive veterinary care (still far too few). And although 80% of companion animals have dental disease by the age of three, the majority of pets suffer in silence with a mouth full of inflammation and infection. Pain management is widely offered, but this only helps with pets that have pain (trauma, joint or disc disease, post surgery). The most important transformation in the history of companion animal medicine is here now. And rather than just affecting a species or a condition, this initiative involves every pet, every veterinary visit, every practice, every day, forever. This make or break transformation is creating Fear Free veterinary visits.

The polar opposite of a fad, Fear Free has become a practice imperative if you're going to thrive, or even survive. Too strong of a statement? Far from it. You should fear not being a Fear Free veterinarian, technician, hospital team member or facility. Why? Because pet owners can see, hear, feel if you're Fear Free and can measure success.

Before Fear Free, companion animal practices largely competed on location, convenience, curb appeal, quality of medicine and price. Of these, the most subjective is quality of medicine. You've heard it said a dozen ways, hundreds of times, but it's literally impossible for a pet owner to judge the quality of medicine. How do they know inside of the incision that did a better job of surgery than someone else? Or that another veterinarian could have removed that carnassial tooth with much less trauma, or done a much better job of cleaning out infected ears? Fear Free is different and a differentiator, because pet owners can easily tell at every moment-of-truth (outside the hospital front door, in reception area, exam room, interaction with technician and veterinarian, getting preventive care) whether their pet is calm or anxious/stressed/fearful.

Our profession, and increasingly pet owners, are coming to understand that maladaptive fear is the worst thing a social species can experience and that it causes permanent damage to the brain. And that going to a veterinary practice (or grooming or boarding) where the pet will experience fear, is causing repeat, severe psychological damage to the pet. Conversely, taking a pet to a facility that looks after both the pet's physical and emotional wellbeing, is better for both the pet and the pet owner.

The Bayer Veterinary Healthcare Usage Study showed conclusively that the #1 reason people weren't taking their pets to the vet as often was because of the stress to the pet. And #3 was stress to the pet owner taking the stressed pet to the veterinarian (#2 was money, btw). So in providing a Fear Free experience for the pet, you can eliminate two of the top three reasons people aren't taking pets to the veterinarian. More pet owners visiting the veterinarian for their pet's accidents, illnesses and preventive care means everybody wins. The pet gets optimal care. The pet owner is doing the best job possible as the surrogate. The practitioner and hospital team member get to practice at a level that's rewarding (financial success and emotional wealth). The practice thrives.

Not only can pet owners measure if their pet is fearful or Fear Free, there is going to be a big push in the very near future to educate pet owners on how they can provide their pets with a more Fear Free home environment, how they must work with the veterinary team to deliver a calm pet to the practice, and where they can find veterinarians and veterinary hospitals that are certified Fear Free.

For individuals and facilities that remain fearful, many will wither and some will die. For those that embrace the necessity of looking after the physical and emotional wellbeing of pets (plus pet owners and team members), they are going to thrive.