Here at Abbey vets we are passionate about creating an environment for your pet that enables them to come and visit us with the least stress possible.

In September we talked about all the things that we do to help reduce stress in cats.  This month we will be talking about what we do to help reduce stress in dogs and more specifically dogs that get very stressed or scared coming to the vets.

Due to lockdown and the increase in numbers of puppies that were purchased during this period we have seen an increase in the number of young dogs that are very scared and stressed coming to the vets.  This is because they were not able to have the full level of socialisation during the critical first 13 weeks of life.

This prompted us to set up desensitisation clinics to help these young dogs feel more confident coming to the vets. However, these clinics are run for any dog that has a problem coming to or being examined at the vet.

Our senior Vet Zoe and our Student Veterinary Nurse Vikki have a keen interest in dog behaviour and are working together to help educate owners and desensitise dogs to the veterinary environment.  We have had a lot of success being able to vaccinate and examine dogs, who previously we could not get near.  The dogs are also much happier to come to the vets and everyone is less stressed.

Our clinics are nurse led and depending on the problem will often involve weekly visits to start with. Our nurses will make a training plan and give you exercises to practice at home too.  Once your dog’s behaviour starts to improve the visits will become less frequent.

If your dog gets stressed going to the vets and you have the time to commit to a visit a week for a month or two then give us a call or speak to one of our lovely nurses. We would love to help you and your dog achieve happier vet visits.

P.S – Don’t forget bonfire night next month can be a very stressful time for pets too.  Have a chat with us about things you can do to help minimise stress at this time.

Follow us on Facebook @AbbeyVetsShrewsbury or Instagram@abbeyvetsshrewsbury for more tips.