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Fear Free Practice Essay

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Recently there has been a surge in Veterinary practices to reduce the fear and anxiety that is associated with visits to the animal hospital. The ideology is referred to as a “fear free practice”. In my humble opinion I believe this should have been adopted a long time ago and seems, simply put, a “No Brainer”. The principles of a “Fear Free” animal hospital was first introduced to the field by world renowned veterinarian and most importantly animal behaviorist and trainer, the late Dr. Sophia Yin. In addition, to Dr. Yin’s work the movement was also fueled by the work of Dr. Karen Overall. The two coupled with many others who have picked up the torch of Dr. Yin’s initial work have made great strides in the improvement of the veterinary practice. …show more content…

Research shows in human patients that treating the whole person; mind, body and spirit, the patient has a much better chance of maintaining a healthy body. For scores of years the unacceptable behavior in animals, specifically in dogs was blamed on the back yard breeders and lack of affordable spay/neuter for an ever increasing pet population, all the while neglecting to confront the behavior issues. The Veterinary Visit was so scary, cold and unappealing to animals that many pet parents chose to stay way. Pet parents would have rather risked the suffering of their pets. In any event by doing so they would miss the intervention that could have eliminated these consequences. Therefore, by incorporating behavior as part of their daily practice protocol, a Veterinary Hospital visit would be a more enticing place to come to and pet parents would routinely bring their pet without question. Many Practices are concerned that such a program would be costly. This could not be any farther from the truth, in fact most of tips that are used to make a practice “fear free” are at minimal cost or no cost at

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