March is a funny old month, often behaving in a very unpredictable manner.  Some years it plays the late winter card and in others, it’s early summer.  Whatever we get, one thing is true, it really is the start of spring. With that, there’s a change in mindset and mood for all life in the northern hemisphere.  As the sun rises higher in the sky, so do our spirits, feelings often mirrored by our animals. Animals cannot tell us how they are feeling. There is a certain level of unspoken understanding that we have to tap into. For vets, we need a certain level of compliance from pets to enable us to help them.

Many pet, horse and farm animal owners can relate to the idea that their state of mind affects their animals.  Perhaps horses are more sensitive in this regard (certainly my own experience) but maybe it’s just their size and power that magnifies the effect.  I spent years pushing stomach tubes down horses’ throats and arms up their backsides and I can tell you now, there needs to be a significant degree of understanding between vet and horse for this to be possible! 

I rarely had to use a twitch, instead taking the time to make a connection between us.  Hocus pocus? Perhaps. But for vets out there reading this, I did a large animal medicine residency at Cornell in the early 1990s.  For the last 20 years, I’ve spent my time dealing with smaller creatures although the vet/pet connection is just as important. As is the relationship with the patients’ owners, which is essentially one of trust.

As vets, our job is so much easier if the patient (and owner) is on our side. This effectively means “compliance from pets”; a state of mind achievable in a fair proportion of patients.  That said, things are very different in the clinic in comparison to the home environment, where giving tablets to cats has moved into the realm of folk-lore.  It’s not always plain sailing in the consultation room either, where our small animal patients fall somewhere along a spectrum of being “nice” to “very difficult”.  Nice patients let us do just about anything (providing it’s not too painful). Difficult patients just won’t let us do anything at all! 

One interesting observation we made during the last couple of years, when owners couldn’t accompany their pets into the clinic, was how much easier “difficult” patients were when on their own.  We often employ the same tactic now, taking fractious pets away from their owners (with permission) to a different room.  

The truth is that consultations with unpredictable animals are harrowing for everyone. Additionally, trying to get anything of diagnostic value is a struggle.  The result is a diagnosis and treatment plan based on very little information, making the vet feel uncertain and nervous that an important clinical sign has been overlooked.  So how can we make our patients less stressed so that we can gain compliance from pets?  After all, it’s the stress of the environment that triggers the unpredictable and sometimes aggressive behaviour. 

Unfortunately, I fall into the scary category for nervous dogs, being quite tall, male and bearded (well, masked these days…at least it hides the grey hairs!).  Towering over dogs, making direct eye contact and reaching out towards them are all no-no’s as these are confrontational signals.  That’s why I try greeting dogs sitting down and keeping a distance, throwing treats towards them until I establish trust.  Many of you know I often lie on the floor with scared dogs, trying to make myself as submissive as possible.  Although it makes me vulnerable, I’ve never yet been bitten when I’m smaller than the dog, although I am selective.  

Owners can really help us with tricky cases by identifying stress triggers and helping us avoid them. For example, many dogs hate getting on the scales (for a different reason than for most humans) so leaving this until last helps.  Also, time spent in the waiting room can be really stressful, especially for cats, so we minimise this where possible.  Maybe this was why car park consultations and then straight into the consult room worked so well, even though none of us miss standing in the rain, trying to maintain confidentiality despite shouting over the traffic noise.

The other side of the coin is the over-friendly dog that jumps onto my lap and wants to lick me.  Very endearing but another reason to wear a mask as the canine tongue has usually been places!  If these dogs are over-stimulated, the clinical examination is as difficult as for aggressive or very nervous dogs. I try to moderate my greetings for these patients as it can be counter-productive, at least until after the examination. 

So whatever happens in March, one thing’s certain; the weather and level of compliance from pets will keep us guessing.  For some, unpredictability goes hand in hand with interesting and exciting. So, even after 37 years in this job, it’s never boring!