We are committed to giving your pet the most “Fear Free” experience possible.
Almost all of our staff now are officially Fear Free certified, which is the course we base our business model on.
So how are we different from most clinics?
- All of our consultations are half an hour (or longer) to give your pet enough time to feel comfortable and ensure your visit isn’t rushed. We do our best to get you straight into a consult room, too, to help avoid waiting room run-ins with pets that may be anxious around other animals.
- All dogs are given an Adaptil© sprayed bandana, and our cat-only consult room is sprayed with Feliway© on arrival to utilise comforting pheromones during your pet’s visit. We also have spray diffusers around the clinic to keep that pheromone-game strong!
- Unless when absolutely necessary (like in an emergency), we do not use forceful handling techniques on any animal. Cuddles and bribery with lots and lots of snacks are how we roll! Distracting with licky-mats is a personal favourite for our injections! We would rather re-schedule an appointment to when your pet is more comfortable than force them into a situation that may make them become afraid of the vet!
- We will never “take your animal out the back” for treatments. All needles, blood draws, nail clips, ear cleans, and other small procedures are done with the owner present to minimise the anxiety caused by removing the animal from their person.
- For the bigger procedures, dentals, and surgeries, there’s no “morning drop-off” – we ask you to stick around with your pet while they get nice and sleepy before taking them away for their operation. They will also never wake up alone in a cage – we find they come around much smoother, waking up in a nurse’s arms 🥰.
- We will not use medication as a “last resort” when treating an anxious pet. Drugs such as Gabapentin are happily prescribed as a pre-med before your consultation to put your pet in a relaxed mindset when visiting the clinic.
- We are big advocates for “friendly visits” (coming in, for free, and being showered with love and nothing pointy) and desensitisation techniques – introducing our nervous patients slowly to scary things like blood tests!
- Even our scales are covered in fake grass to make them a little less scary for our pooches!
Call us to book in for a consult today to see how else we strive to be different!