Handling pet stress in a pandemic

Unaccompanied vet visits can be hard on our furry friends.

If you’re one of the many who adopted a “pandemic puppy” this year, you likely already know that going to the veterinarian in 2020 is a little bit different.

Depending on the region and specific clinic policies, a lot of pet parents aren’t even going inside to the reception area, let alone the exam room. If it’s a potentially serious problem, handing a furry family member through the front door is bound to trigger a little separation anxiety — especially for the animals. How do they feel about leaving their human outside?

Thanks to new research at the University of Guelph, we have some insight into what the dogs are thinking about the whole situation. A study recently published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association revealed that unaccompanied dogs were more likely to experience an increase in heart rate, trembling, shivering, growling and a range of telltale stress signals like tucked-up tails and pinned-back ears.

“A lot of research has shown that, if an animal is in a potentially stressful situation, being with a familiar human does kind of mediate or mitigate their stress levels,” says Anastasia Stellato, lead author of the paper and researcher at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College.

“So if the vet is not able to counteract that, the experience can be more negative and it can lead to more problem visits in the future because the negative association will be stronger than it was before.”

There are short-term problems as well since, in the case of a particularly stressed animal, it might not even be possible to finish the exam or treatment. And when it comes to blood work, a stressed-out animal’s results may even be skewed — blood glucose and some white blood cell counts may be off.

Still, you can’t change physical distancing rules, right? And given that we’re looking at several more months of handing our pets off, is there anything we can do to make life easier on our cats and dogs?

“For starters, I think pet parents need to remain as calm as possible before they bring their animals in,” says Helen Foster, veterinarian and founder of Bickford Park Animal Hospital.

“Animals absolutely sense our stress and anxiety and they feed off it. We don’t want them to have anxiety before they even get through the door.”

Foster says that, long before the pandemic removed the companion humans from the scene, the team at Bickford spent a lot of effort on offering a stress-free environment, by providing positive reinforcement and assessing the patients’ individual quirks and preferences.

Each file contains pretty extensive notes about what works best, be it taking things slow, plenty of head scratches or, most often, tempting treats and snacks.

These are all things Stellato recommends as best practices for solo animal treatment, which may be why the clinic hasn’t experienced that many problems so far.

“We actually haven’t had too much of an issue,” says Foster. “In general, things have been pretty good, but there have been a few cases where the animals were just so stressed without their owner that we actually did the exam and the appointment outside with the owner present — masks on, of course.”

For cats and dogs with a history of extreme stress, it would probably be smart for their humans to ask about mild sedatives that can be given before the appointment so that, by the time they come in, they’re a little more relaxed. For less extreme cases, taking a healthy dog out for a good walk will work off some of that nervous energy.

“A lot of pets are with their owners 24/7 during this pandemic so they’re even more anxious when they’re away from their best friends,” says Foster. “If people can try to prepare their dogs, in general, to be with other people that might be helpful. I’m not saying you should hand your dog off to whoever walks by, but getting them used to hanging out with other people helps.”

It’s a great thing that our dogs — and cats — are getting to hang with their humans a lot more than normal, but Foster adds she’s not alone in worrying there will eventually be some unintended consequences to this, and not just at the vet’s office.

“I think the animals are happier than ever because they’re getting a lot of attention and more walks than ever because there’s nothing else to do, but my big concern is that we are in for some behavioural nightmares post-pandemic with dogs and separation anxiety,” says Foster.

“If you’re not taking the time to separate yourself from your animals and let them have quiet time away from you so that they can start to learn that you’re coming back and they’re going to be all right, it’s going to be a really hard transition when you go back to leaving the house for eight or 10 hours a day to go to work.”

Foster adds that most vets are concerned that the transition will be so stressful that shelters will be overwhelmed with unwanted pandemic pets: “I hope it’s not a problem, but we’re seeing so many new pets and I’m happy that they’re getting adopted, but I do worry what’s going to happen down the road.”

The pandemic won’t last forever (we trust), but adopting an animal is a serious commitment, so we need to be sure to treat it as such. The good news is, your vet is there to help make plans to get doggos — and even cats, who need us more than most people think — used to more solo time.

And, soon enough, the vets will hopefully even be able to offer that help to the humans and animals in the same room.

HELEN FOSTER Helen Foster, of Bickford Park Animal Hospital, is worried about separation anxiety for our pets after people go back to work. A new study has found that dogs are already displaying stress at the vet as physical distancing keeps their humans outside.

Anastasia Stellato says being with a familiar human mitigates an animal’s stress.