Visits to the vet can be taxing for both the dog and its owner. Doctor’s visit, for whatever reason, is always a reason to worry. It can be more vexing for your pet, because most things that are done during a vet’s visit make your pet uncomfortable, even frighten him. The poor thing does not even understand why it’s there in the first place. Here are 5 things you can do to make your visit to the vet easier for yourself, your pet as well as the doctor and the nurses.
1) Exercise your dog: Before going to the vet, take your dog out for a long walk, or play ball up and down the stairs till its tired. When a dog is tired, it’s happy and less stressed out.
2) Take samples: If you are going for a visit that might need urine and stool samples, then try to collect it beforehand. They only need very little for the testing, so a small jar should do the trick. This way, the nurses do not have to poke things up where he definitely does not want them to, hence less stress for everyone involved.
3) Go over his medical file: Be sure to check his medical file and make a note of anything that you might want to ask. Prepare a list of Questions before going in. The Questions could be anything that you might be concerned about. It could be about whether your dog needs to be tested for heartworm, or whether she is due for the Bordetella vaccine, or which Flea and Tick medicine is best for your dog. The idea is to club all your concerns together which might mean one less follow-up visit.
4) Practice checking her ears, paws, mouth, teeth, tail and rear end. Give treats and praise her. The more you can do this, easier it will be at the vet’s.
5) Take treats: Lots of it. My German loves cheese and my Rottweiler will do anything for bacon pieces. So I have them stashed away and bring them out every time they respond to me. I hand some out to the nurses too, and that makes everything a little easier. Better still, let your dog skip a meal right before the visit. All the treats that you will dole out then will be even more delicious.
Do you do anything special to make visits to the vet easier? Do share.