In this article I will address what techniques help reduce stress in emergency care, how you can achieve patient cooperation when you do not have the ability to use food rewards, address staff safety, and why the experience in an emergency setting affects an animal for all veterinary care.

Over the past few years, various certification programs to reduce fear, anxiety, and aggression in animals receiving veterinary care have been established. Currently, four of the most well known of these programs are: Cat Friendly Practice® American Association of Feline Practitioners https://www.catvets.com/cfp/cfp    Low Stress Handling® Certification CattleDog Publishing, founded by Dr. Sophia Yin https://lowstresshandling.com/    Karen Pryor Clicker Training Karen Pryor Academy https://www.karenpryoracademy.com/         Fear Free℠ Fear Free, LLC, headed by Dr. Marty Becker https://fearfreepets.com/courses/fear-free-certification-program/      2018VMXLogo Other sources for learning how to reduce pet fear and aggression during veterinary care also exist, such as a

As I am leading handling labs in Low Stress Handling, I have come to realize the tremendous impact hands-on learning has to actually feeling confident using Low Stress handling techniques. This type of learning is also called tactile learning – because you literally feel the process of what you are learning.

For some workplaces, changing animal care to a Low Stress culture has been an exciting change, with clear objectives and training. For other, a divide has erupted as Low Stress Handling™ techniques are resisted by some of the staff. As a speaker and writer promoting positive veterinary exams, I hear the frustration from those who experience the benefit of Low Stress Handling and find resistance to changing handling practices at their workplace. I want to share some insight into this problem and a few solutions.

At the end of July 2017, I attended the American Veterinary Medical Association Convention in Indianapolis, IN. This was pretty exciting for me as I was selected as a poster presenter for my survey “Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Bite/Near-Bite Job Stress in Veterinary Medicine.” In addition to the poster presentation, I was also selected to lead a round table discussion on the same topic. Last summer (2016), I proffered a 10-question survey to a number of veterinary groups. This was an effort to gather data on job stress due to bite and near-bite injuries in small animal practices. As

Last weekend I attended the Veterinary Behavior Symposium – the conference of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists – held in conjunction with the American Veterinary Medical Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis, IN. CattleDog Publishing co-sponsored the symposium and our booth was well attended. It was great to see so many of my friends and people who supported Dr. Yin in her writing and publications at this meeting. What I always like about this meeting is the variety of presentations focused on advancing the science of animal behavior. Residents in veterinary behavior, veterinary behavior specialty technicians, and research scientists from