While most owners know how important it is to bring their pet in for their wellness examinations, actually mustering up the gumption to do so can be another story altogether. Besides finding the time and wrestling an often unwilling participant into a pet carrier or the vehicle, it can be hard to watch your sweet companion become anxious or even terrified while at our hospital.
That is why Billings Animal Family Hospital has dedicated itself to making your visits to see us as pleasant as possible and have committed ourselves to achieving our Fear Free Certification.
What is Fear Free Certification?
As we understand more and more about our animal friends, we have come to recognize problems such as fear and anxiety that can affect their day to day lives. As professionals dedicated to helping pets, the last thing that we want is to add to these types of emotions.
Recently a Fear Free Initiative, dedicated to reducing stress to pets during veterinary care, was founded. This panel of 160 members contains experts in the veterinary industry and animal behavior. Together, these industry professionals have come together to design best practices and recommendations for our interactions with your precious pets.
In order for an animal hospital to achieve Fear Free Certification through this initiative project, a few requirements must be achieved.
These include:
- Completion of an 8-module online course by at least 25% of the staff
- Continuing completion of continuing education requirements for certified individuals
- On-site inspection of the facility to be sure that it meets certification standards
Together with the Fear Free Initiative, Billings Animal Family Hospital is dedicated to “take the ‘pet’ out of ‘petrified’”.
Our Promise to You
It is important to us that your pet have as stress-free an experience possible while spending time with us. This is the main reason that we have undertaken achieving Fear Free Certification, which we anticipate receiving at the end of this month. Through this certification, we vow to bring you and your furry friends:
- A calming environment
- Gentle handling techniques
- Fewer anxiety triggers
- Advice for transporting your pet calmly
- Improved safety
- Better medicine
We are very excited to achieve our Fear Free Certification. We hope that our clients and veterinary patients appreciate and can benefit from our sincere dedication to taking the stress out of coming to see us. We know that this is the best way for us to provide the highest quality care for you and your pets.
