Pet behavior consults
A veterinary appointment for fear, anxiety or a behavior problem. It starts by ruling out a medical cause.
If your pet’s fear or anxiety, or a specific behavior problem, is affecting your household, a behavior consult is a veterinary appointment rather than a training session. Most of the work is conversation and observation.
Most owners arrive having already tried a good deal: advice from the internet, advice from a neighbor, a class, a device sold as a solution. Tell us what you have already tried, and what happened.
What happens during a consult
Bring video. A phone recording of the pacing, the barking at the window, or the cat circling the box without getting into it is often the most useful thing in the appointment.
The visit usually includes three things.
- A physical exam. A behavior change that is genuinely new, like sudden aggression, house-soiling in a previously reliable pet, or a shift in personality, is often a medical problem. Pain, a urinary tract infection, thyroid disease and cognitive decline in older pets all present this way. Sometimes that is the whole answer.
- Working out what is going on. The problems most often worked on here are anxiety and fear, including separation anxiety, noise and storm phobia, house-soiling and litter box avoidance, fear of the veterinary visit itself, and aggression and reactivity.
- A plan. That may mean changes to how things are managed at home, referral to a certified trainer or a board-certified veterinary behaviorist, and medication where it is appropriate, which is prescribed here.
A pet flooded with fear cannot learn, and sometimes medication is what makes the learning possible.
What a behavior consult costs
A behavior consult is $109. Anything recommended during the visit, like bloodwork or medication, is discussed and priced with you before it happens.
Ready when you are
Say when you book that it is a behavior visit.
Behavior — common questions
Is this the same as dog training?
No. A veterinary behavior consult rules out medical causes first and can involve medication. A trainer works on skills and behavior modification. The two are often used together, and where a case needs a trainer or a board-certified veterinary behaviorist we will point you toward the right person.
My dog is terrified of monsoon storms. Can you help with that?
Yes. Treatment usually means gradually changing what the noise means to your dog, and medication where the fear has gone beyond what training alone can reach. Start in spring rather than on the night of the first storm. It is very difficult for a dog to learn better behaviors while in the middle of a panic attack, so a call in July usually means managing your way through this summer and treating it properly before the next one.
Will my pet need medication?
Some pets do well on management and changes at home alone. Others need medication alongside the behavior work. For a pet we have already examined, anti-anxiety medication can also be prescribed to give at home before you leave for a visit. We cannot prescribe before we have examined your pet, because Arizona requires an established veterinarian-client-patient relationship before medication is dispensed, and that relationship begins with an examination. If getting your pet through the door is itself the problem, say so when you book and we will work out how to make that first visit as easy as it can be.
Related
Book online, or call and speak to someone in the clinic
20801 N Scottsdale Rd, Suite 101 · Scottsdale, AZ 85255
480-585-3512