A Stress Reliever...for your dog!

Do us a favor. We like your dog to be happy and relaxed when he or she visits us. If, at every visit to the DQ, you got an injection instead of ice cream, when the car turned south on State Street, you would want to leap out of the window. Often, this is the reaction your dog feels when you turn north on 1300 Street heading for our office.

To help reduce your dog's stress, associated with a veterinary visit, we invite you and your dog to drive out every so often, unload, walk around, sniff the grass (Fido) and come in to visit. Walk up to the front desk and tell the nice ladies that you and "Fido" are just visiting. Ask them for a treat or two. If you can build a "happy" association around going to the veterinary office, your pet will feel less stress. When your pet feels less stress, diagnostic test results are more accurate, your veterinarian's job is easier and your pet's health improves.

Let me add that the above advice does not hold true for cats. It is nearly impossible to build a "happy" association around a veterinary visit with a cat. Cats are stressed anytime that they leave their home turf and the veterinary office environment is unlikely to ever be a cat's "home turf". Cats are not as easily manipulated as dogs (this is not news to any cat owner, we are the ones manipulated, not the cat).

Come on out, bring Fido, ask for a treat and help reduce your pet's "white coat" or "overalls" stress. We will welcome you.