An audience member question during my recent webinar on Fear of the Veterinary Clinic and Veterinary Procedures:
If there isn't time to condition a dog to veterinary procedures because vaccinations (or others) are needed, would you recommend sedation or "just get through it" as best as possible?
Great question!
Are the vaccinations a want or a need?
If they are a want, not a need, then you don't have to do the vaccinations. You can send the patient home for conditioning to handling OR for a more well-planned sedation visit.
If they are a need (as in right now, today) AND the animal is a behavioral YELLOW, then give food before the vaccinations (while someone else is preparing the vaccines for instance) and see if the patient can relax a bit. If not, get really highly palatable food and at least distract the patient from the vaccinations. Then make sure to give food even after the vaccinations to help the patient stay in a calm frame of mind. Then get them home ASAP!
If they are a need AND the animal is a behavioral RED - test to see if the patient can be brought down to a yellow with breaks, time, environmental comfort care, and food within a few minutes. Otherwise, sedate ASAP!
Is there really no time during the appointment to condition or at least distract?
Most of the time, there is! We just don't take that time. Are you getting a history? Give some food. Are you checking the patient in at the front desk? Give some food. Is the vet doing a physical examination? Give some food. :)
This is the type of planning and questioning that needs to become so easy that it's second nature. You know how putting in a catheter those first few times was hard, and you needed to think a lot, but that with practice (and ideally a checklist) you learned to do it while listening to music, chewing a bite of your lunch, and thinking about what you are going to write in the record of another patient?
