Taking our pets to the vet can be a real ordeal. They get nervous, they remember some unpleasant experience that happened within the four walls of the clinic, they may want to fight with the rest of the animals that are waiting their turn to be treated … The reasons for the concern can be varied and the result is the same: both You and your pet have an unpleasant time every time you have a checkup or get vaccinated.
Do you have a cat and do you feel totally identified? Are you about to take your puppy to the clinic for the first time to get vaccinated and want to do it right? We are going to give you four tips from an ethologist so that the experience of going with the cat to the veterinary office both for the first time and on successive occasions is not dramatic. Take aim!
On the way to the vet
– No rush
It is important that the day you go to the vet you take it easy, that is, that you put the cat in the carrier with time, without forcing (for example, encouraging it with a toy, with a snack … if it can be).
– Make sure there is not much fuss
Before leaving home, call the vet clinic to ask if there are many people with their pets waiting in the room. If they say yes and you can afford it, go at another time when the center is calmer.
– Cover the carrier with a blanket
This simple gesture helps many cats to calm down. Try not to hit the carrier while you are transporting it and keep it covered throughout the journey and even while you wait to be treated.
– Take a towel from home
Also, if you have several cats at home, the ideal is that you take a towel. The explanation is that it will have the smell of your home and by putting it in the carrier, it will help the cat to feel calmer. Also that when he arrives from the clinic the other felines receive him well, because he will have the smell of the house, not so much of the clinic, an aroma that is unknown to animals that have not been to the vet.
Once in the consultation
– Put the carrier up
When you are in the waiting room, do not leave the carrier on the floor. If there is no elevated place to put it, place it on your lap.
– Avoid looking at other animals
– Make sure that the dogs cannot get close to the cat
If the clinic does not have a specific waiting room for cats, avoid as much as possible that the dogs come to sniff the carrier or directly to confront your cat.
