Understanding the cat codeAugust 31, 2020Enrichment should no longer be considered a "nice option" for clients of indoor cats.
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Separation anxiety: Treating dogs in the wake of COVID-19August 19, 2020It behooves all of us in the veterinary profession to help prevent and overcome pet behavior problems before they result in irreparable damage to the human-companion animal bond.
Eight tips to reduce fireworks anxiety in petsJune 25, 2020With the Fourth of July around the corner, AVMA has released a list of ways to help keep pets calm during loud events.
With great power, comes great responsibilityJanuary 2, 2020Steve Dale has a new job: Avenger. Not the Marvel comic book superheroes you’re familiar with, mind you. He saves the day by being a veterinary mythbuster.
FDA approves generic canine anti-anxiety medicationOctober 30, 2019Veterinarians in need of a generic drug for their anxious canine patients are in luck.
Veterinary behaviorists question "scruffing"August 20, 2019Animal care professionals may want to reconsider the way they handle their feline patients.
Dog owners need positive reinforcement, tooJune 21, 2019Clinical animal behaviorists should practice patience when coaching owners on how to correct aggressive behavior in dogs, according to new research.
How 'brain candy' helps petsJune 18, 2018The female pit bull had a tough-chick approach to life: Be aggressive first; ask questions later. Her owner was a dog trainer and had taught her well as far as obedience training, but the dog was aggressive toward other dogs in the home and toward some humans.
UF study says hearing loss in stranded animals causes behavior changesApril 10, 2018Several years ago, University of Florida aquatic animal veterinarian Michael Walsh, DVM, a clinical associate professor of aquatic animal health at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, noticed a concerning pattern of two stranded dolphins after they had been rescued. Both dolphins returned to the beach once they had been released back into the wild. While Dr. Walsh worked to rehabilitate the animals, he noticed they exhibited numerous behavioral problems. A hearing test at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., revealed one of the dolphins was completely deaf (the second dolphin couldn't be tested), which led Walsh to wonder whether the problem of animals adapting to new environments might be hearing related and more common than initially thought. When Megan Strobel, DVM, then a first-year UF veterinary medical student, went to Walsh, her faculty mentor, in 2013 to discuss a possible research project, he suggested that she might compare hearing capacity and behavior changes in wild and facility-housed dolphins. The result of their collaboration, which also involved numerous other individuals and organizations, was a study that appeared in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. The study found that stranded animals with hearing deficits showed markedly different behaviors than animals …
Could noise sensitivity in dogs be a cry for pain relief?March 26, 2018 A study conducted by animal behavior scientists from the U.K. and Brazil found that dogs that show fear or anxiety when faced with loud or sudden noises could actually be in pain. The researchers examined cases of dogs that had developed sensitivity to variations in noise volume, pitch, and occurrence, and found they also had associated musculoskeletal pain. The undiagnosed pain could be exacerbated when auditory stimuli makes the dogs tense or jump, placing extra stress on muscles or joints that already are inflamed, causing further pain, according to the study. That pain is then associated with a loud or startling noise, leading to sensitivity to noise and avoidance of situations where they had a previous bad experience, such as at a local park or in a loud room at home. According to the researchers, veterinarians should give any dog with a behavior issue a thorough physical exam to determine that if pain is a factor, it can be diagnosed and treated, and the behavior issue can then be addressed. In the study, all dogs that experienced pain and were treated showed improvement in behavior. Pain, behavior issues, and the onset of pain "Although the average ages of the …
