Appointments

Appointments

Because you know your pet better than anyone, we work closely with you and your primary care veterinarian to develop a treatment plan that honors your pet’s uniqueness and your individual goals for your furry family.

What does a veterinary behaviorist do?

Behavior Team Intake/Dr. Assessment Appointments

To get started, your first step is a 45-minute Behavior Intake session with one of our skilled Behavior Technicians or Doctor’s Assistants. This online Telehealth appointment, priced at $184.00, allows us to gather comprehensive information on your pet’s history. Then you will receive information on ways to reduce the problem behavior, educate yourself on your pet’s behavior, and keep you and your pet safe as applicable. You’ll receive a customized discharge plan via email within 24 hours.

When you schedule your pet’s intake appointment, your pet will also be scheduled for an in-person 45-minute Doctor Evaluation with a behavior doctor.

Before your pet’s Doctor Evaluation appointment, your doctor and technician will:

  • Review your pet’s medical history if sent by your family veterinarian.
  • Review the behavior questionnaire form that you filled out in preparation for your pet’s appointment.

During the appointment, the behavior doctor will:

  • Explain your pet’s disorder.
  • Explain diagnoses treatment options, recommended lab tests and medications, cost of treatment, and the likelihood of improvement over time with each treatment option.
  • Perform a physical examination if the pet can be examined safely and with low-stress techniques.

The cost for this evaluation is $356.00. Diagnostic tests and medications are additional.

When you schedule your pet’s appointments, the Client Care Representative will take a deposit to hold your pet’s spot. If you need to cancel, just let us know more than 2 business days in advance for a full refund.

Cooperative Care

What are cooperative care appointments?

Cooperative care appointments are appointments that focus exclusively on making veterinary visits less stressful for your pet. Appointments include a medical plan made by one of our behavior doctors, recommendations for your family, and sometimes for your primary care veterinarian to make veterinary visits less stressful. In addition, in some cases, the doctor may recommend at-home exercises to condition your pet to be calmer at the veterinarian’s office so that he or she can have low stress medical care from your primary care veterinarian.

Why might my dog or cat need a cooperative care appointment?

Studies show that visits to the veterinary clinic are stressful for both dogs and cats. Additionally, many cat pet parents report that they avoid going to the veterinarian entirely foregoing important medical care for their furry family members because it is so stressful to visit the veterinary clinic. We all want the best for our pets. In order to help them live their best lives, Cooperative care appointments allow you to ensure that your dog or cat is less stressed and more easily managed at the veterinary office so that your family veterinarian can provide them the best medical care for their entire lifetime.

How do I know if my pet needs a cooperative care appointment?

The majority of cats and dogs are stressed at the veterinarian’s office. If your dog pants, paces, barks, hides, jumps on furniture or staff members, freezes, whines, growls, lunges, trembles, urinates, defecates or expresses his anal sacs at the vet’s office, he or she is too stressed and would benefit from cooperative care appointments. If your cat urinates or defecates in the cat carrier, howls in the car, spits, pants, hides, hisses or is aggressive at the veterinary clinic he or she is very stressed and could benefit from a cooperative care appointment.

Will FVBS behavior doctors act as my family veterinarian?

Your pet’s behavior doctor will not act as your pet’s family veterinarian. Instead, the goal of these appointments is to help your pet feel less stressed and accept veterinary care willingly so that your family veterinarian can safely deliver care in a low-stress way.

How do appointments work? Prior to your visit, we ask that you fill out a short questionnaire so that we can target our history taking to your pet’s unique needs. At the first visit, you and your pet will meet with one of our behavior doctors and veterinary technicians. At the first appointment, the behavior doctor will ask additional questions about your pet’s history, examine your pet’s medical records, assess your pet’s stress level and make a plan with you to help visits to your family care veterinarian be successful. Also, at that time the behavior doctor will estimate the number of follow-up visits needed to reach your goals for your pet. Follow-up visits range depending on your pet’s needs. Some of the follow-ups will be with our highly skilled technicians and some will be with your pet’s behavior doctor. Throughout this process, our behavior doctors work as a team with your pet’s family doctor to facilitate the plan.

More questions about appointments? Click here!