Evidence-based approaches to reducing in-patient stress – Part 1: Why animals' sensory capacities make hospitalization stressful to them

ABSTRACT:

How many times do clients remark, “S/he used to love coming here until s/he came in to be ‘done’”? Like us, clients know that hospitalization can be stressful for their animals. While stress is not a bad thing, animals’ attempts to cope with it can make them more difficult for us to handle. Furthermore, their stress can become ‘distress’ if their environment is unpredictable and does not permit them to perform effective coping behaviours. This article is the first in a series of three that review why hospitalization is stressful and what evidence-based approaches you might use to help minimize stress. Part one summarises the ethological and physiological reasons why hospitalization is stressful.

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Caroline Hewson

Caroline Hewson MVB PhD MRcvs

From 2000 to 2006, Caroline Hewson was Research Chair in Animal Welfare at the Atlantic Veterinary College, Canada. Resuming locum work in 2008, she surveyed pet owners and found that those participants valued a patient-friendly hospital environment more than clinical features, such as an in-house laboratory. Caroline continues to wrestle with how to balance clinical efficiency with a holistic approach to client and patient care.