What does a veterinary behaviorist do?

SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)

I know there aren't too many, so i was wondering.

The ones I know normally work on a referral basis, helping owners deal with aggressive or overly nervous/scared pets.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using SDN Mobile

In a clinical sense they will generally take behavior cases (by referral) that are too complicated or dangerous for a trainer or primary care DVM to handle. They tend to be well versed in current behavior and training theory, and strategies to incorporate medications in addition to managing the underlying causes of unwanted behaviors appropriately. Most of what our behaviorists here see are aggression cases of some type (which often boil down to anxiety on some level). They are very in-depth and are the most likely service to make house calls as the best way to assess many behaviors and situations is by actually being in the element where the animal has the problem.

Originally Posted by nyanko

In a clinical sense they will generally take behavior cases (by referral) that are too complicated or dangerous for a trainer or primary care DVM to handle. They tend to be well versed in current behavior and training theory, and strategies to incorporate medications in addition to managing the underlying causes of unwanted behaviors appropriately. Most of what our behaviorists here see are aggression cases of some type (which often boil down to anxiety on some level). They are very in-depth and are the most likely service to make house calls as the best way to assess many behaviors and situations is by actually being in the element where the animal has the problem.

Yes, what I was getting at but much more detailed.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using SDN Mobile

That about sums it up.

The most common cases the behaviorist I worked for saw were aggressive/fear biting, separation/storm anxiety, and behavioral peeing issues (mostly cats).

Therapy was usually a combo of environmental modification, training, and medication.

I vet behavior. I've been shadowing/assisting a behaviorist for over a year now. Basically what everyone else said is true.

The appointments are usually made on a referral basis, either on the recommendation of a vet or through a vet consulting on a case. We see a lot of in-house behavior cases, though I have gone on a few house calls as well (usually the animals that are very aggressive, cannot go in the car for whatever reason, most cat appointments (they don't like the vet), and multi-animal households).

The owner usually brings his/her animal to the appointment and oftentimes the whole family as well (everyone involved with the care of the animal). The vet takes a very thorough history and observes the pet during the appointment. The owner usually mentions what they've tried and what they are expecting out of the appointment. We see a lot of fear/anxiety (person, theme or item specific, or separation anxiety), fear-based aggression, inappropriate elimination, OCD, dog-dog or dog-cat aggression, and thunderstorm phobias (we're in the NE). We see mostly dogs (I always get excited when we see a cat appointment because they're so few and far between). Based on the appointment, the vet usually feels the owners out to see if they would be amenable to medication. She tends to see very extreme cases of each of the above (plus more), so medication is often warranted. One of the points that she likes to highlight is that training is very different from vet behavior. You can have a very trained, obedient dog that has separation anxiety, for instance.

She offers email/phone follow-up for six months as part of the fee. If the animal is put on medication, we usually wait ~2 weeks and then start any necessary behavior modification. She also does shelter consults, new animal visits, new baby/pregnancy visits, and some of the more general topics like housetraining or puppy/kitten biting. She does a lot of lunch-n-learns, and 'free' on-the-phone consults with local vets (this brings in a lot of referrals, and the vets love it).

If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me

Edit: The vet I work with doesn't do any research, actually. I know the behaviorists at the vet schools do research, and she did research when she was in her residency, but it's all clinical for her now.

This makes me really want to shadow a behaviorist now. I think I might email the one at UGA and see u I could come in. Sounds really awesome!