The ominous hissing, the mournful meows, the defensive scratching or biting, the upset bowels — feline stress is just plain unpleasant for cats and you. Many cats get stressed when it’s time for a veterinary visit. Thankfully, there are ways to help cats relax and enjoy the ride — yes, even in the car. Here’s what you can do.

"You want me to go where?" Many cats are frightened of traveling in a car.

1. Transport your cat in a carrier

Putting cats in a carrier on the way to and from the veterinary clinic is extremely important. Cats are often startled by loud noises or other pets, and, if you’re carrying your cat in your hands, you might not be able to hold on if he/she abruptly tries to get away. Also, cats that are allowed to roam freely inside the car face the risk of more severe injury should there be an accident.

2. Choose a hard-plastic carrier with a removable top

Some cats might resist being put into a carrier. But removable tops make getting cats into—and out of—the carrier easier. Simply undo the screws or latches, lift off the top, set the cat in the bottom, and replace the top. This eliminates the need to force the cat inside, which makes the cat — and you — more relaxed.

3. Make the carrier a favorite place

Some cats come to love their carriers. When cats see their carriers as safe, enjoyable places, they’re happy to go into them and feel more safe in scary places, like the car. Use these strategies to create crate-fondness in your cat:

• Leave the carrier out in your house so your cat can access it at any time.

• Make the carrier inviting by putting a favorite blanket or toy in it.

• Every now and then, lay a few treats inside the carrier.

4. Head to the veterinary clinic for “happy visits”

Does your cat seem to bristle at the thought of visiting the veterinarian? Then take it on a few stress-free trial runs. Call the veterinary hospital to ask if the schedule would allow you and your cat to stop in for five or 10 minutes. You won’t be making a medical visit, but rather a mock appointment that allows your cat to experience all the steps of a routine visit without the physical examination. This free-of-charge “happy visit” gives your cat the chance to get used to the sounds and smells of the hospital, meet the veterinary team members, and eat a few treats all while enjoying the safety of its carrier. After some canoodling, you and your cat will head back home.

If a car ride alone puts your cat in a tailspin, entice your cat into its carrier and start by going for a test drive around the block. Continue to take a drive every now and then, gradually increasing the amount of time you and your cat spend in the car. Remember to reward your cat with a treat for being a good passenger. Eventually, you’ll work your way up to doing a drive that will allow you and your cat to make a “happy visit.” Positive reinforcement is the best way to modify feline behavior, so making car rides and veterinary visits pleasant will help decrease your cat’s anxiety.

Source: Kerry Hillard Johnson, FIRSTLINE, veterinaryteam.dvm360.com

At Animal Hospital of North Asheville, we recommend that you cover your cat’s carrier on three sides with a towel before you enter the waiting room and position the carrier to afford your cat privacy. Although we have a waiting room exclusively for cats (no scary dogs), most cats appreciate the towel because it keeps them hidden from the unfamiliar surroundings. We will also use the towel to provide a hiding place for your cat while on the exam table. Please share any individual preferences that your cats has, so we can further reduce any stress that cat may feel during the visit. Thank you for partnering with us to provide the best care for your pet.

Which Veterinarian at Animal Hospital of North Asheville will my pet be seeing?

YOU choose the veterinarian for your pet.

We offer your pet the intimacy that a small practice offers, while also being able to offer the knowledge, equipment, and conveniences that a multi-doctor practice can provide.  Most of our clients want their pet to be seen primarily by one veterinarian so that doctor can really get to know their pet and their family. Our veterinarians enjoy being there for your pets from puppy or kitten-hood until they become old. Not only is the close relationship that develops rewarding, it means that there is the best continuity of care for your pets, and your pets feel more at ease.

We recently started a new initiative of asking each client which veterinarian they want to choose as the primary veterinarian for their pet. Your pet’s electronic medical record is then flagged with the primary veterinarian’s name of your choosing, and each time you call to make an appointment, the Client Care Representative will do her best to schedule the appointment with your pet’s primary veterinarian. Of course, there will be times that your pet’s primary veterinarian will be off duty or busy in surgery, but if your pet needs care, one of our other veterinarians can give your pet the best of care. Our veterinarians discuss cases in rounds, are very familiar with each other’s cases, and with our excellent electronic medical records, there will be good continuity of care. Once your pet’s primary veterinarian is back on duty, he or she will review everything that transpired and follow up with you on the care.

Our eight veterinarians work as a team and completely understand that you may later decide to change your pet to another of our veterinarians. They are all accustomed to our clients changing from one veterinarian to another and work well with that. All you have to do if you would like to change is just ask a Client Care Representative to make the change. If you want to see different veterinarians each time, that is fine, too. Just make the request. We always believe that the pet’s family knows what is best for the pet they love and care for.

Help AHNA Help Homeless People and Their Pets

Animal Hospital of North Asheville is participating in Project Connect for the Homeless. Project Connect is an annual one day event that is held to provide onsite barrier-free services to the homeless population of Asheville-Buncombe while facilitating community awareness and participation. AHNA will be on hand to provide what care we can to the pets that belong to homeless people.

Would you like to help? You can donate dog and cat food!

Please bring donations to AHNA. We will be collecting donations of dog and cat food through September 9th. September 9, 2010 will be our last day to collect!

For more information on Project Connect, CLICK HERE

It’s an itchy time of year

Is your cat grooming half of her hair off, or is your dog licking his paws raw? It may well be that your pet is experiencing allergies, one of the most common health problems for pets. Forty percent of dogs and cats are estimated to have allergies. Just like people, animals have allergic reactions because their immune system — the system that protects the body from foreign and potentially infectious substances — overreacts to some material. Almost anything — pollen, dust, an ingredient in pet food, a household chemical, an insect bite — can set off an alarm in the immune system, causing it to pump out large amounts of white blood cells, hormones, and other material called histamines into the bloodstream.

The result for animals can be a range of different effects, including itchy, swollen skin (known as pruritis); difficulty breathing; or a disruption of the digestive tract, such as vomiting or diarrhea. These symptoms are the animal equivalent of a person’s sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes.

Pets with these kinds of allergic symptoms can be pretty miserable creatures, and unfortunately they can’t be cured. Allergies are lifelong, chronic problems. The good news is that there’s a lot you can do to help your animal “children” feel better. The best way to start is to find out what your pet is allergic to so that you can keep the allergen out of his environment. Animal allergies generally fall under one of four main categories.

Contact Allergies

These are the least common type of allergy in animals. They happen when an animal’s skin comes in contact with the material to which he’s allergic — if he rubs his face against a wool blanket, for example, and he’s allergic to wool. The chemicals in flea collars can cause this problem as well. The skin at the point of contact will be irritated; it may itch, become thickened or discolored, have a strong odor, and/or lose hair due to constant biting or scratching.

Contact allergies are generally not a hard problem to solve; they’re usually confined to a specific area of an animal’s body.  The area of the pet that contacts the floor or carpet is typically affected. The allergen shouldn’t take too much work to discover. You can try removing different materials that your pet touches until you find the one that irritates his skin.

Food Allergies

Diet can be a complicated factor in pet allergies. Most animals are not born with allergies to food; their immune systems develop an allergic response over time to some part of their diet, often one of the animal proteins. A food allergy can present in many different ways, including the itching, digestive disorders or irritated anal glands.  They can be a real challenge to solve, however.  There is not a specific test for food allergies.

You can try to figure out what’s causing your pet’s allergic reaction by feeding him different diets, but the allergic effects of food can stay in the system for 8 weeks. You may have to keep your furry friend on a special hypoallergenic (non-allergy-causing) diet for 8 to 12 weeks to see how he reacts, and you may have to do it several times with several different diets before you find one that doesn’t cause an allergic reaction.

And while you’re feeding these test diets, you’ll have to make very sure that your pet doesn’t eat any treats, vitamins, leftovers, scraps or even plants around the house. He must eat the test diet exclusively for the entire 8 to 12 weeks to determine whether he has an allergic reaction to it.  A diet trial does not mean to switch from one grocery brand to another.  Special diets are available with proteins your pet has probably never had such as Ostrich and Rice, Rabbit and Rice, Venison and Rice and one of these is fed for 12 weeks.  If the allergy symptoms resolve, it does not mean that you pet must only eat the trial diet.  Improvement confirms that a food allergy is present and then you can add ingredients, one at a time, to see if the symptoms return.

Inhalant Allergies

Inhalant allergies are the kind we humans are most used to. Just like us, our pets get hay fever, meaning they can be allergic to the pollen and mold that fill the outside air during the spring and fall. They can also be allergic to the dust mites, mildew and mold that can be inside every home. These kinds of allergens usually produce severe itching in pets, which is usually concentrated in the ears, feet, groin and armpits, although it can be spread across the entire body. Dogs in particular may develop hairless, irritated “hot spots” from constantly chewing on and scratching the affected skin.

Most animals that are allergic to airborne particles are usually allergic to more than one. Often, they will only experience itching during the pollen-heavy seasons of the year, just like humans who have hay fever. If you find that your pet’s allergies seem to be seasonal, you may be able to limit his outdoor time during allergy season. Your pet may be reacting to an indoor allergen, however, or an allergen that doesn’t vary by season. In that case, there’s not much you can do to keep him away from whatever he’s allergic to, although an air filter might provide some relief.

Flea Allergies

This is an extremely common problem for pets and is possibly the most common allergy of all. Animals aren’t actually allergic to the fleas themselves but to proteins that fleas secrete in their saliva when they bite. Your pet doesn’t have to be a walking flea circus to suffer from an allergy, either. Affected animals can itch severely from a single bite for more than 5 days! So, if you suspect that your pet is allergic to fleas, you’re going to have to work very hard to keep the little pests away.

Frequent baths are a good idea, as are the prescription flea applications and pills. Consult your veterinarian when you choose a flea repellent for your pet, though; the wrong kind or too strong of a concentration could cause irritated skin, seizures and even death in extreme cases. You will also want to treat your pet’s environment, including any bedding or carpeting with which he comes in contact.

Other Options

What makes allergies hard to deal with is that, in many cases, you either won’t be able to determine exactly what is causing the reaction or you won’t be able to remove it from your pet’s environment. This is where your veterinarian comes into the picture. You and your veterinarian will probably have to work together to determine the best treatment, or combination of treatments, for your pet’s allergy. You may have to go through a series of trying a possible solution, waiting to see how your pet reacts to it, and moving on to another solution. Your veterinarian may suggest one or more of the following tests or treatments:

Testing — Your veterinarian has a few different tools to help determine the source of your pet’s allergy. Intradermal or “scratch” tests involve making small abrasions in an animal’s skin and inserting small amounts of materials to which the veterinarian suspects the pet might be allergic. If the animal is allergic to one of the materials, say dust mites or ragweed pollen, the immune system will react to it, and that particular scratch will become inflamed. There are also a number of blood tests that your veterinarian can use to analyze the amount of certain chemicals that the immune system releases into the bloodstream when it is exposed to different allergens. These tests can be used to tell whether your pet is having an allergic reaction or whether the problem is caused by something else, and sometimes they can determine the source of the allergy.

Steroids — These drugs work to suppress the immune system and make the allergic reaction less severe. Steroid treatment can help your pet even if you can’t determine what he’s allergic to or how he’s being exposed. Steroids can have several side effects, however, and they affect nearly every organ in the body. Steroid use can cause weight gain, increased thirst and urination, and increased aggression and other behavioral changes. Steroids are generally used if the allergy occurs for a short amount of time, because long-term use makes animals more prone to infection, as well as susceptible to diabetes and seizures.

Immunotherapy — This is one of the safest and most effective ways to treat allergies, but it also takes the longest amount of time to work. In immunotherapy, animals are given regular — often weekly — vaccinations that contain small amounts of the substance to which they are allergic. The same therapy is used for people who go in for allergy shots. It gradually desensitizes the immune system to the allergen, meaning that, as time goes by, the immune system is reprogrammed and doesn’t react to the allergen as strongly. Unfortunately, it takes some time for the immune system to re-adjust. It can sometimes take 6 to 12 months before animals show any improvement from the treatment.

Antihistamines — These drugs, much like the allergy medication that people take, work to block the chemicals, called histamines, that are released by the immune system. They are effective at reducing itching and inflammation, and they are relatively safe to use. Their major drawback is that they cause sedation and can make pets extremely drowsy and sluggish. Occasionally, they can change an animal’s energy level enough to affect his quality of life.

Symptomatic treatment — Even if none of the above treatments are effective, you can still give your pet a lot of relief by simply treating his symptoms as they come up. There are a number of soothing shampoos on the market that contain ingredients like oatmeal or Epsom salts. Your veterinarian may also be able to suggest ointments, ear treatments or sprays that can make your pet more comfortable. Be cautious about using home remedies or herbal treatments on your pet, however. Consult with your veterinarian before you try any new treatment, because you could damage your pet’s skin or aggravate the allergic reaction. Most of all, remember that, while you can give these symptomatic treatments often, they will only provide temporary relief. If your pet still seems uncomfortable despite the baths or other treatments, you can talk to your veterinarian about long-term treatment.

Whatever treatment decision you and your veterinarian come to, rest assured that the patience and determination it can take to treat allergies is well worth it. Although it may take some time and effort, you can help your itchy, grouchy pet feel comfortable again.

This article originally appeared on healthypet.com

You and your pets are first in our hearts – are we first in yours?

Show your love by voting for

Animal Hospital of North Asheville in the

Mountain Xpress Best of WNC 2010 Contest.

CLICK HERE to VOTE now!

Thank you to everyone who votes.