AD140 – Advance 25 – Foundations of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine

Advance25^TM Courses help you to develop your knowledge and clinical skills in a defined area of small animal practice. These fully flexible online courses include tutor support and discussion forums. The course materials are all recorded, and you have full access for a 12 month period. The course runs for a six week period, and you’ll get tutor support for a further 2 weeks via the course forum in case you need to catch up. After that, you’ll still have full access to all of your course materials although the tutor support will end. Complete your learning and get your CPD Certificate for 25 Hours of CPD.

This online course in Veterinary Behavioural Medicine is for you if you’re a vet and you’d like to learn how to address specific behavioural problems in your small animal patients. This is a general level course suitable for recent graduates and vets who’ve been qualified for some years.

In this interactive course, we’ll discuss how the mental, emotional and physical health of your patients are inter-connected, review and evaluate cases and real-life scenarios, look at different treatment options for patients with behavioural problems and provide practical tools and tips that you can start using immediately in your consulting room.

Session 1 – Why we, as Vets, need to be Involved in the Management of Behaviour Problems

1          How does behavioural medicine fit into everyday practice life?

2          Is it behavioural or is it medical – or is it both?

We’ll begin with the interplay of mental, emotional and physical health and how one can impact the other. We’ll address how you can make clinic visits less stressful for your patients and why that is important for clinical outcome.

We’ll also discuss how to differentiate between behavioural and physical medical causes of behaviour problems and how that impacts treatment options and welfare.

Session 2 – Problem Behaviour or Behaviour Problem?

3          Nuisance behaviours in dogs

4          Nuisance behaviours in cats

In this session, we’ll look at commonly faced issues where the animal’s behaviour is considered to be “normal” but is not desired by or appropriate in the eyes of the owner. Behaviours such as digging, mouthing, chewing and jumping will be discussed in dogs and, in cats, we’ll look at strategies to aid with integration of a new cat into a home and why this can be so challenging.

Session 3 – House Soiling

5          House Soiling in dogs

6          House Soiling (eliminating outside the box) in cats

In this session, we’ll look at elimination problems and house soiling. We will look at behavioural and medical differential diagnoses and address effective management strategies.

Session 4 – Fears and Phobias

7          Separation Related Behaviours

8          Noise Phobias

These are some of the most common behavioural problems presented to veterinarians and we’ll look at how you can evaluate these cases and assist in their treatment.

Session 5 – Aggressive Behaviours

9          Aggressive Behaviours in dogs

10        Aggressive Behaviours in cats

Aggressive behaviours in both dogs and cats are a leading cause for relinquishment and euthanasia. In this session, we’ll look at aggressive behaviour towards members of the same species and towards humans, discuss prognostic factors and how you can assess and evaluate these cases.

Session 6 – Psycho-pharmaceuticals, supplements, diets and pheromones

11        Psycho-pharmaceutical medication – when and how?

12        Supplements, diets and pheromones – when and how?

In this session, we’ll look at when and how to use psycho-pharmaceutical medication, supplements, diets and pheromone products. Appropriate use of these tools can play a significant role in enhancing the outcome for your small animal patients.

What do Vets Say About this Course?

‘Really interesting and relevant course addressing all the problem areas encountered in general practice. Increased awareness of the various aspects of behavioural problems, and a more holistic approach to them ; increased confidence in trying some of the treatments before necessarily referring to a behaviourist’

‘This has boosted my knowledge and make me feel more comfortable in taking on more behaviour cases.’

‘I found it stimulated a lot of reflection on how I would appraoch things differently with my own animals and my patients.’

‘Such an interesting subject, great start for behaviour medcine’

‘Very practical course aimed at what we will be able to manage in general practice.’

‘I thought this was a great course – well presented, interesting and easy to make relevant to general practice. The last lectures on pharamaceuticals were great but also the tips on how to set up your consult room as a non threatening environment to help lessen the stress’

Click here to view the full dates for this course

Tutor :-

Dr Katrin Jahn, DrMedVet, CertVA, MANZCVS (Veterinary Behaviour), MRCVS

ACVB & ECAWBM Resident In Veterinary Behaviour Medicine

Certified Fear Free Professional