Going to the vet again

This essay follows episode 3 of the Pawplexity Pawdcast, “We are going to the vet”.

Vet visits are usually described as medical necessities. Even when they’re stressful, they’re treated as contained events.

A clinic visit is also one of the few environments where a dog reliably loses physical and informational control. They are handled by unfamiliar people, restrained, examined, sometimes in pain, often in spaces saturated with sound, smell, and memory. What we call “routine” may not feel neutral from their point of view.

The research behind the episode is striking mostly for how unremarkable it is. Across observational studies and large surveys, fear-related behaviour during veterinary visits is common in dogs. Fear often increases on the exam table and during restraint. It can be easy for humans to miss, particularly when managing their own stress. The clinic environment alone has been associated with reduced play, food intake, and exploratory behaviour, even before anything painful occurs. None of this is dramatic. That may be part of why it’s easy to overlook.

Behaviour complicates the picture further. Some dogs protest clearly. Many do not. Stillness, compliance, and quiet tolerance are often read as coping. They can also accompany elevated physiological arousal. Cooperation and agreement are not the same thing. In fast-moving clinical settings, the difference can blur. Restraint sits in that blur.

Research associates physical restraint and loss of predictability with increased fear responses. Repeated forced handling has been associated with stronger negative associations over time. Many dogs do not object loudly. They freeze, they comply, they are described as “good patients.” What that experience reflects may not be visible in the room.

Examinations matter, treatment matters, sometimes restraint is necessary. Clinics operate within time, procedure, and efficiency. When Makenzie was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, I consulted multiple veterinarians. Surgery was frequently framed as urgent or inevitable. Each recommendation was defensible. Taken together, they made something else visible: expertise clarifies options, but it does not remove the burden of decision. I was trying to understand not only the medical risk, but what the process would ask of her — restraint, confinement, recovery. Expertise can narrow uncertainty. It does not dissolve responsibility.

At Fitzpatrick Referrals, the intake process began with information rather than intervention. We were asked about preferences: bowl type, feeding style, handling considerations. The examination extended beyond the table. Her movement was observed outdoors and context was included. The conclusion was specific: at that moment, her quality of life was better without surgery than with it. It also highlighted how differently care can unfold depending on the room.

How dogs move through clinics varies. Some settle once social uncertainty resolves, some regulate better when their person stays, others when they leave. Makenzie, for example, is calmer when we are not in the room. She has never enjoyed unfamiliar touch, and she appears to cooperate more readily when she knows we will not intervene. Presence is not always protection. Absence is not always abandonment. Small details can shift meaning: entering on her own terms, pausing, stepping out and back in, leaving and returning briefly. These moments do not remove difficulty, but they may alter what is learned. Agency does not eliminate stress. It can change its texture.

Veterinary professionals themselves work under significant strain. Research from multiple countries notes elevated rates of chronic stress, depression, and ethical burden within the profession. Care does not happen in isolation. Decisions are shaped by time, economics, emotion, and fatigue. What a dog learns in the clinic is not the only learning taking place.

A clinic visit can be medically necessary. It can also narrow control.

And sometimes what stays with the dog is not the procedure itself, but the experience of not being able to influence what happens next.

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