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Tag: Behaviour

  • Trust, part 2: competence

    Trust, part 2: competence

    The previous post wrapped up with tips to help you build confidence, keeping in mind that we’re not focusing on confidence just for our own sake – we’re using confidence as a building block towards building trust with our clients.

    Remember, why would your clients trust you if you don’t trust yourself?

    The next trust-building tool is Competence. If you want someone to trust you with his or her pet, he or she needs to know that you know what you’re doing, right?

    But more exists to competence than simply showing that you know your stuff – it’s also about knowing that you know your stuff, which, of course, leads back to last week’s topic of confidence.

    Competence breeds confidence, which will make it easier for you to try new things and learn new skills, which, in turn, will lead to even more competence. More feedback loops…

    Here are some practical ways to use competence as a tool for perfect consults.

    Show competence

    Your clients want to know you are good at your job before fully trusting you.

    The problem is, they don’t get to see you shine once you leave the consult room, so you need to make sure you demonstrate competence in your dealings with them.

    This means making sure you know how the practice software works, know the vaccination protocols, how to confidently examine their pet, how to give an injection… the basics we mostly take for granted.

    If you appear to be a bumbling buffoon with the simple things, clients will presume you’ll be the same where it really matters.

    Talk about how competent you are

    Don’t be afraid to talk yourself up a bit. You can sell yourself – whether it’s your own skills, or your clinic’s – without being arrogant. For example:

    • “I have a special interest in skin cases, so I’m confident we can make a big difference here.”
    • “We see a lot of these cases, and we have high success rates.”
    • “Dr X, who will be doing the surgery, is one of the best in the business.”

    Develop competence

    It’s much easier to feel like your good at something when you are actually good at something.

    Resist the default of the aimless drift towards mediocrity – “Jack of all trades, but master of none.” Pick something – anything – and spend a bit of time polishing your skills in it. The manky ear, in-house cytology, behaviour, treating seizures, reading radiographs, dealing with angry clients, fixing canaries… anything.

    Distinguish yourself by becoming a “mini-specialist” in something, so that the next time one of those situations arises you absolutely smash it.

    Others will see this. Your clients will see it. People will acknowledge your skill and, maybe, praise you. Someone less skilled may start deferring to you the next time they have a similar case.

    These things will light up all those feel-good social centres that our minds have evolved for, which will give you a massive confidence boost. Which, as we just said… have I mentioned feedback loops?

    • The next part look at the final C needed to establish trust with your clients.
  • Dystocia, pt 1: labour stages

    Dystocia, pt 1: labour stages

    Now most female canine patients are spayed, it comes as no surprise reproductive emergencies are not as common.

    One confusion seems to be not knowing how to determine a true dystocia emergency – especially when given advice over the telephone – from the process of normal parturition.

    Another concern is how to confidently form a diagnostic pathway to determine the cause of dystocia – especially for reasons other than obvious physical abnormalities (for example, fetopelvic disparity and fetal malposition).

    Often, once we decide to go down the medical treatment pathway – whether the result of findings or owner/financial constraint – no one is confident as to what medication should be used and how often drugs can be given safely.

    This series of blogs will address these issues in a step-by-step manner. Hopefully, by the end, you will be confident in the diagnosis and management of dystocia.

    Labour stages

    Before moving on to the signs of dystocia, let’s go through the signs of labour.

    First stage labour

    First stage labour is characterised by panting, tremoring, nesting behaviour, a drop in core temperature – usually a drop by almost 1°C 24 hours prior to second stage labour – and a drop of progesterone to below 2mg/ml.

    Dog and puppy.
    Third stage labour occurs generally within 15 minutes after passing a puppy or kitten. Image © foto ARts / Adobe Stock
    • dogs: approximately 6 to 12 hours
    • cats: approximately 6 to 24 hours

    Second stage labour

    Second stage labour is landmarked by the water breaking, visible abdominal contractions, and the allantoic/amniotic sac or fetal parts visible from the vulva.

    If vulval discharge is present, they should be clear. Excessive amount of bright red haemorrhage, green or black discharge prior to delivery, or purulent material can indicate a pathological process requiring immediate veterinary attention.

    • dogs: approximately 3 to 6 hours
    • cats: approximately 6 to 24 hours

    Third stage labour

    Third stage labour this is when passage of all the placenta has occurred, generally within 15 minutes after passing a puppy or kitten.

    Clues

    Now we understand the normal progression of parturition, a few clues exist in the history that could suggest dystocia may be present.

    Some breeders will often know the ovulation timing of the patient – especially if AI was performed. Tests such as progesterone levels, luteal hormone (LH) levels, cytology and vaginoscopy are some ways where it can help time the ovulation.

    The normal gestation length should not be any longer than 66 days from the LH surge or, if the ovulation history is unknown, 72 days from the last known breeding.

    History of prior dystocia is a warning, as most animals with prior parturition difficulties are more likely to develop dystocia again.

    The same goes for animals that have previously required a caesarean. Their risk of requiring future caesareans is high, with further risk of uterine rupture if dystocia happens again.

    Image © Pilipipa / Adobe Stock
    Animals that have previously had a caesarean are at high risk of requiring future caesareans, with further risk of uterine rupture if dystocia happens again. Image © Pilipipa / Adobe Stock

    Intervention signs

    Owners often telephone after the failure of normal progression of delivery. The signs that always require immediate intervention are:

    • more than 4 hours have passed from the rupture of the first chorioallantois
    • more than 2 hours between delivery
    • more than 30 minutes of strong abdominal contraction and no delivery
    • presence of green or black discharge before delivery
    • large amount of bright red haemorrhage
    • abnormal amount of pain during contractions
    • collapse of the bitch or distracted mothering

    Any of these signs require immediate presentation to the veterinarian. Delivery of stillborn puppies is also an indication where veterinary attention is indicated.

    Finally, if owners are concerned, it is best to advise veterinary assessment rather than try to convince them everything is okay based on what they describe over the telephone.

  • The dreaded client complaint

    The dreaded client complaint

    Regardless of how well you conduct yourself and how thorough you are in your work, it’s inevitable you’ll occasionally find yourself on the receiving end of a client complaint. This will always suck.

    When someone criticises you, it’s very natural to feel a strong negative emotional response. The emotional control centres of your brain interpret criticism as a direct threat to your safety, and will trigger the same response it would if you were under physical attack.

    But reactive and defensive behaviour will not help your cause – better to let your logical brain take over from your limbic system and institute a proactive plan in dealing with complaints.

    Five simple steps

    Here’s a proven five-step approach to dealing with client complaints:

    1. Listen

    Listen carefully to what the client has to say (preferably in person). Approach them with empathy and try to see it from their perspective.

    Avoid formulating a response in your head while they are still speaking, or focusing on the reasons why they are wrong and you are right. Try (and I mean really try) to understand why they are upset, then verbalise this to them: “I can see where you’re coming from – I understand why this looks bad and why you are upset.”

    2. Critically evaluate the merits of the complaint

    Sometimes people have an unreasonable point of view, but very often they don’t. They might have blown it completely out of proportion, or have a distorted understanding of a situation, but it’s rare someone complains where they don’t have some legitimate basis for the complaint – at least in their eyes.

    Remember: what seems trivial to you might be a big issue for your client.

    Stay open to the possibility you may have done something wrong or could, at least, have done something better. The reasons and excuses, however valid, shouldn’t matter, only how it was perceived by your client and how you can fix it.

    3. Fix it, if you can

    Do the extra test, get it in for a recheck, do something that is over and above the expected level of care; this is an opportunity to make the unhappy client into a lifelong fan.

    4. Make an apology

    If you can’t fix it, apologise. Sincerely.

    Explain what went wrong and what you have done to prevent similar problems from occurring again.

    5. Try to make up for it

    If it is within your decision-making power; don’t be scared to offer some sort of financial compensation.

    It doesn’t need to be an admission of guilt: “We’ve looked carefully into the decisions made with this case, and I can’t see that any mistakes were made. However, we strive to keep our clients happy, and you clearly feel you didn’t receive value with us, so I’d like to offer you x, y or z.”

    This doesn’t always need to be money back (but it can be); offer a discount on a subsequent visit, follow up x-rays free of charge, or offer to donate money to their favourite charity in their name. If a relatively small amount of money early on during negotiations can make the problem go away, it might save you a lot more time and money down the line.

    Turning bad into good

    This approach of firstly allowing for some critical self-evaluation, and then simply focusing on being fair and reasonable can save a lot of pain an effort, and can potentially turn these unpleasant situations into valuable opportunities for learning and growth.

  • Seizures, part 1: the questions to ask

    Seizures, part 1: the questions to ask

    Clients often panic when they think their pet is having a seizure and can skip over vital information.

    Often, what an owner describes as a “fit” may actually be syncope, collapse from anaphylaxis or internal haemorrhage (for example, neoplasia), a vestibular event or a behavioural condition.

    True seizures

    True seizures can be divided into two groups:

    • Generalised (grand mal) seizures, which involve both cerebral hemispheres and result in loss of consciousness, incontinence and muscle activity.
    • Focal/partial (petit mal) seizures, which originate from a focal region in the brain. These can also result in alterations in consciousness, but more typically only manifest in the form of repetitive twitching or limb movement.

    Once you have established the owner is likely describing a true seizure, there are many important questions to ask to narrow down your differential diagnoses and treatment options.

    The important questions

    So, as part of a thorough history, always ask:

    Was the pet conscious during the episode?

    This will help to determine whether the seizure was generalised or focal.

    How long did the episode last?

    Status epilepticus is when a continuous seizure lasts more than five minutes or when the patient has not recovered fully before another seizure occurs. This can result in severe secondary brain injury.

    How many episodes has the pet had in the past?

    Epilepsy is the condition of recurrent seizures. This can be further classified as primary and symptomatic epilepsy, with symptomatic being secondary to an underlying cause (such as head trauma or a brain tumour).

    How close together were the episodes?

    • Cluster seizures are when an animal has more than two or three episodes within a 24-hour period.
    • If a patient presents first time with a cluster, this carries a poorer prognosis in dogs, but has no influence in cats.
    • Clusters are generally an indication for commencing long-term management.

    How was the pet before and after the episode?

    • Seizures often come with predicting (pre-ictal) and recovery (post-ictal) events.
    • In the pre-ictal phase, the patient may act strangely (for example, agitated or clingy) and may vomit.
    • Alterations in consciousness prior to a seizure usually indicate an intracranial cause.
    • The post-ictal phase can last anywhere between minutes and days, and animals are usually disorientated and/or lethargic. They may also appear blind.

    Has the pet demonstrated any other strange activity recently?

    • For example, if an animal has also been circling to one side, you can start to predict the location of the lesion.
    • Cats more commonly present with partial seizures compared to generalised – this is seen as stereotypic behaviours and bursts of activity.

    Has the pet been exposed to any toxins or chemicals?

    Seizures caused by toxins (such as snail bait) generally do not stop and start, but are continuous.

    In the next part of this series, we will look at differential diagnoses for seizures and highlight the differences between dogs and cats.

  • Is puppy yoga flexibly ethical?

    Is puppy yoga flexibly ethical?

    Is puppy yoga the new cat café?

    Is it a new passing trend or here to stay?

    Either way, as a student with a passion for both fitness and animals, I was initially intrigued. But I can’t help but have concerns for whether this practice is beneficial for all members of the class.

    Five freedoms

    Usually applied to the context of captive animals, the five freedoms can really be utilised to evaluate the welfare of any animal outside of its natural habitat (which, technically, every dog is).

    These being freedom from pain and disease, stress, discomfort and hunger, as well as freedom to express normal behaviour.

    My main concerns when it comes to puppy yoga would be stress, hunger and disease.

    If classes run back to back, younger animals that require more frequent feeds may miss out on vital mealtimes, and there’s always the worry some puppies included in these classes are too young to be removed from their mothers. Ideally, no puppy should be removed from the dam or weaned before eight weeks of age. In larger breeds, puppies can appear older than they really are, and some breeders or yoga studios may be motivated by profits to use pups that are slightly shy of this age limit.

    The danger here is that puppies don’t typically receive vaccinations until they’re eight weeks old, and if puppies from different litters are introduced when their mother-derived immunity is lowering, diseases can be transmitted very quickly. Most vets wouldn’t advise mixing a puppy with other dogs until at least two weeks after its second vaccines (at around 12 weeks old) to allow adequate immunity to develop.

    In regard to stress, anything new or novel can be stressful to a puppy (or any animal for that matter). Loud noises, strange smells and lots of new people all at once can also be very overwhelming and scary to puppies that are yet to be properly socialised.

    Socialisation

    The socialisation window for puppies is from when they are roughly one to three months old. During this time, the animal’s perceptions of the outside world and its stimuli are being shaped by its experiences, and once that window closes, it can be more difficult for biases towards certain stimuli to be changed.

    Since the majority of puppies used in yoga sessions are between two to four months old, on paper, the practice sounds like an excellent opportunity for animal lovers to exercise and unwind surrounded by adorable puppies, with the added benefit of those puppies being socialised to grow up more well-rounded and well-behaved pets.

    Unfortunately, however, socialisation is not an exact science, and while it is incredibly beneficial to introduce puppies to lots of different things during their socialisation window, it does not mean flooding them with lots of stimulus all at once.

    This is the really tricky part, because what counts as “overwhelming” to one puppy may be completely manageable to the next. Some animals may find a room full of new people and smells incredibly exciting, while others need to be introduced to new people one at a time, with plenty of opportunity to withdraw from the experience if needed.

    It can also be impossible to predict what type of puppy you have until you place it in that situation. While a lot of behavioural aspects in our pets can be traced back to environment and genetics, every animal is unique, and just because a litter comes from docile, friendly and outgoing parents, doesn’t mean the offspring will share the same traits.

    Ensuring every puppy’s experience of a yoga session will be adequate from a welfare perspective would take a very knowledgeable and conscientious screening process that some businesses may not know how to or be able to provide.

    Yoga “pants”

    I feel that puppy yoga is probably far from a black and white picture, with the level of puppy welfare and attention to their needs varying from practice to practice. For this reason, I think it’s definitely a good idea to do your research before booking a session – whether you’re a vet or not – to make sure you’re happy with where the puppies come from, if the establishment is aware of vaccine records (and so forth), and if the puppies are given adequate opportunity to rest and retreat from engaging with the customers if they wish.

    In the same way that in the veterinary profession we are now seeing the outcomes of puppies raised during the pandemic lockdowns, we may soon see the influence of puppy yoga in the next generation of pets.

    At the end of the day, it’s up to the individual consumer to decide if the practice is for them, or if ethical puppy yoga is a bit of a stretch…

     

  • A difference of opinion

    A difference of opinion

    I’m only a few short weeks into my final-year rotations at the University of Bristol’s Veterinary Referral Hospital, but I already feel like I’ve learned a lot:

    • DOPs aren’t as scary as I’d built them up to be in my head.
    • It does get easier to navigate your way around the hospital with time (and trial and error).
    • There are quite a few differences between first-opinion and second-opinion practice that I’d never really considered until now.

    Budgets

    The gift that is the NHS can certainly make us blind to the costs of routine medical procedures. Something as simple as an ultrasound, blood work and a couple of days’ hospitalisation can amass a bill that’s simply unaffordable for a lot of pet owners.

    I’ve seen a lot of cases reach the end of the road due to lack of funds, when the answer (or potential answer) was frustratingly simple, but just too much money. The reality of referral practice, however, is that if your patient has made it to you in the first place, there is likely a higher budget to play with than the average consult.

    When you’re on a certain rotation, you find yourself doing the same diagnostics every day, so it’s easy to lose track of the value of the drug you’re administering, or the probe in your hand. I think my group and I honestly balked when the cardiology team told us the cost of a standard echocardiogram at the end of our week where we’d been observing between 6 to 10 a day. Of course, it’s still important to keep costs low wherever possible, but it’s been interesting to see how larger budgets and insurance policies are broken down.

    Seeing small animal CTs, echocardiograms and neurosurgeries for the first time was an amazing experience, but I do need to keep reminding myself that the proportion of my future patients that will go on to have these sorts of procedures is incredibly small.

    Image © TungCheung / Adobe Stock

    Specialisms

    When you’re learning in a veterinary hospital, you’re constantly surrounded by leading experts in the field of everything under the sun, and sometimes it’s hard not to feel like a monkey with a stethoscope. Usually, in first opinion, there’s an assortment of different strengths throughout the practice – one vet may have intercalated in neurology and behaviour, while another may has done more CPD on exotic animal medicine. These differences are an asset to every practice and make team working an essential and valuable commodity.

    In a referral setting, these “strengths” are often extended to actual specialisms, where the vets are not only actively involved in research in a particular field, but see only animals in a certain category of illness. The need for teamwork, however, is just as paramount here – if not more so!

    After working in cardiology for a week and beginning to feel like I didn’t know anything, I can tell you that it was very refreshing to have the head of another department pop their head through the door and ask what on earth was going on with their patient’s heart. When they also didn’t know the actions of all the drugs I’d been painstakingly trying to commit to memory for the past five days, that too came as a wave of relief.

    Client communication

    Good communication and patience come hand in hand. If you’re delivering bad news to a client or talking them through a complicated diagnosis or treatment plan, that takes time – and although the average first opinion consult is only 15 minutes long, I’d say that, rather oxymoronically, there’s more time to deal with difficult situations in that scenario than in emergency referral.

    Of course, first opinion sees it’s share of emergencies as well, but for the most part vets see a disease present slowly over time and are able to prepare their clients accordingly.

    In the past couple of weeks, however, I’ve seen referral vets have to delicately balance client communication with the urgency of life-threatening conditions. Sometimes there are mere minutes to intervene after an animal enters the hospital, and vets must be very diligent and considerate when explaining this situation to an owner who may not yet grasp the severity. Owners have to have informed consent at all times, and to be prepared and supported in the event of any potential outcomes, but the sooner an animal is triaged and either treated or prepped for surgery the better.

    I think that this is where the truly brilliant vets really shine. To have compassion and humanity at the forefront, with animal welfare and haste also in mind, takes a lot of mental and emotional gymnastics. I’m honestly in awe of every vet I’ve seen both in the past few weeks and over my years seeing practice who’s had to deal with a crisis on both the animal and the human end.

    As of yet, I’m unsure if my career will lead me to first opinion or referral practice, but I can appreciate the similarities and differences between the two – despite us all starting out in the same place.

  • The pen is mightier than the scalpel

    The pen is mightier than the scalpel

    For some, my past A-level choices of biology, chemistry and English literature may seem an odd mixture.

    At first glance, the arts and the sciences don’t seem go hand in hand, and are often viewed as polar opposites. I even remember being asked during one of my veterinary interviews if my decision to study English lit was an indication that I valued the arts above the sciences…

    As someone who had endured a considerable wealth of hours endeavouring to make it into vet school (and was, in fact, at an interview for vet school), it took me a couple of blinks before I could bring myself to answer that question.

    Words, words, words

    Since then, I am still yet to find another vet student or graduated vet who took English as their third A-level choice – perhaps because, until recently, most vet schools wouldn’t accept anything other than physics, maths or maybe economics at a push.

    With three years of the vet course down, and a master’s dissertation currently weighing on my shoulders, this truly baffles me, given that writing is such an inherent part of the scientific process.

    Whether it’s animal welfare, physiology, psychology or behaviour, almost everything we know and practice today can be attributed to some budding young scientist who did the research, wrote it up very eloquently, and had other scientists read over it diligently before they decided to write about it, too (otherwise known as a peer review).

    Similar principles

    Today, it does not matter how big of a breakthrough you make; if your grammar isn’t on point, nobody is going to publish it and your discovery may well fall on deaf ears. If you don’t know at least five different words for “furthermore” and can’t tell your colons from your semi-colons then are you even a scientist?

    I have personally always loved writing (couldn’t you tell?) and being able to combine my affinities for that with veterinary medicine sometimes feels a bit too good to be true.

    I also feel incredibly grateful for the skills my background in English have taught me. I may no longer be comparing the works of Mary Shelley and Thomas Hardy, but strangely, the same principles can be applied to literature reviews and grant proposals.

    Do what you love

    I would strongly encourage any wannabe vets not to shy away from exploring interests outside of the sciences, if that’s what you really enjoy.

    For me, an artier A-level was a really useful way to switch off the science part of my brain and recharge after a day of balancing equations – almost like my right and left brain taking turns at the wheel while the other had a little lie down.

    And who knows, if more medical schools required an A at English A-level, doctors might be know for better handwriting.

     

  • Research the change you want to see in the world

    Research the change you want to see in the world

    As a good 60% of my masters is research based, there will come a time, all too soon, when I must decide definitively what avenue of research I want to explore.

    We don’t have much time to touch upon research or develop our skills in the area on the vet course due to the huge level of content we need to consume throughout the five years, but those skills are both highly transferable and infinitely invaluable in the field of exotics and conservation.

    Choices, choices…

    I’ve been looking forward to the research aspect of this course for the best part of the last six months but it’s shocking just how difficult it is to pick a single topic to dedicate yourself to.

    Topics include:

    • one health
    • immunology
    • genetics
    • behaviour
    • marine biology
    • climate change
    • wildlife
    • domestic animal studies

    …the list is quite something.

    Making your mark

    What it all boils down to though, is what really sparks an interest in you? What questions do you want the answers to? What species hold a special place in your heart, and what field do you want to expand your knowledge in?

    For me, the question I’ve begun to ask myself is: what is the change I want to help bring about?

    As a veterinary professional you can’t always let yourself be swayed by issues of the heart, yet there are many aspects of animal welfare, captivity and treatment that make this far easier said than done.

    The trouble is that we live in a world of law and legislation and attempting to enact change driven purely by an emotional standpoint will get you nowhere. You cannot simply request for laws to be changed or regulations to be put in place because it’s “the right thing to do”. You must scientifically enforce your argument, and that means peer reviewed, tried and tested research.

    Agent for change

    It wasn’t until 2012 that battery farmed eggs were outlawed in the UK, and only in 2016 did SeaWorld – a multi-million dollar entertainment enterprise – pledge to end their removal of Orcas from the wild and their captive breeding programme.

    Some might argue that these changes are on completely different levels and have different value, but neither would have been brought about without the tireless work of countless dedicated professionals who took the time to bring facts together into a case that changed laws that had been around for decades.

    It’s a long old process, the documentary Blackfish (which inarguably had a hand in the decline in SeaWorld’s popularity) took months to produce, and it took an additional three years after it’s release for it’s impacts to come to fruition. With this in mind, I wonder just how much change I’m really capable of with my three-month research project – which, due to COVID-19, is almost certainly set to be entirely desk-based.

    Little by little

    I believe even the small changes are important; even those made by collecting data and typing up hypotheses and conclusions from home – even if you don’t actually get to spend any time working with the animal whose quality of life you’re trying to improve.

    I have a particular interest in stereotypies – which, for those not in the know, are repetitive movements, sounds or behaviours displayed by captive animals due to frustration or a lack of mental or social stimulation. They are the direct consequence of human intervention in their natural behaviours, and ever since learning about them in the first year of the vet course the topic has stayed with me.

    If I’m lucky enough to explore this field at the start of next year I’ll be grateful for any minor contribution I can make to the far too-small pool of research that is thankfully starting to grow.

  • Overcoming impostor syndrome

    Overcoming impostor syndrome

    Are you used to doing things well, with certain skills coming naturally to you?

    Often, when you do come up against something that is more of a struggle, or you have to work harder to accomplish your aim, you then doubt your worth and whether you really are good enough. If something is difficult, then are you not as good as you thought?

    Embrace the struggle

    A strategy to overcome this persona is to embrace the struggle. The truth is, if you are not experiencing struggle, then you are not growing at all.

    When we experience difficult situations, it is a sign we are learning new skills and expanding our knowledge. It is important to remember that struggling at something is not a sign of lack of competence or inability, but just a learning phase.

    Leap of faith

    You should never wait until you feel confidence to start taking action – confidence and competence will only come through action and taking that leap of faith, so it is about changing your behaviour first.

    You are a work in progress, and no one on earth knows everything or is skilled in every walk of life.

    Strategies

    Do you feel like you have to know everything before you can start a project or take action. Perhaps you are endlessly looking for new certifications or training to improve your skills and knowledge? Maybe you only apply for jobs where you meet every bit of criteria, or you may not speak up or ask a question for fear of looking stupid.

    Sometimes this can lead to crippling self-doubt where you are letting opportunities pass you by or you miss the boat.

    If you say “I should be able to do this”, this could be another sign of impostor behaviour.

    Some strategies exist that could help – although this first one is pretty tough, especially if you have the “I should know” mindset.

    1. Get comfortable in learning

    The first strategy is to get comfortable in learning when you need to learn. Not before, but at the time, when it is needed. Many people would find this stressful, but it is super time efficient and prevents you learning things that are not needed in the now.

    Think to yourself: “I will acquire skills and knowledge when I need them, not just in case I need them.” How much time would that free up?

    2. Ask for help

    Are you someone who has to accomplish everything solo? Do you feel like a failure if you have to ask for support or help? Perhaps you see vulnerability as a weakness, and that if you ask for help it means you have failed or are not good at what you do?

    The main tool for overcoming this line of thinking is remembering that vulnerability does not equal failure. In fact, not asking people for help, support or an opinion robs a colleague of being someone of contribution and value.

    Flipping this to another perspective, what could you learn from others? How could you improve what you do by getting another perspective and insight? It could save you considerable money, time and pain down the line, even if its makes you feel weak in the moment.

    Asking for help is really empowering, as it means you are allowing someone to shine.

    3. Have a ‘trusted other’

    One tactic I have found that helps overcome impostor syndrome is to share that feeling with a trusted other – it actually weakens its power over you.

    An impostor syndrome is usually made up of secret self-talk and thoughts. Giving it a voice can free you up – plus, often saying it aloud will make you realise its triviality.

  • Look after each other – including the four-legged ones

    Look after each other – including the four-legged ones

    As much as we’re having to adapt our lives in so many ways during these strange and uncertain times, I think a lot of us take for granted that our pets will always be so reassuringly consistent.

    This is mainly because, while our own lives are currently being turned upside down and inside out, our pets haven’t a clue what’s going on.

    During this lockdown, most dogs are probably thrilled to have their owners at home to play with them and give them fuss almost 24/7, but the abruptly shortened walks and lack of pet play dates, on the other hand – maybe not so much.

    In their shoes

    I think a large part of getting through times like these is not to focus on what you don’t have, but to appreciate what you do. As my university moves to an online platform, I feel so lucky to have a supporting family to come home to, a warm house and good food. Thanks to the modern wonder that is social media, I can at least feel updated and informed when everything is so uncertain and confusing.

    By comparison, my cat, for example, is at a slight disadvantage. While she also benefits from home comforts, when it comes to being in the know, she, like the rest of our pets, is in the dark.

    To be honest, I quite envy her, and certainly the daily routines of a lot of domestic animals hasn’t changed at all. For more sociable pets like dogs, however, this sudden drawing back from the outside world will obviously be incredibly confusing, as well as frustrating, because they’ve no idea why everything has seemingly changed overnight.

    Monkey see monkey do

    Despite popular belief for so many years, animals can experience a large array of emotions – from elation and excitement to extreme anxiety – and this is partly because of their amazing ability to pick up what we, their owners, are unwittingly putting down.

    If you’ve seen a change in your pets’ behaviour over the past few weeks, do a quick self-inventory of your own. If you spend your days anxious, irritable or melancholy, your pets can pick up on this and act in kind, even if you don’t notice it yourself. They can see it in your body language, tone of voice, even in your level of eye contact.

    Of course, all emotions are heightened now – and justifiably so – but if you notice your pet mirroring your mood swings, it might be a good sign you need to be kinder to yourself, for the both of you.

    kitty
    Image by Kadres from Pixabay

    Help is always there

    Depending on where you are in the country, your local vets might be closed, running shorter hours or a very long journey away.

    In cases of the latter, this might make you worry if your need to take an animal to an appointment is justified, or if you’re in a densely populated area or are/live with an “at-risk” individual, you simply may not be comfortable leaving home to make this journey at all.

    No matter your current circumstance, I think it important to confirm that veterinary help, should you need it, is still readily available to you – just perhaps not in the form you’re used to.

    Changes

    A lot of vets are reducing their opening hours, not just to limit person-to-person interactions, but to make more time available for phone or email consultations.

    As of right now, emergency cases are still very much a legitimate reason to travel, and if you are unsure if your pet’s medical need constitutes an emergency, all it takes is a quiet phone call to your local vet for advice.

    Incredibly innovative changes have been made to the way practices operate in a staggeringly short space of time to help keep everyone safe so that the health of your pets doesn’t suffer, while brave and compassionate veterinary professionals are still going into work every day to ensure your pets are continued to be cared for.

    Basically, what I’m saying is: if in doubt, just call – there will always be someone on the other end of the line, willing and wanting to help.

    Give and take

    It’s of no doubt that our pets have a greatly positive impact on our mental health. Without even knowing it, they are helping us through some potentially isolating and scary times.

    With this in mind, I feel it only fair to return that kindness and take care of them in every way we can.

    If we all look out for each other, those with two legs and four, we will all get through this and out the other side.