Animal Health Week (AHW) is an annual national public awareness campaign organized by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) and hosted by veterinarians across Canada. Each year, through AHW, the veterinary community draws attention to an important health-related message.
This year, the CVMA is celebrating Animal Health Week by emphasizing the importance of recognizing and understanding the emotional and sensory experiences of animals. Their aim is to educate the public on the critical role that understanding animal sentience plays in fostering a more humane and caring society, and the significance of treating animals with compassion, ensuring that their health, wellness, and emotional well-being are respected and protected.
At Boundary Bay Veterinary Specialty Hospital, we know that animals feel pleasure, excitement, fear, hunger, pain, and distress – we’ve experienced it. We understand what an animal needs and can provide pet owners with a treatment plan that helps minimize their pet’s negative feelings, and helps their pet get back to a positive state of health and wellness.
Making every moment matter, for you and your pet
When it comes to ensuring the well-being of your beloved animal companions, it takes a dedicated and skilled veterinary team working together to provide empathetic and specialized care. We know every moment counts – both when an animal arrives at our hospital, and for pet owners, so they can go back to creating the memories and love they share with their pets.
As a certified VECCS Level I facility and a Level II VetCOT Trauma Centre, we are capable of handling even the most critical, life-threatening emergencies and trauma, with specialists on staff and on-call to handle any medical or surgical issue your pet may be experiencing. This also means we specialize in animals who are experiencing pain and fear, and we have the equipment and expertise to address that immediately.
We’re animal lovers, too
Underneath the white coats and surgery scrubs, we are all animal lovers and animal owners (plus we have a few hobby farmers). At BBVSH, we have over 180 staff members who are dedicated to providing a treatment plan that considers your pet’s health and well-being. The reason we got into veterinary medicine is because we love animals, and when they are in pain or distress, we are too. We approach each case, suggest advice, make decisions and handle your pet as if it were our own.
BBVSH co-owner and oncologist, Dr. Sarah Charney often manages difficult journeys with pet owners.
She says, “When I am talking about lymphoma treatment with owners, we talk about treatment options which include weekly treatments versus every-three-week treatments. We discuss whether it will be stressful for their pet to come in for weekly treatments. Some animals love coming to the vet and are pleased to come in every week to see their new friends; for other animals, it is so stressful that they get diarrhea every time they come to the office. If they are one of the very stressed animals, we will try to point the owners to treatments that would be less stressful.
I also often bring up the example of my own dogs, Molly and Farley. Molly had 13 major surgeries over her life and the next day wanted to go running and playing outside after each surgery. Farley on the other hand, was much more sensitive to pain. As such, we were much less willing to put him through a lot.”
Caring for the caregivers
As a final note, being sensitive to our animals’ feelings can sometimes also take a toll on the humans that care for them. At BBVSH, our staff pour a great deal of emotional energy into helping each patient. At our hospital we often see the worst or most traumatic cases, which can be especially tough on our team. We take the mental health of our staff seriously and provide resources and support to help ensure that our team can continue to treat each patient with the same level of compassion and care.
Pet owners also deal with many emotions when managing a sick pet. It is good to seek counsel and advice to cope with the loss of a pet, navigate challenging medical situations and difficult decisions, and to deal with the emotional aspects of caring for a sick animal.