A veterinary behavior resident is a veterinarian undergoing special training to become a board-certified veterinary behaviorist. This involves seeing ~400 behavior consult cases, seeking additional classroom learning, and publishing a research project. Dr. Pflaum’s training is being supervised by Dr. Julie Albright, board-certified veterinary behaviorist at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.

No. Dr. Pflaum will not perform any services except for behavior consults, and seeks to work with referral veterinarians. In-fact, your primary care veterinarian will be an important part of your pet’s care team, and Dr. Pflaum will keep them updated on your pet’s progress.

Fear Free Certification Program is an educational online course designed to help veterinary professionals eliminate fear, anxiety, and stress and create a more rewarding veterinary experience for all involved. Elite certification is the highest level available, and requires an additional 12 hours of fear free continuing education, and to pass a recertification exam.

The prepayment is required to account for both scheduling resources, and time spent reviewing history information prior to the appointment. This allows Dr. Pflaum to prepare and efficiently take advantage of the time together during your consultation. In addition, because appointments often book far in advance, it is a commitment to attending. Given the large number of appointment requests, this ensures that appointment reservations are held fairly.

The prepayment is due no later than 1 month prior to the appointment, and is non-refundable. Failure to submit the prepayment may result in cancelation of the appointment.

If a recheck appointment is canceled with less than 24h notice a $60 fee will be incurred.

Typically, there are no fast solutions in behavior. The time to see improvement will depend on a number of factors including the underlying severity of your pet’s behavior and emotional mindset, compliance with recommendations, and other underlying health concerns. Unfortunately, it is not ethical or possible to promise success in every instance – however you can be assured Dr. Pflaum is passionate about doing everything in his power to help.

Is the behavior of your cat or dog causing you stress or concern? That is enough justification to seek help. Other strong indications would include if your pet’s problem is not improving or getting worse over time, or if other training/behavior methods have failed.

Absolutely! Dr. Pflaum is a big believer in partnering with high quality positive reward based trainers to help implement aspects of behavior modification plans.