Your Pet Can Learn To Love The Vet

A lot of people assume a vet visit has to be stressful for pets and honestly, many of us have lived through appointments that felt exactly like that. Host Virginia McConnell sits down with Dr. Josie Hamilton of Burns Court Veterinary Care in downtown Sarasota to explore a different model: fear-free veterinary care built on trust, gentle handling, and an experience designed around what pets actually feel in the room.

We dig into what “fear-free” really looks like in a small animal general practice, from low-stress handling to the surprisingly powerful role of treats, toys, and timing. Dr. Hamilton explains how you can still deliver high-quality preventive care like exams, vaccines, and bloodwork while reducing anxiety for dogs and cats, and why that approach can make future appointments safer and easier. You’ll also hear how her own experience with anxiety and depression shaped her belief in the therapeutic bond between people and their pets, and why she wants veterinary medicine to honor that bond instead of breaking it.

We also talk about who Burns Court Veterinary Care serves best: pet parents who see pets as family and want a long-term relationship with a Sarasota veterinarian who thinks beyond today’s appointment. If your pet is fearful, reactive, or has had a bad experience at the vet before, this conversation offers a practical, hopeful path forward that prioritizes both medical outcomes and emotional safety.

If you enjoy thoughtful conversations with local business owners and experts, subscribe to the show, share this episode with a fellow pet parent, and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find it. What’s one thing that would make your pet’s next vet visit less stressful?

Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbor Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Virginia McConnell.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Are you in need of a general veterinary clinic? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Dr. Josie Hamilton, with Burns Court Veterinary Care. How's it going? It is going well. It's a beautiful day in Sarasota. Yeah. That's awesome. We're excited to learn about you and your business. Can you tell us about your company?

A Downtown Sarasota Vet Clinic

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, absolutely. So we're a just a small animal, companion animal, general practice in downtown. And we just really focus on the pets experience and being like practicing really high-quality medicine, but with a big focus on like fear-free and positive pet veterinary experiences.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Awesome. How did you get into that?

SPEAKER_02 1:12

I've

Why Fear-Free Care Matters

SPEAKER_02 1:13

always been loved like science and medicine, but and of course we all love animals. Yay. I will just say that I've always I've dealt with and just lived with anxiety and depression for much of my life. And spending time with my pets and my animals has always been like incredibly grounding and therapeutic for me. So then I realized, like, I mean, and we know all the studies about blood pressure and you know, your pet and like living longer if you have a reason to get up in the morning and take your dog out and things like that. So I kind of decided to turn that around and say, like, okay, like they provide me with so much therapy, and I get to kind of come to work and like get my own therapy while I'm helping those guys. So it it was a big deal and really important to make sure that I can take care of those pets that that do provide such important, important help for us and do it in the most gentle and least fearful and terrible way possible.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Oh, I love that.

Vet Visit Stress And How To Fix It

SPEAKER_01 2:26

And how did uh well, what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

So I think I mean I would say uh the first one, of course, is especially being kind of being fear-free. Um, is that like going to the vet is often a traumatic or kind of terrible, stressful experience for for the pets. Um, and I mean, if we're honest, like, yeah, that is not terribly out of, you know, out of the line of of what those experiences were, you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago when we didn't, we weren't focusing on like, yes, we need to get this set of things done, these vaccines, this blood work, whatever, done. But to get that done, how does that, how does that pet feel about you poking and prodding and you know, doing things that maybe aren't they're a little painful, they're a little uncomfortable. They're important and they need to get done, but can we do that in a, you know, in a in a less stressful way? And that's really like, yes, we can. They can be stressful, but there's a way that we can do it that lessens that stress. And I think one of the like best comments that we get fairly routinely, because we have a especially since we have a lot of like snowbirds that come back and forth, that they, you know, say, like, man, like I've had nine dogs, and like this is the first dog that like they run to your door to come inside. They're happy to be here when they get here. We don't have to drag them in, we don't have to like carry them in. Like they want to be here, they're they're excited. And I think like I can get so much done with like some some fear-free techniques, some low stress handling, some some toys. There's a toy drawer in every exam room full of all kinds of toys that whatever sweets are their pleasure, um, and some really good treats.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

And we can get a lot done without it's amazing what treats can do. Some treats and toys. Yeah, I can get a lot done with some cheese.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah. We can get a lot done.

Who They Serve And Why

SPEAKER_01 4:47

And so we know that marketing is the heart of every business. Who are your target customers and how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I think our our target customers are and and clients are are people that think of their pets as their children, as their family members. Like I frequently talk about like pet parents kind of thing. And if that's if that's not your jam, that's totally cool, no big deal. But then like we may not be the right vet because we are very focused on like what's going on with your pet in their whole life, not just right now. How do we make that better moving forward? And and so, yeah, you don't want to hear me hear my spiel about like does Sophie feel you know comfortable in her home? And that's what I understand. That's really cool. But if you want you want your pet to love your vet and build a relationship with them lifelong and and have it be positive and supportive, that's who we're looking for, and that's what we're trying to help.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Awesome. And so have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

SPEAKER_02 5:55

I've I've thought about it because there are, I mean, like there are a lot of like there are a lot of important things, and like I think I have some interesting good perspectives on some aspects of veterinary medicine that maybe others don't. But man, it's a lot. It's a lot. I congratulate you, but my plate is flooring.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Well, well, thank you. Um

Life Outside The Clinic

SPEAKER_01 6:23

uh what outside of work, what do you do for fun? More work. A little bit more work.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

I mean, we're we're relatively new, so we opened, we had our three-year anniversary in March.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah, so it just just happened. Um, but with that, yeah, we're still still very new and trying to figure out like exactly how we make this work and grow and all that kind of stuff. So it's still still a baby that needs lots of attention. Yes, which is which is wonderful, but yeah, it's it's taking up a lot of my time, which is fine. Otherwise, I do a lot of like I love, I mean, we're in Sarasota. I love the beach, I love swimming, hanging out with my dogs, walking at the down by the bay, like all of that kind of stuff. Paddleboarding, kayaking, all that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

All the nature things.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

All the nature things.

Building A Long-Term Pet Relationship

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Okay, Dr. Hamilton, can you tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Burns Court veterinary care?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I think that here it is, it's a it's a long-term relationship. We we frequently talk about, especially with the fear-free aspect of things, like push comes to shove. Like if we have a fearful pet, we can get done what we need to get done. And that's how most vet clinics have have practiced the whole time. But what I try to relay to owners and just remind them is like, yes, we can get that done once today and we'll get it done. No problem. However, next time when we need to get that done, if it took three technicians and like your pet was muzzled and they were panicking the whole time, try to get that done next time. Like, try to do that again. That pet's not gonna walk in your door. They they're terrified because we can't tell them what what they're like, hi, we're we're trying to pull blood, it's gonna, it's a little poke, but like it's okay. We'll give you treats, it's fine, you know, it'll be over in a minute. We can't tell them that, right? That's a big part of it of like, okay, let's take a step back. Yes, we need to get these done, these things done that are important, but they're not urgent or emergent. How do we figure out how to get those done without terrorizing your pet? And let's do that. And that's what that's what we try to do. So sometimes things go a little slower, sometimes we break it up into a couple of appointments, but ultimately seeing those really scared kids that like third time, fourth time they come back, and like now their tail's up and they're happy to be here, and they're taking all of our treats, and they approach us and like want to interact with us. That's why, that's why we're doing it. Because we we want them to continue that and still be happy to see us in 10 years. And we we want to see you in 10 years because that's that's important to us.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Okay,

How To Reach The Clinic

SPEAKER_01 9:41

well, how can our listeners learn more about Burns Court veterinary care?

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Um, there is a of course we have a website, it's B is in Burns, C is in Courtvet.org. Um, or we you can email us uh to touchface, um, and that's info at bcbet.org.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Okay. Well, Dr. Hamilton, uh, I really appreciate you being on the show, and we wish your business the best moving forward. Thank you very much. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

We're trying to grow and we'll be here.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Thank

Nominate A Local Business

SPEAKER_00 10:14

you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gnpsarasota.com. That's gnpsarasota.com or call 941 549 1865.