Behavioral Medicine Clone
Veterinary Behavioral Medicine — Clinical Expertise for Behavioral Disorders on Long Island
Behavioral problems are not character flaws. They are medical issues — rooted in neurological function, emotional regulation, learned responses, and sometimes underlying physical conditions that have gone undetected. The difference between behavioral medicine and a standard trainer is the same as the difference between a neurologist and a personal trainer: one investigates and treats the underlying cause. The other works on the symptom.
Dr. Megan Petroff limits her practice entirely to behavioral medicine — which means your pet’s case receives the full focus of a clinician who has dedicated her career to understanding why animals behave as they do, and what it takes to genuinely help them.
Cardiac Diagnostic Services
😰 Anxiety and Fear-Based Behaviors
Generalized anxiety, sound phobias (thunderstorms, fireworks), fear-based reactivity to people or animals, veterinary-visit anxiety, and avoidance behaviors.
😤 Aggression
Inter-dog aggression, fear-related aggression, resource guarding, redirected aggression, and territorial behavior — including cases where safety is a concern for family members.
🔄 Compulsive and Repetitive Behaviors
Excessive licking, tail chasing, fly snapping, pica (eating inappropriate objects), and other compulsive disorders — often with a neurological or anxiety-based component.
🏠 Separation Anxiety
Destructive behavior, vocalization, elimination, and self-injury when left alone — a genuine anxiety disorder that rarely improves without structured intervention.
🚽 Elimination Disorders
House soiling in cats (including outside the litter box), and stress-related elimination in dogs — often behavioral but requiring medical rule-out first.
🐱 Feline Behavioral Concerns
Multi-cat household conflict, inter-cat aggression, redirected aggression, inappropriate elimination, and stress-related over-grooming (psychogenic alopecia).
What to Expect at a Behavioral Medicine Appointment
An initial behavioral medicine consultation is typically 60-90 minutes. Dr. Petroff reviews your pet’s complete medical history, environmental factors, the specific behaviors of concern, and any previous intervention. She conducts a thorough behavioral assessment and, where indicated, recommends bloodwork or other diagnostics to rule out underlying medical contributions to the behavior.
From there, she develops a structured plan that may include environmental modifications, behavior modification techniques, and — where clinically appropriate — medication. Psychopharmacology is a legitimate and evidence-based component of treating anxiety disorders in animals; in some cases, it is the difference between a protocol that works and one that does not.
Is this an emergency?
Gold Coast is a specialty and referral center open Mon-Fri 7am-6pm, Sat 8am-4pm. For emergencies at any hour, West Hills Animal Hospital is on the same campus .