Helping pets that act out: The specialist in veterinary behavioural medicine giving hope to families

She discovered ethology, the scientific study of animal behaviour, which gave her a language and framework for something that had fascinated her since childhood. 

Instead of seeing behaviour as “personality” or “stubbornness”, she saw patterns – normal and abnormal – that could be systematically studied and treated.

That decision led her through the demanding European college pathway – internships, residency and rigorous examinations – to receive European Board of Veterinary Specialisation status as a behavioural medicine specialist in 2019.

Dr Titeux, who has four adult children, relocated to Singapore in March 2024 with her husband, taking along with them their two dogs – Scapin, a four-year-old border collie, and Samsam, a five-year-old smooth fox terrier.

Many patients she sees since joining Beecroft in February are struggling with issues that their owners cannot not resolve, such as dogs which cannot stop barking or cats with stress behaviours, such as self-induced alopecia. 

Her first task is to decide how much of what she sees is medical and how much is behavioural.

“In the consultation, we include all that is related to physical condition and physical disease to disentangle that from behaviour and what is from the organic part of the animal,” she says.  

That medical lens is what sets her speciality apart from training alone. A dog’s new aggression, for instance, may turn out to be driven by pain or a brain or heart tumour – conditions where punishment-based “training” to stop the misbehaviour can be ineffective and cruel. 

Once the disease has been investigated with the animal’s primary vet, the work of behavioural medicine begins.

“First, I build behavioural therapy – what I need to change in the cat’s or dog’s life, where it is sleeping and what it is eating,” she says. “Then I will propose a change in the activity of the animal, and then the relationship between pet and owner.” 

That might mean more structured exercises, predictable routines, changes in how families greet or handle the animal and environments that better match species needs, especially for small-space, indoor-only pets.

But perhaps the most unusual part of her practice is not the science – it is her insistence on hope.

She has seen owners coming to her feeling guilty for trying other ways to resolve behavioural issues before considering that the problems may be medically related. 

Even when the diagnosis is serious, she says many owners leave feeling better. “They are still relieved because they have an explanation and they have a solution,” she says.

Asked if there are cases that are simply too far gone, and her answer could double as a motto for her unique career. “It’s never too late to help any animal.”