Caerphilly Veterinary Clinic are a gold standard Cat Friendly Clinic
What is a Cat Friendly Clinic?
The International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) is the veterinary division of International Cat Care. The ISFM set standards and award accreditation to veterinary clinics who are compliant with those standards. There are three levels of accreditation: bronze, silver and gold.
An accredited Cat Friendly Clinic has reached a higher standard of cat care in that the staff understand that:
- Cats often do not travel well and feel unsafe away from home
- Cats are highly sensitive to new sights, sounds and smells
- Most cats prefer quiet and solitude and are highly susceptible to stress
- Cats need to be handled gently and with respect in clinic
- Most cats are highly stressed by nearby dogs in a clinic
- Cats are not small dogs, they have completely different needs
We understand these things and aim to reduce the stress for our feline patients at every visit. We are a ‘scruff-free’ clinic and use respectful handling techniques.
Helpful tips to reduce stress for your cat during visits to Caerphilly Veterinary Clinic
- Use a top opening carrier or a carrier from which we can easily remove the lid.
- Get your cat used to the cat carrier at home with treats, a familiar blanket and the door open to allow them to explore it without being scared.
- Spray the blanket and carrier with a pheromone spray, such as Feliway, 15 minutes before you need to put your cat inside.
- Use a cover over the carrier and secure the basket carefully in the car with a seatbelt or similar.
- On arrival at the surgery take your cat immediately up to our quiet cat waiting area and pop your cat basket into one of our cat cubes.
- Our cubes will keep your cat off the floor giving security whilst the sides protect against disease transmission.
- We have towels available in the cat waiting area if you would like to cover your cat basket for added stress reduction – the towels are regularly sprayed with Feliway to again reduce anxiety.
- A Feliway diffuser is plugged in at all times in all our cat areas and there are no dog smells in our dedicated cat facilities.
- Please keep your cat in the carrier at all times.
- We keep all waiting times to a minimum to reduce stress.
- Extra time is allowed for appointments, to enable our cats to slowly become accustomed to their surroundings in the consulting room before being examined – they appreciate being able to look around and explore our wall climber.
- If your cat needs to stay with us, we have cat-only hospital facilities with large quiet cat pens, all with a view.
- We offer a raised platform to sit on or a hideout for privacy in each of our cat pens.
What are the differences between bronze, silver and gold accreditation?
Bronze, silver and gold accreditation differ in the facilities available at a clinic. Not all clinics are able to offer the same to feline guests due to many different factors such as size of the clinic and staff levels available.
For further information, visit https://catfriendlyclinic.org/cat-owners/what-you-should-be-looking-for/ This link will take you to the ISFM website, where you can view all information relating to Cat Friendly Clinics and what the different accreditations mean.
The ISFM have created helpful leaflets for clients and they are available to download here: https://catfriendlyclinic.org/vets-nurses/client-leaflets/.
They give information and advice on the following, to help make them as stress-free as possible:
- What is a Cat Friendly Clinic?
- Bringing your cat to the clinic
- Taking your cat back home
- Changing your cat’s food
- Giving tablets to your cat
- Giving skin, ear or eye drops/ointment
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