Heads-N-Tales from Hallettvet: What is a Cat Friendly Veterinary Practice?

We are Cat Friendly!
by Kelly L., CVT

In the US, there are millions more cats than dogs as pets, but cats see the veterinarian much less frequently than dogs. One of the biggest reasons is that it is very stressful for cats (and their owners) to go to the doctor. In fact, studies show that 58% of cat owners report that their cat hates going to the vet, and 38% of owners say that they get stressed just thinking about taking their cat to the doctor. At Hallett Veterinary Hospital, we’ve become an American Association of Feline Practitioners designated Cat Friendly Practice to help make visits more comfortable for cats and their owners.

What does this mean for you and your cat?

To be given the designation of a Cat Friendly Practice, we needed to prove that we have taken steps to assure we understand the specific needs of cats and have implemented feline friendly standards to decrease stress and provide a more calming environment.

Our staff has been trained in feline friendly handling and understanding cat behavior.
We have an exam room dedicated to cats only. This room is down the hall, away from the waiting room and our busiest exam rooms.
We have a Feliway diffuser which is a calming, synthetic feline facial pheromone running in the exam room all day.
We have installed shelves for cats to play on. We can also do our physical exams on these shelves if a cat is more comfortable there.
We have toys available for playful cats, and a window for cats that like to look outside.
Our staff goes slowly with cats using the least amount of restraint that is necessary to handle them. We also have some lower stress techniques for handling uncooperative cats.
We try to do as many procedures as we can in this exam room rather than move the cat to another area of the hospital that may be unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
We have a separate cat ward for hospitalized patients to make sure they are away from noisy dogs.