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So what is it that makes a cat hospital so special? With all the media attention we have been getting for our first opening week, this is a question that a number of journalists have asked me. The best way to understand this is to look at the comparisons between dogs and cats.

Dogs are pack animals, and generally cope well out of their home environment provided that they are with their human “pack”. On the other hand, cats are highly sensitive to their surrounding environment and because they are both a prey and predatory animal, they have a well-developed fight or flight response which is essential for their survival in the wild. In a veterinary clinic setting, these self-protective mechanisms can actually become harmful to the cat resulting in fear and anxiety. This fear is escalated by the sounds, smells and possibly sights of unfamiliar dogs which most cats will perceive as a predatory threat. Fear and anxiety can lead to poor recovery from surgery and illness, and in many cases will stop people wanting to take their cat to the vet as they find the whole experience too stressful for both themselves and the cat. This means that many cats miss out on important medical care that they need.

Our team spent over twelve months designing Perth Cat Hospital to ensure that we created a hospital that is perfect for our feline patients. We understand that cats and their owners can become very nervous about a trip to the vets so we have done everything we can to ensure that every kitty’s health-care visit will be as calm and relaxed as possible. Everything in our hospital has been specifically designed for cats.

Our waiting room is peaceful and quiet with no barking dogs or offensive canine odours. As we only treat cats, this allows us to be experts in all breeds and temperaments. We remain committed to going above and beyond standard veterinary care and offer a more advanced level of dedicated feline practice. Our services include wellness programs, preventive health, in-house laboratory services, digital radiography, ultrasound, digital dental radiography and cancer treatment including chemotherapy.

Each consulting room contains paediatric scales allowing us to weigh your cat in the privacy of the consult room. We want to ensure your cat receives the very best of care so we have equipped our hospital with modern, specialised medical equipment designed for use in cats such as our Doppler blood pressure monitor and Bair-Hugger heating blankets. We have even invested in a heated surgical table as cats are highly prone to developing hypothermia during surgery.

Perth Cat Hospital boasts state-of-the-art, purpose-built hospital wards including a dedicated intensive care area for our critical cases and a separate isolation ward for contagious patients. For longer hospital stays and for those fit and healthy, your kitty will be able to enjoy residing at our “cat hotel” in boutique boarding cat condos that have been custom made to cater for their special environmental needs. Respecting your cat’s need for vertical space, every condo has tiers to enable your cats to perch up higher and a separate ensuite litter tray room, away from their accommodation area to give them the privacy they deserve.