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For those of you who have met me, you will know that I am a very passion person when it comes to caring for cats and I strongly believe that an important part of this is through education of both owners and veterinary staff. I was recently invited to speak at the annual conference for the Veterinary Nurses Council of Australia which was held in Perth this year. I chose to speak about the concept of being “feline friendly”.

Cats are the second most common pet in Australia with nearly a third of households owning a cat. There are estimated to be 3.3 million pet cats in Australia which means there are about 15 pet cats for every 100 people. However, it is a sad fact that our pet cats fail to receive the same level of veterinary care that their canine counterparts enjoy. In fact, it has been found that between half of pet cats will see a vet less than once every 12 months compared to only 14% of dogs.

One of the main reasons why our felines do not get the same level of veterinary care that dogs receive is because the whole process of getting them to the vet is considered to be very stressful by both the cat and the owner. More than half of cat owners report that their cat hates going to the vet, and more than a third of owners feel that just the thought of a vet visit is stressful. These statistics are alarming truths that can only be improved by educating both cat owners and the veterinary team on how to make the vet visit less stressful to our cherished felines.

The concept of being more “cat friendly” in the veterinary practice is something I have been passionate about for some time and in fact, back in 2013 before the Cat Hospital opened our other sister hospitals the Midland and Drovers Vets were the first internationally recognised, accredited Cat Friendly Clinics in Western Australia which they both attained when the program launched in Australia.

Cats are highly sensitive to their surrounding environment and being 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.

Fear is the number one cause of aggression in cats at the vet clinic. Common sources of stress to cats in the veterinary clinic include exposure to unknown animals and humans, noises and strange smells or odours. This can lead to a sensory overload for the cat. This is often exacerbated by an inability to hide or find a “safe place”. Furthermore, hospitalised cats are often fed unfamiliar food by different feeding routines and people. Many cats will have to undergo painful procedures such as bandaging, ear cleaning or catheterisation, or have painful illnesses such as arthritis, cancer, wounds, constipation or vomiting.

For my lecture, I covered the basics of cat behaviour, discussed what causes fear and stress in cats at the vets and showed how to identify a stressed cat. I then moved on to talking about the importance of the “Five Pillars of a Cats’ Environmental Needs‘ and how to specifically apply this to a veterinary clinic setting. Finally, I went through some examples on how to implement feline friendly handling, giving the nurses my tips on how to make our feline patients more comfortable and less stressed with procedures and hospitalisation.

Implementation of a feline friendly, positive CAT-titude can have huge benefits for the cat, the cat owner and the vet staff. Relatively small and simple changes made at each stage of the cat’s vet visit will make a significant impact on lowering the cat’s stress levels and will increase the client’s confidence when bringing their cat to the vet. This will in turn increase the level of veterinary care the cat receives and thus improve their overall health and welfare.

Dr Martine van Boeijen

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