As a cat owner, you’ve likely found that taking your feline friend to their veterinary appointments can be extremely difficult. From the moment you bring out their carrier, to several hours after you return home, your cat may show signs of stress and anxiety and seem to be holding a grudge. Don’t you wish you could erase your cat’s—and your own—anxiety about going to the veterinarian? 

You can. When you schedule an appointment at our Cat Friendly hospital, you and your feline friend can successfully visit our Memorial Animal Hospital veterinarian with little, or any, physical or mental trauma. Eliminating the cat scratches and caterwauling that come with typical veterinary visits are a couple of the perks that come with visiting a Cat Friendly hospital. Here are four more benefits.

#1: Your cat will experience less stress, anxiety, and fear

Cats are generally homebodies who prefer their home turf, so venturing outside their territory instantly puts them on edge, especially when other animals—potentially predators—are present. An unfamiliar environment paired with unpleasant procedures (e.g., restraint, examinations, vaccinations, blood draws) can trigger stress, anxiety, and fear in cats. 

A veterinary hospital that is certified as a Cat Friendly Practice has shown they are dedicated to alleviating the stress, anxiety, and fear cats often feel during veterinary visits. These practices have modified their entire hospital to be more feline-friendly, and their staff has focused on providing gold-standard care to feline patients. These veterinary teams are also excited to share their knowledge with cat owners on improving every aspect of a cat’s life, from at-home preventive care techniques, to carrier training, to low-stress veterinary visits.

#2: Feline-friendly handling techniques will put your cat at ease

With cats, less is typically more. Unfortunately, some veterinary practice teams do not understand this philosophy and handle cats with less than the required finesse. Sudden movements, loud voices, and too-rough handling (i.e., scruffing) can trigger a cat’s fight-or-flight response, which often rapidly escalates to defensive aggression.

During your cat’s visit to our Cat Friendly hospital, we will make every effort to lower their defenses and make them feel calm, comfortable, and relaxed. We will never dump your cat out of their carrier—we will allow them to exit at their own pace, or remove the top half, if necessary, so they can stay in their familiar, comfortable carrier. We will examine your cat there, or wherever they are most comfortable, such as your lap or snuggled under a cozy blanket on top of the exam table. 

Whenever possible, we will examine and treat your cat using low-stress handling methods that may include pre-visit pharmaceuticals (PVPs), towel wraps, pheromone therapy, high-value treats, and injectable sedation. Caring for your cat effectively while minimizing their stress is our main goal, and we will use the methods that work best for your pet.

#3: Cat-centric facilities help your cat feel comfortable and secure

When you enter a veterinary hospital, you likely expect you will be accosted by barking dogs, yowling cats, and noxious odors. Then, as you sit and wait in the lobby, you will feel your pet’s anxiety level rising, along with your own. Finally, you will be shoved into an exam room with a liquid pool on the floor near the exam table. Whether drool or urine, you’re not going to investigate more closely.

Imagine this scenario from your highly sensitive cat’s viewpoint. You are trapped in a carrier, placed on the floor, left to the inquisitive noses of large predators—and terrified. The pheromones and odors coming from other stressed felines and potentially predatory dogs scare you even more.

A Cat Friendly practice offers cat-centric facilities designed to ease your cat’s distress. Feline-only exam rooms, treatment areas, and hospitalization suites can greatly reduce your cat’s stress by eliminating canine odors, sights, and sounds. Your cat will be ushered directly into a cat-friendly exam room so you avoid the lobby wait, and given a calming pheromone-spritzed blanket where they can curl up and settle in. Soundproofed rooms, less harsh lighting, and lofty perches add more comfort and calm during their visit.

#4: Your cat will receive more comprehensive care

A hissing, swatting cat is incredibly difficult to examine and treat, and should we manage to obtain a heart rate, temperature, blood samples, or a blood pressure reading, the fight-or-flight response can skew the results. Using low-stress handling techniques in a feline-friendly environment helps ensure we obtain more accurate results and make a correct diagnosis. Then, we can safely and effectively administer necessary treatments and let you and your cat head back home.

Experience the difference a visit to a Cat Friendly hospital can make for yourself. Give our Memorial Animal Hospital team a call to schedule your cat’s next appointment.