Would cat clients choose your clinic? Find out how to improve and convey your cat friendly credentials and how to become a Cat Friendly Clinic

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1 for life Would cat clients choose your clinic? Find out how to improve and convey your cat friendly credentials and how to become a Cat Friendly Clinic Committed to ISFM making & PURINA cats lives committed better to making cats lives better 1

2 Make sure cat clients choose your clinic Cat numbers are increasing as it becomes more difficult to keep dogs and there are more people living on their own wanting a companion. The International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) is a not-for-profit global veterinary organisation designed to provide information, knowledge and focus for veterinary practitioners with an interest in feline issues. It does this via conferences, the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery and other courses see Together with our sister charity fund The International Fund for Cat Welfare (IFCW) we strive to improve knowledge, treatment and humane care of cats worldwide. This should mean that veterinary clinics are seeing more cats. However, many cat owners are put off or avoid veterinary visits because they feel it is stressful for their cat and hence also for them. By making the clinic overtly cat friendly and letting clients know you understand their worries about bringing cats in, the clinic has an opportunity to bond better with existing clients and also to make itself attractive to new clients who own cats. Some clinics have already made themselves cat friendly and have found that it has made a considerable difference. Here are some of their comments: Clients are impressed by the measures we have undertaken. We talk with much greater confidence our understanding of cat needs is greater; clients pick up on our greater interest and knowledge, and the care that the cats receive we trained all our staff in cat needs and this comes across in our guided tours. The effects of being cat friendly have been long-lasting, with all our staff well aware of the impact of anxiety when managing our feline patients and everyone constantly looking for new ways to help reduce the stresses on them. Our owners appreciate the empathy we have with them regarding their cats appreciating that bringing in some cats can be quite an ordeal is valued by our clients. We are finding our hospitalised patients are calmer, easier to treat and more settled after recovery. 2 ISFM & PURINA committed to making cats lives better ISFM & PURINA committed to making cats lives better 3

3 To sum up, clients LOVE the cat friendly clinic scheme. Many of our clients and their cats have benefited from us being a cat friendly clinic. Several of our clients welcome the cat only clinics which are set aside weekly. Their pets are calmer and a visit to the practice is much less stressful for both owners and their cats. the appreciation of the different care and nursing requirements for the feline species. Our standards of care are now consistently higher, as we all think cat. We also used a number of the ideas when we designed and built our new practice. Our feline client base has definitely increased. We have good compliance with routine preventative healthcare due to good information provided by all staff. Being a cat friendly practice had a very positive impact on our practice from both a client point of view and a staff perspective and in terms of 4 ISFM & PURINA committed to making cats lives better

4 How to become a recognised ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic Cat Friendly Clinic is phase 1 of the ISFM PURINA WellCat programme, a Europe-wide programme devised to give clinics a way to show their cat friendly credentials. It will help you to assess how feline friendly your clinic is, give you information on understanding cats and how the clinic can be developed to reduce stress for visiting cats. The Cat Friendly Clinic programme is based on a self-assessment of the clinic and signing up to the ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic Standard. The practice must also display a Cat Friendly Clinic Charter for clients to understand what being cat friendly means. The Cat Friendly Clinic scheme is aligned with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Practice Standard Scheme (RVCS PSS). As such within the UK all qualifying clinics must achieve RCVS PSS Core Standard. WHAT TO DO If you would like to take part then complete the form on the back of this flyer and send it to the address shown. Purina will then send you the Cat Friendly Clinic pack which comprises: A practical guide to creating a Cat Friendly Clinic AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines Powerpoint presentation for clinic staff Cat Friendly Clinic Application Form When you have completed the application form and enclosed the requested information and photographs, send the pack to ISFM the details will be in the pack. Successful applications will receive Cat Friendly Clinic Certificate Cat Friendly Clinic window sticker Cat Friendly Clinic Client Charter If you would like to know more about the ISFM PURINA Wellcat programme and the Cat Friendly Clinic scheme, please go to Cat Friendly Clinic booklet for clients explaining about Cat Friendly Clinic, advice on bringing cats to the clinic and on giving medication Cat Friendly Clinic listing on the ISFM and WellCat (client) websites Certificate and listing will be valid until end of After this you will be asked to renew, and will receive updated promotional material and certificate. 6 ISFM & PURINA committed to making cats lives better ISFM & PURINA committed to making cats lives better 7

5 Request form for a Cat Friendly Clinic pack Clinic Details: Name of clinic Address of clinic Contact name contact Telephone Please help us by answering the following questions: How did you find out about the Cat Friendly Clinic programme? What type of clinic are you: Small animal only Cat only Mixed How many full time equivalent veterinary surgeons work at the clinic? How many full time equivalent support staff work at the clinic? Approximate percentage of cat clients registered with the clinic? Approximate percentage of turnover from cat business? Average cat consult time? Does the clinic stock pet food: Therapeutic Diets Lifestage Diets Hill s Royal Canin PURINA Iams/Eukanuba Other Please send this form to PURINA at Nestlé Purina PetCare, Vet Channel Marketing, Floor 5, St George s House, Croydon, Surrey CR9 1NR. ISFM is a division of the cat charity the Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB). FAB is a charity registered in England and Wales, charity no and a company limited by guarantee, company no Registered office Taeselbury, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6LD, UK Tel: +44 (0) , Fax: + 44 (0) info@isfm.net Tear here 8 ISFM & PURINA committed Committed to making cats to making lives better cats lives better