152 © T. Atkinson, 2018. Practical Feline Behaviour (T. Atkinson)

11a Advice for Veterinary

Professionals

Part 1 – The Cat in the

Veterinary Clinic

Knowledge and expertise in feline medicine and surgery has grown tremendously

during recent years and general recognition of the importance of feline health care

has also increased in the cat-owning population. Even so, it is not uncommon for even

the most caring and devoted cat owner to be reluctant to take their pet to the veteri-

nary surgery for preventative health care, or even for treatment when their pet is

injured or becomes ill.

This reluctance is most often due to one or more of the following (Vogt et al., 2010):

● Challenges in transporting the cat to the practice:

● Difficulty in getting the cat into the cat carrier, which may even result in

injury to the owner or handler.

● Obvious distress exhibited by the cat while travelling.

● Difficulty in handling the cat at the practice:

● Owners may feel embarrassed or fear that they will judged as inept pet car-

ers if their cat is aggressive or difficult to examine.

● They might worry that their cat will cause injury to veterinary staff or to

themselves.

● They may find themselves facing extra expense if the cat needs to be sedated

in order to treat or examine it.

● Unwanted changes to the cat’s behaviour following a veterinary visit:

● A cat may act aggressively towards the owner and/or towards other house-

hold pets following a visit to the vets.

● The relationship between feline housemates may be severely and sometimes

irreparably damaged following a veterinary visit.

● Empathy for the cat:

● An owner may feel that the possible drawbacks and the distress caused to the

cat by a visit to the vet outweighs the health benefits (Habacher et al., 2010).

● Stress for the cat owner:

● As well as being stressful for the cat, the experience can also be sufficiently

stressful for the owner that they may choose to simply avoid future visits or

go elsewhere if they feel that another practice may be more ‘feline friendly’

(Cannon and Rodan, 2016a).

Endeavouring to make life easier for clients and increasing the likelihood that they

will seek veterinary care for their pets is therefore important, but this is not the only

reason why it is important to minimize fear and stress for feline patients.