ISFM & PURINA® – committed to making cats’ lives better 1

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

for life

Committed to making cats’ lives better

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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:

Cat numbers are increasing as it becomes more difficult to keep dogs and there are more people living on their own wanting a companion.

Make sure cat clients choose your clinic

‘ We are finding our hospitalised patients are calmer, easier to treat and more settled after recovery.’

‘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.’

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 www.isfm.net. 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.

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‘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.’

‘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

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.’

‘ To sum up, clients LOVE the cat friendly clinic scheme.’

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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.

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.

How to become a recognised ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic

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

If you would like to know more about the ISFM – PURINA® Wellcat programme and the Cat Friendly Clinic scheme, please go to www.wellcat.org

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

• 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 2012. After this you will be asked to renew, and will receive updated promotional material and certificate.

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ISFM is a division of the cat charity the Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB). FAB is a charity registered in England and Wales, charity no 1117342 and a company limited by guarantee, company no 6002684. Registered office Taeselbury, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6LD, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1747 871872, Fax: + 44 (0)1747 871873 www.isfm.net E-mail: info@isfm.net

Request form for a Cat Friendly Clinic pack

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Clinic Details:Name of clinic Address of clinic Contact name E-mail 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.

Committed to making cats’ lives better

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