Gold Level Cat Friendly Clinic

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Pride Park Hospital are proud to be awarded Cat Friendly Clinic status at Gold level.

We recognise that because of their unique nature and needs, taking cats to visit a veterinary clinic can be stressful, both for cats and owners. Cat Friendly Clinic is an accreditation programme, run by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM).

This has been developed to raise the standards of care and welfare of cats in the veterinary clinic, and to provide veterinarians with practical solutions to problems that they often face when dealing with their feline patients.

We have dedicated team of Cat Advocates that ensure all necessary Cat Friendly Clinic criteria are met, including implementation of Feline Friendly Handling and Nursing Care. This means that your pets are in the best capable hands when they visit Pride Park Hospital.

By being a Cat friendly Clinic, this means we:

Understand the specific needs of cats
Understand how to approach cats carefully and with care
Have up to date knowledge and equipment to manage the care of cats and update owners to ensure they’re fully aware

Our staff ensure all our cats are handled gently and with respect at all times, ensuring cat friendly principles are always adhered to during the care and restraint of cats. This includes:

Minimising stress during handling, examinations and procedures
Recognising and minimising fear and anxiety in cats
Providing owners with information on how to reduce stress during the journey to and from the veterinary clinic
Avoiding heavy manual restraint and ‘scruffing’ of cats

We offer a separate waiting area for cats, with sight barriers to ensure cats and dogs are segregated, avoid direct contact and prevent visual contact when waiting for appointments. Shelving is provided where cats can be placed (in their carriers or baskets) safely above floor level.

We have a separate quiet, calm cat-only hospitalisation ward, physically separated from our dog wards. There is adequate lighting provided as well as ventilation and temperature control. Our kennels are well constructed, hygienic and easily cleaned, they are also secure and escape proof. All of our kennels in cat ward are all carefully positioned so that they do not face each other, helping to reduce the stress and anxiety in our feline patients. Litter trays are provided and offer a variety of different types of litter depending on what they are used to at home. Soft, comfortable bedding help them feel more cosey and relaxed during their stay, they are given castles to provide them with an area to hide, if they prefer privacy, it helps them to feel more safe and secure, as this is already a new and unfamiliar environment for them. A selection of toys are also given when appropriate to provide enrichment.
Feliway plug-ins are used as a pheromone therapy, which mimic a cat’s facial pheromones a cat would normally deposit when they rub their cheeks against surfaces, marking the areas as being safe. This helps cats to feel less stressed and anxious during their hospitalisation.

All cats hospitalised are monitored closely and have detailed daily in-patient records.

We have facilities to manage our feline patients which include facilities to

Maintain body temperature
Provide oxygen supplementation
Bathe, dry and groom hospitalised cats
Different foods and food bowls for hospitalised cats

A separate exam room is used for our feline patients, this is a cat only exam room located within the cat ward. It is very beneficial to have separate examination areas as there is no cross-contamination of unfamiliar smells from dogs and no possibility of cats and dogs crossing paths, this is all aimed to reduce the stress of the cats staying with us. All the equipment that we need to do a thorough and full examination on your cat is all provided in the cat exam room. It is quiet and calm, with a Feliway plug in. The examination table and other surfaces are cleaned down appropriately between each patient to prevent the spread of disease. Our favourite reason as to why we love our separate cat exam room so much is that we are able to minimise the handling and travelling through the hospital for our patients. We know just how scared and anxious they can be, and our main focus and goals are always to fulfil their needs and reduce the fear to the best of our abilities. Having the cat exam room based in our cat ward, it is just a short walk to take them to be examined each day by our dedicated veterinary team.

A happy, fear free cat = a happy veterinary team!

We have a separate cat-only isolation room, not only is this contained away from other cats in the main cat wards but is also separate from our dog isolation room. This is used for our contagious patients, they receive the same amount of care as in our general cat ward, we have a cat examination table and all essential monitoring equipment to ensure our patients get the best care whilst receiving treatment. Feliway plug-ins are also used to help keep our patients calm and happy.

Visit our Cat Friendly Clinic

Pride Park Hospital

Riverside Road, Pride Park, Derby DE24 8HX

01332 678333

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