Updating The Cat Friendly Guidelines: 5 Top Tips For Cat Friendly Interactions

In our first episode, we discuss the new cat-friendly guidelines we’ve created with AAFP: Cat Friendly Interactions: Approach and Handling Techniques and The Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment.

Nathalie Dowgray speaks with Ilona Rodan, Kelly St. Denis, Samantha Taylor, and Sarah Heath - all contributors to the new guidelines. We share some of the positive impacts that we’ve seen and how attitudes have changed in the 10 years since ISFM and AAFP launched the original guidelines - the cat friendly clinic programme and the cat friendly practice programme.

We discuss reasons for updating the title of the guidelines and why we need to move away from negative terms like “angry” or “aggressive” when approaching cats in the consulting room. We explain some of the terminologies that we use in the guidelines and why it’s important for vets to recognise emotions and understand cats on a deeper level. We also talk about how you can create a welcoming environment for cats, whether you work in mixed practice or cat-only clinics and the benefits of working in a cat friendly way. Lastly, we share our top tips for cat friendly interactions!

The guidelines are being published in November 2022 and will be free to view on the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgeries website.

For ISFM members, the full recording of this roundtable discussion is available for you to listen to at portal.icatcare.org. To become an ISFM member, or find out more about our Cat Friendly schemes, visit icatcare.org

View The Transcript Here

Host: 

Nathalie Dowgray, BVSc, MANZCVS, PgDip, MRCVS, PhD, 2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines Co-Chair, International Society of Feline Medicine, International Cat Care, Tisbury, Wiltshire, UK 

Speakers:

Ilona Rodan, DVM, DABVP (Feline), 2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines Co-Chair, Cat Behavior Solutions, Cat Care Clinic, Madison, WI, USA

Kelly St Denis, MSc, DVM, DABVP (Feline), 2022 ISFM/AAFP Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines Co-Chair, St Denis Veterinary Professional Corporation, Powassan, Ontario, Canada 

Samantha Taylor, BVetMed(Hons), CertSAM, DipECVIM-CA, MANCVS, FRCVS , 2022 ISFM/AAFP Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines Co-Chair, International Society of Feline Medicine, International Cat Care, Wiltshire, Tisbury, UK 

Sarah Heath, BVSc, PgCertVE, DipECAWBM(BM), CCAB, FHEA, FRCVS, Behavioural Referrals Veterinary Practice, Task Force Member Of Both Guidelines.

For ISFM members, the full recording of this discussion is available for you to listen to at portal.icatcare.org. To become an ISFM member, or find out more about our Cat Friendly schemes, visit icatcare.org

Creators and Guests

Host

Nathalie Dowgray

What is Chattering with iCatCare?

Welcome to Chattering With iCatCare, the official monthly podcast of International Cat Care, hosted by Yaiza Gomez-Mejias (Veterinary Community Co-ordinator). Each month, we chatter about cats and cat-friendly practices with industry experts and contributors to The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. Each episode contains highlights from our longer discussions and interviews, which are accessible to iCatCare members at portal.icatcare.org. If you would like access to our full episodes, would like to become an iCatCare Veterinary Society Member, or find out more about our Cat-Friendly schemes, visit icatcare.org.

Nathalie Dowgray: Welcome to
Chattering With ISFM, the

official podcast of the
International Society of Feline

Medicine. Hello, I'm Nathalie
Dowgray, head of ISFM, we're

pleased to present the first of
our monthly podcasts on the

topic of our new joint cat
friendly guidelines that have

been created with AAFP, the
American Association of Feline

Practitioners.

These new guidelines, Cat
Friendly Interactions: Approach

and Handling Techniques and The
Cat Friendly Veterinary

Environment, have been created
with a task force of authors

based on both an extensive
literature review, and where

evidence is lacking, the
author's experience and

expertise. The guidelines are
being published in November 2022

and will be free to view on the
Journal of Feline Medicine and

Surgeries website.

Earlier this year, we took
advantage of the four co-chairs

of the guidelines, myself and
Sam Taylor from ISFM, and Ilona

Rodan and Kelly St Denis from
AAFP, as well as Sarah Heath,

one of the taskforce members,
all being in Rhodes for the ISFM

Congress, and we recorded a
roundtable discussion and shared

our top tips on being a cat
friendly vet.

Kelly, you were the AAFP
president when the decision was

made to update the
feline-friendly handling

guidelines, which was the
original cat friendly guidelines

that we had as joint societies.
And then we also started the

discussion at that point to
create this other set of

guidelines as well on the cat
friendly veterinary environment.

Why was it time to update the
guidelines? And why did we

decide to do two? Why did we
create more work for ourselves?

Kelly St Denis: Other than the
10 year anniversary, which seems

like a logical time to update
them, we just have so much more

information available to us now.
And I think this culture change

has opened up a new mindset for
a lot of veterinary

professionals to think what can
I do? What can I do to be

better? And so there are a lot
of things in the older

guidelines that need to be
updated to meet that demand that

we have. So it's going to
improve things even better,

hopefully.

And then as far as creating a
new set. So the veterinary

environment has really offered
us this opportunity to isolate

what our professionals can do in
the environment. So in the

veterinary clinic, both from
home, the visit to the clinic,

and then within the clinic
itself, in terms of making

things cat friendly. So it
really separates that veterinary

interactions with the cat and
versus that environment that we

welcome them to. And that really
helps to tailor things for our

clinicians.

So I guess I would ask Ilona a
question now. You were an author

on the original handling
guidelines. Why did you support

the name change to interactions
instead of handling? And what's

different about the new
guidelines compared to the

previous?

Ilona Rodan: Yeah, it's a great
question, because the first set

of handling guidelines was in
2011. And we had very few

references, we now have almost
150 references because now we

have so many studies to prove
that we need to interact with

cats in a different way. And so,
that's really helped.

And the name change is because,
it's not just about handling,

there's non-physical and
physical interactions that we

are having with the cat. And
that means that before we've

ever touched that cat, we should
be observing the cat, giving

body language, everything
they're taking in all this

information about us, that we
need to make sure that is

pleasant from the cat's
perspective.

And at the same time, we are
looking at the cat, talking with

the caregiver, and identify
whether this cat has any fear or

any other problems. And so that
we can learn how to work with

that cat better just in that
introductory period.

Nathalie Dowgray: I was really
keen for all of us, maybe, just

to give our one top tip. So, I
don't know if I start with with

Sam, what would be your top tip?

Sam Taylor: I suppose mine would
be hiding boxes in hospitalised

cats. It's still a frustration
of mine and I'm sure they're fed

up of me at work because I walk,
you know, walk in and go why

does that cat not have a box?
You know, straightaway, because

it's so easy and you don't have
to have a posh expensive box.

So what I do, if the nurses are
really busy, I just go and get a

cardboard box out of the
stockroom, and you know, put it

in that cage. We know, we've got
evidence, we have you know

scientific evidence, but all of
us have personal evidence of the

difference that makes to a cats
emotions if it can, you know, hide.

And we've got a few different
solutions because we find that

some different cats like kind of
slightly different, some of them

like to perch, so it's nice to
give them that opportunity as

well. So we will try and sort of
also look at the cat itself and

what its preferences are but
there's no excuse not to have a

cardboard box.

This is what I say, there's
literally no, yes you're busy,

yes we havent got time, but
every cat in that hospital needs

somewhere to hide. So yeah, that
would be my bug bear.

Nathalie Dowgray: How about you,
Kelly? What's yours?

Kelly St Denis: I really think I
will go back to what I said

earlier, which is if you take
the time, you actually end up

saving time. So I know that a
lot of people can't have very

long appointments, we used to
have half hour appointments at

my clinic and I was the boss. So
I got to call the shots, that

was good.

But if you just get yourself
into that room with the client

and the cat, and just you're in
your own little world, take a

breather, and let the cat do
what they need to do

and take that time to understand
what the cats emotions are in

that initial time that you're in
the appointment, so that you can

move forward in that appointment
more successfully, you will get

so much more done, more
successfully, that way.

Nathalie Dowgray: Brilliant. How
about you Sarah?

Sarah Heath: Yeah, I love that
one Kelly, we say that such a

lot about the time, it's so
important.

I think my top tip is think cat.
Are you looking at what this

experience would be like if you
were a cat? And if we think in

that perspective, both
sensorially, emotionally,

physically, trying to think what
is this experience like from a

feline perspective, that can
make a huge difference to the

whole veterinary experience for
the cat, obviously, but for the

caregiver and the veterinary
staff as well, for everyone. So

think cat.

Nathalie Dowgray: It makes a
massive difference because we

know, if owners have had a bad
experience or seen their pet

have a bad experience, they're
not coming back to see us. And

that's detrimental to that cats
welfare.

So, yeah, how about you, Ilona?

Ilona Rodan: Well I was going to
say hiding places everywhere in

the practice, even in the exam
rooms, but I guess I will say

carrier training.

Because it makes such a
difference. Because we need to

start at home, wherever the fear
starts, where frustration

starts, and probably pain. And
then we move forward. And once

that cat goes willingly into the
carrier things are so much

better already.

Nathalie Dowgray: Yeah, I think
that's really true. One of the

cats, the first time I saw her
in the study, we opened, we

always put the basket on the
floor, we open and allow the cat

come out. I opened the door, she
flew out and attacked my leg. So

the frustration level in this
cat, from having been put in the

basket and transported to the
vet clinic, was through the

roof.

And my leg was the first thing
she encountered to take it out

on, I was grateful I was wearing
jeans that day. Subsequently,

with food bribery, this cat has
gotten a lot better. And she

doesn't, she doesn't get quite
so frustrated in the visits to

the vet clinic now, though, it's
borderline sometimes, bless her.

I'm just trying to think what
mine would be. I've mentioned

food treats already. Mine is
probably, there's a really nice

saying that I learnt years ago,
less is more when you're

handling and interacting with
cats.

And I think this is a really
important one for team members

to consider. I hear it with
nurses when I'm asking for some

assistance to maybe take a blood
sample. And they go straight in

with quite, what I consider, a
heavy handed hold, you know,

holding the legs, neck sort of
extended, because I always do

jugular samples.

Whereas, I'm saying, oh no just,
just gently tilt the head now,

'oh but I'm not holding legs',
I'm like, that's fine. 'You

might get scratched'. That's my
responsibility. I think that to

me, it's a team thing. It's not
their responsibility to ensure I

don't get scratched, it's my
responsibility to be watching

that cats body language and
adapting what I'm doing to what

the cats telling me.

And I think, I think that one's
a really important one that,

that it's a team, it's a team
thing. That's not just one

person's job to ensure that
someone else, you know, it is

personal responsibility and work
as a team.

We've sort of talked quite a bit
about the guidelines. I mean,

I think, you know, even if
you're not going to engage in

we're hoping that this sort of
extra material will be useful

for people and encourage them to
read the guidelines in full.

becoming an accredited cat
friendly clinic or a member of

the cat friendly practice
scheme, just reading through

both sets of guidelines, and as
Sam said, sometimes just the

smallest changes, one little
thing at a time, is going to

massively improve the experience
for your cat patients.

So thank you all for taking some
time out away from the beach in

Rhodes to do this recording.
Thank you.

We hope that you enjoyed this
recording. Please visit the JFMS

website to read the guidelines.
For ISFM members, the full

recording of this roundtable
discussion is available for you

to listen to. Please visit
portal.icatcare.org.

We look forward to talking to
you again next month, where

we'll have the first of our two
podcasts on FIP with Dr. Sam

Taylor speaking to professor's
Danièlle Gunn-Moore and Séverine

Tasker. Look out for that
dropping at the end of November.