A visit to the veterinarian is often traumatic for a cat, which can make cat owners reluctant to bring them in. Partners for Healthy Pets has the tools and resources to help your practice maintain or develop a strong emphasis on felines and reduce the stress of veterinary visits.

Partners for Healthy Pets (PHP), an alliance of 100+ veterinary associations, veterinary colleges, and animal health companies focused on preventive care led by AAHA and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), is offering a free, downloadable suite of tools to help you put the focus on the feline.

One of these resources is the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) Cat-Friendly Practice Program (CFP). The CFP program contains the tools for practices to integrate a feline perspective and embrace the standards needed to elevate your care for cats. When completing the program, you received the CFP designation, a recognized symbol of excellence.

Some of the tools and resources the CFP program will equip your practice with:

• Identifying trends and baseline species information essential for understanding cats.
• Acknowledging the essential role of the cat owner in the veterinary visit
• Providing support to veterinarians and their teams to create a cat-friendly environment.
• Outlining strategies for introducing changes in the delivery of care that incorporate a better understanding of the cat’s distinct needs and behaviors.

In addition, a series of cat-friendly practice videos produced by the CATalyst Council are designed to help assist veterinary teams in their efforts to enhance feline visits. Some of the topics covered by these videos include the best place to examine a cat, massage to calm an anxious cat, and handling a cat for lab sample collection. Each video is less than five minutes and the series is available online to view or download.

There are also additional AAFP resources, including videos and brochures for cat owners and veterinary teams.

Delivering veterinary services to cats is a different breed of care and the free, online resources from PHP will help your practice follow the right practices to bring in less stressed cats.

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