ISFM’S Cat Friendly Principles for Veterinary Professionals

Self Cite

Practical relevance: The ‘2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques’ (hereafter the ‘Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines’) support veterinary professionals with feline interactions and handling to reduce the impact of fear and other protective (negative) emotions, in so doing enhancing feline welfare and In implementing these Guidelines, team satisfaction and cat caregiver confidence in the veterinary team will increase as the result of efficient examinations, better experience, more reliable diagnostic testing and improved feline wellbeing. Veterinary professionals will learn the importance of understanding and appropriately responding to the current emotional state of the cat and tailoring each visit to the individual. Clinical challenges: Cats have evolved with emotions and behaviors that are necessary for their survival as both a predator and prey species. A clinical setting and the required examinations and procedures to meet their physical health needs can result in behavioral responses to protective emotions. Cat friendly interactions require understanding, interpreting and appropriately responding to cats’ emotional states and giving them a perceived sense of control while performing the required assessment. Evidence base: These Guidelines have been created by a Task Force of experts convened by the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the International Society of Feline Medicine, based on an extensive literature review and, where evidence is lacking, the authors’ experience. Endorsements: These Guidelines have been endorsed by a number of groups and organizations, as detailed on page 1127 and at catvets.com/interactions and icatcare.org/cat-friendly-guidelines .

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques

Rodan¹,

Dowgray

Carney³

et al. 2022

Self Cite

“…As a prey species taken out of their natural home territory and transported to an unfamiliar setting, there is much that can be done to improve their experience by making the environment cat friendly, as discussed in these Guidelines. The Guidelines should be used in conjunction with the ‘ISFM’s Cat Friendly Principles for Veterinary Professionals’ 89 and the accompanying ‘Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines’. 11…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

2022 ISFM/AAFP Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines

Taylor¹,

Denis

Collins³

et al. 2022

Self Cite

Practical relevance: The ‘2022 ISFM/AAFP Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines’ (hereafter the ‘Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines’) describe how the veterinary clinic environment can be manipulated to minimise feline patient distress. Many components of a veterinary clinic visit or stay may result in negative experiences for cats. However, much can be done to improve a cat’s experience by making the veterinary clinic more cat friendly. Exposure to other cats and other species can be reduced, and adjustments made with consideration of the feline senses and species-specific behaviour. Caregivers can prepare cats for a clinic visit with appropriate advice. Waiting rooms, examination rooms, hospital wards and other clinic areas can be designed and altered to reduce stress and hence encourage positive emotions. Changes need not be structural or expensive in order to be effective and make a difference to the cats and, in turn, to cat caregivers and the veterinary team. Moreover, by improving the all-round experience at the veterinary clinic, there are positive effects on preventive healthcare, identification of and recovery from illness, and compliance with treatment. Clinical challenges: Good feline healthcare necessitates visiting the veterinary clinic, which, simply by being outside of a cat’s territory and familiar surroundings, may lead to negative experiences. Such experiences can trigger negative (protective) emotions and associated physiological stress, which can result in misleading clinical findings, patient distress, prolonged recovery from illness, further difficulties with handling at subsequent visits and potential veterinary personnel injury. There may be a mistaken belief that veterinary clinics must undergo significant renovation or building work to become cat friendly, and that, if species cannot be separated, then clinics cannot improve their care of cats. These Guidelines aim to dispel any such misconceptions and provide detailed practical advice. Evidence base: These Guidelines have been created by a Task Force of experts convened by the International Society of Feline Medicine and American Association of Feline Practitioners, based on an extensive literature review and, where evidence is lacking, the authors’ experience. Endorsements: These Guidelines have been endorsed by a number of groups and organisations, as detailed on page 1161 and at icatcare.org/cat-friendly-guidelines and catvets.com/environment .

“…This Cat Friendly Special Issue contains new Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines 1 and Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines, 2 as well as ISFM’s Cat Friendly Principles for Veterinary Professionals, 3 and it is our sincere desire to see every practice that treats cats integrate the invaluable learnings and information from these new resources into the way they practise feline medicine, in order to continue their cat friendly evolution. This aim aligns with amplifying our encouragement to become an ISFM CFC or an AAFP CFP, depending on a clinic’s location.…”

Section: What Does the Next 10 Years Hold For ‘Cat Friendly’?mentioning

confidence: 99%

10 years of Cat Friendly

2022

Since we began our celebration of 10 years of the Cat Friendly Clinic (CFC) and Cat Friendly Practice (CFP) programmes, we have looked back at how they started, provided testimonials and success stories, announced the CFC competition winner, shared tips and ideas from CFPs, presented the business case and health and safety benefits of becoming a CFC or CFP, and described a new model and terminology for understanding feline emotions.To conclude our celebration of the achievements of the CFC and CFP programmes over the past decade, we look at what the future holds for 'cat friendly'.