Top Wetherby vet practice celebrates prestigious cat care award

Linnaeus-owned Parkhill Vets, which has been providing pet care in Wetherby for more than 100 years, has been recognised as a silver level cat-friendly clinic (CFC) by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM).

Parkhill Vets’ cat advocates and student veterinary nurses Steph Saint and Caity Randall said the coveted award was recognition of their state-of-the-art facilities and determination to deliver the highest standards of care for all cats.

Steph said: “At Parkhill Vets, we’re proud to be an accredited silver level Cat Friendly Clinic and members of the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM).

“We recognise cats are unique creatures with specific needs and it’s important to us to demonstrate our commitment to the animals our clients entrust into our care.

“Working with International Cat Care (iCC), we have looked at how we can make Parkhill Vets the best it can possibly be for our feline patients.

“Cats by their nature are sensitive to changes in their environment, and by understanding and accepting this we have put in place a range of measures to make their visit to Parkhill Vets a less stressful experience.”

Parkhill has embraced the ISFM criteria and Caity described some of the measures the leading vet practice had put in place to achieve the silver accreditation success.

Caity said: “We have a separate cat waiting room with raised areas on which to place cat carriers and a visual barrier to give the cats an extra sense of security.

“We use feline pheromone diffusers to help calm and reassure, we have a quiet, well equipped consulting room and a range of equipment such as blood pressure monitors and cat specific weighing scales to provide a high level of care to our feline patients.

“There’s also a specific hospital ward where there is a visual barrier between our cat patients and other species.

“We provide comfortable, soft bedding and cat igloos or perch and hide boxes to allow cats privacy during their stay with us.

“Facilities for surgery, dentistry, lab testing and diagnostic imaging are also available to allow procedures to be performed to a high standard of care for our feline patients.”

The ISFM launched the cat-friendly clinic initiative to encourage veterinary clinics to make changes to improve the welfare of cats in their care.

The programme advises practices on how to make their environment as welcoming as possible for cats, as well as providing support in staff training, handling techniques and cat-specific client care - and Parkhill Vets is the latest Linnaeus-owned practice to be recognised by them.

For more information on Parkhill Vets, visit www.wetherbyvets.co.uk or search for them on Facebook.