ISFM/AAFP Release Two New Cat Friendly Veterinary Guidelines

Veterinary professionals worldwide will now have entry to 2 new Cat Friendly Guidelines that promote optimistic, respectful interactions with their feline sufferers and cut back the stress related to the veterinary setting.

Published collectively by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), the ‘2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques’ and the ‘2022 ISFM/AAFP Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines’ cowl all points of a cat’s veterinary expertise, together with the journey to the apply and interactions with veterinary staff members, in addition to the scientific setting.

Endorsed to date by 27 worldwide veterinary and feline welfare organisations, the brand new Guidelines include a wealth of knowledge and sensible suggestions. Some of the important thing areas coated embody:

• Implementing cat pleasant interactions and minimal dealing with that enables the cat to have a way of management and selection (and coaching each staff member on how to do that).
• Educating cat caregivers about how you can cut back misery when travelling to the veterinary apply (together with service coaching). Stressor stacking can have an effect on your entire veterinary expertise, so beginning a optimistic expertise at dwelling is vital.
• Creating an expertise that considers the cat’s pure behaviours and altering an strategy to every particular person cat.
• Creating an setting that considers and implements methods to cut back worry–anxiousness, and promotes optimistic feelings and behaviours that cats discover comforting.
• Ensuring your entire veterinary staff understands species-specific behaviour and particular person variations (and the way this impacts your entire veterinary go to/expertise).
• Understanding how you can determine the cat’s emotional state and the next behavioural response (and what to do in every state of affairs).

On creating the brand new tips, Dr Nathalie Dowgray, Head of ISFM, expressed:

‘We are extraordinarily happy with our new Guidelines; they’ve been numerous onerous work with massive quantities of literature to evaluation and a number of time zones to work throughout, however the effort has been price it. We hope all veterinarians working with cats will take the time to learn them and apply the ideas and concepts to their clinics and to how they personally work together with their feline sufferers.’ 

Dr Nathalie Dowgray, Head of ISFM

Heather O’Steen, CAE, AAFP CEO feedback:

‘We’re excited to launch these Cat Friendly Guidelines to the veterinary neighborhood. They will improve feline welfare, caregiver loyalty and human security, in addition to create extra optimistic veterinary visits for all! They will turn out to be the muse for feline care and the veterinary expertise.’

Heather O’Steen, CAE, AAFP CEO

The Guidelines have been authored by consultants in feline medication and behavior, who’ve undertaken an intensive literature evaluation and likewise drawn on the precious expertise gained over 10 years of the groundbreaking ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic (catfriendlyclinic.org) and AAFP Cat Friendly Practice (catvets.com/cfp) programmes. These programmes have had a big influence on feline welfare, altering the way in which veterinary professionals world wide deal with and work together with cats. Key advantages of the programmes embody decreased misery for feline sufferers, improved restoration occasions for cats, decreased danger of deceptive scientific findings and check outcomes, decreased accidents, greater satisfaction amongst caregivers, and improved interactions with cats at future visits.

It is the hope of ISFM and the AAFP that every one veterinary professionals working with cats undertake the brand new Cat Friendly Guidelines. These Guidelines symbolize the gold commonplace for interacting with cats and making a cat pleasant setting. Veterinary professionals are inspired to start out by making small modifications and persevering with to include extra suggestions over time. The Guidelines, that are free to learn, seem in a Cat Friendly Special Issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (JFMS) and embody a collection of supplemental sources, at bit.ly/JFMSCatFriendly

The ‘2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines: Approach and Handling Techniques’ and the ‘2022 ISFM/AAFP Cat Friendly Veterinary Environment Guidelines’ are proudly endorsed by the organisations beneath and we thank them for his or her help:

· American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)
· Asocaición Argentina de Medicina Felina (AAMeFe)
· Asocaición Uruguaya de Medicina Felina (AUMeFe)
· Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV)
​​​· American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP)
· American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (ACVB)
· AniCura Group
​· Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS) Feline Chapter
​· Banfield Pet Hospital
​· BluePearl
· British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA)
· British Veterinary Association (BVA)
· British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA)
· CATalyst Council
· European Society of Veterinary Clinical Ethology (ESVCE)
· EachCat Health Foundation
​· Fear Free
· International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care (IAAHPC)
· International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM)
​· Linnaeus
​· Mars Veterinary Health (MVH)
· Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine (MSU-CVM)
· National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA)
· New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA)
· University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTC-CVM)
​· VCA Animal Hospitals
· World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA)