Making your practice more feline centric

Natalie Marks has recently been involved with a project designed to help practices become more friendly for cats and their owners; here she describes how she sets out to enthuse and inspire the veterinary team.

Introduction

There are almost 80 million cats in the United States today, yet more than half of these cats have not seen a veterinarian in the last year for physical exams and routine testing, according to the Bayer Veterinary Care Usage Study ( 1 ) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) ( 2 ). This is a disturbing statistic to many veterinarians and industry professionals, and this disconnect in care is rooted in many different perceptions and misconceptions of the cat owner. For example, some figures from the above-cited study ( 1 ) revealed that;

• 63% of cats in cat-only households live exclusively indoors, and unfortunately, many of these owners assumed that indoor cats are not exposed or vulnerable to disease.
• 58% of owners reported that their cats “hated going to the veterinary clinic” because of the perceived idea that cats are fearful of being placed in a cat carrier and transported in a car (Figure 1).
• 81% of cat owners believed their cat was in excellent health; this seems to stem from the misconception that a cat’s independent nature equals wellness, without the knowledge that cats are excellent at hiding disease.
• Almost 70% of client-owned cats were acquired at no cost, and these owners received little to no instruction on proper veterinary care for their pet.

This survey was undoubtedly disheartening for anyone associated with veterinary cat care, but at the same time it was also quite eye-opening to the tremendous areas of opportunity that lie ahead for the veterinary profession to collectively improve feline care around the globe.

Secret shopper program

As part of a global feline initiative to help change these statistics, Royal Canin, in partnership with CSS ¹, recently developed a “secret shopper” program to gain more insight and detail into the feline “client and patient journey” in veterinary hospitals. The three objectives of the survey were as shown in Box 1. Fifteen parameters (collectively known as COPE, the Cat Owner Positive Experience criteria) were identified for the “secret shopper” clients to assess (Figure 2). The criteria were designed to cover each stage of the customer journey, from pre-visit to arrival, waiting and consultation and some of the key findings are shown in Box 2.  […]