The three-step kitten consultation

Feline-only clinics are becoming more popular and cat owners will often expect a customized approach for their pet. Here Cyril Berg describes how he welcomes new kittens to his cat-only practice.

Introduction

Making a new kitten welcome to a veterinary clinic is very important, for three main reasons. It is beneficial for the cat‘s future health; it helps establish a good understanding between the pet and owner for their life together; and it aids in the development of the clinic. The veterinary team must be prepared to welcome each new kitten to the clinic using well-established procedures; it is essential that everyone knows their role and how to get the right messages across.

The different stages

Our clinic is accredited with the Cat Friendly Practice program, which has the aim of making “veterinary care less stressful for cats and their caregivers” ( 1 ). When the owner of a new kitten registers with our practice, we recommend three half-hour consultations when the kitten is between two and five months of age, with approximately one-month intervals between each one. We avoid longer consultations, as this can result in too much information being imparted, and which the new owners are unlikely to remember. Each consultation has specific aims and content (Box 1). If a planned subject is not covered during a consultation — e.g.,because a medical problem is identified during the clinical examination — the clinician will record what has been discussed, and the point(s) which have not been addressed can be dealt with at a subsequent consultation.

We encourage all owners to sign up to our comprehensive medical monitoring service, which we call our “prevention plan” — this encompasses the three pediatric consults, vaccinations, parasite products, neutering, and a “kitten party”. This is a group session designed for owners with young (2-3.5 month old) kittens, with the idea of offering tips that help owners better understand and know their cat.
 

Visit 1: Introducing the idea of preventative medicine

Once we have welcomed the new kitten and owner to the practice, we start the first consultation by completing the patient‘s medical record, including information such as — Does the kitten have access to outdoors? What diet is fed? Is the cat insured? We discuss the principles of preventative medicine with the owner, explaining that cats grow quickly and that their needs will change as they mature. We explain that a cat may hide signs of illness or disease, and that it is essential for an owner to understand the issues involved in good medical monitoring, emphasizing that they should keep to our recommended program of visits to the clinic.

We then introduce the owner to our concept of the “health chain”, from kitten through to senior cat: this involves the three pediatric examinations, neutering, a health check at one year of age, and subsequent half-yearly examinations. [...]