Visiting Us?
Visiting Us?
Here are some great tips we advise to prepare yourself and your kitty cat for their visit with us.
- Acclimate your pet to the carrier. Approach this by bringing the carrier into the home a couple of weeks prior or permanently, leaving the door open or the lid removed. Offer bedding, play, encouragement, and treats to create positive interactions and a good overall experience.
- Use of synthetic feline pheromones like 'Feliway', in the household and carrier a day before or day of the veterinary visit should provide a calming effect.
- Keep the carrier warm, covered by a towel or blanket, and quiet in the vehicle. Reduce stress from loud noises, bright lights, strange smells, and rapid changes in environment.
- The bottom of the carrier should have a blanket or towel for cushioning, as well as a pee pad, absorbable material, or raised carrier grate to reduce the chance of soilage.
- Whether your kitty is transported by a car or another mode of transport, it is important to keep driving steady and even, take shorter routes. The temperature inside the car should reflect the cat's needs. Strong smells should be avoided along with loud noises, i.e radios or music unless cat-specific.
- One of our vets may recommend calmative or sedative medications for your cat to reduce stress. Our team will provide information regarding the use of medications prior to a visit.
"Cats are a predatory and prey species with unique resource and territory needs that are easily disrupted by events such as veterinary visits. Disruptions increase protective emotions in the cat, leading to negative behavioral outcomes during the visit."
"Stressor stacking describes the cumulative stress resulting from numerous disruptions to the cat’s routine and territory in preparation for the veterinary visit. These cumulative changes increase fear-anxiety and frustration, predisposing to negative behavioral outcomes during the veterinary visit. Adapted from International Cat Care." Kelly St. Denis, MSc, DVM, DABVP (Feline Practice), 'From the Cat’s Point of View: Creating a Cat-Friendly Veterinary Environment' Issue: March/April 2024. https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/behavior/creating-a-cat-friendly-veterinary-environment/
Once in the clinic, our customer service team will greet you and usher you to our 'cat parking stations' which are up from the ground. We have Feliway spray and blanket covers at your convenience.Â
Dietary History
Please fill this form in if you have made an appointment for your cat to see us. If you are bringing more than one cat please fill out and submit a form for each of them. Thank you.
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26 May 2014
Desexing, or speying, a female cat is major abdominal surgery. The ovaries and uterus are removed under a general anaesthetic.
At Canberra Cat Vet we take great care to ensure that your cat is as comfortable and safe as possible before, during and after the surgery.
Included in the fee for a spey is an admission examination and discussion of her general health. Pain prevention is given before, during and after surgery. We also send her home with pain relief for you to mix in her food over the following few days.
Before her anaesthetic we give her a sedative and handle her as quietly and gently as possible to reassure her. Intravenous fluids are essential to protect cats' fragile kidneys and to ensure a smooth and rapid recovery. She has a fully qualified nurse monitor her with special cat-sized monitors while under the anaesthetic.
The operation is performed in a special operating theatre under aseptic conditions using sterilised equipment and individually wrapped suture materials and scalpel blades.
A nurse stays with your cat until she is fully awake and sitting up. We then offer her a meal and lots of cuddles.
When you come to pick her up in the afternoon we give you postoperative instructions and answer any questions you might have. Please phone us if you are unsure about any aspect of the home care or instructions. We book a post-operative check with your vet about 3 days later.
30 April 2014
Even though cats are obligate carnivores and don't usually volunteer to eat fruit or vegetables, they do like to eat grass. Eating
grass is a normal behaviour in cats yet not fully understood – the
general understanding is that it helps to move food or hairballs through
the digestive tract (either up or down as grass eating often results in
vomiting). It may also provide them with essential trace elements in
their diet, so it is recommended that cats without access to grass
outside are provided with a source indoors. This can be a commercial
pack of 'cat grass' or a pot in which grass seeds or grass from the
garden can be grown. Indoor cats without access to grass may chew other potted plants they would usually ignore or avoid and which may be poisonous. Make sure you don't have any lilies in pots or vases in your home. More information on Poisonous plants available here.
28 April 2014
Cats lose weight mainly by reduced food intake, but increased physical activity (even in cats!) is also of crucial importance. Earlier this month we discussed organising your cat's environment to promote weight loss. Researchers from the University of Ilinois have also found that increasing the frequency of meals per day (while still keeping portions small) and adding water to those meals also promoted more physical activity in cats.
10 April 2014
This week has been a busy one at Canberra Cat Vet - mainly fishing odd things out of cats' bellies! On Monday Smitten the kitten was vomiting, hunched up and very dehydrated. We X-rayed her and saw a round object in her abdomen (see the X-ray below). We re-hydrated her on a drip, took her to surgery next morning and found a five cent coin stuck in a bend in her intestine.
Princess arrived on Tuesday. She wouldn't eat and was crying and jumping about intermittently. Her belly was painful but we couldn't see anything on X-ray. She went on a drip too and after a couple of days of force-feeding and pain relief (and scratching our heads - why wouldn't she eat? why did she have a sore belly?) she passed part of a tassel from a cushion - and started eating heartily!
On Tuesday afternoon a ribbon went missing in prim Miss Mittens' apartment. Her frantic carer came down because the last time she had seen the ribbon was in Miss Mittens' mouth. Meanwhile Miss Mittens was eating and grooming and seemed quite normal. Ribbons and string can make the intestines accordion - like putting elastic through a waist band. Eventually they saw through the intestinal wall. Many cats die when the intestinal contents spill into the abdominal cavity and cause massive infection. Even with surgery to remove the ribbon and clean up the spill many cats perish.
Because Miss Mittens looked relaxed and normal her carers found it difficult to believe that she could get so ill. They were very glad they decided to let us take her to surgery when we found the ribbon already working its way through her intestines and causing trouble. Today Miss Mittens is home ruling the household with an iron paw again - but all ribbons have been banished from her kingdom!
3 April 2014
Reduced food intake and more exercise are the keys to weight loss in cats. But how do I make my cat exercise more? you ask...
1. Use fun toys instead of food as a treat - focus on items that will really get your cat moving, like a stringed feather on a pole that your cat will never get tired of swatting at
2. Use vertical spaces in your home to encourage jumping. This could be a window sill, set of empty shelves or a cat tree. 3. Separate food and water bowls so your cat has to get up and burn energy to get from one to the other - using the vertical space works well here 4. Invest in a laser pointer - even the laziest cats find it hard to resist. Do provide a small reward like a piece of kibble for all that effort at the end 5. Hide and seek - place your cat's food around the house - make him work hard for his dinner!
31 March 2014
Cats are very good at hiding signs of pain and discomfort. Reluctance to jump, an unkempt coat, avoiding play and petting, and crankiness may be indicators of arthritis. Check out this fabulous new website, Cats with arthritis, to help decide if your cat has arthritis.
26 March 2014
Cats pass blood in the urine for many different reasons. Older cats with kidney or bladder disease are prone to urinary tract infections. In younger cats it can be a sign of stress or anxiety. If a male cat is having trouble passing his urine or is passing blood it is an emergency and you should call us immediately.
A urine sample and a chat with the person who spends the most time with the cat is essential to working out what the root cause of the problem is. Often we take the sample in the consult room. Sometimes the cat has to stay in hospital (like Leila above) until she builds up enough urine for us to sample.
Once we have the urine we check it with a diagnostic stick and then stain it so we can see any cells, crystals or bacteria under the microscope. We can then target the problem with the best treatment and help you prevent it happening again.