A cat-only clinic means that you will be able to visit the practice at a time when the only other patients visiting the practice will also be cats! This means that a typically distressing environment that is usually inhabited by canines and strange smells, becomes a happy environment.

Cats attending cat-only clinics:

• Receive specialist care from our dedicated team of feline experts
• Owners receive support and advise while their cat can relax in calm, comfortable, modern surroundings
• Are more responsive to treatment

What is available during our cat-only clinics (and also mixed consults?)

• Consultation
• Vaccinations
• Nurse clinics including: Post-operative check-ups, administration of flea and worm treatments, advice on a number of health topics, including feeding and behaviour, blood pressure checks plus much more.

As the practice holds an ISFM (link to website) Silver Cat friendly status it means that all of the veterinary and nursing team at Cheshire Pet, Winterley, have been trained in how to handle and nurse feline patients. What does this this mean? It means that the practice offer a number of facilities to help reduce your cats stress when visiting these include:

The waiting room: During our cat clinics (and mixed consults) you and your cat will be welcomed by the team to our reception area. This area allows sufficient space and seating to create a relaxed environment to help de stress cats as much as possible.

Cats will inevitably become scared and stressed in the reception area of a vet practice, which is why we have introduced a number of ways to alleviate stress in your pet including:

• Feliway diffusers in waiting areas: Feliway is a product that mimics a chemical cats emit through their glands on their faces when they are feeling calm and want to communicate with other cats in the area. This pheromone works on cats’ brains to calm them down and help relieve stress and anxiety
• During our cat clinics your cat will be offered a consult time that is at separate times from those offered to dogs, meaning no loud noises or barking. If you are unable to visit us at one of our cat-only clinics, we are able to offer separate waiting areas in our reception for cats and dogs, with our cat waiting area designed in a way to reduce or minimise contact with dogs
• Cat trees: It is important that cats in carriers should not be place on the floor. When positioned on the ground a cat’s natural behaviour will be to find a vantage point higher than ground level, making them feel safer
• Barrier care: Cats also need to also be protected from each other, as they are not naturally social animals. Direct contact between cats should be avoided. Clean towels and blankets (sprayed with Feliway spray) are available to all owners to place over cat baskets while they are waiting to see the vet. The towel/blanket also acts as an effective sneeze barrier to help minimise the spread of infectious diseases

Consulting rooms:

During our cat clinics and mixed consults, we offer your cat a 15 minute appointment in order to minimise stress and to allow your cat time to relax during the consultations. Our cat-friendly team; Laura Atkinson Advanced Practitioner in Feline Medicine and our cat advocate Cathy Ball RVN, are more than happy to answer any questions you might have about your cat while he or she is with us.

We are also proud to offer a dedicated cat consult room. This is exclusively used for cat consultations. Feliway pheromones are used in the consult room to offer a relaxed environment. Experienced feline handling and dedicated equipment, such as cat-only scales, all help reduce stress during examination.

Hospitalisation and day patients:

Should your cat need to stay with us here at Cheshire Pet Winterley, we are able to provide your cat with a host of facilities to minimise their stress during their stay, and aid in their recovery. This includes:  

• Separate cat ward, to ensure there is minimal noise and visual contact between canine patients with each cage a sufficient size for the time of hospitalisation. The ward itself has also been designed with cats in mind. The kennels have clear fronts, which allow your cat to see their surroundings but not any other cats that are staying with us
• Each cage offers soft, comfortable bedding including towels, blankets, etc. To further aid in reducing stress, the cage will also offer your cat a place to hide, like a high sided box, igloo bed etc.
• We offer an extensive food menu, to tempt those who are reluctant to eat, with a variety of water bowls and cat litter to make their stay even more comfortable
• Feliway pheromones are used within the cat ward
• Hospitalised cats will be regularly checked by our nursing team and cat advocates, with a member of our veterinary team examining them at least once per day, depending on individual needs

Older cats: 7+

Did you know that your cat is classed as mature at 7 years old? And senior at 11 years? Cats that are 15+ are known as super seniors!

Older cats can be more anxious about the hubbub of a busy veterinary practice, so our dedicated cat-only clinics and facilities will help alleviate your cats stress.

From the age of 7 cats start to become prone to illnesses such as kidney disease, thyroid disease, high blood pressure and arthritis (with up with 90% of older cats having arthritis). Our understanding of the ageing process in cats has greatly increased in recent years and there is so much that we can do to help our feline friends to have a happy, healthy old age.

Here at Cheshirepet, our vet Laura Atkinson, has a particular interest in these older patients and can talk with you about how to diagnose illnesses, monitor blood pressure and ways to help arthritis. Many of these diseases cause changes that can lead owners to think they are happening to their pet due to old age. However, with early diagnosis and treatment, so much can be done to slow the progress of these problems and allow your cat to keep on doing the things that he or she enjoys.

We are very excited to be able to announce that we will soon be able to offer Radioactive Iodine Therapy treatment. This helps to treat feline hyperthyroidism in cats. More information on this treatment please click here.

Acupuncture – Non-operative pain relief for your cat

Acupuncture is a treatment derived from ancient Chinese medicine and involves the painless positioning of very fine needles at specific points of the body, to various depths. Mostly used for its pain-killing effects, each of the needles act on the nerve impulses at the affected site.

This treatment can be used to alleviate pain caused by arthritis, back pain and muscle spasms.

Each session of acupuncture is performed in a normal consultation appointment. These sessions are normally performed weekly for an initial period of 3-4 weeks, with frequency being adjusted to suit the individual patient’s needs.

Animals are assessed for suitability for acupuncture treatment before the course is started and to check that they will be comfortable with the treatment.

You are welcome to stay with your pet during the session. Alternatively, your pet can be admitted as a day patient.

As well as cat’s, acupuncture can be used to our canine friends too!

Karen is based at our Elworth practice and runs acupuncture clinics every Friday. If you are interested in booking an appointment or for further information please call us on 01270 765 555

We do not currently have any client evenings arranged, however please keep up to date on future evenings on our practice Facebook page.

Dedicated Cat Facility – Summer 2020

Here at Cheshire Pet, Sandbach we are dedicated to making both yours and your cat’s visit as stress free as possible. To support this, we are proud to announce that we will be building a new, dedicated, cat-only facility onsite at our Winterley practice. This will include a dedicated consult room and prep room for our feline friends. Work is planned to start in 2020 so, please keep up to date with progress via our practice Facebook page.

Radioactive Iodine Therapy – Summer 2020

We are proud to announce that we will be introducing Radioactive Iodine Therapy for treatment of hyperthyroidism is cats, right here at Cheshire Pet, Sandbach!  

Hyperthyroidism is a very common disorder in older cats (7+) and is caused by an increase in hormones from thyroid glands, situated in your cat’s neck. Common signs of hyperthyroidism include an increase in appetite with a decrease in body weight, and can lead to some cats becoming seriously ill.

A single radioactive iodine injection and a 10 day stay in hospital could be all that your cat requires to treat the condition. In fact radioactive iodine therapy is successful in treating hyperthyroidism in approximately 95% of cats! This means no more struggling with daily medications, no need for surgery to treat conditions and no more routine blood works to check thyroid levels. For more information please call us on 01270 765555 or keep up to date over on our Facebook page.