Celebrate Happy Cat Month

Celebrate Happy Cat Month this September with the CATalyst Council using weekly themes to help make your practice cat friendly, connect with cat owners, enrich cats' lives and much more. Check back each week for new tips and tools all month long. 

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Week 1: Happy, Healthy Cat (September 1 to 5)

Ensuring cats receive preventive veterinary visits 

> CVC highlight: Ouch! How do you know if your feline patient hurts?

Be watchful of subtle signs in the veterinary hospital-and educate clients to recognize common changes in behavior at home.

> Cat care game-changer: The feline care toolkit

Change the way you and your team understand feline medicine, change your life. Well, more like finally start seeing more cats. Use these tools to find your way (with and educational grant provided by Zoetis).

Ways to help ensure veterinary visits are less stressful 

> The Fear-Free Veterinary Visits Center

Make veterinary visits a calmer, more comfortable experience for pet owners with this collection of tips and tools. 

Warning signs for common illnesses

> Keep calm and discuss renal failure

Use this guide to take some of the stress and fear out of a chronic medical condition and offer support for pets and their owners.

> Diabetic remission in cats: Does it really exist and how do we achieve it?

A review of the veterinary literature reveals when this phenomenon may more likely occur.

> Diagnosing feline hyperthyroidism: It's not always as simple as it seems

Don't rely too heavily on T4 concentrations since cats can have a false elevation.

Pet insurance

> Handout: 20 questions for veterinary pet insurance companies

Offer your clients this list of questions to find the level of care and insurance coverage that's right for them and their pet.

Week 2: Happy, Enriched Cat (September 6 to 12)

> Client handout: Choosing a scratching post for cats

Clients complaining that their cats are scratching their new couch or their favorite rug? Promote safe scratching with this handout.

> Cat climbers create paws-itive cat visits

This practice found the purr-fect cat climber for their feline patients. No kitten around. Fur real.

> Environmental enrichment key to friskier felines

Help your veterinary clients with these simple tips to keep cats healthier and happier indoors.

> 5 ways to enrich patients' environment at your practice

Consider the five senses and create a peaceful practice environment for your stressed-out patients.

Week 3: Happy Multi-Cat (September 13 to 19)

> CVC Highlight: Why are my cats fighting?

Feline friends can develop into feline foes overnight, confounding their owners. Help re-establish peace in the household with these veterinary management tips.

> Fear-Free tip: Talk sense about pheromone scents

Lindsy Jarvis, lead veterinary assistant at Bigger Road Veterinary Center in Springboro, Ohio, takes us inside “Meow Manor” and discusses how the use the diffuser, including how to explain what the heck it is and what can do for some pets.

Find more resources from CATalyst Council at happycatmonth.org.

Week 4: Happy Valued Cat (September 20 to 30)

> Texts from your veterinary clinic cat

If your clinic cat had a cell phone and opposable thumbs, what would he or she text you?

> Rebranding the cat: A short video for veterinary clients from dvm360

Cats have gotten a bad rap over the years: as bird-killers, standoffish snobs, fearful under-bed-hiders-and let's not even talk about the crazy cat lady. But the fortunes of the cat are changing, thanks in no small part to the Internet, and it's time for a new feline image. You can help “rebrand” the cat with this short video designed with your clients (and potential clients) in mind.