Simon Tofield, who has gained fame among fans of felines for his cartoon portraits of life with a purring pal in both animated antics on YouTube and books like Simon’s Cat in Kitten Chaos and Simon’s Cat vs. the World, has drawn attention to methods for making a cat’s trip to the vet a less stressful experience thanks to his recent visit to the Cats Protection Adoption Center in Sussex.
Needing the knowledge for his upcoming short film Off to the Vet, Tofield met with the center’s feline behavior manager and the resident vet, as well as some of Cats Protection’s adoptable adoptables, like Yoda, who strikes a pose with the illustrator in the photo above.
Valuable lessons learned from the visit include:
- Introduce kittens to home examinations (such as gently touching their ears or checking their teeth) at an early age to lessen the cat’s anxiety when they experience a similar examination at a vet’s office.
- Turn a cat’s carrier into a safe haven complete with a blanket that smells like home and a spritz of a synthetic pheromone spray, like Feliway, which was created to calm cats.
- For a fear-free trip, cover the cat carrier with an old towel which will obstruct views of unfamiliar surroundings while at the same time ensure that the carrier will still get sufficient ventilation.
- Since cats can feel more secure looking out from a high vantage point, place the cat carrier on a table or on your lap rather than on the floor of the vet’s office, and try to sit away from dogs if a separate waiting room is not available.
Cats Protection is the leading feline welfare charity in the United Kingdom, providing care for more than 218,000 cats and kittens annually at 31 adoption centers and over 250 volunteer-run branches.
For more information:
- visit www.cats.org.uk
Photo Credit: Cats Protection
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