Involving the owner
One of the key elements of the CatCareforLife programme is the involvement of the owner in the preventive care of their cat. This is achieved, in part, through use of the CatCareforLife owner resources. These explain to owners:
- Why the preventive healthcare programme is necessary
- Why signs of disease can be hard to see in cats, and what to look for
- What is involved in the CatCareforLife programme and what to expect from veterinary visits at each life stage
- Why certain additional tests such as laboratory data and blood pressure measurement are undertaken at different life stages
Importantly, the CatCareforLife owner materials also allow the veterinary healthcare team and the owner to record certain information in the records as a permanent log of the cat’s health from each visit. These data include:
- Weight and body condition score
- Urine specific gravity
- Blood pressure
- Nutritional recommendations
- Other important findings
- Other recommendations
By doing this, it allows the owner to engage more effectively with CatCareforLife and allows easier recognition of certain trends that may be emerging (eg, changes in weight etc).
Client communication and resources
Clients face a potentially overwhelming amount of information at each visit to the veterinary clinic. Effective communication is essential and additional resources such as the CatCareforLife records help to provide further valuable material.
Many other resources are also available for clients and some useful sources focussing on wellness (rather than specific diseases) include:
- International Cat Care website: www.icatcare.org
- Cat Friendly Clinic website: www.catfriendlyclinic.org
- CatCare for Life website: www.catcare4life.org