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The International Society of Feline 
Medicine (ISFM) is the veterinary division of International Cat Care, a not-for-profit international organisation for veterinary professionals with an interest in feline health and welfare. ISFM is for every veterinarian who works with cats and is focused on providing practical information, help and support. Veterinary members of ISFM (see www.icatcare.org/veterinary/isfm/vet-membership/) currently receive:
ISFM has separate membership for veterinary nurses and technicians (see www.icatcare.org/veterinary/isfm/nurse-membership/), which is provided free of charge. Veterinary nurses and technicians receive a dedicated online journal, Feline Focus, and monthly webinars among other benefits.
International Cat Care is a charity dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of cats by ensuring that all cats (owned and unowned) are treated with care, compassion and understanding. International Cat Care works with the veterinary profession (through ISFM), with cat owners and carers, and also with those who care for unowned cats.
The Cat Friendly Clinic is a programme that was conceived and developed by ISFM and is run by ISFM with generous support from our commercial partners – Boehringer Ingelheim, Ceva, Elanco, Idexx, Royal Canin and Zoetis.
Within the veterinary profession, cats are assuming an ever-greater importance. Ownership of cats has been growing in most countries for many years, and in many countries it now far exceeds the pet dog population.
Despite this growth in popularity, cats remain significantly under-represented as patients in most small animal veterinary clinics. The reasons behind this are complex, will vary between different situations, and there are aspects that remain poorly understood. However, a common and recurring theme that helps explain why many cats receive less veterinary attention than dogs is the stress experienced by both cats and their owners when visiting a veterinary clinic. If you stop and consider it from an owner’s perspective this is often a very challenging experience. First you have to catch the cat and transport it to the clinic, which in itself is no small task for most owners. But then when the cat arrives at the veterinary clinic …
There is no doubt from collected evidence and published data that the stress felt by the owner and cat are major reasons for owners not seeking further veterinary attention for their cat, especially for preventive healthcare such as health checks, or when early signs of disease arise.
Welcome to the ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic accreditation programme. This is an international programme available to veterinary clinics everywhere (apart from the Americas where the programme is run by the American Association of Feline Practitioners as the Cat Friendly Practice program) that provides a new and unique opportunity for them to think differently – to ‘think cat’ and make changes to their ethos, procedures, equipment and buildings where necessary, to enable the clinic to clearly demonstrate its cat friendly credentials to current and new clients. This programme has the ability to help you transform the way your clinic approaches the management of cats and their owners. How rewarding would it be if your cat clients went away thinking how positive the experience had been and how understanding the staff had been, rather than dreading the next visit?
This programme encourages your clinic to be cat friendly, it shows you how to achieve this, explains the clinical and commercial benefits of being cat friendly and provides clear, understandable and easy to adopt recommendations for clinics. The ISFM Cat Friendly Clinic (CFC) programme has been designed at different levels making accreditation achievable for most small animal clinics, if the motivation and desire is there to make appropriate changes.Welcome to a more cat friendly world …
