Here at Paragon Veterinary Group the team is celebrating after scooping a prestigious accreditation for the high standard of cat care offered.
We have been awarded Gold Cat Friendly status by the International Society of Feline Medicine for the Dalston centre. This status is only awarded to clinics which have the highest standards of design, equipment and care for cats.
Small animal vet Ruth Simmons said: “We are really delighted. We already held Silver Cat Friendly status from the ISFM but we decided to go for gold this year. “Cats are completely different from dogs, in terms of behaviour, diseases they can get and the overall approach to them in veterinary medicine.
“We are really happy to have been awarded the Gold award and so recognition of our approach and treatment to cats as being individuals.”
The Dalston clinic has a specific waiting area for cats and a hospital wing built in 2019, with cat condos where cats can stay in the hospital completely separate from dogs, all of which makes their visits less stressful. The practice has also recently purchased a specialist dental x-ray machine which improves care for cats.
Ruth says: “This machine is specifically for x-raying teeth. We got it because there are certain diseases in cats’ teeth where the roots get resorbed, in which case you don’t need to remove them. But you can’t know that without using this machine. It saves time and expense and can shorten the anaesthetic time for the cat.”
Paragon gained Gold Cat Friendly accreditation in November after going through a rigorous assessment process.
“We have to submit an application which shows our protocols, equipment and facilities. And they also wanted to know if we offer clinics like old cat clinics which we do,” said Ruth.
ISFM accreditation has to be renewed every three years. Paragon staff who worked on the bid for gold status were vet Ruth, vet Ann Noble and veterinary nurse Louise Watson.