Bring cat behavior basics into your practice to improve their health and your relationships with cat clients

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Content submitted by Basepaws, a dvm360® Strategic Alliance Partner

Cats’ behavior can be a mystery to veterinarians and cat owners alike. We are often faced with a behavior that has become a life-and-death problem for the owner. If we cannot solve the behavior, the owner feels they must euthanize the cat. Some of us have even found our own family cat in this tragic predicament.

Once a problem reaches this threshold, resolving the problem and repairing the relationship is nearly impossible. If you refuse the “convenience euthanasia,” there is a high likelihood that the cat ends up in the shelter. Do you know the lifetime cost to your practice of a cat lost to a behavior problem? Relinquished and euthanized cats don’t get vaccines, dentals, oncology, cardiology, and more.

If there was an easy answer, we would all have done it by now. Spoiler alert: We are looking at this problem all wrong. Solving for minutiae in a general practice clinic is impossible for most of us. Don’t try. Instead, educate your client to set up their home to meet the minimum behavioral needs of each of their cats and the problems disappear. Start a new kitten in a home that meets their needs, and it is highly unlikely that behavior problems will develop.

Cat behavior basics and a cat behavior pharmacy are the key to healthier cats and happier clients. How can this be achieved when staff is already operating at maximum capacity? Let’s be honest, once a client starts talking about their cat’s behavior, most of us can hear the minutes ticking away, and those minutes generate no revenue. The last thing we have time for is a freebee time suck.

Make cat behavior profitable

Here’s how to make cat behavior profitable. We know that an old-school set up of a litter box, food dish, and water dish is asking for trouble. Add more cats? You can plan on more trouble. Make technology work for you.

Offer fun, straightforward, life-stage-appropriate infographics on your website, and at each office visit (download links available below). Sell the products that you believe in to meet cats’ behavioral needs. When your clients have a problem, you can direct them to digital and print information and the resources to solve the problem in a matter of seconds and generate revenue doing it.

As a bonus, you will decrease/eliminate Pandora Syndrome, obesity, aggression, viral recrudescence, and requests for convenience euthanasia. Keep happy clients and healthier cats coming back through your doors every year.

Downloadable cat behavior infographics

Litter cats like infographic by Liz Bales, VMD

Litterbox infographic by Liz Bales, VMD

Human vs cat behavior infographic by Liz Bales, VMD

Minimum cat care infographic by Liz Bales, VMD

How cats eat infographic by Liz Bales, VMD