The Feline Centre at Langford Vets is proud to be recognised as an International Society of Feline Medicine recognised Gold Standard Cat Friendly Clinic. The core aim of being a cat friendly clinic is to ensure a compassionate and stress-free hospital visit for all cats and owners visiting us.

We have achieved and held the gold standard accreditation for over 11 years with our fantastic feline-only dedicated facilities, including our waiting room, procedures rooms and wards. We were the first UK referral practice to achieve the Gold Standard Award.

The Cat Friendly Clinic Gold Standard is more than buildings and rooms, it is also about our approach to working with cats, understanding their behaviour and respecting their individual boundaries.

We have both vet and nurse ISFM Cat Advocates who help maintain the Cat Friendly Clinic ethos across the hospital and we are passionate about providing this highest standard of care for cats with our cat friendly work. Our nursing team get to know the cats quickly to understand their individual requirements for successful stress-free handling.

We know it is often small adaptions that can make a big difference to cats, for example a slow approach for anxious cats, using quiet coat clippers before taking a blood sample, using Feliway pheromone in all rooms, providing access to hiding spaces in cages, and working in quiet rooms away from other patients.

We see the benefits of this cat friendly approach every day and this is incorporated into our veterinary student training, to enable more vets and nurses to take this forward into their working practice after graduation. It is the combination of our cutting-edge feline facilities, equipment, veterinary team, and cat friendly working approach that enable us to provide a gold standard experience for our feline friends.