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Services

Our Clinic

Our clinic is designed purposely for cats. We provide a calm and professional environment to make the vet experience a pleasure for you and your feline friend. The fact that we are a dog free clinic helps settle our patients somewhat.

The waiting area is comfortable and quiet with couches and plenty of cat books to keep you occupied. We always recommend you bring your cat to the clinic in a secure carry cage with a soft towel or blanket. This is to keep them safe as well as helping them relax and to hide from the outside world if necessary.

The reception stocks a full range of premium diets, health care items and toys. The receptionists & nurses are happy to advise you about your cat’s health requirements if you have any questions.

After Hours Emergency Centres

Whilst are proud to run a high standard hospital, we do not have the capacity to run a 24 hour facility. When patients require round the clock critical care and monitoring, we recommend that patients are transferred to one of the emergency centres for continued care.

There are several dedicated 24-hour Veterinary centres catering for all emergencies, 365 days a year when our clinic may be closed and your cat requires Veterinary attention. The safest option is to note the most convenient centre to you and familiarise yourself with its whereabouts – hopefully you never have to call on their services.

Referral Centres

This is a rapidly expanding area in Veterinary medicine, especially as people are expecting higher standards of care for their beloved cats. More Vets are undergoing further training to become registered specialists in the same areas as doctors do.

These include:

  • Surgery
  • Medicine (Feline)
  • Cardiology
  • Neurology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Dermatology
  • Dentistry
  • Advanced imaging (Ultrasound, CT & MRI scans)
  • Emergency & critical care

These services may sometimes seem expensive, but we are lucky to have some of Australia’s best practitioners and dedicated Hospital here in Melbourne. Our hospital works closely with a number of these specialists to offer you and your cat the best outcome based on all aspects.

Cat Food & Accessories

We offer a range cat care products including premium foods, parasite control products such as flea, and heartworm prevention. General cat shop merchandise including special toys, collars and grooming products and much more. If you have any special needs we can also arrange for products to be ordered, simply ask our receptionists.

If you are looking for that something special – there are a couple of fantastic pet shops with a huge range of toys and great gift ideas to help spoil you feline friend.

Health Insurance

New innovations and specialty areas in veterinary medicine have allowed more advanced treatment for your cat but this has also increased the cost of these procedures. Why risk the dilemma of expensive treatment of a loved cat when insurance is available. Our team are happy to provide you with information on insurance policies just phone or drop in to see us. There are many reputable pet insurance companies that offer various forms of health and accident cover just like our health insurance.

Boarding - The Cat PAd

A home away from home for your feline family members! Our boarding facilities provide a bright, clean, warm and safe environment in which your beloved feline friend can enjoy while the family is away.

You will be comforted by knowing a full team of veterinary staff and loving cattery attendants is on hand should your cat have any healthcare needs. Our staff specialise in lots of cuddles and TLC, as well as catering for special needs. We encourage inspections; just call us to let us know when you are coming.

Grooming / Nail Clipping

We provide a grooming service for cats that have matted fur and are difficult to groom. Most cats will require sedation or full anaesthetic, as it can sometimes be an uncomfortable and long procedure. We perform two types of clips a full clip (also known as a lion clip) and a belly clip. A full clip involves sedation where the cat is clipped leaving fur on just the head, tail and feet. A belly clip includes the chest, stomach and back areas and we brush out the top coat. We are Medical cat groomers.

We will clip your cat's nail free of charge during any routine health consultation. With current high demands and continued staff pressures, we are not providing routine nail clipping services. Our staff are only too happy to help you and your cat gain confidence to make this a stressless home routine.

Behaviour

We see a lot of cats and kittens these days “behaving badly”. This may be attributable to poor socialisation as a kitten or as a result of environmental conditioning. Cats live in a hectic modern world, all competing for limited resources and territory. Some cats just can’t cope with the demands of modern inner suburban life. This can lead to anxiety and stress related problems such as inter-cat aggression, urination disorders, anxiety related vocalisation or biting.

We offer extended consults to help adequately define and diagnose any of these problems. To help solve these, we spend extra time with you and your cat getting to know both of you and to try pin point a potential cause. We try to identify any home modifications which will help curb some behavioural issues. Sometimes, intervention with behaviour modifying drugs can help curb the unwanted behaviours and help your cat learn more positive coping skills. Dr Richard performs extended behavior consultations in conjunction with home entered questionnaires.

Pharmacy - Drug Dispensing

It is often necessary to medicate cats with specific medicines. Similar to human medications, some drugs have legal restrictions on their use and can only be dispensed under certain conditions. If your cat has an ongoing condition and requires a repeat medication we recommend that you ring us first so that we can ensure that the prescription is approved and ready to go when you arrive. In some instances your cat may need to be re-examined prior to re-dispensing the medication, where necessary we will let you know.

For some drugs, we need to get them compounded by a special pharmacist, who can also make most medications into palatable pastes or liquids as well as any specific dose requirements. They can even compound some drugs that can be absorbed across the skin.

Ultrasound

We have a state of the art ultrasound machine capable of attaining human standard images. Our vets are highly experienced in ultrasonography and diagnostics. Ultrasound provides us with a non evasive way of scanning your cat’s body systems without the need for surgery. This equipment is used for the diagnosis of many disorders and can sometimes eliminate the need for further invasive procedures.

It can allow us to obtain information about cardiac function and diseases of the chest. We use our machine most frequently to image the abdomen, especially the digestive tract, kidneys and liver. We can also collect accurate biopsy samples of any diseased organ for analysis – again avoiding the need for surgery.

Radiology - Xrays

Our x-ray facilities allow us to investigate animal injuries and health problems. X-rays are best suited to assess chest and lung complaints as well as bone conditions such as fractures and osteoarthritis. Having the equipment on hand means we are able to quickly diagnose injuries particularly in emergency situations. This is convenient for you as your cat can have all treatment done at the hospital and also means our patients are given the best opportunity for recovery.

Pathology

We have specialised in-house pathology machines which allow us to perform rapid blood testing and diagnostics. This also allows for close monitoring of critical and hospitalised patients. Routine diagnostics on blood, urine and faeces can be invaluable in diagnosing your cats health concerns. Our Vets and nurses are highly trained in these areas of diagnostic testing and interpretation. For more advanced, testing we engage the services of an external specialist laboratories. This is used routinely for endocrine and tissue pathology analysis as well as for many of our health care screening tests.

Regular urine and blood testing helps us screen for the early signs of any progressive age related conditions. Early diagnosis can add years to your cats life and also help reduce the cost of long term care.

Dentistry

If your cat has dental disease or a toothache, you are very unlikely to notice. That is why a regular annual dental and health check-up is important. Unlike dogs, they don’t tend to pant, so their teeth are not easily visible. Any smelly breath, yellow tartar build-up or sometimes they may drop their food, can be signs they need a dental exam. The true extent of dental disease can only be fully realised with high quality dental x-rays.

A dental check up may highlight the need for cleaning, polishing, tooth extraction or even just a change in diet to prevent the problems and do away with the need for yearly cleans. Dental health has been associated with one of the single most important health factors for a long and healthy life.

It’s true that a high percentage of aging cats suffer from some degree of periodontal and gingival disease. This is a condition in which bacteria attack the gum tissue causing a foul odour, yellowish brown crusts of tartar around the gum line and even pain and bleeding when your cat eats or you touch its gums.

Our clinic caters for all routine dentistry,  from cleaning and polishing through to managing periodontal disease and tooth extraction. For more advanced problems, we offer full dental referral services to specialists trained in advanced orthodontics.

Hospital & Surgery

Our hospital is purpose built and suited to the specific needs of cats, with no cold stainless steel in sight. We have a lot the same “toys” you may find in find in a human hospital. Our hospital is equipped to perform most types of surgery with modern anaesthetic machines, cardiac, respiratory and critical care monitors. Our surgical area is completely sterile and we use the safest and modern anaesthetics very similar to an operating theatre in a human hospital.

Our veterinarians perform a vast range of operations such as de-sexing, exploratory surgery, caesareans, tumour and lump removals, wound stitch-ups, intestinal obstructions, and more…

As with human surgery, our veterinarians scrub up, wear surgical gowns and safety protection as well as using “cat size” instruments for any procedure. The surgical table is heated for the comfort and wellness of our patients who are continually monitored. A fully trained veterinary nurse assists the veterinarian and monitors the patient’s anaesthetic throughout the procedure.

As our hospital does not offer 24 hour patient care, but do we offer a referral service to any number of 24 hour emergency clinics, where the patient care can be closely monitored throughout the night by experienced emergency staff. We work closely with specialists in medicine and surgery and offer referral to them if we feel that they may offer you and your cat a more specialised service.

Referral Medicine

Dr Amy is one a handful of registered Feline Medicine Specialists in Australia. She can accept cases from other Veterinary hospitals, our when you would like a specialist opinion in regards to your cats health requirements. We work in close collaboration with other Veterinary Specialists to help find the best outcome for you and your cat.
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