Cats In The Reception Area Of The Vets

[spottychick]

One vet I went to had a beautiful white cat wandering around the reception area and while my dogs are okay with cats and I thought it was fairly nice to see, the cat wouldn't let my dogs in the door. We were forced to stay outside till the vet came out to get us for the appointment.

The staff thought this was funny. I didn't. My dogs COULD kill a cat if they wanted to, but they were trying to avoid conflict with it and wouldn't go through while it was lying right across the narrow doorway swatting at them. I was trying to handle the dogs and deal with a stupid cat (and stupid staff who laughed while they were telling me the cat doesn't like dogs) in a situation where my dogs were already stressed. In the end it was easier to sit outside in the hot sun than try to deal with such a ridiculous situation.

SO given this I would say they shouldn't have the cat there if it interferes with people's access to the premises. Same as you wouldn't allow a resident dog to prevent people bringing their animals in.

[Bulldust]

I think my vet tops the lot

They currently have 2 cats, at least 7 dogs (a very spoilt and slightly aggressive young Pug, a Bull Terrier x, whippets, swf's and working dogs) and a kangaroo in reception. Occasionally there will be a lamb too.

None of this is any drama if you're just staying on one side of the reception desk. But when you're there to have an animal looked at, you have to enter into the 'other side'

They used to have a MASSIVE cat called Noddy, who was brain damaged because his mum had gotten a virus when she was pregnant, and only Noddy survived. This cat was the tallest cat ive ever seen, he had a bad head shake (hence his name) and he would jump up and use the claws without realising he was latching on too hard. The more you pushed him away the more he grabbed hold. He would also sit on the reception desk and had been known to spray a customer in the face on occasion. I moved away for a couple of years and was glad when i came back he had passed on by then.

Ive had to battle the stinking Pug twice during bitches csections, while rubbing pups she'll be hanging off your shoes and when trying to put pups on mum she'll be trying to get at the pups. Last csection i had to throw her out of the room as well as the joey as they just wouldnt p!ss off Cats spray any where they want... thats just our quirky country vet for you though

[spottychick]

Yes bulldust - mine was a country vet too. Still is I guess - but I don't go there anymore. I go to the city ones instead.

A kangaroo!!! That's kind of cool tho I can see why it would be annoying.

[Teebs]

How can that be good for the Roo? wouldnt it stress it out?

Weird vet!

[Bulldust]

How can that be good for the Roo? wouldnt it stress it out?

Weird vet!

Its a young one, mother killed by car, theyve been raising it. Its not stressed at all whatsoever, its a right little shit who wants to have a box with anyone!

[greytdog]

One of the vets I go to has a resident cat. Doesn't bother me - she generally stays in the back room anyway. The closest I've seen her is lying on the scanner behind the desk where she can't be seen by any of the patients.

It REALLY pings me off when people bring cats in in their arms. Makes you think about their driving habits too, having a loose cat in the car. Bianca is "interested" in strange cats, but she's generally well behaved so no dramas. We always used a cat cage for our cats - I would have thought the cat would be more comfortable in a cage with strange dogs around anyway.

[juice]

i hate it too, didn't know our vet had a cat till i walked in and it was sitting under the chair right next to the door, good job i had a prong on, or it would have been chaos.

none of my dog like cats

[spoilt lab lives here]

Its seems a bit odd to me that vets would have resident animals at their practice? Isnt that putting the animal at risk of catching diseases or getting sick far more than if it were living in a home environment. I could never imagine going to a vet with a resident animal, would be a nightmare!

[Teebs]

Its seems a bit odd to me that vets would have resident animals at their practice? Isnt that putting the animal at risk of catching diseases or getting sick far more than if it were living in a home environment. I could never imagine going to a vet with a resident animal, would be a nightmare!

While i dont agree with it -Wouldnt it be opposite - The animals would be exposed to everything and would build a natural immunity to things?

[spoilt lab lives here]

Well there is that side if it too. I only looked at it from the negative side

If my vet had a resident cat or dog or whatever id probably look at changing vets, my old vet had resident lorikeets, but they were in a cage and in the corner, on display but away from the waiting area so that was ok but an animal roaming around would just do my head, especially with a cat reactive dog and a dog aggressive dog!

[Crisovar]

Its seems a bit odd to me that vets would have resident animals at their practice? Isnt that putting the animal at risk of catching diseases or getting sick far more than if it were living in a home environment. I could never imagine going to a vet with a resident animal, would be a nightmare!

All the Vets I have worked for have had resident animals, I have never known one to "catch" something.

[Jed]

Most surgeries have smug pussies hanging around. And there are also cats which are brought in to see the vet. It's a good training exercise for the dog.

Ignore the pussies. Ignore the other animals, some may be sick, don't mug the owners. What a great opportunity!!

I am sure vet surgery cats are vaccinated, so they probably aren't likely to catch anything.

[spottychick]

hard to ignore them if they're lying right across the doorway.

[Di*]

Shoot me for being smug--I'm usually so well behaved on DOL--but aren't we meant to have our dogs under control? A vet's waiting room has the potential for all kinds of novel situtations, distractions, noises etc. What do you all do when you meet a cat when you're walking your dogs? A love the resident cats at the vets.

[Golden Rules]

Shoot me for being smug--I'm usually so well behaved on DOL--but aren't we meant to have our dogs under control? A vet's waiting room has the potential for all kinds of novel situtations, distractions, noises etc. What do you all do when you meet a cat when you're walking your dogs? A love the resident cats at the vets.

[OSoSwift]

I have worked in vets with resident cats. Never had one injured or caught anything.

People that knew us asked us to remove the cat which we did, usually a good roar from a cat agressive dog and they would scarper out of sight into the back room.

They were never allowed in consults or the surgery, only the front room, passage, office and laundry and kitchen areas.

Our black cat always slept with my Dobe anyway, especially in winter.

I went to the vets not long ago with the two Whippets, person sitting on a waiting room chair, cat in arms, well they were up and out of there in about a second and all my dogs did was looked interested. They were waiting for wife to pay bill and leave. Umm people - CAT BOX.

I have a cat box for each of my cats so if there is a fire or something all are safely contained. Even Red Dot has them cheap these days.

[Cuchulain]

My vet has a resident red moggie called Simon. He is a gentle soul who wanders around the place freely and donates blood for patients in need when required. He is not allowed in the consulting rooms, hospital (unless donating blood) or theater. He seems to spend most of his time sleeping on the computer monitor (they still have an old CRT in the office) or on the display of cat beds (which are still wrapped in their protective plastic coating). He seems to have an instinct for when to remove himself from the waiting room and does so with a fair turn of speed sometimes.

Max thinks Simon is great and Simon doesn't seem to mind dog gob in the least. The staff all know when the computer technician has been and Simon is wet and bedraggled looking from Max playing with him.

However, I find a greater issue is those people who bring their cats in loose, no crate/pet porter not even a harness and lead (not ideal but better than nothing!) I had a pet porter for each cat and now, since I have less cats than I used to, a couple of spares! I guess I'm just very lucky that Max sees cats as something with which to play rather than something to kill.

[hortfurball]

Well I'd given zero thought to resident vet cats being an issue for some as my dogs live with two cats and don't care about the vet cats. The other day when I was in there though I was appalled to find one of the vet cats was obese! I said to the vet nurse on duty that it wasn't exactly good advertising and she agreed but said they couldn't help it because this cat ate everybody else's food.

My kelpie is weird. She freezes completely immobile at the sight of him and its almost like she's pointing. You can wave your hand in front of her face and she doesn't blink or register that you are there. Eventually she starts to drool as she forgets to swallow. We actually use speedy if we need her to keep still for something. Bring in the cat and pop him in front of her and she freezes and stares at him and then you can stitch away with no problems. Very handy really. She is like that with my nephews bunny and pet mouse too.

How hilarious! And handy! I love the fact that you take advantage of it!

What I think I hate worse, are the shiny floors. Pair a shiny floor with a dog flailing to get to something and it's an invite to injury. Hate seeing dogs ending up doing the splits because of this. I know the Vet clinics need the slippery floors so they can clean properly.

...or a dog recovering from anaesthetic...I once had to lie down in one of the consult rooms spooning Kuges for over an hour on one of those cold and shiny floors trying to keep him warm until he could get his feet under him without them sliding straight back out. He'd tried so many times and then just given up and lay as he fell, so I asked for a blanket to put under him as he was shivering and the only thing they had was a towel so I pulled that under him as best I could and then kept him warm with my body. He was about 40 kilos at the time so there was no way I could just lift him to his feet without going A over T myself. Then when he finally got to his feet with some help from me and the towel, we did some crazy act as we skidded and slipped across the reception on our way out with me like some loony personal trainer yelling chirpily "Come on, you can do it! Attaboy! That's the way! Keep going!"

I HATE those floors.

[megan_]

Shoot me for being smug--I'm usually so well behaved on DOL--but aren't we meant to have our dogs under control? A vet's waiting room has the potential for all kinds of novel situtations, distractions, noises etc. What do you all do when you meet a cat when you're walking your dogs? A love the resident cats at the vets.

What do you do if the cat walks up to your dog? You can't control a cat-hating dog when the cat is in its face.

My dog doesn't have an issue, but I really wonder about the wisdom of having a lose animal roaming around a vet's office. If it was any other cat everyone would be up in arms.

[dog geek]

... and then there was the busy 'boutique' vets that had one of those god-awful 'kitties in a basket' on the reception desk... aren't they freeze-dried, or something?? Made in China, in any case, very very

And my own vet who I love for his dedication to his patients - but who has a young working dog that is dominant and turning into a right little sh!t because it wanders the surgery and everyone is usually too busy to appropriately correct its behaviours...