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ISFM celebrates 10 years of cat-friendly clinics
ISFM ran another cat-friendly clinic competition to mark the occasion.

The organisation has accredited 2570 clinics.

International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM), the veterinary division of International Cat Care, is celebrating 10 years of its Cat Friendly Clinic (CFC) accreditation programme.

The programme, designed to make veterinary clinics less stressful for cats, started as a competition to encourage veterinary professionals to think about the cat experience in their own clinics. A decade on, many of the CFC programme's ideas have become mainstream, and influenced feline veterinary care worldwide.

Over the past decade, ISFM has accredited 2570 CFCs in 44 countries, with an additional 644 cat friendly practices listed in North and South America by the American Association of Feline Practitioners, who licence the programme from iCatCare.

To mark the occasion, ISFM ran another competition to showcase the ways in which cat-friendly clinics have made their veterinary practices more cat-friendly, and at the end of 2021, clinics were asked to submit short videos of their changes.

ISFM has chosen three finalists in each category:

Physical change to the clinic


  • Amitago Clinica Felina for the redevelopment of their whole clinic (Spain)
  • Lumbry Park Veterinary Specialists for their use of bespoke cat beds (UK)
  • Orchid Veterinary Surgery for their cat-only upstairs area (UK)

Procedural change to ways of working with cats


  • Ferndown Family Vets for their kitten visits (UK)
  • DAP De Witte Raaf for their use of a lick mat (Belgium)
  • Tierarztpraxis Jana Wendt for their use of olfactory distraction techniques (Germany)

The winners of each category will be announced on 29 April at iCatCare's 'Being Cat Friendly' event in London, and the winners will receive two tickets to ISFM Congress.

Further information on ISFM's CFC programme can be found here.

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Applications open for MMI research grants

News Story 1
 RCVS' Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) has launched round two of its veterinary mental health research grants.

Researchers have until 11.59pm on Wednesday, 28 May 2025 to apply for a grant for research which reflects MMI's 2025 focus areas.

Only one Impact Grant was awarded last year, and so this year there are two Discovery Grants and one Impact Grants available. Each Discovery Grant is worth £5,000 and the Impact Grant is worth £15,000.

For more information or to apply, email researchgrants@rcvs.org.uk to contact the MMI team.

 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
BBC Radio 4 documentary addresses corporate fees

BBC Radio 4's File on 4 Investigates has released a documentary exploring how corporate-owned veterinary practices may be inflating bills to increase profit.

Released on 15 April, 'What's Happening To Your Vet Bills?' revealed the policies which many corporate groups have in place to increase their profits. This included targets and upgrades which veterinary teams are tasked with meeting on a regular basis.

It also features Anrich Vets, an independently-owned practice based in Wigan. Following the case of Staffordshire terrier Benjy, who is diagnosed with a tumour, the documentary shares how the team were able to offer contextualised care and advice to make the procedure as affordable as possible for his owners.

The documentary can be heard on demand on BBC iPlayer.