The Coast Cat Clinic

We have had a few changes at the clinic since the beginning of January '08, and it has been quite a ride! Our computer system crashed at the end of December and we had to get a whole new system. We were without the computer for about 2 weeks—no fun. We have also had some staff changes. Sue—a long-time staff member—has moved to England, and we have two wonderful new additions to the staff: Krissy and Malorie. You can read their bios in the Staff section. In February we also had our practice inspected by our association, the British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association, which went well.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

HOLIDAY WEEKEND CLOSURES Fall and Winter 2008 Labour Day Long Weekend Closed: Aug. 30, 31, and September 1st. Re-opening: Tuesday, September 2nd at 8:30am. Thanksgiving Day Long Weekend Closed: October 11, 12 and 13 Re-opening: Tuesday, October 14th at 8:30 am. Remembrance Day Long Weekend Closed: November 8, 9, 10 and 11. Re-opening: Wed., November 12th at 8:30 am. Christmas Closed: Christmas Eve, the 24th, at 12 noon through Dec 29th. Re-opening: December 30th at 8:30 am. New Year's Closed: New Year’s Eve, December 31st at 12 noon through January 1st, 2009 . Reopening: January 2nd at 8:30am. Contact numbers for emergencies while we are closed are on the home page of our website as well as on our answering machine.

Health Updates

It is Flea Prevention Time! Flea life cycle

If your cat goes outside, now is the time to ensure they are protected against fleas. Early prevention works so much better than treating a problem that has developed. One flea living on your cat can lay 40-50 eggs a day! These drop into the environment, including your house, and 3 to 4 weeks later you can have a major problem. Monitoring for scratching is not the best way to tell if your cat has fleas. We often find fleas on cats that don’t seem to be scratching. For prevention we recommend using Program™ or Ovicollars, which work by treating the flea eggs so they can’t develop, before they drop into the environment. If you are seeing fleas on your cat we recommend using adulticides, such as Advantage™, Revolution™ or Capstar™. Please call us if you have any questions about flea control for your cat.

Emergency Preparedness

The impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the affected communities has really brought home how important it is to be prepared for basic survival for several days after an earthquake as well as being prepared to evacuate on short notice. Our cats are obviously very important members of our families and it is important to include them in our emergency plans.

For your cats we recommend that you have:

hard or soft sided carrier(s) sufficient to carry all your cats in (cardboard carriers may not be sturdy enough to hold your cat for an extended period of time)
a harness and leash for each cat so that they can be removed from the carrier for short periods of time (ie. if they need to use the litter box) and still allow you to retain control of them.
permanent identification to allow them to be reunited with you if you become separated. After the situation with Hurricane Katrina we are recommending microchips as the best form of identification for this purpose. They are registered with a central database outside the lower mainland that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We recommend having an alternate contact number outside the lower mainland registered with the database. Tattoos are registered with the individual clinic that did the tattoo. Phone lines to the clinics and information from the clinics may not be available for quite an extended period of time after a major disaster, preventing the tracing of animals by their tattoos.
a bag containing food, water, dishes, possibly a small litter box with litter, sufficient to last for 3-7 days as a minimum. Include any medications they require on an ongoing basis.

A website to look at: www.avma.org/disaster/saving_family.asp

Home ::

About Us ::

Meet the Staff ::

Services ::

Map ::

Preventative Health ::

What's New ::

Links