FOR AFTER HOURS EMERGENCIES PLEASE CONTACT THE BRANT-NORFOLK VETERINARY CLINIC

519-720-0753

Our office will be closed for Family Day on Monday, February 17, 2020.  

Please be sure to stock up on all of your cat’s food and medications in preparation!  The clinic requires 2 business days’ notice for prescription refills.  Thank you!

Regular Business Hours

Monday8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tuesday8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
SaturdayClosed
SundayClosed

Welcome to Our Specialty Cat Clinic

The Charing Cross Cat Clinic is a full service veterinary clinic designed for and dedicated to cats.  We offer Brantford and area cat owners an alternative choice for veterinary care in a unique, peaceful, cats-only environment. Our focus is on your cat.

Mission statement:

We believe that healthcare for cats should include care of the whole cat, including physical and mental health. We work with clients to examine and improve the whole aspect of each cat’s care so that the cat can live a pain-free, enriched life. We seek to strengthen the human-cat bond by helping clients understand and meet their cat’s needs, both physical and emotional.

Scratch. Scratch. Why does your cat scratch?

Scratching is a natural, normal, and necessary behavior for your cat. Your cat does not scratch to upset you or spitefully damage your furniture. Scratching is a form of communication and often your cat will scratch during times of stress and anxiety.

  • To renew their nail by dislodging old nail growth and exposing a new, sharper nail underneath.
  • To mark their territory visually and with scent (pheromones) as a message to other cats and animals.
  • To stretch out their limbs.

If your cat’s scratching or marking has increased, this may be a sign of stress or anxiety, including a threat or restriction to their environmental resources (food, water, litter box, safe place to sleep, familiar territory, etc.). It is important to figure out the cause of your cat’s stress or anxiety so you can address the issue and reduce the unwanted scratching behavior. A feline specialist may be needed to help resolve the problem.

Reasons Cats Scratch >

We are a SCRUFF-FREE clinic

Being handled in a professional setting is usually a stressful situation for a cat. A cat’s coping mechanism in a stressful situation is to avoid or retreat from the source of stress. Therefore, cats will cope much better when they feel that they have the option of retreat open to them, and as such, like to maintain a sense of being in control. The act of scruffing entirely removes the option of retreat and sense of control for a cat. Therefore, it serves to escalate their feeling of stress, leading to distress, anxiety and fear.

There are many different ways of handling and restraining cats that do not involve scruffing or heavy restraint, and International Cat Care advocates the use of these. These cat-friendly methods take a ‘less is more’ approach, and enable a cat to maintain some sense of control over the situation, which will not only improve the cat’s wellbeing, but also achieve better results for the personnel wishing to restrain the cat.

Learn more about CAT FRIENDLY, Scruff-free handling:

https://icatcare.org/scruffing