FELINE FINE!
They’re picky, territorial and don’t like eating together – but vet Clare Meade insists cats are beautiful and clever too. Which is why she likes to leave them...
THERE’S a saying that every pet owner is likely to relate to: ‘Dogs have owners and cats have staff’. Yet according to Clare Meade, the Cork-based owner of Ireland’s only dedicated cat veterinary practice, rumours of cats’ haughty froideur are greatly exaggerated.
‘It’s a real compliment to be loved by a cat,’ she notes. ‘If a dog loves you, it doesn’t really say that much about you as dogs are wired to be sociable with people, but in the case of cats, they’re actually pretty solitary creatures. In fact, they’re anti-social creatures and very self-reliant.
‘The relationship between cats and humans is really interesting, as it’s often full of mutual respect,’ she adds. ‘The humans really respect their pets and don’t expect them to adapt to the home in a way that they often expect dogs to adapt. They don’t have huge expectations of one another — the love and companionship is the real focus.
‘Owners are very disinclined to upset their cat, and they like to respect the cat’s autonomy. We could learn a lot about our own interpersonal relationships from them.’
And really, Meade should know. Ten years ago, in the middle of the recession, Meade sold on her Terenure vet practice and moved back to her home town of Glanmire with her husband and children.
There, she opened The Cat Hospital, a specialist practise that is already familiar to cat owners in the US and UK.
Since then, she has seen every stripe of cat, circumstance and condition. The hospital, its feline patients and their owners are now part of a six-part series for RTÉ. The Cat Hospital is an observational documentary charting the highs and lows of being a cat owner. In among the neutering and grooming, there are major surgeries, accidents, and life and death medical emergencies.
All of life shows up in The Cat Hospital. In this week’s opening episode, we meet retired ballerina Lavinia, who lives in Blackrock with her two thoroughbred Siamese cats. They are retired from the cat show scene and are ‘shocking snobs’, according to Lavinia.
Then there’s Maite and Darragh’s adventurous cat Curley, who has managed to suffer a split tongue after being out and about one night in Cork city. Elsewhere, Paulina the cat is having difficulty breathing, and has a huge polyp removed from her airways, to the huge relief of her owner, biker Wolfgang.
Meanwhile, Whitney and Bobby have come a cropper in their own back garden after being exposed to tiny red harvest mites called chiggers which, as any cat owner knows all to well, are the bane of cats’ lives.
The diversity proves, as Meade notes, that the widely held belief that cats are the preserve of little old ladies is not much more than a myth. ‘It’s definitely not the profile at all,’ she states of cat owners.
‘In fact, the “crazy cat lady” theory has been debunked by proper scientific studies.
‘What’s interesting though is that owning a cat is a relatively personal and private endeavour,’ she adds. ‘Owning a dog is very public as you’ll see them out and about, and you know what houses on the road have dogs in them. But you don’t really say the same about cats, and that’s the magic of them.
‘There are a lot of false assumptions made about cat owners, but
‘The “crazy cat lady” theory has been debunked’
I’ve seen the most high-flying CEOs, families and single men in here — the full gamut of society.’
Naturally, the question looms large: what inspired Meade to open and run a practise dedicated exclusively to cats?
She explains that, after deciding to become a vet as a young child, she loves all animals equally. But as a cat owner herself, she spotted a gap in the sector a decade ago.
‘Cats need their own vet,’ she explains. ‘They are afraid of dogs and I suppose when you think of it, try recuperating from a serious illness and then being put next to an animal you’re afraid of [in a general vet practice]. Cats get on great with their family dogs, but are often afraid of strange dogs.
‘It was a bit of a light-bulb moment for me — I’d have enough experience in veterinary practise to realise that making a dedicated hospital for cats made so much sense,’ she adds. ‘What we do isn’t driven by money, it’s driven by love and a vocation, and that’s all we needed to do for it to be a minor success.’
Cats tend to struggle with recuperating from health problems, which is why a specialised space is so advantageous.
‘We’re all the same — we like our own house and wish we could recuperate at home when we are sick,’ says Meade. ‘Cats are particularly territorial and find it hard to settle in an unfamiliar environment.
‘Even though the cat is the ultimate predator, they’re also animals of prey and they constantly have that mindset that they will be eaten at any second.’
Inside the Cat Hospital, the vibe is distinctly calm, with soft lighting, soothing sounds and neutral colours.
‘It’s a lovely environment and along with my husband William, who is involved in graphic design and branding, we came up with the brand and colour scheme, which is derived from Siamese cats. It contributes to the feeling that it’s not a clinic as
‘Cats have an enormous sense of will to live’
there’s a “white coat syndrome” that cats can get where they are anxious in a clinical environment.’
While Clare’s feline patients are often quite vulnerable, she observes that their owners are often being their most authentic selves in the Cat Hospital, too.
‘In a way, we’re in a very privileged position because we get to interact with people being real with their emotions,’ she explains.
‘They’re very genuine and often there’s a lot of raw emotion. Sometimes, you get to see the very best and most positive in people.’
Still, the calm of the clinic belies the full range of experiences and emotions that Clare and her staff undergo every single day.
As a ‘companion cat’ clinic, many of Meade’s patients are happily ensconced in loving families and homes, although she often works with the animal charities and encounters instances of cruelty and neglect.
‘We’re lucky in a way that we’re on the salvage end of things, after the charity has already got involved,’ Meade reveals. ‘Luckily, I don’t work with many pets who have come from a difficult environment. I’ve only had one instance where a man asked me to put down his cat when there was no need for it, and that sadly came down to money.
‘But every day, there’s an animal tragedy and a human tragedy — it’s part of what we do.
‘One minute, you’re seeing a happy family with a new kitten, the next you have to break the news to an older person that their 17-year-old cat has to be put to sleep,’ she adds. ‘It’s an emotional rollercoaster.’
Putting animals to sleep, Meade notes, is an unfortunate part of the job.
‘From an animal perspective, we only do it when there’s nothing more we can do to alleviate their suffering, so in that way it’s a really important resource for us vets to have,’ she says. ‘I never have to put an animal to sleep unless there’s a very good reason, so I don’t struggle with that side. But we are also exposed to unbelievable pain and suffering when you see the owners’ experiences.
‘As a young vet, you’re pretty carefree and are probably less connected to the human life, but as you get older, you can understand the importance of the humans’ experience,’
she adds. ‘As I‘ve gotten older, the animal side of things, oddly, has become a little easier.’
Out of the thousands of cats she has cared for, one or two stick out in the mind.
‘One of our favourite little cats is Fern, who has been coming to me for ten years,’ says Meade. ‘The unexpected cats end up being your favourite characters.
‘In terms of miraculous turnarounds, you see it all the time,’ she adds. ‘Cats are tough little animals, with an enormous sense of will to live. If something can be overcome, a cat will overcome it. When a cat is unwell, it’s easy for us to understand that they’ve given up the fight, and often they fight so hard to live.’
As to what advice Meade gives newer cat owners: ‘The first thing you have to do when you get a cat is accept that they have certain behaviours that are sometimes seen as problem behaviours,’ she reveals. ‘Cats like to scratch things but it’s not a problem, Instead, it’s an important way for them to communicate with their human. If they don’t have something to scratch, they will scratch your couch.
‘Also, cats like to perch, and if you don’t provide them something to perch on, they will end up on your kitchen worktop,’ she adds. ‘They just want to sit up high and look down on the rest of us,’ she adds with a laugh.
‘The other important thing to remember is that cats are not social eaters — they don’t like to eat with other cats. If you have more than one cat, don’t feed them at the same time and in the same place.
‘It’s funny, in Western Europe, we tend to have a negative bent in relation to cats,’ Meade continues. ‘In other countries, especially places like Spain, Malta or Portugal, they have a really positive outlook on cats.
‘In Ireland, things are changing quickly, but a lot of that has to do with personal experience.’
In the last ten years, Meade has learned plenty about the feline mindset, and has come to understand their needs and wants.
‘I suppose you find you can get around almost any cat by having patience, and by watching and observing them,’ Meade explains. ‘They are really good at telling us what they want if you give them a chance. They’re also hugely tactile — we get to touch the most incredible little bodies in the world all day long and they’re so beautiful and pleasant.
‘I enjoy that part of the job. Even when I go on two weeks’ holiday, I miss it terribly!’