FELINE-FOCUSED CLINIC

Central Animal Hospital opens separate facility to provide more peaceful veterinary experience for cats and their owners.

The expression “fight li ke cats and dogs” has stuck around more than 400 years for good reason. An idiom pairi ng those two animals can succinctly, colorfully describe when folks brawl in a big way.

So when Central Animal Hospital recently had the chance to separate its easily stressed cat patients from the dogs there, it bit (metaphorica l ly spea king)

The practice at 2192 Central recently built and opened a million- dollar facility behind its existing 69-year-old building. Initially, the veterinary clinic used most of the old building to board dogs, but last fall, the staff had a better idea.

As of Wednesday, Central Animal Hospital will staff the physically separated Central Cat Clinic in its older space.

The rooms have been freshly repainted with cat silhouettes on the walls, decorated with cat figuri nes and stocked with products such as Composure Feline Bite-Sized Chews and Litter Magnet.

“Atlanta has four, and Nashville has one or two,” Stephen Karnes said of catonly veterinary facilities. “We looked around and said, ‘Why isn’t anybody (in Memphis) filling the niche?’”

Karnes manages Cent ra l Ani mal Hospita l , owned by his wife, veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Karnes.

Severa l yea r s h ave passed since the Cat Hospital of Memphis closed in East Memphis. No other cat- only vet service has

opened in Memphis.

DIFFERENT FROM DOGS

Over the past couple of decades, veterinary medicine has become more sensitive to cats’ distinct needs.

Central is one of two veter in a r y cl in i cs in Memphis certif ied as a Cat Friendly Practice by the American Association of Feline Practitioners; the other is Southwind Animal Hospital at 7910 Winchester.

Much more than isolation from dogs is required for the Cat Friendly Pract i ce cer ti f i cat i on . Al l rooms for cats have automatic misting devices that spread a pheromone that calms felines. The clinic’s staff is t rained how to handle cats in a low-stress way. The veterinarians are trained on low-tension examination techniques.

“You need to meet the cat on its own terms,” Jennifer Karnes said. “So, if a cat has gotten into the si nk to sit, you do t he exam while it’s sitting in the sink. Don’t try to force the cat to do what you need it to do.”

CATS ALSO NEED PREVENTIVE CARE,

Veterinary clinics such as Central and Southwind are fighting a trend.

In the U.S., households own 86 million cats compared to 78 million dogs, according to the American Association of Feline Practitioners. But nearly twice as many of those cats than those dogs are never taken to t he veterinarian, according to the association.

Central estimates just 30 to 35 percent of its pat ients are cats. Felines comprise only 30 percent of Southwind’s patients.

“A lot of owners don’t feel cats really need preventive care,” said Southwind Animal Hospital’s practice manager, Conya Tysinger. “They need as much care as dogs do.”

“It is becoming more and more apparent that cats are not small dogs,” Jennifer Karnes said. “For a long time we extrapolated what we knew about the dog and just applied it to the cat. And so there’s been a real movement in the past 15 to 20 years that cats are cats and we need to respect them as cats.”