Services
At Capital Cat Clinic, some of the on-site services we offer are: routine wellness exams, non-adjuvanted vaccines, parasite control, micro-chipping, surgery, x-ray, dentistry, blood work, urinalysis, ultrasound, nutritional counseling, weight-loss solutions and end-of-life/palliative care.
Our in-house dental suite, complete with digital x-ray equipment.
On-site surgical suite
In-house direct digital x-ray suite
Permanent Identification
Permanent identification is strongly recommended for all cats. While we consider indoor cats to be less likely to go missing, they can escape during transit, or during emergencies that are out of our control such as a house fire or a natural disaster. A tattoo can be placed into your cat's inner ear, however, they are only recognized provincial wide. Microchips, which can be placed during a general anesthesia or in awake cats are preferred by most veterinarians, rescues and owners. All of our microchips are ISO-compliant so they are internationally traceable. If your pet already has a microchip, please ensure that you are updating your contact information whenever it changes. If you are unsure who your cat's microchip is registered with you can look it up at no cost at: www.aaha.org/for-veterinary-professionals/microchip-registry-lookup-tool-aaha-find-your-pets-microchip-registry/
Vaccinations:
Vaccination recommendations are made based on a risk assessment for each cat at the annual wellness exam.
The American Animal Hospital Association has an online lifestyle risk calculator which can help you feel well informed on your cat's individual vaccination recommendations prior to your visit.: www.aaha.org/resources/2020-aahaaafp-feline-vaccination-guidelines/feline-vaccine-calculator/
FVRCP Vaccine:
All cats should be protected with FVRCP vaccines early in life up to middle years. FVRCP vaccination is for respiratory disease (very common) and for panleukopenia (much less common). Specialists in feline medicine now recommend FVRCP vaccination be kept up to date until about 9 or 10 years of age for most indoor cats. If, however, you foster cats from a cat rescue or if your cat goes into boarding frequently, this would change the risk and also the vaccine recommendations.
We use non-adjuvanted FVRCP vaccines.
Leukemia and Rabies Vaccines:
At Capital Cat Clinic, we only use the non-adjuvanted leukemia and rabies vaccines. These are considered to have the least possible chance of causing inflammation with a subsequent lump or cancer at the site of injection. Some adjuvanted vaccines have been associated with Vaccine Associated Sarcoma (VAS). It is for this reason that we do not recommend adjuvanted vaccines. We use Purevax rabies and feline leukemia vaccines, which are non-adjuvanted.
We recommend rabies vaccination for all cats regardless of their lifestyle due to the seriousness of disease if contracted. Currently in BC, the only known reservoir of rabies is bats. Spill-over of bat-variant rabies to other species has occurred in British Columbia but there was no evidence of continued transmission within these species in BC. See our page dedicated to Rabies Info to learn more about why rabies vaccines are important.
The main focus remains on the annual wellness exam and overall healthcare management for each cat. In later years, our focus on early detection and management of common chronic diseases increases in order to enhance the quality of life for your older kitty.