press release

Cynthia awards for good ‘cattitude’

Eleven Cynthia Awards - the equivalent of Oscars for good ‘cattitude’ in
veterinary practice - are to be awarded by The Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB), a charity dedicated to the health and wellbeing of cats, in The Electric Cinema, Portebello Road, London on November 9. Representatives from veterinary practices gaining top awards in the nationwide FAB Cat Friendly Practice Competition will also be present to receive awards from the charity.

The Cynthia Award is a bronze statue modelled on and named after the cat on the FAB’s logo.

Launched in April this year, the aim of the FAB Cat Friendly Practice competition is to raise awareness of the needs of cats in practice and make the visit to the vet less stressful for cats, owners and vets alike. This the second year the FAB Cat Friendly Competition has been run. In 2006 only three Cynthias were awarded.

Thanks to the support of sponsors Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Pfizer Animal Health and Direct Line, FAB has provided veterinary practices with free handbooks on Creating a Cat Friendly Practice and information leaflets for them to distribute to cat owners.

Andrea Harvey, FAB lecturer at Bristol University, headed the team of judges made up of veterinary surgeons on the FAB feline expert panel.

'We visited a wide variety of nominated practices - from large referral centres to small one person practices - and it is just amazing how much they had all achieved in making their practice cat friendly. It is not simply a matter of big is best - plenty of empathy, enthusiasm, and know-how go a long way,' she said. 'In some of the practices the good ‘cattitude’ just shone out.’

Produced by Karen Bessant, FAB Press Officer kbessant@aol.com