Vets open cat-only clinic on South Perry

A newly opened feline veterinary clinic, the Cat’s Meow, on South Perry Street, not only offers cats their own stress-free environment, but also is the only clinic in the greater Spokane area to offer a specialized treatment for hyperthyroidism – a disease that afflicts almost all elderly cats.

After several years practicing in the Five-Mile area, veterinarians Brenda Day and Carrie Forster recently opened up the cats-only clinic in the heart of the South Perry business district.

Cats understandably don’t respond well to the mellifluous cacophony of most multianimal veterinary clinics, especially from the presence of dogs. “Dogs don’t mean any harm,” says Day, but their barking, tail-wagging and panting (albeit amiable) puts many felines on edge, causing their heart rates and blood pressures to rise, among other things.

In the few months they’ve been opened, Day and Forster have only had two cats that had negative reactions to other animals at the clinic and needed to be restrained, whereas that was an “everyday occurrence” at their former multiple-animal clinics. To be able to give cats their own dog-free environment, says Forster, “has made a huge difference.”

But it would be a mistake to classify the Cat’s Meow as a “boutique” clinic. Forster says the average vet clinic’s clientele is usually about 70 percent dogs and 25 to 30 percent cats, making cats – and feline medicine – a secondary priority. “Cats aren’t really small dogs,” adds Day. By focusing solely on feline medicine, Day and Forster say they are able to better tailor treatment for cats, as opposed to other clinics where more blanket treatment plans are used. In the case of vaccines, for example, a cat taken to a standard veterinary clinic might be given several vaccines yearly. Day and Forster, on the other hand, administer only one (to combat feline leukemia) every year, and other vaccines only once every two to three years. Explains Day, “We try to tailor our practice to what cats actually need.”

The two birthed the idea for the cats-only clinic while still in veterinary school together almost a decade ago at WSU. Their vision was for a clinic that not only offered cats their own space, but also one that offered the medical isotopic iodine treatment for hyperthyroid cats, something only available on this side of the Cascades at WSU’s Veterinary School of Medicine in Pullman.

Most elderly cats develop some kind of endocrine disease – most often hyperthyroidism, diabetes and kidney disease, especially cats older than 8. Of these, hyperthyroidism is the most common endocrine disorder in cats, and the condition is to a degree almost inevitable in older cats. “If they live long enough, most of them are going to develop hyperthyroidism,” says Forster.

The hallmark symptom of hyperthyroidism is increased food intake coupled with drastic weight loss; other symptoms include increased water intake and rapid heart rate. Untreated, hyperthyroid cats often develop heart conditions that can lead to heart failure and death.

There are three methods to treat hyperthyroidism in cats: medication, surgery and a medical isotope treatment. People often elect lifelong medication for its low up-front costs, about $30 to $60 a month. Those costs, however, add up in the long-term and don’t account for the regular office visits and blood work required every six months. Also, between 15 to 30 percent of cats experience serious side effects, some of which render the medication ineffective. Moreover, the medication only manages the symptoms and does not cure the disease, notes Forster, so that as a cat’s condition often deteriorates as the cat ages, dosages – and subsequently side effects – increase with time.

In a small number of cases, the hyperthyroid tissue is cancerous and the medical isotope treatment isn’t a viable option. In this case, a $600 surgery to remove the diseased thyroid is recommended. But, there remains a “very high chance” that the remaining thyroid will become hyperthyroid within the next two years and will need to be removed as well.

Ultimately, Forster and Day estimate that roughly 80 percent of hyperthyroid cats are good candidates for the iodine isotope, called I-131, treatment. “It’s truly the treatment of choice,” says Day, particularly if the cat is relatively young when first diagnosed.

The I-131 treatment at Cat’s Meow costs $825, which includes the treatment, plus three-day hospitalization. Additional treatments such as fluid therapies are sometimes necessary, but says Day, “There shouldn’t be a lot of extra costs.” (By comparison, approximate costs for isotope treatment at WSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital range between $950 to $1,200 and include a six- to eight-day hospital stay, according to their Web site.)

Over 95 percent of cats are fully cured with the first dose and do not develop hypothyroidism. The biggest problem, she says, is getting people past the idea that the initial cost is too much, but ultimately, I-131 treatment is not any more expensive, especially in the long run.

The pair have set up shop in a building formerly occupied by the June Bug Cafe. They added a parking lot and hired a carpenter who worked specifically to keep the period style of the 1907 house. They installed large wooden cubbies for the clinic’s holding cages, as they were keen to do away with the standard metal cages that, with their rattling doors, make cats anxious. The house’s former kitchen has been converted to an examination room, surgery is performed in a refurbished small back room, and the vets’ offices are in what once were upstairs bedrooms.

While originally they weren’t looking toward South Perry, the neighborhood has charmed them. “South Perry has a lot of personality,” the two affirm as they survey the street, citing the quaint Pop Shoppe, the Windfall thrift shop and summertime open-air movie screenings on the side of the Altamont Pharmacy. “We have been welcomed with open arms,” says Day, who also notes that, if you give the area a few stable businesses, “It will just grow.”

Julie Miller is one Cat’s Meow enthusiast. After looking for treatment centers throughout the state, to have Day and Forster right here in town “is just awesome.” Miller says that her cat has flourished under Day’s and Forster’s care. “She has her spirit,” says Miller of her cat. “She purrs.”