Getting a cat into a carrier is often the hardest part of the entire vet visit, harder than anything that happens once the cat is actually in the exam room. FelineVMA (the Feline Veterinary Medical Association) built a new free resource around exactly that problem. On September 25, 2026, it released the Cat Friendly Resource Center, a library of client handouts and quick-reference guides covering the whole visit: from calming a cat down before it ever leaves the house, to helping it settle back in once it's home. The launch was first reported by dvm360.
Why So Many Cats Never Make It through the Door
Cats stay chronically underserved compared to dogs, and transportation is a big part of the reason. A cat that gets carsick, hides at the sight of the carrier, or comes home stressed enough to avoid the family for a day gives an owner every excuse to put next year's visit off again. FelineVMA CEO Heather O'Steen frames the problem the same way.
The gap shows up in outcomes, not just in owner complaints. A 2023 study in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery compared how designated Cat Friendly practices and conventional clinics actually performed, according to dvm360:
Calmer cats simply tolerate the visit long enough for the vet to run the test in the first place. That alone was enough to catch more cats with endocrine, kidney, and electrolyte problems that a rushed visit might miss.
What's Actually inside the Resource Center
The hub isn't limited to exam room handling tips. It walks a practice through the visit in order:
- Pre-appointment prep: carrier training, calming techniques, and what to tell an owner before the appointment is even booked
- In-clinic handling: reading feline body language and adapting restraint to the individual cat
- Waiting room and exam room design: reducing the sensory triggers that turn a nervous cat into an unmanageable one
- Post-visit recovery: helping a cat settle back in at home instead of hiding under the bed for two days
FelineVMA President Hazel Carney, DVM, makes the underlying point in plain terms: cats show fear and pain in ways that are easy to miss. Mapping the visit from the cat's point of view is what surfaces the practical fixes. Hound has looked at the same stress cycle from the other direction: what happens when a cat skips the trip altogether.
Carrier training and pheromone spray help most cats, but not every cat. Practices still see the ones who never quite adjust, no matter what a handout suggests. Homelove exists for exactly that group: a credentialed team the practice already trusts, meeting the cat on its own turf instead of asking it to tolerate a trip it can't handle. Pairing FelineVMA's new resource with that option covers both halves of the same problem: what happens before the visit, and what happens when the visit itself is the barrier.