Hello and welcome to my Talking Cats Podcast.  I'm Miranda Luck.

I'm delighted to be joined by a superb vet and genuinely lovely person - Nikki Gaut. We'll be chatting about Nikki's passion for cats, their welfare and her new mobile cat clinic - The Coastal Cat Vet.  And, just what was she doing on top of the fridge?  Let's find out!

Welcome, Nikki!
I know who you are, but for all the fans out there listening, (laughter)  my mum and family, just tell us a little about yourself, please.

Nikki
Well, I don't think I've hit dinosaur status yet!  I qualified in 2003 and cut my teeth in a busy general practice on the outskirts of London.  And started to realise that all the cat clients were starting to bring their cats to me.

I grew up a little bit in Africa.  My parents were real avid wildlife people, so I grew up around big cats and always had pets.  I kind of didn't realise by osmosis, that started my total obsession with cats.  And yeah, suddenly, I started being the cat vet.  (laughter).  People were bringing me their cats because apparently, they would behave a bit better, or I was just able to be a bit calmer with them - I don't know.  So I started to get really, really interested when I went to my first ISFM congress.  Which was because an Aussie vet had said to me, "Awhhh you know! We should go on this!" and I was like - amazing - let's do it.

Miranda
Great accent!  (laughter)

Nikki: 
Thank you! Thank you!

Miranda
POST RECORDING INTERRUPTION: I'd better explain that ISFM stands for International Society of Feline Medicine. It's part of the charity International Cat Care; it's the veterinary part, and it provides resources and amazing congresses for vets and nurses on feline medicine and surgery, and it's encouraging practices and clinics to become more cat friendly.

Nikki
Yeah, so I went on that, and I was hooked.  From that minute, it was almost like I had found my tribe of vets and lovely, lovely people.  So I ended up travelling a little bit, doing a bit of various things and kept coming back to cat stuff and in 2008, I joined Kitten to Cat.  And there was no looking back.  Once I was in a cat practice; it was going to me forever.

Miranda
So, just for those who don't know, can you tell us a little about Kitten and Cat and why it was different from other things?

Nikki
It was the first practice in London that was cat only. People had heard of Oxford Cat Clinic and the cat clinics in Australia and New Zealand. There were quite a few cat clinics, and obviously in America, but over here, we were a bit slower to start on the cat clinic, and it was around about the same time as Cat Friendly Clinic from ISFM was getting really big. And people were just kind of sitting up a bit and going; there are different ways to do things, you know. And welfare being at the forefront of that. 

So basically, Zeta had set up this beautiful clinic in London, which totally was built on the principles of Cat Friendly Clinic, and I just saw the difference. Having worked in practice for as long as I had at that point, I was just amazed how much calmer these cats were. And, as a result, how much more we could do with them, and how much more accurate everything was. You know - we weren't getting scratched and bitten anymore. And it was just lovely because they would come in a lot calmer. So I mean, I worked for them for 13 years. I still, you know, drop back for the odd shift (laughter).  I guess it's having that whole practice ethos; you know, cat-loving nurses, and even reception. So they did a wonderful job, and then obviously, since then, more cat practices have popped up.

Miranda
Well, there has been a whole sort of sea change, hasn't there? You know? You're part of that movement that's ... (laughter).

Nikki
Well, it's been lovely to be part of it. You know, I've been practising for nearly 20 years now - quite scarily. To see that change, to see people's attitudes change. And you know, new Grads are coming out now, and they know about cat handling techniques, they know about how to... even the words 'Cat Friendly'. They are looking for jobs that have got Cat Friendly status. It's lovely, and it's growing all the time I think. It's just a really exciting thing to be part of.

Miranda
And so much better for all these individual cats as well, whose welfare is just improving and improving. Now, you're about to set up a practice of your own, but your moving things on in that the cats will no longer be coming to you; you're going out to the cats?

Nikki
Absolutely.  Yes, so about three years ago, I started working for The Cat Doctor, which is a home visiting service in Surrey.  And it was post having my twin boys.  I was looking for something that was maybe a bit more sort of work-life- balance friendly.  And I found Amy and her wonderful practice and just was a convert again.  I didn't think it could get any better than being in a cat clinic but then started home visiting.  Just seeing cats in their own environment.  It just opened up a whole new world of behaviour and understanding of what that cat deals with on a daily basis.  And so I just feel now it's so much more thorough - the holistic approach to these cats' lives and being able to advise them on everything - from where the litter trays are.  It's much easier when you are stood inside the house and talking to the owner and seeing what that cat is dealing with.  So yeah, I started working for her.  She's got an amazing, amazing van which is lovingly known as the cat mobile.
Basically, you pull it up on the owner's drive, we plug in, and if we need to do anything under anaesthesia, we've got a mobile practice. 

Miranda
Wow!

Nikki
Home visiting, the normal consultations, we just turn up in a little car - me and a nurse.  It's just wonderful to be able to sedate that cat; before covid, in the arms of the owner, they say a little goodbye.  The cat doesn't really know that it's left the house, we go into the van, and we do what we need to do.

Miranda
Wow!

Nikki
We recover them, and within a few hours, they are back with their owner.  The biggest commute they have done is from doorstep to van.

Miranda
They're such territorial animals, and you think about putting them into a car and taking them to somewhere like the veterinary practice with other species ... I think there is plenty of facts and figures that show that sort of trip can affect the vets' diagnosis because of what's happening to the cat through all that stress.

Nikki
Yes!  And for hours afterwards.  Even when I was at the Cat Clinic, we would have a cat in and test its blood glucose, and a good 3 or 4 hours (later), it would be high.  Blood pressure as well.  And I think we all automatically assume, put them in a cage, and they'll settle down.  And they look fine, but we all know they are masters of disguise, and actually, they are not fine at all. 

So yeah, I'm bringing it down to Brighton and Hove. I moved here in March with my family. And came down here and thought, oh my goodness, this is crying out for it down here. It's the same sort of thing as London and Surrey in the sense that parking is terrible, the cat gets stressed in traffic jams, and there's nowhere really to easily to get into a clinic, and just to bring back that personal service as well. I think the rise of the corporates as we know - it's just nice to be able to be me and the nurse and to provide that personal service. So yeah! Starting in April - The Coastal Cat Vet!

Miranda
Fantastic! Now you mentioned the nurse, and I was going to ask about that. So there must be instances when you arrive in the car, and you get to the house, open the door - and there's no cat!  (laughter).  Have you had that, or do you have systems in place to make sure that everything is going to go to plan?

Nikki
We all know, working with animals, they are going to have their own rule book, and then cats have an extra chapter!

Miranda
Yes!  (laughter)

Nikki
But generally, we try to have systems in place and have reminders for the owner. The situation is where most of our owners are really, really used to us talking a lot before we come to see them about how the visit is going to go. So we will say, shut that cat flap! Shut doors to rooms with loads of places that they can hide, and it's quite common actually to examine these little cats in a bathroom or a kitchen where they can't get under anything and can't get above anything. Just because you know, you don't want a chase around.

Miranda
No!

Nikki
That would be the worst thing because then they're stressed.  And it's their home, and you've got to respect that.  And there are some cats that even with the best will in the world, and giving Gabapentin before we turn up, and have a very, very calm situation, won't be suited to home visiting because it is their safe space.  We don't want to invade that.  It's got to be a stress-free process.  Otherwise, we say, and we're quite happy to say, you know what?  We don't want to worry this little cat so they're now worried at home as well.

Miranda
Yeah. That's a really, really interesting point.

Nikki
To be fair, it's rare, and we can get around it.  We use a lot of Gabapentin.  We use a lot of sort of techniques; it can sometimes just take time, just visiting.  And that's the luxury of this service.  You know, we have an hour per client.  So we can sit down, have a cuppa tea, pre covid, (laughter) chill out and be a friend in the house before we do anything - but yeah, those individual cases where we are quite happy to say - this is safer for everyone if we are in a clinic.

Miranda
So for those that don't know, Gabapentin is a sedative?

Nikki
Yeah!

Miranda
And it seems to be proving quite popular with cats and cat handlers?  What is so special about that?  I know people have seen other sedatives, and their cats have been poorly or disorientated or?

Nikki
Yeah!  It's really something that has become an absolute must for cat vets in probably the last five years, I would say.  It's an oral tablet or a liquid, and you give it one to two hours prior to needing to do anything with the cat.  The owners are normally quite adept; I think people worry that they're not going to be able to get it into the cat, but the other thing about home visiting is that we are there, we are showing them, use Lick-e-Lix, use this treat, and actually holding their hand through the whole process.  It's very rare we don't get cats to take something.  Which again, that's very different to practice, where they are sent off with something and told to deal with it but look, they can't give it to the cat.

So it (Gabapentin) provides a sort of anti-anxiety sedation.  It's not an anti-anxiety drug, but for cats, it will just take the edge off them.  It just allows them to have things done that would normally be a bit stressful and to just be OK with it.  Almost I get more comments with people saying, 'I don't think it worked!' (laughter), and then we handle the cat, and we know it's worked because suddenly we able just very gently to take bloods in a beautiful Wrapsio, may I add, which is just wonderful because it's like a big cuddle in a blanket.  They feel secure; the nurse feels secure; you know we know we are all safe, unlike a towel, we're not going to get a claw through it.  And we just wrap them in that, very gently raise their head and sometimes with the beautiful Lick-e-Lix, they just lick that and we take the blood.  There's no overhandling; there's no scuffle you know.  It's just a lovely thing, and the owners sat there watching, going, 'Wow!  OK!" (laughter). It just allows us to do things in a calmer way, and side effect wise, it's very minimal.

Miranda
And time-wise because - I know a lot of issues with vets and handling cats, is a lot of them want to do the right thing, and they know the right techniques, but it's just time constraints and they sort of think, "Well let's use the Restrainer Container" that used to be called a Crush Cage instead.

Nikki
Yeah.  I think. I've worked in busy, busy, busy practices where time is of the essence.  You do need to just get on with it, and you don't have the luxury of 'oh your know, let's spend an hour...

Miranda
Let's have a cuppa tea! (laughter)

Nikki
Absolutely!  Isn't that nice! (laughter). So I've been there, and I think the key is that you read the cat, you look at the behaviour from the off.  And you know, generally, if you are watching that cat, what it's going to need.  There are some cats that do need - I'm a total non-scruffer, obviously, but I believe in the Restrainer Container in certain situations.

Miranda
Absolutely.

Nikki
I've done a lot of TNR work as well, where you know you go abroad, and you're doing Trap, Neuter, Return, and it is a safe way of hands-off approach to sedation.  I think the way it is used is the most important thing. You know, when it was called the Crush Cage ... hideous!  Because I think people will take that so literally - that we have to crush this cat.  It must be done very gently, edging that cat towards you and being able then to just sneak in and slowly an intramuscular injection through the bars.  They don't even notice.  And I'm talking about owned cats.  When you are talking about feral cats, it's a different matter.  But every cat, you just have to approach differently.  You have to have a not one rule fits all.  It is literally watching that cat, watching that tail twitch, watching the fur, the hackles. Are they starting to tense?  My nurses are amazing for when they are just very gently holding, they feel that tension building.  You've got to listen to that.  As the vet, I'm just taking blood.  I'm not holding them.  And when they are wrapped like that, and the nurse suddenly goes, "Hmmm hmm, we've just suddenly got a little upset here", the first thing I'll do is reach for injectable sedation if I need to.  And I have no problem with that because I think that cat has to have a good experience.

Miranda
Yes!

Nikki
Everyone has to be safe, and I probably reach for sedation more than most because I just think it's not worth ..."Let's just try!  Just try this! Just try!"

Miranda
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nikki
You've lost the trust of the cat.  The nurse is then upset because they told you they weren't happy.  So, it's really important to listen to them.

Miranda
So you're visiting gazillions of cats over the years.  Have you seen any trends in health?  Is there anything you are worried about?

Nikki
So I think it's the usual stuff that is always going to be there.  The dental disease, the kidney disease, the thyroid disease.  We see those regularly.  But I do have slight concerns just with the amount of pets that were obviously purchased in lockdown.  Cats get very used to their owners being around.

Miranda
Oooooh yessss! (laughter)

Nikki
My two needy ones, yours!  I know!  (laughter). Cats are all about routine.  I worked through most of the pandemic, and we were seeing at the start of it a lot of cats that were having stress-related issues because their owner was suddenly home all the time.  The cat was like, "Excuse me!  (laughter) This was my nap time, and now there's people talking on Zoom!  Then it started to calm down again as they got used to it.  But now, obviously, people are starting to go back to work, and things are changing again.  So definitely, younger cats that were purchased in lockdown who maybe are hitting that 1 to 2-year-old behaviour, you know, where they can just be slightly naughty teenagers - I think we are starting to see some behaviours there that could be an issue.

Miranda
You mentioned about more people buying pets, buying cats or getting cats.  Have you seen an increase in people getting exotics?  By exotics, I mean the Persians or Siamese, Ragdolls or the sort of purebred cats.

Nikki
Yeah, it's funny because obviously, having worked in London in Kitten to Cat and I've worked at a few other cat clinics, it is quite regional.  Sometimes we'll get more moggies or more 'Posh Cats' as we call them!  It's interesting.  I think I see a lot of moggies.  Down here in Brighton and Hove?  Don't know!  We'll see what I find, but I'm hearing more that Savannahs and things like that are being bought.  I find that personally worrying.  A few years ago, it was about Bengals and how would the Bengal fit into our very busy lifestyles, you know.  I've met some amazing Bengals who are very, very happy and fit into their family life just fine, but I've also met some that have really struggled with the constraints of our kinds of lives.  Where we maybe have small gardens.  Or near roads where they don't own the entire neighbourhood, and there is actually another cat in the neighbourhood that would quite like to go into that garden, and there's that fisty cuffs!  Again, it's a behavioural thing, and I do worry that in this tiny little island of ours, is there room for these more wild sorts of animals?  But yeah, I love all the Ragdolls, Siamese and the British Shorthairs we see, and they're all such characters.  And you definitely notice traits.

Miranda
You do?

Nikki
You do!  You do! (laughter).  I mean, I grew up with a Siamese who was with me until she was 23.  And honestly, it's the best education!  (laughter).  I always say to my clients, I'm a cat owner first and then a vet.  (laughter).  Hebe was just a totally unique cat, and then you meet other Siamese, and I'm like, oh my gosh, "my Siamese used to do that!" I love it.  I love that breed trait that you see in them definitely.

Miranda
What about the things like "Naughty Torties".  Is that a thing?  Is that definitely a thing?  (laughter)

Nikki
It's funny because I think it's easy to label them as that, but I've met some absolutely squiggy Torties that you know are just like "Total Tarty Torties" they should be called, really.  (laughter), So I think it's just genuinely you treat every cat as an individual.  It's funny because when a Torti does start being, you know, a little feisty, you just immediately go:

Miranda and Nikki in unison
Naughty Tortie

Nikki
But I have plenty of, you know, little Tabby females, they're a bit ... they know their own mind, like things on their own terms - but we just don't have a term for them.  But definitely, there's a thing.  Your little Black and Whites, my little Black females as well. We call them ninjas - they are just so fast!  Tiny and fast!  (laughter).  So yeah, it's lovely.  You can tell, I just get a little bit in love with them all, really!  (laughter).

Miranda
Completely! I'm sure you've had lots of interesting stories and tales, and owners.  Is there anything that really sticks out?

Nikki
Honestly.  Most days there is something funny happening.   (laughter). You have to have a sense of humour.  I mean I've always had a sense of humour in every job I've done because in veterinary - you do.  But you really have to with home visiting because you just get this snapshot of a person's life that you would not be privy to otherwise.

Miranda
Absolutely!

Nikki:  20.43
You can be in some very funny situations where you know, I've been standing on tops of fridges.  (laughter) I'm quite small.  You suddenly have this moment when you're like "Am I actually doing this?!   (laughter). Trying to fish cats out of places - which is why we just try so hard to not let that happen but it's inevitable sometimes.  It's just so funny.  We have the cats that when we pull up the van, onto someone's drive and we're plugging in and a cat will jump in!  Do you have a problem?   (laughter). Would you like to show me your sore tooth!?  (laughter). It's hilarious.  It's lovely.  And it's feeling like part of the community.  You then have to take the cat out and say 'right it's not your turn today!"  (laughter).

Miranda
The mobile unit.  You can do GA's.  What other bits and bobs have you got in there?

Nikki
So we do ultrasounds - though we tend to do those in the home so that the cat doesn't have to leave its home. But we have oxygen, everything on hand.  We do dentals.  I love my dentistry.  We've got a dental x-ray in there.  We've got a separate little surgical area so when you shut the door that is sterile. We do neutering and any sort of procedures that doesn't require long hospitalisation afterwards.  So yeah.  It's really good and I hope when it comes down to Brighton, Elise Robertsons, with her endoscopy, will be happy to do that in the van, and visiting specialists, cardiologists if they need to.  So the world is our oyster really.  I don't do orthopaedics. That's just because I don't really like it! (laughter).  But it's also thinking about the animal afterwards - wanting to make sure that they are then not going to have to travel onto somewhere else.  It's really what can I do, that then I can give that cat back to the owner afterwards.  Because they go home earlier than they would do if they were in a clinic.
They need to be awake, they need to be with it.

Miranda
So this must be a pretty big sized van?

Nikki
Ooooh yeah!

Nikki
It's a Luton van.  You go in there, and it's quite often you forget you're in the van once you get going because of all the mod cons in there.  We've got air-con and heating.

Miranda
Did you design the layout and everything?

Nikki
No. I can't take credit at all.  That was all done by Amy at the Cat Doctor and Shreen, her nurse. Yeah so cannot get credit.  But I just fell in love with it and now I shall be owning it - it's just lovely. She thought of everything.

Miranda
Snack bar?!

Nikki
Well, maybe not that!  (laughter).

Miranda
What are you like!? (laughter).

Nikki
Well, now that you mention it!  Coffee machine and snack bar might be quite nice!  (laughter).

Miranda
So, in essence, I mean you're in Brighton and Hove, but if you have van. Can travel!

Nikki
Completely, so this is it.  My kind of big, not concern, but I'm mindful of is to keep it a very personal service.

ML: Yup!

Nikki
You can't over-promise and oversubscribe yourself really.  Keeping that area relatively small.  I don't want to be feeling that I'm letting down a person at the end of my area because I can't get there in time.  So it's keeping it small and personal so that we can still do a good job for everybody.  And I think that would probably be my biggest concern about the business going forward is that people love it, and people want to use it, and when people hear about it, cat-loving people, even if their cat isn't scared of the vets, doesn't have a terrible time at the vet's, it's just the fact that they can have you come to their home.

Miranda
Absolutely!

Nikki
 So it's not getting too big that I then can't provide that personal service to everybody.

Miranda
Franchise?

Nikki
(laughter). Whoa!  I'm not a businesswoman! Come on! It's amazing I'm even setting up my own practice to be honest with you!  This has just come because I'm a total believer in it.  I want to do it.  That's why I'm doing it, but franchising.  Whoa my goodness!  (laughter). At the moment, it's the mad kind of getting everything ready, sorting, logos and designs, getting my nurse on board.  It's exciting times.

Miranda
Very exciting.

Nikki
Lots of plate spinning!

Miranda
Yes!  Oh yes, because I should mention that you have two adorable kids - I'm more cats than kids BUT yours, I have to say ...

Nikki
I can't admit that - but so am I!

Miranda
They are cuties.  Really sweet.

Nikki
I think they would give anything to be in the van being my little helpers.

Miranda
Mmmmm.  There you go!  There's the team!

Nikki
Oh my goodness!  It would be chaos!  Twintastic.  They are about to turn five in a couple of months.  Crazy times because you obviously met them when they were about four months old, and they were teeny.

Miranda
At a conference!  At a cat conference!

Nikki:
Yeah! They are very much ensconced into the whole thing.

Miranda
I bet!  I bet. And talking of conferences, are you going to go to the next ISFM or are you going to be super busy?

Nikki:
No.  I thought it was really important this year to go.  It's the first time in a couple of years that it's going to be face to face.  As I said, it was a conference that really started this whole love for me.  And I have a lot of really lovely friends and people that I am so excited to see after not seeing them for a couple of years and actually it's longer for me because I was in my own lockdown with twins. (laughter).  So I actually haven't been to one after going to every one for years and honestly, it looks so fantastic.  The actual program is so exciting and a lot about holistic care which as a home visiting vet is just music to my ears.

Miranda
Brilliant. Well.  Thank you so much.  I know you are super busy.  Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me and for everyone who is listening.  It's been really, really interesting and an amazing thing that you're setting up.  And good luck with it!

Nikki
Thank you so much.  Thank you so much. It's kind of a dream realised after all this time to finally be doing it

Miranda
Well, if anyone is going to do it, Nikki can do it.  And do it with bells on!

Nikki
(laughter). Thank you so much.  Honestly. It's been lovely to chat to you.