Thank you for entrusting the care and attention of your cat to The London Cat Clinic. This document details our Practice Terms and Conditions. Some aspects of the Terms may not be relevant to you and we suggest you ask for further explanation/clarification if required.
We are passionate about the care we are able to give our patients, and we believe a large part of this can be achieved through regular health assessments and good preventative healthcare. Our incredible Feline Fine Health Care plan incorporates all of this as well as offering significant in-clinic discounts and represents the gold standard level of care. As such membership to the plan is a mandatory requirement if you wish to register with our clinic. Once registration is completed reception will contact you to request a £50 down-payment which will be applied to your account for use against the first payment of the health care plan and then remains in credit for us in-clinic
The London Cat Clinic thrives on open client-vet relationships with respect and trust being key cornerstones of this. We respect your right to be heard and we will listen, but we will not tolerate voices raised in anger or aggression, shouting, bullying, or any form of intimidation towards any member of our team. In this event (following investigation) you will be deregistered as a client and will need to find alternative veterinary care for your cat(s)
We understand the special needs of our patients and do everything we can to enable a stress-free clinical examination but despite our expertise, there may be occasions when we are simply not able to examine your cat due to fear aggression and the risk of injury to themselves, you, or one of our team is too high. We may use sedation at that time but more commonly you will be asked to come back at a later date with some prescribed treatment on board to help reduce your cat’s stress and improve the quality of their experience at that time and moving forward. In this event you will be charged 50% of the consultation fee as booked as this is time with our vet and professional advice was given.
Consultations are arranged by appointment only. Emergencies during normal opening hours will always be seen as soon as possible but clients are asked to telephone the practice for immediate advice and to tell us that you are on your way.
| Six month/Annual Health Assessments - 20 minutes (+£16 if vaccine is required) | £82 |
| New client consultations - 30 minutes | £98 |
| Non-routine illness/injury consultation - 30 minutes | £98 |
| Consultation Illness/Injury Follow-up - 25 minutes (rechecks for the same problem within a 4-week period) | £92 |
| Reassessment consultation - 25 minutes | £92 |
| Behavioural consultation - 40 minutes | £156 |
| Second opinion - 50 minutes | £196 |
| Referral Consultation: Internal medicine and Dentistry- 60 minutes | £275 |
| Referral Consultation: Ophthalmology - 40 minutes | £330 |
| Emergency Consultation (registered client) | £160 |
| Emergency Consultation (non-registered client) | £245 |
If your cat is currently under treatment for the condition and you would like a second opinion, we do require the full history, blood test results, x-rays etc. before the appointment can be booked (excluding emergencies as determined by The London Cat Clinic).
If we have seen your cat in an emergency and/or have hospitalised them but we aren’t your normal veterinary practice o
nce the patient is stable, we would send them back to your usual veterinary practice. It isn't possible to transfer your cat's ongoing routine care to The London Cat Clinic due to our professional obligations to our colleagues.
Due to the popularity of our clinic and limited number of consultation appointments we require as much notice as possible to cancel or reschedule your cat's appointment. To deliver the high standard of care we strive for at The London Cat Clinic our appointments are between 25 and 50 minutes. If these appointments are booked and then not used without notification that time is effectively wasted when it could have been offered to another patient who needed it.
If you cancel within an hour of your appointment time or miss the appointment completely without any communication, we reserve the right to charge and be paid the applicable fee for the missed appointment which is £82 - £98 for a consultation and 100% of referral consultation fees.
Our appointments run one after another throughout the day. Arriving late for your cat's appointment has a knock-on effect on the rest of our patient's appointments by increasing their waiting times and potential stress.
If you arrive late, we will either shorten your appointment to the time that you have remaining in your appointed time or you will need to wait until we have space to complete your consultation. Your cat is always our priority and if you do have to wait, we will make sure he or she is made comfortable and attended to. If you are coming as an emergency, we will see you when you arrive.
We do understand that cats can disappear when a trip to the vet is planned and unforeseeable personal emergencies happen and take this into consideration with last minute cancellations and application of the missed appointment charge.
To avoid arriving late or missing your appointment and unnecessarily stressing your cat in the process see our tips on getting to the practice here Preparation is the key to keep everyone happy and relaxed!
If the practice needs to cancel an appointment due to unforeseen circumstances such as staff shortages, transport strikes or clinical emergencies we will not be liable for reimbursement of any costs including transport or loss of earnings.
Our passion is caring for your cats and key to this are regular health assessments to manage preventative care and pick-up early signs of disease. It is a requirement of your continued registration with The London Cat Clinic that your cats is/are examined by our vets at least once per year. If you do not wish to remain a member of The London Cat Clinic family please let reception know and we will deregister you.
If your cat is referred or transferred to The London Cat Clinic it isn't possible to change your cat’s ongoing non-referral/transfer-related care to our clinic due to our professional obligations to the practices, we work with for a minimum period of 12 months from your initial consultation. When your treatment is completed, you will be referred back to your own practice and your record with us will be deactivated.
Our veterinarians recognise when a case or a treatment option is outside an area of competence and will refer it to a colleague, organisation, or institution, whom we are satisfied is competent to carry out the investigations or treatment involved. It is also your right to ask for referral if you would like this for your pet.
A nominal referral arrangement fee of £40 is charged to cover the cost of our time in preparing and writing a bespoke referral letter, reception's time compiling all relevant history and leasing to arrange the appointment as much as necessary.
All fees, diets and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Fee levels are determined on the by the expertise required, time spent on a case and the drugs, materials, consumables, and diets used. You will receive a detailed invoice for every consultation, diagnostic, medical, surgical, or other procedure, service, or product. The London Cat Clinic has a standard dispensing fee of £16.20 (incl. VAT)/ item. Dispensing fees do vary by product so please ask our staff at the time of your appointment if you would like to know more.
The London Cat Clinic has chosen to reduce margins on a wide range of products to prevent penalising patients on long term medication and focus on the value of our professional services. The clinic has a written prescription charge of £21.50 (incl. VAT) for a single item or £17.50 (incl. VAT)/item for multiple items. We have a standard five working day turnaround on all prescription requests, in the event you require a refill in less than this time, we reserve the right to charge a £25 (incl. VAT) emergency prescription fee.
You can obtain your cat’s Prescription Only Medicines, Category V (POM-V) from our clinic. We are happy to provide a written prescription so you can obtain these medicines from another veterinary surgeon or a pharmacy on request. It is only possible for our veterinarians to prescribe these medicines for cats under our care. A prescription may not be appropriate if your cat is an in-patient or immediate treatment is necessary.
The general policy of the practice is to reassess a patient requiring repeat prescriptions every three to six months, but this will vary with individual circumstances. Our reassessment consultation charge is £92* (incl. VAT).
You will be informed, on request, the price of any medication that may be dispensed for your animal, and further information on the prices of medicines is available from your veterinary surgeon.
*All prices are correct at 01/10/2023 but are subject to change
All medications are stored at the practice in line with the legal requirements for that particular drug. Once a drug leaves our practice premises we can not enforce these storage conditions and can not accept medication back for refund. We will happily accept unused medication for disposal.
We will provide you with an itemised estimate of the anticipated costs of treatment for your cat. We will always endeavour to contact you if this estimate is likely to be exceeded. However, there may be circumstances when immediate treatment is required. As such we cannot guarantee the estimate will be the total final cost.
For non-elective procedures or hospitalisation, we will ask for full payment of the estimate of care for the first 24hrs. If the cost of the stay is less than this at discharge, we’ll refund the difference within 24 hours. We’ll keep you updated on your account balance daily throughout the time your cat stays with us and we require any outstanding balance to be cleared in full each day. An exception to this may be direct insurance claims that have been pre-authorised and agreed by the practice. For COHAT appointments, we take a £560 down payment. If you cancel or reschedule the COHAT with less than 48 hours' notice, we reserve the right to retain up to 100% of the down payment.
The London Cat Clinic strongly recommends insurance for your kitten or cat. We will help you with every insurance claim, irrespective of the company, but it is your responsibility to understand the terms and conditions of your individual policy.
We aim to complete and submit claims as soon as we receive them but in busy periods this can take up to 5 working days from the date that you submitted your completed claim form to us but this can be expedites using our ‘express’ service. The administration costs for processing the claims are below.
| Routine Claim (submitted within 5 working days) | £30/claim |
| Express Claim (submitted within 24 hours) | £45/claim |
| Continuation Claim (submitted within 5 working days) | £15/claim |
| Direct claims | £30/claim |
Please note we have no control over the speed of processing once your documentation is with the insurance company and are unable to help with this.
It is your responsibility to complete all the details in the “policy holder sections”. We will keep a copy for our records as a back-up. Should you wish to post it directly or require a copy of the submitted claim, please notify us in advance.
The London Cat Clinic may claim directly with your insurance company if the treatment has been pre-authorised by your insurance company and is specifically agreed with the practice management. This facility is only available for fees over £600 and does not extend to ongoing medication or treatment (unless preauthorization is obtained each time). The policy excess must be paid in full on submission of a fully completed claim form. We charge an administration fee of £30.00 for this service.
For clients on our Vesture insurance policy, a direct claims facility is available following payment of any excess fee due without payment of the administration fee.
For all insurance-related queries please email insurance@thelondoncatclinic.co.uk
Accounts are due for settlement at the end of the consultation, the discharge of your cat & upon collection of drugs, diets & shop sales. The London Cat Clinic does not offer an account facility of any kind. We accept cash, or credit card/debit card – MasterCard, Visa, Delta, Switch and American Express.
If you are unable to cover the costs of the estimate as specified please ask to discuss the matter with a member of staff, prior to treatment where the options available will be discussed and a formal contract entered into before treatment is given.
If it becomes necessary for us to issue an invoice to you our terms and conditions are as follows:
Invoice 1: After seven days, a 5% billing charge is added. This becomes payable once the invoice is raised. If the invoice is paid within 7 days of the invoice being paid, we will remove the billing charge.
Invoices 2-4: You will be re-invoiced every two weeks and each time a cumulative 5% billing charge is added to the total. Payment is required in full including all billing charges.
Invoice 5: This is the final invoice. A further 37% is added to the total outstanding to cover the costs of our debt collectors in whose hands the matter is now placed.
These charges apply even if you have insurance and have not yet given us a signed claim form.
Case records, radiographs (x-rays), ultrasound scans and other records are the property of, and will be retained by The London Cat Clinic. We are happy to provide copies of all records and images to our clients on request and receipt of the appropriate fee of £30. If you are transferring your cat’s care to a new clinic, we will make sure copies of all your documentation and images are passed on at your request.
We provide the highest level of care for our patients and their carers and regular high-level communication is an essential part of this. If we find ourselves spending an excessive amount of time on emails or telephone calls that are not directly related to the immediate care of a case and/or would be better served by a clinic visit or telemedicine consultation we reserve the right to charge a fee of £36 to cover our professional time.
All calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Recordings will be stored electronically in an external secure environment and will automatically be deleted, in line with the Retention Policy at 6 months. If you would like a copy of our Call Recording Policy, please email the Data Protection Manager at hello@thelondoncatclinic.co.uk or click here
We are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 to keep your personal information for accounting and record purposes. We will not divulge your details to other agencies except for debt collection purposes. We may use the data that we have on file to contact you with information beneficial to your cat’s health, for reminders, drug recall information, other products which may be relevant and newsletters. Please read our Privacy Notice for further information.
If you do not wish to receive such information, please advise our Administration Department in writing.
The London Cat Clinic is here for you and your cat and we take your thoughts and comments seriously. If you have any concerns or suggestions, please let us know so we can discuss these so we can do something about them. If you feel that we have done a particularly good job, then please tell others and review us on Google or on our Facebook page
We hope that you never have need to complain about the standards of service received from The London Cat Clinic. However, if you feel that there is something you are unhappy about and would like to make a formal complaint, please direct your comments in writing to the Practice Manager
When we receive your letter, we will investigate the details of your case and respond accordingly to you. Although we always endeavour to respond to a complaint within 7 working days of receipt sometimes this is not possible. In such an instance a member of the team will contact you to update you on the progress of your complaint.
The London Cat Clinic recognises the impact running a practice can have on the environment and is actively trying to reduce this through use of energy-efficient lighting and equipment, active recycling policies and using non-paper methods for communicating with our clients. If you would prefer to be contacted via text message and/or email, please lets us know when you register with us
No addition or variation of these conditions will bind the practice unless it is specifically agreed in writing and signed by one of the practice partners. No agent or person employed by, or under contract with, the practice has the authority to alter or vary these terms and conditions in any way.
The London Cat Clinic will provide veterinary services in accordance with reasonable standards denoted in the RCVS guidelines for practice standards and the professional conduct of veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses. Guidelines are available at www.rcvs.org.uk. Please note veterinary care will be withheld from clients who appear aggressive and abusive to staff members.
At The London Cat Clinic, we passionately believe in a proactive, preventive approach to your feline friend’s healthcare. We know how important your cat’s health is to you. We want to help keep them happy and healthy for longer. This is why we have designed the Feline Fine Health Care Plan and why this is compulsory for all new clients of our clinic.
Our Health Care Plan makes it easy for you to protect your cat and your family against preventable diseases and discomfort by making sure your cat’s general health is assessed twice per year with all preventative health care products provided in an easy monthly payment plan. Our Health Care Plans are not insurance, and we recommend you have this to cover the unexpected.
Regular check-ups and early diagnosis of any potential health issues will help your cat enjoy a long, comfortable life, whilst saving you money and worry too.
However young or old your cat, we have a Health Care Plan designed to suit them and their changing needs.
We also feel that members of our Health Care Plan should be rewarded for taking care of their cat’s routine treatment, so we provide significant in-clinic savings on many procedures and services including dentistry.
Feline Health Care Plan is not a substitute for pet insurance, and we strongly recommend insurance for your cat.
These are included in the plan for kittens and adult cats. A vaccine will be given during this appointment if vaccination is due according to our vaccine protocol.
If you fail to attend the annual health assessment appointment in time and the vaccine course needs to be started again you will need to pay for the additional appointments and vaccinations costs.
We are not able to do the Annual Wellness Screen during this appointment. We send text and email reminders to you each year to attend an appointment for the annual health assessment appointments which should be booked with a vet in advance by using our online booking service or calling the practice
The six-month assessments are to monitor your cat’s health and provide early detection of any new disease processes. The 6-month check cannot be brought forward if your cat is unwell.
If your cat is over 7 years of age, he/she will be eligible for the Annual Wellness Screen. These tests will be carried out during the six-month health assessment and include comprehensive blood and urinalysis and blood pressure monitoring,
We send text and email reminders to you each year to attend an appointment for the six-month health assessment appointments which should be booked with a vet in advance by using our online booking service or calling the practice
Although it’s not yet compulsory to have your cat microchipped, the law will be changing. In 2024, cats will have to be microchipped by the time they reach 20 weeks. If found not to have a microchip, a cat’s owner will have 21 days to have one inserted or face a £500. This can be booked with a vet or a nurse and can be done at any age. Ideally, this is done at the time of neutering to reduce stress for your cat.
As the legal owner of your cat, it is your responsibility to keep your contact information up to date with the microchip company.
The practice will provide 12 months' worth of parasite treatment according to the protocol advised by the veterinary surgeon for your cats' specific requirements. We cannot dispense more than 3 months of product at any time.
Members of Feline Fine Health Care Plan will be enrolled in our delivery service for parasite treatment. The initial treatment may be dispensed from the practice during your annual health assessment, further products will be sent directly to your home via our delivery service.
The practice will prescribe the treatment that has been researched and agreed by the Clinical Director. In the rare event that your cat has a proven and documented adverse reaction to our chosen product, we will provide you with an alternative product. If you do not want this product or your cat does not tolerate this substitution then no further alternatives will be offered and we will provide a written prescription for you to source an alternate product online.
Parasite treatment cannot be exchanged or refunded once it has left the practice.
It is your responsibility to ensure that we have the correct address for delivery. If you move you must inform the practice.
One nurse consultation per year provides additional support for clients. You can choose from one of the following:
These appointments must be booked with a nurse in advance by using our online booking service or calling the practice.
This appointment can be used at any time through the 12 months of the plan. It excludes Second Opinions and Referral Consultations, House Visits, Emergency Consultations as well as appointments that require external laboratory tests and chemotherapy.
We are not able to do the Annual Wellness Screen during this appointment.
This should be booked with a vet in advance by using our online booking service or calling the practice.
All cats over the age of 7 will progress to the senior cat Feline Fine Health Care Plan. This includes:
These tests are carried out during the six-month health assessment and are designed for the early detection of any age-related diseases.
The blood test will be taken during the consultation and sent to a laboratory for analysis; the results will take up to 14 working days. Once the results have been reported a vet will call you to discuss these along with any recommendations. If treatment is recommended, then a further appointment will be required.
We cannot do the wellness screen on the same day as any procedures that require pre-anaesthetic bloods, if these pre-anaesthetic blood samples are required these will be an additional charge due to the wellness screen being sent to an external laboratory.
These appointments can only be booked by calling the practice.
Any cat booked in for neutering will receive 10% off the procedure price.
These can only be booked by calling the practice.
Any cat booked in for a dental procedure will receive 10% off dentistry procedure charges, including x-rays and extractions.
These can only be booked by calling the practice.
Any cat booked in for a procedure will receive a 10% discount.
These can only be booked by calling the practice.
All cats booked in for an acupuncture appointment will receive a 5% discount.
These can only be booked by calling the practice.
Any prescription food purchased from the practice while you are part of the plan will have a 5% discount applied.
Nail clips can be used during the annual health assessment, six-month health assessment, annual nurse consultation, annual vet consultation, microchipping, and acupuncture appointments or during neutering or dental procedure.
If you need to book this as a stand-alone appointment it will be with a nurse.
These can be booked by calling the practice or by our online booking system.
Items listed above are the only discounted products or services included in the plan. No further discounts are available.
Feline Fine Health Care Plan is mandatory for your registration at The London Cat Clinic. If you cancel the healthcare plan or miss any direct debit payments that are not immediately repaid and reinstated, you will not be able to continue to use the services at The London Cat Clinic and you will be deregistered as a client and be required to register at another practice. You will be emailed the clinical notes for you to find another veterinary practice. It is your responsibility to find a new vet We would provide emergency care for a maximum of 7 days from the date you have been deregistered.
Only available at The London Cat Clinic
By presenting your kitten or cat for treatment, you are accepting these conditions.