Why do you just work with cats?
I came to cats via elephants, goats and pigs. I trained at Sydney Uni and got my degree (BVSc) in 1982. During my training, I ‘fell in love’ with goats (particularly angoras) and pigs. Elephant vets are a rare necessity, so I decided to work with more frequently encountered animals.
I went to England to work with sheep and goats. However, I drifted into ‘companion animal’ practice (especially after realising that all ‘large animal’ vets have bad backs...). Cats seemed to be neglected at that time – not much you could do for a sick cat, though they were very good surgical patients and could heal almost any trauma. I started to ‘dig deeper’ into feline medicine, and discovered an affinity both with cats and their owners. It took 10 years to bring all the necessary ingredients together to form the Cat Clinic, but eventually it was opened in 1994.
What about the elephants?
We (husband John Linquist) went to Zimbabwe to work for six months in 1991, and went ‘game watching’ in many of the parks in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.
There is no equivalent to seeing an elephant in the African bush, but intervention causes more harm than good many times, and we came away with an awareness of elephant ecology, but no ‘hands on’ vet work. We had an interlude in the USA, working on Cape Cod for 18 months (and going whale watching on weekends), and during that time became friends with the vet who looked after the animals at Ringling Bros. Circus. We got to ride the circus elephants through the streets of Boston – twice. Unsurpassed experience!
Where to from here?
The Cat Clinic has evolved as a truly distinctive, organic, entity. We (all the staff at the Cat Clinic) are driven by the desire to make a better world for cats in general, and to help the cats who come in contact with us, via, of course, their everwilling owners. The ‘Cat Adoption Centre’ has evolved from an altruistic endeavour to ‘home out a few kittens’, to an Australia-wide movement funded and encouraged by the Petcare Advisory Service and Whiskas®.
We are very proud of having created the prototype which is now in 100 other veterinary clinics. The closer bond that we all form by being ‘foster parents’ to all the kittens that we send out, with love, to their new owners, gives a real sense of community in this ‘rat race’ and often superficial modern world. This sense of belonging is one we try to share with all our clients, no matter where their cats come from and understanding, as they do, that humans are here for the benefit of cats... As W. George pointed out, cats get food without effort, shelter without confinement and love without penalties.
Who’s working for whom?