It’s that time of year again which our pets dread the most. Yes, it’s the ‘Silly Season’ which pre-curses the holidays and New Year, bringing unbelievable suffering to our faithful companions.

Homes are filled with festive energy and excitement is palpable, as days are planned for fun-filled adventures… and then, it’s time to go. Everyone piles into the car, and expectations run high - Sheeba is also caught up in the moment, and is just as excited at the prospect of going on holiday with her beloved family. But all too soon, her bubble is burst as she sadly watches her trusted family drive off without her. Continue Reading

Hi Glynne

My maltese (female) is 11 years old and has never been sick. However, for the last 8 months or so she has been scratching all her hair off her body - she now only has hair on her little head. This vet says it’s an flea allergy - that one says it’s a food allergy, and so on. I try to keep her as flea free, as is possible - have tried a diet of just ostrich mince with bits of boiled potato - but NOTHING helps!!! PLEASE can you tell me what to do before she scratches her head clean of hair too. The sad part is that I don’t walk her anymore because people laugh at her or they want to know what type of infectious disease she has - I am sure she understands and feels very unhappy. PLEASE, PLEASE will you try to answer my question - I am desperate!!! Continue Reading

Hi,

We adopted a cat (male neutered) from the SPCA about 6 months ago. He was apparently about 6 months old when we got him and a stray.
He seems to use the litter box for doing his business… however he has used everything else to wee on.
He wees on our bean bags on a daily basis, the sleeper couch, we had curtains in a box he wee-ed there. He also in front of me jumped into this basket with a lining and wee-ed there. The final straw for me was when he wee-ed on my pillow and our bed and duvet.

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What could we do to prevent our dog from accepting food from strangers? We have builders at the moment and I noticed them feeding our dog scraps through the gate?

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Hi

My children have 2 male pet rats, which we keep in separate cages, as they have become territorial and seem to fight when they get together.

I recently separated them from fighting and the attacking rat turned on me and bit me. Once he had bitten me he turned his back on me when I tried to pick him up to put him back in his cage, and would not let me pick him up. I had to get oven gloves to pick him up and put him back for fear of him biting me again, as the bite was quite deep and I was bleeding quite a bit.

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Hi Glynne

Numerous dogs in our area have been poisoned so I have made a choice to leave our animals inside when we go out in the evenings. I am not gone all night but rather a couple of hours and make sure that our dogs have enough fresh air, light and water. I have being doing this for many years as they are all house trained and have their own basket/beds in which they sleep. Recently however I have been returning home to find that my boxer has left a number 2 on our bed covers. This behaviour has only started recently and I am not sure what to do or how to stop it?

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Contaminated pet food has been front page news for a while now. In fact, one of the papers reported that melamine could also be present in our food as well! This chemical has no nutritional value but is an inexpensive food additive produced from boiled coal which allows food makers to charge more for their product by falsely claiming it has more protein! When mixed with cyanuric acid, used also to spike protein content, it becomes deadly.

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Overweight or obese dogs and cats are becoming the norm nowadays rather than the exception … dare I say, just like their humans. And I think I am well qualified to comment on this situation for two very good reasons - my own private battle with weight issues (eat your heart out Oprah) and the thousands of case histories I’ve recorded over the years which clearly link food to all types of behaviour problems. Continue Reading