Pet Health Information

We've got a great photo of NOAH chief executive Phil Sketchley's visit to Vets4Pets to present their cheque for winning the 'It shouldn't happen to a pet' competition with their great tale of Spliff the Staffy.

Spliff himself could not be there, but perhaps passers-by might have felt he was there in spirit as they looked out of their car windows to see Santa had arrived - three times over - in late September! Just love the way that dog is licking his lips trying to catch the pom-pom!


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Very excited - picked the new car up yesterday evening. I say new - it's a 6 year old Astra but hey - it's fitted with mod cons such as a windows that go up and down and a working radio! I hadn't seen the car before as my husband had looked at it while I was away at the BEVA (British Equine Veterinary Association) Congress in Liverpool at the weekend, but I cherished the image of him rocking up to a car viewing complete with white boxer Dylan.

Being able to fit him safely and comfortably in the back was a pre-requisite for a ...

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It's really hard to comprehend that someone would actually call 999 because they had been sold a rabbit with non-floppy ears! But this is today's 'most read' story on the BBC News website. And while it's likely that this was a call to the police to report mis-selling rather than the ambulance to report a health problem, part of the reason why we've produced this website is to help people find the professional advice they can trust about pet health - there are loads of dedicated people out there, ...

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Summer must really be over. The day the last one of my children goes back to school, I attend a meeting of the Pet Advisory Committee (PAC) where fireworks are on the agenda!

It may seem ridiculously early, but it's not just a one-day festival any more and as soon as the evenings start to draw in, the fireworks come out!

Basically, the animal welfare organisations involved in PAC are keen to see if the Fireworks Act, introduced in 2003, is being enforced and, principally, whether fireworks are cau ...

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I have to say out of all the cats I’ve had through the years Tiger has to be the most unique. He will be two years this month but still shows no signs of growing up!

When I first met Tiger he was an over excited little ball of fur running around all over the place, climbing furniture and eating as much as he could fit in his little belly. My brother’s girlfriend Charlene had rung me to tell me they’d gotten a kitten and of course my boyfriend (James) and I went straight around to see for ourselves. My ...

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Thinking about animal communication yesterday makes it timely to introduce the feline member of my household, Christie. He's a black short-haired moggy of indeterminate age (around 13) and he has the strangest 'miaow' of any cat I've ever heard. All I can describe it as is a croak - and as a very vocal 'familiar' he had the power to frighten my children's friends when they were younger, as if they heard him maiow in the night, they did not associate the noise with a cat at all.

Christie came to us from a small local cat rescue over 5 years ago with a cat his total opposite - a l ...

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Well not quite, but Today's New Scientist (dated 23 August) says that thousands of years spent living among people have done remarkable things to dogs' intellects. The domestic dog has come a long way from the wild wolf!

It says that there is scientific backing to say dogs have a sense of right and wrong, for instance - and that they can communicate through their bark or by expression or by gazing at an object.

Birds, too, have been demonstrated to be more intelligent than was thought - self recognition, a trait which humans develop at around 18 months and which h ...

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Back from two weeks away in Spain, I thought I would say a bit about one of the animals that shares my home.



Dylan is a 3 year old ex-rescue white boxer - he's a big lad! He came to us from the RSPCA at South Bucks at 8 months old with pretty good manners inside the home (at least, he was house trained and didn't eat the place) but no social skills outside. In fact he still thinks the best form of meet 'n' greet for a potential canine friend is to jump on top them - and his looks belie the fact that he ...

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Well, what a to-do we had this morning.

We arrived home from the morning constitutional around 7:45 and 'as per' I went straight into the kitchen and put the kettle on. 'Stinky' was lapping up his fresh water and panting happily after a lovely morning run when SMASH! A rather large bottle of vinegar fell out of the cupboard, bounced off the worktop and burst into a thousand pieces. I was in my socks and 'Stinky' was as God intended so we were in a right pickle. We were surrounded by glass and vinegar. What a pong!

I eventually managed to get 'Stinky' out without ...

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Phewee...what a stinker! Kane came back from his walk in the woods this morning and he hummed. The car hummed, the husband hummed and thankfully they only got as far as the garden and the hose. Yes, you guessed it - Fox pong! I wouldn't have let either of them into the house anyway.

Apparently, tomato ketchup is very good at ridding your canine of it's pong. I didn't know that. I thought it was just for ladies with hair dying accidents and green hair from the swimming pool.

We just shampooed him twice and gave him a good rinse. Afterwards he hared around the gar ...

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