What is a cat-friendly clinic?

As a cat owner, you may have encountered the term “cat-friendly”. But what does cat-friendly mean in terms of a veterinary practice? You may think this is something you can expect from every veterinary practice. To an extent, of course, it is! However, to improve standards further, practices can gain accreditation through the International Society […]

Pet Investigations

We all know there’s more to a cat than it’s coat and stroking the luxuriant fur of a puss full of purr is one of the great pleasures of feline ownership.  It’s not surprising, then, when a bald patch appears, often with an open sore, owners seek our advice early on. This is where the ‘pet […]

Compliance from pets

March is a funny old month, often behaving in a very unpredictable manner.  Some years it plays the late winter card and in others, it’s early summer.  Whatever we get, one thing is true, it really is the start of spring. With that, there’s a change in mindset and mood for all life in the […]

Pet Ownership during the Cost-of-Living Crisis

I often become exasperated when I listen to the BBC news. It seems to me the range of topics covered has become more limited recently.  Whether it’s the terrible war in Ukraine, the most recent natural disaster or the spiralling cost of HS2, individual stories seem to dominate for a few days and then disappear […]

Breeding: Anatomical Challenges of Pure Breeding

Pure breeding is causing some anatomical issues for certain pets, resulting in unnecessary distress. Dogs, as we know, come in all shapes and sizes.  Not so much cats, which is just as well because if there was a similar size variation in our domestic felines as in pet dogs, we could have 80kg cats roaming […]

A Dog’s Hearing: ‘ERE, EAR

This spring has been a bit of a stop-start affair. The sun trying to warm us up despite cold winds pushing down from the north for much of April.  Hopefully, by June we will be basking in southern breezes!  It always amazes me that they survive at all, let alone have the strength to sing […]

Inflammation

With summer hopefully well on the way, many of us are spending more time being active, either in the garden, walking or doing more strenuous exercise.  This is all good for our mental and physical well-being. And, I’m sure our pets enjoy the benefits of happier owners! As Tracey and I discovered last week, there’s […]

Cats and Dogs: the uniqueness of cats

As in all walks of life, there are many old sayings in veterinary medicine. One is “a cat is not a small dog”. How true. Cats and dogs are the most common pets we see. Vets often specialise in large or small animals. It’s not really logical as cows are very different to horses and […]

Road Traffic Accidents: Beware of Night Owls

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a major cause of trauma to wild and domestic animals. Cats roaming around at night are in the greatest danger as they are dazzled by car headlights and lose their normally excellent sense of spatial awareness. My advice: keep pussy cats indoors at night despite their protestations.

Cats and Dogs

You’ve heard the sayings: People own dogs but cats own people; dogs think they’re humans and cats think they’re Gods. There is no doubt, cats are very different to dogs and it may seem obvious but many a feline has suffered due to poor understanding of the differences between the species by not just owners but vets alike.