Friday, February 24, 2012

My old cat has become really skinny recently...

A lot of older animals (and people) just do get smaller and skinnier with age, but medically any weight change is significant, so it's time to bring your cat in to see us.

The two commonest medical reasons for weight loss in senior cats are kidney and thyroid disease.

Older cats have older kidneys that start to leak proteins into the urine. Their pee also becomes more dilute, so they have to drink more to keep up. They sometimes feel a bit nauseous, so their appetite is less and they start to lose weight. Specific changes to their diet, medication and supplements can make a big difference to how your cat feels and, bluntly, how long they live.

The thyroid glands control the basic level of metabolism, and in some cats they become hyperactive. Affected cats typically become restless, hungry, vocal and skinny. It's a bit like them having their foot on the throttle all the time: it wears them out. This disease is also treatable, most commonly with either medication or surgery.


So get to it: book an appointment now! And as an aside, an accurate (digital) set of bathroom scales is a good investment not just for you, but for your pets.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

New Pet Passport regulations

As from January 1st 2012, the Pet Passport regulations have changed, making it easier to acquire a passport for your pet if you want to travel abroad with them.

Full details are on the DEFRA website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/.

If you're starting in the UK, all you need to do now is have your cat, dog or ferret microchipped and vaccinated against rabies, then wait for 3 weeks for the passport to be vaild for re-entry into the UK.

No more blood tests required!

The only problem that I see is that in the bad old days when your pet had to have the test to confirm that they had responded to the vaccine, about 5% of them failed the test first time around. Of the 40,000 new passports issued each year, that makes about 2,000 failures, who went on to have a second vaccine and then passed.

Now if we stop blood testing, the problem is that we won't know which 2,000 fail, and will be issuing them with passports anyway, even though they are not protected against rabies.

Just imagine how inconvenient it would be if you and your family all caught rabies during that lovely holiday...

My strong suggestion is that you have the blood test done anyway.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

It's been a big week at Hyde Park Vet...

As if last Sunday's launch into the world of broadsheet journalism wasn't enough (did I mention that I'm now writing a weekly question and answer column in the Home section of the Sunday Times - oh yes I did, sorry), Wednesday was another BIG EVENT.

It saw the launch, at the Institute of Physics in London, of a ground-breaking collaboration between the Hyde Park Veterinary Centre and Davies Veterinary Specialists in Hertfordshire.

Davies has long been at the forefront of veterinary medicine in the UK, with a huge team of specialist vets and nurses all working from a large and very well-equipped facility near Hitchin. It is one of the largest private referral veterinary centres in Europe.

They have now teamed up with us at Hyde Park to provide specialist consultations every day of the week from our premises conveniently situated as we are, right in the heart of London.

No longer a long and complicated journey out into the wilds at a time of stress and worry - you can see their top clinicians at your convenience, at our clinic.

Needless to say, we are bursting with pride that such a prestigious veterinary institution has chosen us as their partner, and particularly as it is the very first time that a referral centre of this callibre has established a base in central London, specifically to serve the pets of London.

For more information, go to Davies London. The new clinical service starts on Monday 27th February 2012.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

If your cat pees on the door mat one more time...

It could be that your cat has a medical problem such as cystitis that is causing discomfort, so you really should bring him in for a check up first.

If that is all clear, it could be a behavioural problem. Cats are by nature solitary animals and often very sensitive about their personal space. If you have several cats living together, even if they appear to get on well, they may well be subtly competing with each other for access to food, water, litter trays, sleeping areas (especially high vantage points) and points of entry or exit from rooms. Apart from the obvious signs of irritation such as hissing and general light combat, one of the classic ways they may express their frustration is by territory marking, and the front door mat is a common choice.

Make sure you provide more than one litter tray so they don't have to share one, or even worse, use one that has already been soiled. Scoop regularly, change the litter daily and scrub the tray weekly. Cats can become fussy over litter and smells, so experiment with different litter types and try an entirely new tray.
Give them a choice of feed & water bowls, not all grouped together, and allow them to feed separately. Given the choice, most cats like to graze feed as often as 10-20 times a day.

Provide a selection of raised sleeping places from where they can survey their territory.

And try using a feline facial pheromone diffuser (http://www.feliway.com/gb) to help calm reduce their stress levels.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Read all about it....

OK, I'm too excited and can't help mentioning it:

As from tomorrow morning, I am the Sunday Times vet, available for questions & answers every Sunday morning...

Rumour also has it that this week (Feb 12th) there's going to be an embarrassingly large photo of me in the Home section to launch the new column.

Sorry about that. It's probably best to disown me.

Andrew

PS still available for consultations every day at the clinic as usual: no change there!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Can I really feed raw bones to my dog?

Take the plunge! Feeding raw meat and bones has become quite a contentious issue in the veterinary and pet-owning fraternities, but the fact is that dogs have been eating raw meat and bones for hundreds of thousands of years, the last time I looked.

That's long before the pet food companies did such a good job of convincing everyone that feeding your dog anything other than something out of a tin or supermarket pack was tantamount to abuse.

Dogs are carnivores. In the wild, they hunt and kill or scavenge in order to eat meat, bone and stomach contents. They have teeth and digestive systems that are finely adapted for extracting the nutrients from the raw materials, and a metabolism that appears to thrive on the results of that digestion.

Sure, many vets can recount tales of extracting sharp fragments of bone from dog's mouths, throats and intestines, but in my limited experience (of 30 years of practice) these have almost always been bones rendered hard and indigestible by cooking.

Go raw – they'll love you for it!