Killing lions for fun

Isn't it weird?

A highly paid medical health professional pays £££ to go all the way to Zimbabwe to kill a lion.

And - oops, the country's most famous one.

I know I'm a vet, so maybe it's a bit different for me, but I still find it astonishing that anyone - particularly in this day and age of environmental sensitivity - would WANT to do such a thing.

And then put it up on Facebook as a matter of pride.

Maybe in the hope that his patients, as they sat in his dental chair, would gaze admiringly at his manly, latex-gloved hands and think 'Hmm those are the fingers that cradled the rifle and then pulled the trigger. Those are the hands that belong to a man of courage and sensitivity, just the type of hands I'd like in my mouth, fixing my teeth.'

Not sure whether he necessarily deserves to have to close down his clinic as appears to be happening, but you would think he could find something better to do with his time...

Pet Owners and Trainspotting

I see that the Blue Cross has commissioned a survey to see if there are any benefits to owning pets. Apart from the obvious, that is.

And the results?

From what is admittedly a fairly small sample (1000 people out of the billions on the planet, of whom 13 million are classified as pet owners living in the UK), came the following conclusions.

If you are a pet owner, you are more likely to:


- have a job (40% of non pet owners were unemployed)
- spend more 'family time' together
- enjoy your job
- be fitter, taking at least 2 hours more exercise a week
- earn £3000 per year more
- manage an average of 5 people in your work (against 2 for non pet owners)


I'm not sure what to do with this astounding information, but if it's representative of the real situation, rehoming centres like Battersea Dog's Home and the Mayhew really ought to be empty.

When Irving Welsh wrote that now infamous sequence in Trainspotting, maybe he missed something (and I paraphrase in case there are children watching):

"Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life… "

Maybe if this data had come out sooner and he had bothered to read it, some of the nihilist gloom could have been avoided.

Choose a dog would be my advice.

Or a cat.

Sara Cox and Scott Mills at The Hyde Park Vet Dog Show in aid of Pets As Therapy

We did it!

The weather held and we basked in glorious sunshine all afternoon.

So many dogs and people, it was a great fund raising event in aid of Pets As Therapy

Sara Cox and Scott Mills were joined by Hanna Attwell (owner of one of last year's winners), James Lacy (Lily's Kitchen), Jennifer Dubois (Pets As Therapy) and Michelle Middleton (Carter Jonas) on the judging platform.

They picked clear winners for the waggiest tail, mixed breed dog, puppy, senior dog and dog the judges would most like to take home.

Carter Jonas are very generously going to match our fundraising efforts, so if anyone wants to make further donations to this very worthwhile cause, cheques or cash donations can be made at the clinic any time over the next two weeks.

Many thanks to our other sponsors and benefactors who helped make the day such a success: Lily's Kitchen, Royal Canin, The Pets Pyjamas, Natural Instinct, Red Dingo, The Dog House, Vetplus, Canagan, Pet London, Protexin, Kruuse, Bayer, Novartis, Kong, MSD and Agria Pet Insurance.

We'll keep you posted with the total raised...

Pets win prizes at the Hyde Park Vet Dog Show Wednesday 24th June

Everyone's a winner at the 

Hyde Park Vet Centre Dog Show

in aid of Pets As Therapy!

Wednesday 24th June 2015, 4.00-6.00pm

    Download your registration form now at Dog Show 2015 

    But let's just cut to the chase... This is what you can win! Our various sponsors have
helped put together some fantastic prizes for Wednesday's Dog Show:

    In each category, the First Prize includes an engraved silver cup, a Lily's Kitchen Hamper, a Red Dingo Collar and Lead set, 3 months supply of Milbemax and Advocate, a £20 voucher for the HPVC Pet Boutique and a Pet London toy.

    The Runner-up gets a Royal Canin Gift Set (including a slow feeder, a small bag of lifestyle stage dry food, and a treat handle), a Carter Jonas Lead and a pack of Natural Instinct Lamb Lites.

    The Goodie Bags for the first 50 entrants includes a 500g bag of Canagan Free-range Chicken, Pet food can covers, Stationery (pens, sticky notes, note tabs), a Frisbee, a Flea comb, a pack of Poo bags, a 500g Natural Instinct tub, Lamb Lites and Rogzlites.

    So hurry up! Register now using the downloadable entry form


    There are 5 competition classes:

1: The dog with the waggiest tail

2: The best crossbreed dog

3: The best newcomer for dogs under 18 months old

4: The best golden oldie (dog, that is) for those over 8 years old

5: The dog that the judges would most like to take home


    We ask for a minimum donation of £5 for each entry, with all funds raised going to Pets As Therapy, a maximum 2 classes per dog, one person only in the ring with each dog, Sara Cox and Scott Mills, will be joining the judging panel!


    If you need any more information drop in at the clinic, email us on hydeparkvet@aol.com or call 0207 723 0453, otherwise, we look forward to seeing you on the day

    And don't forget to register now at Dog Show 2015

How to be happy?

Is it time for a reworking of this (reputedly) Chinese saying?

"If you want to be happy for a day, get drunk 
If you want to be happy for a week, kill a pig
If you want to be happy for a month, get married 
If you want to be happy for life, have a garden"

In this world of Health & Safety concerns about binge drinking, suggestion 1 can no longer be recommended.


As for suggestion 2, it may well be considered OK if you're a Bear Grylls wannabe faced with that or starvation, but if you're just on some weird voyeuristic reality TV show featuring people in bikinis looking hungry, I don't think it works for me. The pig was virtually tame, for goodness' sake. 

No further comment on Suggestion 3

And now I'm old and grey, I'm allowed to sit and admire my small garden and take delight in seeing healthy bees do their normal bee things while in the rest of the world, the mighty agro-industrial business does it's best to kill off the natural world around us. We need more bees.

But luckily there are plenty of variations on the theme:

"If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else." 

Or try this

"If you want to be happy for an hour, get drunk; If you want to be happy for three days, get married; If you want to be happy forever, make a garden"

Curiously, the English version is quoted as being:

"If you want to be happy for a year, plant a garden; If you want to be happy for life, plant a tree"

Some would say that getting a puppy would do the trick

What to do if you get Woodcock in Soho

Being over 50, I think I'm allowed a certain degree of cynicism about social media, and Twitter in particular. I subscribe to the viewpoint that the clue about Twitter's utility lies in the first 4 letters. But I may yet be wrong.

And yes, I am aware of the logical inconsistency of writing about it on social media.

Picture this: a young man has lived for 4 years in London and on the morrow is leaving, possibly forever, to make his way elsewhere in the big wide world.

How better than to spend one's last lunch in the capital in the company of friends in a nice restaurant in Soho?

Approaching the door of said establishment, he scans the terrace (as was his habit) and sees, to his surprise, a very pretty bird sat over in the far corner. What can she be doing here, he asks himself and goes on in for his lunch.

Emerging into the afternoon light a few hours later, he sees her still there, looking decidedly ill at ease. Full of cheery bonhomie and determined to do one last good thing, one final fanfare, one parting shot for London, he approaches her.

Her feathers are a little ruffled, she makes no attempt to escape him as he approaches. Boldly, he sweeps her up into his arms and heads for the exit.

A few moments later, thanks to the marvels of modern technology, he has located the nearest veterinary clinic and makes his way to us.

"I've found myself a bird."

"Indeed you have."

"What is it?"

"Err."

"I'm leaving London, I have to pack my flat, my bags, get to the airport, I can't possibly look after her..."

We took her in as the clinic was closing. What to do? I eyed up her long beak (she had already acquired gender, as you may have noticed, but without the benefit of major ornithological insights) and was reminded of Aesop's fable of the fox and the stork. Would we need to feed her with the aid of a long necked vase?

Some bright spark suggested we take a photo and put it up on Twitter with a request for identification and assistance.

Within half an hour, we had two correct answers: one from Clive Elwood (managing director for Davies Veterinary Specialists) and the other from the brother in law of one of the clinic staff. They had spotted the tweet and identified her as a woodcock. In Soho. Imagine.

Migrating, apparently, and sometimes they get confused over cities and fly into buildings.

The following morning, she was collected by those wonderful people from the London Wildlife Trusts so that they could take care of her and gently rehabilitate her back into the world she came from.

Twerp twats herself on a building, vet tweets on Twitter and all is well...

Chips with everything

Pet identification microchips. There's a dull topic for you.

We already encourage all dog owners to have their dogs microchipped. It forms the essential basis of identification for a pet passport, potentially confirms the ownerhip of a dog in case of dispute, but on a more cosy domestic note, it allows for the reuniting of lost pets with their owners.

Our best story from the clinic was of a Westie than ran out of the owner's front door IN LONDON one evening and disappeared, not to be found despite a thorough search of the area.

Gloom and despondency in the home.

Unbeknownst to them, the following day a little old lady was walking in her local park IN COVENTRY and spotted a slightly bedraggled little Westie wandering around, but thought no more of it.

Until the next day in the same park, the same dog was still there, now cold, wet and hungry. She took her home, delighted with her new companion. All went well until a couple of weeks later, her new little dog slipped on the stairs and started limping. She took her to the local vet who found the chip and contacted the original owners. They were reunited on.... Christmas Eve.

Joy in the home!

So chips work. And it's worth mentioning that from April 2016, all dogs will have to be microchipped and registered on a central database by the age of 8 weeks old. Not quite sure how that's going to work, but it's there in the Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2014, so watch out.