Canine Spey
Why should I spey my dog? Surgical sterilisation (ovariohysterectomy) of the female dog, commonly referred to as speying, is one of the most significant aspects of female dog care an owner can provide. The main reason for performing the operation is to prevent the...
House Training Your Puppy
How do I house train my puppy? House training should start the moment you arrive home with your puppy, so that you avoid having any 'accidents' right from the beginning. Take your pup to the area you want it to use. Let it explore the area and if it obliges by...
Socialisation
What is socialisation? Socialisation means 'to make fit for life in companionship with others'. The aim is to ensure that your puppy develops into a dog that is socially acceptable to yourself, your family, other humans and animals. Why is it important for my puppy?...
Dog Registration
By law, all dogs over the age of three months must be registered with Animal Control and are required to wear a registration tag when in a public area. Also, if you wish to keep more than two dogs in an urban area you are required to have a Multiple Dog Property...
Exercising your puppy
When do I start exercising my puppy? For the first 3-4 months of your puppies life it will get most of its exercise from playing around the house and walks are not strictly necessary. However short daily walks are very useful to help socialize your pup to other dogs,...
Creating Good Eating Habits For Your Puppy
How much food does my puppy need? Once you have chosen a suitable food you need to decide how much to feed and how often. The top manufacturers all provide recommendations on the packaging as to how much of their product to feed and these should be used as a...
Feline Castrate
Why do I need to castrate my cat? Castration or neutering refers to the procedure of removing the male sex glands, the testicles. Castration reduces the sex instinct, fighting and night prowling so common to the male cat. Unless you are serious about showing or...
Feline Spey
Why should you spey your cat? Speying your cat is an important part of basic cat healthcare. Speying at a young age prevents mammary cancer and spaying at any age prevents unwanted kittens, noisy heat cycles and possibly even urine marking in the house. Unless you are...
Desexing your Kitten
Why do I need to de-sex my kitten? Desexing removes the sexual urge from both male and female cats. Unless you are serious about showing or breeding, desexing is recommended for all pet cats. Owners are often tempted to have at least one litter from their female cat....
Grooming Your Kitten
Why Grooming is important. Long haired cats require frequent grooming to prevent "matting" of the coat. It is a good idea to get long haired kittens used to being gently brushed right from the start. Grooming equipment should be specifically designed for cats. At The...
House Training Your Kitten
How do I house train my kitten? For the first few weeks you will need to provide your kitten with a litter tray for toileting. This should be placed in a quiet but accessible place away from the kittens eating and sleeping area. The litter tray will need cleaning at...
Training Your Kitten
Why training your kitten is important. Although cats have a free spirit and in many ways rule their own lives, it is possible to train them to display desirable rather than undesirable behaviour patterns. Cats respond to a loud, stern "No" or a squirt from a water...
Xylitol Poisoning in Dogs
Whats the topic for today? Xylitol poisoning in dogs Whats xylitol? Its a sweetner found in some sugar-free products like chewing gum and mouthwashes. Apart from providing a sweet taste it also has an antibacterial effect to help prevent gum and tooth disease. Isnt it...
Vomiting
Whats the topic for today? I thought I would talk about vomiting. Ah great, I wish I hadn’t asked! What are the causes of vomiting? Funny you should ask that as I did a search last night and came up with 373 causes of vomiting in the dog, 284 causes in the cat and...
Urine
Whats the topic for today? Today’s interesting topic is all about URINE! Great! I’ve always wanted to know lots about urine. Why do vets get so excited about these things? You can tell quite a lot about an animal’s health simply by checking out its urine. A urinalysis...
Toxic Plants
Whats the topic for today? Yesterday today tomorrow Very cryptic can you tell us more? I’m going to talk about plants that can be poisonous to pets and yesterday today tomorrow is just one of those plants. Oh yes I remember reading about a dog that died recently from...
Sick Cats – What Are The Signs
Whats the topic for today? I thought I’d talk about what signs to look out for when your cat is sick. Cats can be quite elusive when they are sick and the signs they show can be quite subtle so it’s easy to overlook sickness in cats. Cats tend to go off and hide...
Coughing Cats
Whats the topic for today? Coughing Cats Is that usually due to furballs? Well bringing up a furball does sound like a cough but technically speaking they are vomited up from the stomach. Are furballs a big problem? Vomiting up furballs is normal in cats and is not...
Lily Poisoning in Cats
Whats the topic for today? Lily Poisoning in Cats Do you mean the plant like the Christmas lily? Yes. Many of the lily species are toxic if eaten by cats Which parts are poisonous and would a cat eat them? All parts of the plant are poisonous. Cats are inquisitive and...
AntiFreeze
Whats the topic for today? Antifreeze Poisoning Is antifreeze dangerous? Yes antifreeze from car radiators can be fatal as it contains ethylene glycol which destroys the kidneys Are animals likely to drink antifreeze? Yes. It has a sweet taste so dogs in particular...
IMHA- Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia
Whats the topic for today? Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia Thats quite a mouthful. What exactly is it? Its a type of anaemia caused by the body destroying its own red blood cells Why would the body destroy its own red blood cells Its one of those diseases where we...
Limber Tail
Whats the topic for today? Limber tail in dogs I’ve never heard of that? It also has lots of other names like cold tail, swimmers tail, drop tail, rudder tail I’ve not heard of those either so tell us what it is. It’s a condition where the dog suddenly develops a...