Cat The Vet

14/02/2025

Cat Parents!

I have teamed up with Ever Clean UK to show you how to love your cats this Valentine's Day!

😍❤️😻

12/02/2025

There is no earthly reason to deprive a dog of their natural ears and tail, much less reward them in the show ring for it.

It is a sad state of affairs that America is so far behind the U.K. and the rest of Europe on this fundamental animal welfare issue.

Here the mutilation of ears has been banned in showing for over 100 years and the docking of tails for nearly 20.

Which means when Crufts is on next month, there will be lots of gorgeous wagging tails and floppy ears to see!

Just as there should be.

11/02/2025

Why settle for routine when you can have exceptional?

Join our fabulous profession at the BSAVA Congress and Expo 2025 for unparalleled CPD, hands-on sessions, and networking with industry leaders and old friends!

Make the switch this March in Manchester!

Register for your ticket now! 🙌🏻👇🏻🙌🏻

https://bit.ly/BSAVA25RegisterNow

10/02/2025

Meet Maple!

She is an 8 week old pedigree Labrador and we love her!

Finding a responsible breeder who brings up their puppies well is not easy but it is absolute vital to give your family the best chance of having a happy and healthy new member

You must look for puppies who have been born and bred in a family home, you must be able to meet the mother and babies at least once before you take one home, you should receive regular updates as they grow and they should clearly always be in that home environment

This breeder was incredible, ensuring her puppies met children from very early on (kids behave very differently to adults), and she also used the ‘Sounds Sociable’ program to ensure they had heard all sorts of different things from daily life

Maple also came with a great deal of paperwork! As all puppies should! It included her pedigree, temporary insurance cover, her microchip and vaccination details, details on her worming and flea treatment, advice on puppy behaviour and The Puppy Contract - which is something you should definitely be looking for.

I will be keeping you updated on her progress!

08/02/2025

This post has gone viral on Threads today. 😡😢

I absolutely cannot bear the thought of the shame and guilt that posts like this, along with the huge amount of awful comments they generate, cause people who loved their pets no differently to anyone else.

So let me say loud and clear;

The decisions you make around saying goodbye to your pets are yours, and yours alone and you should never be made to feel bad about them.

Your veterinary team is there to guide and support you but they will never judge you over your choices.

If you wish to stay until the end, you are very welcome. We are incredibly skilled at making your pet's passing peaceful and painless.

But if you chose not to be there, or even need to leave half way through, that is absolutely OK. Not everyone can manage the experience and we completely understand.

We will stay with your pet, they will be surrounded by comfort and care. They do not know the finality of the situation, for them it is no different to undergoing an anaesthetic, and owners are never present for that.

It is the love you gave them throughout their lives that is important, not how you manage those final moments.

If you see posts like this, especially if you find them triggering, please block and scroll on, and know that my profession do not think this way, your pets do not act like this and you should never be judged or shamed for your choices.

05/02/2025

An 'All Life Stages' diet is a puppy or kitten food that is being marketed to pets of any age.

Because if you are going to create a diet for all stages of life, you are going to have to formulate for the most important one, and all the others will just have to tag along.

And the most important times of life from a nutritional point of view is when an animal is growing and when they are pregnant and lactating. During these periods it is absolutely vital we get their diet right, otherwise there could be significant long term consequences.

For all the other stages, although not tailoring their nutrition is unlikely to be harmful, we can definitely do better than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Will an 'All Life Stages' diet it make your adult pet poorly? Probably not. (It might make them fat though, as they are more energy dense to account for growth, and some minerals will be in excess but this isn't necessarily an issue provided your pet is healthy)

But would I recommend it or feed it to my own animals? No, because I think for the majority of pets and situations a more individualised approach is preferable.

We have so many amazing diets available for our animals, tailored to their exact needs based on their age, health, size, activity levels and even breed.

Which can be confusing but it does mean we can find the perfect fit for each pet and why I don’t think a ‘one size fits all' approach is a particularly good idea. Even when the pet is young and would have the most to gain from an All Life Stages diet, we can refine their nutrition to specific needs based on growth rate and any health challenges.

There are some prescription diets that are labelled as 'All Life Stages' and this is really the only circumstance where I would be comfortable with this kind of formulation because the benefit of the therapeutic nutrition is paramount, and these diets are created by people who really know what they are doing!

For more reading on the nutritional requirements of pet food, and 'All Life Stages', check outhttps://europeanpetfood.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/FEDIAF-Nutritional-Guidelines_2024.pdf

(It's long but the relevant bit is in section 3.1)

This video from Animal Doc Rae is also a great summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbpPNqBzPMA

01/02/2025

Do you have rabbits? What do you feed them and why?

UK Pet Food and The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund would be very grateful if you could complete this survey to help them understand choices around feeding and caring for bunnies.

Thank you!

👇🏻🐰👇🏻

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7JNRTRN

29/01/2025

This announcement about reality TV personality Jack Fincham being jailed after his dog was dangerously out of control in public is a timely reminder that, as we come up to the anniversary of the XL Bully ban, the Dangerous Dogs Act covers much more than just banned breeds.

Any dog can be judged as dangerously out of control, they don't have to bite someone, a person only needs to be concerned about their behaviour to report them and this can be both in public and private spaces.

In many cases, like Jack's was initially, owners are offered guidance and support and given rules they must follow for with their dogs, particularly when they are out and about.

Elvis was imported and apparently is a trained protection dog. Ideally, of course, you would hope this training would mean he was able to be controlled while on walks but unfortunately, in my opinion, it probably just make dogs reactive and potentially more likely to cause problems.

He is also cropped and docked, which Jack and I have discussed before when he has shown him off on social media, and this painful and unnecessary procedure may well have made Elvis even more fearful and prone to lashing out.

One thing I would like the government to do now they have, in their opinion, solved the XL Bully problem, is to look into the industry around these so called 'Protection Dogs'. What is essentially happening is these dogs are being trained attack and then being sold to the general public. Which seems like a recipe for disaster to me and I am concerned with this case, I have been proved right.

Read more about the Dangerous Dogs Act here; https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/65/contents

Read the Independent story featured here; https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/jack-fincham-love-island-jailed-dangerous-dog-b2688340.html

28/01/2025

The FCI - Federation Cynologique Internationale, the largest canine organisation in the world, are hosting a free webinar next week on the illegal puppy trade, it's scale, consequences and how we can tackle it.

I am signed up to watch and I think it will definitely of interest to a lot of you guys!

Sign up here;

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1A61CBMLR0SuKeqTcNNuow #/registration

27/01/2025

How can we improve dog breeding?

Kennel Clubs are often blamed for the poor physical and mental wellbeing of many of our dog breeds but their influence has been decreasing for many years.

The majority of puppies are now born without any organised oversight and while some are carefully and responsibly bred, many are not.

Evermore extreme versions of already extreme breeds, and popular crosses made for the look of the dog with little regard (it can seem) for temperament selection, are also contributing to the problems we see.

So what can we do about it?

A brilliant summary paper has just been published in the Journal of Animal Welfare, setting out the issues we are seeing and their suggestions are;

1) Open the breed registries to allow new genetics into currently closed gene pools

2) Remove wording from breed standards that promotes extreme conformation

3) Support selection against disease-predisposing genetics and looks

4) Refocus dog showing and breeding to promote health and appropriate behaviour, rather than simply rewarding on looks

I would also like to see 'designer cross-breeds' welcomed into the traditional Kennel Club structure.

We would have to be careful not to repeat the same mistakes of breeding from restricted gene pools but the advantages of promoting the traceability of these dogs and transparency over their lineages cannot be ignored. It would also encourage breeders to act responsibly and give owners some reassurance over the quality of their new puppy.

We will never be able to control dog breeding entirely but there are changes that we could make, pretty easily and quickly, that could have a significant and lost lasting effect on the health and welfare of the dogs we love so much.

As for the last word, I shall give that to the authors of this paper who say;

"The changes need to be drastic and if those currently charged with responsibility for organised dog breeding feel unable to rise to this challenge, then perhaps it is time that they should step aside and let others who do prioritise the health and welfare of dogs to take the reins." 🙌🏻

Read the paper here; https://shorturl.at/TGScz A new future for dog breeding, Proschowsky et al 2025

25/01/2025

New biosecurity measures have been announced for birds due to bird flu

The Animal and Plant Health Agency have announced that from today, Saturday 25th January 2025 at noon, an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) with mandatory biosecurity measures will be in place over all of England and Scotland.

This means anyone with outdoor birds must;

* Keep free ranging birds within fenced areas, and ponds, watercourses and permanent standing water must be fenced off
* Cleanse and disinfect footwear and keep areas where birds live clean and tidy;
* Minimise movement in and out of bird enclosures;
* Reduce any existing contamination by cleansing and disinfecting concrete areas, and fencing off wet or boggy areas
* Keep domestic ducks and geese separate from other poultry
* Ensure the areas where birds are kept are unattractive to wild birds, for example by netting ponds, and by removing wild bird food sources;
*Feed and water your birds in enclosed areas to discourage wild birds

In some areas a mandatory housing order, where all birds must be kept housed, is in place. These areas at the moment are;

* North Yorkshire
* York
* Shropshire
* The East Riding of Yorkshire
* The City of Kingston upon Hull
* Lincolnshire
* Norfolk
* Suffolk

The current risk to human and other animal's health remains low and properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.

24/01/2025

If you could predict your pet’s future, what would you do to change it and help them?

Petplan UK have just released their predictions for the top pet illness claims in 2025, based on their 2024 figures and they are;

Dogs 🐕

🐶 Arthritis
🐶 Skin Allergies
🐶 Dental Conditions

Cats 🐈

🐱 Overactive Thyroid Gland
🐱 Bladder Infections
🐱 Dental Conditions

And I agree! These are all problems I see very regularly in my clinic.*

One which I am particularly passionate about and where we can do a great deal to help our dog is skin allergies.

Do you have a dog who is a sensitive soul? What have you found helps them? Watch the video for my top tips!



* And it isn’t just me! This paper from Vet Compass shows that dermatitis (skin conditions) and otitis externa (ear infections), both of which are heavily associated with skin allergies, are in the top 8 of illnesses diagnosed in UK veterinary practice.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31118035/ Health-related welfare prioritisation of canine disorders using electronic health records in primary care practice in the UK, Summers et al, 2019

13/01/2025

I was asked by the wonderful people at Justice for Reggie to help them allay some concerns their followers have about the L4 dog vaccine.

Of course, I was very happy to help.

Please don't listen to vaccine scaremongering on the internet, if you have any questions or worries, please speak directly to the teams at your veterinary practice.

This vaccine is safe and protects our dogs from an awful, and often fatal, disease.

🐕 Some of our followers have contacted us with concerns relating to leptospirosis. Unfortunately the Justice for Reggie team are not qualified vets, although we always speak with our veterinary contact Cat The Vet if anyone contacts us for veterinary advice.

This is the response from Cat relating to the vaccine👇

I can understand concerns about the L4 vaccine, there is a great deal of negative commentary about it online but it is important to remember that things are very often blown out of proportion and many of the main proponents that I see perpetuating myths about it do have a strong 'anti-vax' and alternative opinion already. So we have to realise their opinions and statements are going to contain a significant amount of bias.

Firstly, the L2 vaccine is being phased out in the UK mainly because there is far less call for it now as the vast majority of practices are using L4, which should indicate how much confidence the profession has in the vaccine and how few problems are seen in real life.

This article, which was updated in December 2023, discusses the reported incidence rate in the L4 vaccine, which you can see is extremely low and not particularly different from L2;
(Link in comments)👇
There are sometimes criticisms of the reporting system and it is true that many adverse reactions are not reported. However, the severe ones generally are and the reports are proportional to the reactions. So even knowing that all are not reported, we would see a spike if there was a genuine problem and the system will react strongly to small increases because they likely indicate a larger problem. So, again, we have no signs of L4 having significantly more or worse reactions than any other vaccine.

(All vaccines can have adverse effects, we can't get away from that, but they are overwhelmingly mild and very small in number and far outweighed by the advantage of protecting our pets)

I have personally vaccinated thousands of dogs with the L4 vaccine over the years since it has been released, and that number rises exponentially when we consider the ones done by my colleagues with in my clinic. We have never knowingly seen a single significant reaction to the vaccine. Thankfully I practice in an area where Leptospirosis the disease is not common but it is regularly reported by colleagues in other areas of the country and anecdotally cases appear to be rising. Likely fuelled in some part by the stoking of concerns about the vaccine. And this is not a condition that can be easily treated with antibiotics, as I have seen some people state. It is very serious, makes dogs very sick and usually requires days of hospitalisation and intensive care to treat and, sadly, it is not always possible to save the dog's life.

Finally, if we are going to take pages as evidence of a problem (which obviously we shouldn't but I can see why people do), then I would encourage people to also join this one, to read positive stories and also ask any questions, the team who run it are vets and very good at addressing concerns. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1634206260056214

I hope this helps,
Cat

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

11/01/2025

Have you heard?! Nominations for the Petplan UK and Association of Dogs & Cats Homes Animal Charity Awards are open!

It can be difficult to know how to thank the incredible people that work in the animal charity sector.

The work they do and the care they give is phenomenal and we are fantastically fortunate to have them.

One way to ensure they realise just how much they are appreciated, is to nominate them for these awards!

It takes just a couple of minutes and every single nominee receives a certificate, so even if they don’t reach the final, they know their efforts are seen and valued.

The categories are;

• Animal Charity Team of the Year
• Animal Charity Employee of the Year
• Animal Charity Volunteer of the Year

Click here to make someone’s day! 👉🏻🙌🏻 https://awards.petplan.co.uk/

10/01/2025

Jeremy Vine took aim at vets this afternoon on BBC Radio 2 over our charges for when pets reach the end of their lives.

It is an awful time for owners and hugely emotional, with conflicting feelings of grief, sadness and guilt and we understand that having to pay a fee to a vet as well adds to that turmoil.

And while my colleagues and I are very used to the process and take huge pride in giving pets a peaceful, compassionate passing, it is also challenging for us and our teams. Particularly when a pet owner's distress causes them to lash out.

And honestly Jeremy, you aren't helping.

Some of your listeners had reasonable points over the fees, but the place to air grievances is not on national radio, aided and abetted by your opinions that the charges were 'shocking' and you 'couldn't understand' them. It is to the clinics themselves, so they can improve in areas they need to and explain the cost breakdown to the person who paid that bill.

You did make a point of saying you appreciated vets and the work we do, which I am grateful for, but the tone of this piece was extremely combative and adds to the already exhausting narrative that we are simply driven by money.

And please remember the individual staff in the clinic are likely to have absolutely no influence over the charges, and in the vast majority of cases will go out of their way to make the euthanasia process calm, unrushed and kind for the pet and their family.

Maybe next time you could consider having a representative from one of the practices involved, or their overseeing company, that would likely be a much more fruitful debate.

But this is a good opportunity for me to ask a question of pet owners;

Saying goodbye is always going to be incredibly sad and upsetting but how can my colleagues and I support you through the process? How can we make it better and easier for you?

Have you had a good experience? Please share it if you feel comfortable, so we can learn. Was it less than ideal? How could it have been improved?

It is something we work very hard on but it can be challenging to ask pet owners in the moment or canvass opinions because it is so difficult to bring up.

So, please take this opportunity and let us know!

Thank you!

07/01/2025

The U.K. Brachycephalic Working Group have declared that flat faced dogs who breathe with noise at rest or after light exercise are suffering with severe respiratory disease and should NEVER be considered normal or healthy.

They also say that these dogs should never be described as ‘healthy’ if they are promoted, bred from, sold, shown or rehomed.

Which is strong stuff, particularly considering this group includes breed clubs and rescue organisations.

These breeds are wonderful animals and companions, and they deserve equally wonderful, long and healthy lives but at the moment too many are suffering simply because of the way they look and how they have been bred.

The heartbreak this causes to their families and the veterinary profession should not be underestimated either.

If we want them to continue to exist, and we should, then we must demand that only healthy individuals are bred from and we move away from their extreme confirmation and are open to outcrossing.

And if they are given up to rescue, they do absolutely deserve to be found loving new homes but it is important to be realistic about their health challenges, the degree of care they need and their quality of life.

Read the statement here;https://www.ukbwg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241106-BWG-Noisy-breathing-in-brachycephalic-flat-faced-dogs-at-rest-or-light-exercise-is-never-normal.pdf

Read their infographic here;https://www.ukbwg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241118-Noisy-breathing-in-brachycephalic-flat-faced-dogs-at-rest-or-light-exercise-is-never-normal.pdf

06/01/2025

I think Sally at The Canine Dietitian is great and her journey through the pet nutrition world has been fascinating, and I am honoured to have been a part of it.

She is absolutely right in this blog when she says that her sector is completely unregulated and many of the courses available, as she herself experienced, are highly biased and poorly taught.

And, of course, social media keeps us in our bubbles!

I can definitely recommend reading it and following her pages, and I would love to know if anyone else has had a similar experiences.

👇🏻🙌🏻👇🏻

https://www.thecaninecode.co.uk/blog/being-a-dog-nutritionist