Oday Vets

23/10/2024

Amazing few days at Joburg Zoo 🐘🦁

20/10/2024

03/10/2024

Cats are fascinating creatures, and many of us are fortunate to share our lives with them. This article by Oday Vets shares 5 Things about the mysterious felines you share your life with 😉🐱

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23/09/2024

For the humans the Festive Season is a joyous time, for our pets, it can be overwhelming. Start early and prepare your pets for the holiday season.

19/09/2024

🌟 Kitten Socialisation 🐱

It's not just puppies that benefit from early socialisation, kittens also need positive experiences in early life.

💚 Between 2 and 7 weeks of age is the ideal time to socialise a kitten. This window of time is when kittens are open to novel experiences.

💚 Breeders and rescues should introduce calm handling of kittens from 2 weeks of age to get them comfortable with people.

💚 Over the early weeks, new textures, sights and sounds should be introduced. Normal household noises, playing with noisy objects and even riding in a cat carrier or car.

💚 Kittens should meet a variety of people of all different ages, not just their care-givers. All interactions should be positive at this age.

Early socialisation will increase the chances the kitten will grow up to become a happy, friendly, confident pet.

Oday Vets

29/08/2024

Mimi , the tiny black kitty rescued in May this year came to us with severely infected eyes. Despite all our efforts in the last few months, her left eye still seemed blurry and watery.

We felt the need to visit an eye specialist to thoroughly examine her left eye. Dr Lo-An and Sascha from Vet Vision are absolutely amazing at what they do.

Vet Vision has consulted Mimi as charity and treated us with compassion and love.

A huge thank you to these amazing human beings who know the struggle of rescue work 🙏and helped us help our rescue kitty.

God bless you

28/08/2024

Should I adopt two puppies at the same time? ❌No!

Most, if not all trainers and behaviourists would advise strongly against adopting two puppies from a breeder or a rescue. Why? Because we often see the fallout of this decision.

1️⃣ Firstly it's hard work raising one puppy, let alone two. That's two pups to keep out of trouble and manage in the household.

2️⃣ Two puppies often bond greatly with each other and less with the humans in the household. This will make training the dogs more difficult.

3️⃣ It can also lead to over-reliance on each other and they find it very difficult to be apart, even for short periods.

4️⃣ There is often competition over resources amongst litter mates and serious fights can breakout. Increase in hormones at the same time as they begin their adolescence means there are two dogs making impulsive decisions. Maintaining a happy household is difficult.

Most people buy two pups because they are busy and feel two will keep each other company. If you don't have the time for a pup, rather adopted an adult or senior dog.

❌ Rescues often encourage people to adopt two pups rather than one. They are bursting at the seams and rehoming two puppies means less in the shelter. However, this is just a temporary solution. In 12 months' time, the owners will have to make a difficult decision whether to give up one dog if there are problems between the dogs.

❌ If the breeder you are buying from allows you or even encourages you to take two.....run! Do not buy a pup from them.

✅ Ideally, wait until your first pup has reached adulthood before getting another pup.

🥰 If you have two pups of a similar age, next week we'll give you some tips to help combat potential problems.

Oday Vets

22/08/2024

Relationship first

When people first enquire about puppy school a common question asked is: "What commands will my dog learn?"

Yes, behaviours such as sit, stay and recall are important and covered but the value of building a relationship with a dog should be at the top of the list. In fact, it is much easier to teach obedience if you have a positive connection with your dog.

You can teach your dog a recall cue, but he'll come bounding back with enthusiasm if he enjoys playing, interacting and being close to you.

Having a new dog in the home should be fun.
Play, play and if you think you've played too much, play some more!

Oday Vets

07/08/2024

Training your dog doesn't start and end at puppy school.

When people get a new pup, most understand the importance of puppy classes. These classes provide lots of opportunities to learn to communicate with your dog, teach good manners, positively socialise and help you navigate those early, difficult days.

However, once those classes are over, rarely do dog guardians continue with lessons. Yet, puppy school should be the start of a long journey of education for both human and dog.

Like with us, dogs are constantly growing and changing. Once puppyhood is over, those teenage months begin which presents a new set of challenges. Adulthood allows us an opportunity to explore hobbies or fun skills such as trick training. The Twilight years should be a time of enjoying your dog and exploring lower activity interests such as scentwork conditioning.

Training isn't just about obedience. Spending time with your dog and exploring interests will create a bonded, focused, happier dog.

Oday Vets

31/07/2024

Does a puppy suit your lifestyle?

When someone is considering adding a dog to the family, their first thought is to look for a puppy. Whilst puppies are fun and cute, they may not be suitable for your current lifestyle.

🐾 Puppies need training and time in those early months. Finding time for a puppy can be difficult for people who work long hours or have busy lives.
🐾 Many behaviour problems we see are often a result of boredom or frustration and many times we are asking owners to dedicate more time to their dogs.
🐾 All dogs need our time and attention but puppies are particularly reliant on our help in navigating this new world.

What are your options?
✔️ There are plenty of adult dogs looking for a home. This may be a better option for your family.
✔️ If you have a particular breed in mind, there are plenty of breed rescues around.
✔️ If you don't want a rescue, contact a good breeder. Ethical breeders have contracts that ask for their dogs to be returned to them if they are no longer wanted.
✔️Retired sports dogs, guide dogs and show dogs are other options.

31/07/2024

This little guy is still waiting for his forever home.
He's around 4 months old. A retriever cross.

He is full of life and lots of family. Will make an ideal family pet.

Via

29/07/2024

A RACE AGAINST TIME - 125 DAYS LEFT!
Humans, as you've seen from our posts over the last two weeks, we've been blessed with some solid adoption momentum. THANK YOU for caring, sharing and making it happen. We simply MUST retain this energy and magic as we are faced with a SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE over the next 4 and a half months. At the end of November, we must move out of the temporary boarding facility we are in. As of 1 December, WE WILL HAVE NOWHERE TO GO.

Regular followers will know our former landlady sold her land in April, and we moved out of Cadeau Kennels in Midrand. We have been at the BF KENNELS & CATTERY facility in the Riversands Farm since 6-7 April. This was meant to be a temporary measure while we look for a HOME. However, as of now, we still have nothing definite re a future location.

FINDING GOOD HOMES FOR OUR DOGS is PRIORITY #1! We must get our numbers down, and ensure that they are all safely placed.
We will post a weekly BAROMETER to show you how many dogs we have in our care, and how many days we have left to find MIRACLES AND MAGIC. We know times are tough, and there are so many who need networking - but please give our dogs a concerted PUSH over the next months? TOGETHER, the impossible becomes possible.

As of Monday 29 July, we have 125 days left to find homes for 114 dogs. .

MISSION: Please SHARE, SHARE, SHARE. If you can ADOPT or FOSTER, please consider a PAWS R US SA dog. They come in all shapes and sizes, and all ages, and all they ask for is a GOOD HOME. The link for our full adoptions album is here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set?set=a.630199292464369&type=3

FOR ALL ENQUIRIES:
EMAIL: [email protected]
WHATS APP: 083 518 0447

THANK YOU for being in our corner.

*PAWS R US (SA) is a shelter for rescued, surrendered and abandoned dogs, and a registered Non-Profit Company. We've been saving and blessing lives for almost 14 years, and we're based in Riversands Farm, Fourways, Johannesburg.

13/07/2024

In the June Magazine The Spot Light fell on Sascha Odayar and Dr Lo-An from Oday Vets

Sascha writes the weekly Furry Files post for We Love Pets SA, sharing her valuable experience with pet parents. She started her career in 2003 at the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, a very well known rescue organisation in London. After finishing her degree in Human Psychology and Sociology she decided to change direction and became a veterinary nurse. Her time at the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home inspired her to complete her qualification as an Animal Behaviourist.

Dr Lo-An is an Ophthalmologist and started Vet Vision and she consults at Oday Vets on a weekly basis, while also consulting at Valley Farm Animal Hospital in Pretoria East. She also does work in the field of horses and wildlife.

Oday Vets is based in Centurion.
www.odayvets.co.za

10/07/2024

Why you should enroll in puppy school when you first get your pup 👩‍🏫
PART 3

Continuing our series, here's another reason why puppy school is important.

Often people mistakenly think puppy school involves letting your dogs play with other dogs for an hour to wear them out. This is far from the truth.

🎓🌟 A good puppy school will allow supervised, short play sessions with well matched pups.

When pups are left to play without intervention, it can lead to negative experiences for some pups or others learning bad habits.

This is, for most pups, their first interaction with another dog. So it is important that they build positive relationships and learn how to communicate appropriately with other dogs.

The majority of your time at puppy school should be learning how to remain calm on leash when surrounded by other dogs and activity.

Remember in a real life setting your dog will not be able to interact with most of the dogs they see. Teaching them to be calm in a distracting environment is a critical life skill.

Set your pup up for success for the future.
Enroll them in puppy school.
Oday Vets

27/06/2024

👩‍🎓 Why you should enroll in puppy school when you first get your pup.

There are a plethora of reasons why puppy school is important for pups.
Over the coming weeks, we will highlight some of their benefits.

Often people get a pup but don't join training classes until a problem behaviour arises. However, a good puppy school will not only help with training and socialisation, it will also help you prevent those unwanted behaviours occurring in the first place.

🤓 Forming good habits:
It is much easier to form a new habit than to try and undo a problematic one.
Recall for instance is so much easier to train in an 8-week-old pup. Puppy class will teach you a fun way to introduce recall to your dog. They will have fun returning to you and from a young age, it becomes an automatic behaviour.

Waiting until your dog is 5-6 months old where they have learnt to ignore you when you call because the external environment is much more fun, is much more difficult to overcome.

Puppy school is fun and most pups can join from around 8 weeks of age.
Set your pup up for success for the future.

For information on puppy classes in Centurion contact Sascha Oday Vets

24/06/2024

Multiple resources in different areas around the home can reduce conflict in multi-cat households 🐈‍🐈

Often conflict in multi-cat households can occur when a cat is trying to access resources. These resources can be:

🐱 Litter trays
🐱 Food and water stations
🐱 Scratching posts
🐱 Toys
🐱 Resting spots

Some cats can position themselves in front of a resource to prevent another cats access. This creates tension between the cats and can progress into a physical altercation.

To maintain harmony, ensure there is more than one of each resource.
✅ Have play areas with multiple toys.
✅ Different water and food areas, are kept apart.
✅ Litter trays in different areas of the home.
✅ More than one entrance/exit point to the outside.

As humans, we often like to keep our homes organized and have things in an aesthetically pleasing area or keep things minimalistic. However, it's important that if we are asking for cats to live in our home in close proximity to each other, that we provide an environment that is as calm and as safe as possible.

By Sascha Odayar from Oday Vets

14/06/2024

The new issue of magazine is out. Have you downloaded your copy yet?

We are talking about cat behaviour problems, in particular aggression towards humans. Plus we tell you a bit about how Oday Vets and Vet Vision came to be.

There are tons of other great articles. So jump over and download your free copy

https://bit.ly/EMAGSignUP2024

13/06/2024

Don’t Encourage your Kitten to Play with your Hands 🐈

Most cats will respond to fingers wriggled like fluttering birds. It can be fun to watch a kitten crouch and pounce on your hands. However, this sort of play should not be encouraged.

Kittens grow and once bigger, this may be your cat's go to method of play. It can become very uncomfortable for you, especially if they start to bite or scratch to instigate a play session.

Whilst you may not mind your cat playing with your hands, they may expect the same interaction from other people or children visiting the home who may not like it.

Hands should be associated with calm handling. Teeth or claws on hands should mean you stop whatever you are doing and remove your hand. If it was to play, then find a toy and divert their attention there instead.

Sascha at Oday Vets wrote a full article on Cat Aggression directed at Humans in the June issue of the magazine.

Read it here: ➡️ bit.ly/EMAGSignUP2024