HE is on a mission to help our pets . . . and is here to answer YOUR questions.
Sean, who is the head vet at tailored pet food firm tails.com, has helped with owners’ queries for ten years. He says: “If your pet is acting funny or is under the weather, or you want to know about nutrition or exercise, just ask. I can help keep pets happy and healthy.”
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Q) MY 16-month-old rescue dog Harry barks at all the animals on the TV.
He also doesn’t get on with my seven-year-old tabby cat Jess, who likes her own company. How do I solve these issues?
Jackie Grimes, Warwick
Sean says: Two complex questions in one.
I strongly suggest enlisting the help of a qualified animal behaviourist. You need to work out Harry’s motivation first.
If he’s a terrier type or sight hound it could be predatory or wanting to chase smaller animals.
Or could he be under-stimulated and he finds it exciting when they come on the TV?
Perhaps there’s a territorial element. Or is he fearful or anxious?
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All of these factors will influence the best advice to tackle it.
In terms of his relationship with Jess, that’s usually on the cat’s terms, so if Jess isn’t keen on interacting with her weird little dog brother there’s often not a lot we can do about that.
Cats will be cats.
Got a question for Sean?
Q) I’M being driven to distraction by behaviour changes in my cat Dylan, now 14.
He follows me around yowling for meals but won’t eat them.
Also, he won’t leave me alone, constantly wanting to sit or sleep on me, however briefly I sit down.
Oddly he takes a swipe at me as well.
He’s had a vet MOT, his blood tests were perfect and his teeth were good.
What on earth is going on? I’m at my wits’ end with him.
Prue Warne, Dudley, West Midlands
Sean says: This sounds like it may be early senile changes.
At 14 he’s far from ancient, but this is the age dementia-like signs can begin in cats.
We call the condition Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (CDS) and sadly there is not a lot we can do to either prevent or treat it.
You can certainly try to maintain a stimulating environment for Dylan, offering plenty of new objects to explore, and allowing time for play or even training.
Dietary supplementation with Omega 3 fatty acids may be beneficial for ongoing brain function, and this can be achieved in cats by adding in oily fish to their diet.
I’m not saying this is a definite diagnosis, but one to chat with Dylan’s vet about on your next visit.
Q) MY six-month-old Russian dwarf hamster Herbie no longer sleeps in his house.
We changed his cage just before Christmas and he has taken to sleeping in his external tube.
For the past couple of weeks, he has taken his bedding from the house and into the tube.
How can I encourage him to go back into his house?
Louise Farndon, Northampton
Sean says: Why do you want to?
Maybe Herbie no longer sees the need to conform to hamster societal pressures and wants to sleep out in the wild, free of the shackles of a mortgage and utility bills.
I’m being a goofball of course, but to hamsters a tube offering a cosy space to nest in is much the same as a commercial, fancy decorated ‘hamster house’ the pet shop sells you.
Offer him some other options and see if his preference changes again over time.
Q) HOW often should I walk my 13-year-old dog Meeks, who has arthritis?
We go for a nice, slow walk twice a day and if Meeks is in pain then I give her some Pardale pain relief and rest her.
But how much walking is too much or too little?
Sarah Jones, Bromley, South London
Sean says: Great question, and best discussed with your own vet who knows Meeks well.
But as a general rule for dogs with arthritis, regular gentle exercise is really important to keep their joints moving and muscles flexible.
Keep it to Meeks’s pace.
Star of the week
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TERRY the tortoise’s owners have built him his own Alcatraz-style home – to thwart his daring escape bids.
Liz Laing, 54, and husband Paul, 65, of Coulsdon, Surrey, who also have tortoises William, Percy and Shell, walled off an area in their garden – then had to dig a TRENCH too.
Liz said: “Terry is like Houdini. I once caught him plodding along the pavement outside our home, when I was walking home with my shopping.
“We had to build a tortoise Alcatraz, with a wall and trench . . . but five-star care.”
WIN: Bobby And Bubba book
TWO doggy TikTok stars have launched their first book – Bobby And Bubba’s Small Adventures – and we’ve got 11 hardback copies worth £22.99 each to give away.
Ex-MP Anthony Coombs wrote the book to help families and children to read together.
Proceeds go to homeless charity Glassdoor.
For a chance to win, send an email headed BOBBY & BUBBA to [email protected] by April 9.
See tiktok.com/@bobbyandbubba.
T&Cs apply.
READ PETS A TALE OF TWO KITTIES
CATS are secret bookworms who love to be read literary classics like Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens, Paws and Claws can reveal.
Foster carers and rescuers from charity Cats Protection have undertaken an initiative to read to their feline friends – and almost all of them love it.
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Cats Protection’s central behaviour officer Daniel Warren-Cumming said: “Reading can be beneficial and help fearful cats regain their confidence.”
Retired mental health nurse Eric Kalnins, 61, of Stoke-on-Trent, has fostered more than 60 Cats Protection moggies, with the latest being Fluffy.
He said: “I try to spend two hours a day with my foster cats Fluffy, Iris and Martha and I will grab my Kindle and we are away.”
Joanna Kehoe, a volunteer at Cats Protection’s Harrow Rehoming Centre, reads to her Siamese cats Rollo and Teddy Tiger.
The 48-year-old, from West London, says: “I’m currently reading one of the Thursday Murder Club mysteries by Richard Osman which they seem to greatly approve of.”
To become a Cats Protection fosterer visit cats.org.uk.
