Swine Flu discussion on the radio

I discussed Swine Flu with Declan Meehan on East Coast FM today - have a listen by clicking on the play button below.

vetswineflu.mp3

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Should dog walking be banned in some areas?

In the UK and Ireland, dogs are increasingly being banned from public areas such as beaches. Click here to read my Telegraph blog posting about the latest moves to change this in England. As usual, comments to the Telegaph site please, for hopefully some lively debate. Click here for full post

A "Bright" snake with dull eyes

Alan Labuni brought his four month old Burmese Python, "Bright", to see me, because the snake's eyes had turned a dull colour over the previous few days.Alan is originally from the Philippines, but he’s lived in Ireland for the past seven years. Back at his family home, he has a huge Reticulated Python, which is the world’s longest snake and a native of south-east Asia. His pet snake is fifteen feet long, with a body as thick as Alan’s thigh, and it’s being looked after in his absence by his parents. It has a huge appetite, and is fed on adult hens, as well as an occasional piglet runt from a nearby farm. Alan was missing his snake, which is why he decided to get a smaller version for his home in Ireland.
Bright is a young snake that Alan heard about when visiting a pet shop. His original owner saw that Alan was interested in the snakes in the shop, and asked him if he’d look after Bright for a while. Alan soon found that he was enjoying Bright so much that he offered to buy the snake, so he’s now in his care permanently.
Alan has done plenty of research on the internet, so he has learned all about the best way to care for Burmese Pythons. Most of the illnesses affecting pet snakes are the result of poor husbandry - getting the initial set up right is very important, with the correct environment and diet.

Bright lives in a large plastic aquarium-type box (known as a vivarium), which is well ventilated, but doesn’t have any gaps big enough for a snake to wriggle through. (Snakes are renowned as escape artists, and many snake owners have lost their pets in their own homes).
Burmese Pythons come from a tropical environment, and so his home in Ireland has to provide conditions with a similar level of warm temperature and high humidity. His vivarium is lined with an electric heat pad on its base, hidden beneath a layer of fine wood shavings. A special ultra-violet light bulb at one end of the tank provides extra warmth; Bright enjoys lying curled up beneath this, basking in the artificial sunlight that it provides. There’s a shallow tray containing water, which doubles up as a drinking source and a bath. The vivarium also has some “furniture” – a few branches of wood, some vegetation, and a specially designed “snake rock” with a hole in it, to allow Bright to hide when he feels like having some private time away from human eyes.
Bright is fed on fully grown mice; Alan buys these deep-frozen from the local pet shop, thawing one out at a time when Bright gets hungry. It takes a while to digest a mouse, and Bright usually has just one mouse every week. The python is growing at a rate of around two inches every month; he could eventually grow to around fifteen feet or more.
When Bright’s eyes went dull, Alan thought he knew what was going on, but he asked me to check the snake over to make sure that all was well. When I examined him, it wasn’t only his eyes that were dull; his body had lost the normal shiny sheen too.

The cause was simple: Bright was about to shed his skin. Snakes moult around once a month while they’re growing, and for three or four days before this happens, they develop a dull, opaque colour, and their eyes take on a frosty type appearance.
Alan phoned me the following morning. Bright’s old skin had sloughed off, and he had regained his healthy shiny appearance, and glistening bright eyes.

Tips:
Snakes are popular pets, but are not to everyone’s taste
The environment and diet of a pet snake needs to be researched carefully
Pet snakes aren’t cuddly, but they are fascinating to watch

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Swine flu - why is a mild pig disease dangerous to humans?

In my Telegraph blog today, I wrote a piece about the origins of the swine flu virus that seems to be spreading slowly but surely around the globe. Click here to read it. Swine Flu is a common disease in pigs across the globe, so why has this "nasty" version suddenly appeared? Click here to find out more. Click here for full post

Ancient cats, veterinary careers, boisterous dogs and long haired cats.

In this week's Weekend section of Saturday's Daily Telegraph, I answered a series of questions. Click here to read them......
Topics covered include:
1) A 22 year old Birman cat - how old is this in human terms?
2) A teenager who wants to become the veterinary equivalent of Kay Scarpetta
3) A 77 year old lady who's just taken on a boisterous Golden Retriever is finding it difficult to safely control the dog
4) The owner of a long haired cat wanted to know about how to trim off the dirty fur that tends to accumulate under her tail.
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The death of 21 polo ponies in the USA

You may have heard about the 21 polo ponies that died last week in Florida after being given vitamin/mineral injections that had been formulated incorrectly. I've written a piece about them in my Telegraph blog - click here to read it. As usual, please post questions and comments across at the Telegraph site. Click here for full post

Dogs that eat the earth

Some dogs don't just like digging - they also like eating the earth that they expose. Why do they do it? Listen to this discussion on East Coast FM this week to find out. Just click on the play button below...

pete vet slot 2-4-09.mp3

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Balding birds on TV3

Today on TV3, I brought a New Zealand parakeet known as a Kakariki with me. Click here to see it. The bird is going bald, and I discussed the best way to deal with this.
I also answered these two questions:
1) How do you get an overweight Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to lose weight?
2) Why would a young rabbit have a runny eye, with baldness around the eye?
3) A rat ate some candle wax. Will it be OK? Click here for full post

How do vets choose the right treatment?

I posted a blog to the Telegraph today about Evidence Based Medicine - the new way of helping vets to choose the most effective treatment. Click here to read it. And like I always say, comments are most usefully posted directly to the Telegraph site itself. Thanks. Click here for full post

Questions from viewers on television

I've covered a range of queries this week during my extra questions for television viewers. Click here to see them or read on...
1) A 14 week old Golden Retriever is starting to growl when his owner attempts to move him off the settee or bed.
2) How soon after a cat has kittens can she have the "job" done?
3) A Bearded Collie goes to the toilet in front of the garage door - she has the place in a mess - what can be done?
4) Someone has two dogs - same parents, different litters - and they've mated. Will the pups be OK or should the pregnancy be terminated?
5) Is cheese bad for dogs?
6) A 12 year old dog gets agitated during the day, knocking over objects.
7) A two year old dog is urinating when her owner goes to pick her up
8) Why do dogs like licking human feet?
Click here if you want to see the answers. Click here for full post

Funny cats

I've written before about the www.icanhascheezburger.com website, and now I've done a blog about it across at the Telegraph. If you want to know more about lol-cats, click here to read it. Click here for full post

Castrating guinea pigs

Sandra O’Callaghan had her seven month old male Guinea Pig, Nubby, neutered to prevent Sandra’s home from being over-populated with baby guinea pigs.Sandra and her children are guinea pig enthusiasts. Earlier this year, the guinea pig matriarch of their household, Nutty, died at the impressive age of eight years. After a few guinea-pig-free weeks, Sandra decided that the “Nutty-sized” gap in their family life needed to be filled. She went down to the local pet shop to see what was on offer.
Guinea pigs are social creatures, living in groups in the wild. It’s kinder to keep them in pairs or small groups. When Sandra found two guinea pigs for sale in the pet shop, she decided to buy both of them, so that they could continue to enjoy each other’s company in her household.
The guinea pigs were a male/female couple (soon named Nubby and Maybelle), and they were six months old. Sandra realised that it was very likely that Maybelle would be pregnant, so she didn’t worry about separating the two of them. The pregnancy of guinea pigs is unusually lengthy, at nine weeks (three times as long as hamsters and mice) so Sandra expected that baby guinea piglets might be born in the late spring. Maybelle didn’t have an obviously swollen abdomen, so it didn’t seem as if anything was going to happen quickly.
The two guinea pigs got on well together, nuzzling each other, and cuddling up close together in the nesting area. Two weeks after they’d arrived in her home, Sandra noticed that Maybelle seemed to behaving differently to Nubby. It was as if she was being tetchy with him, pushing him away and refusing to sit beside him. Sandra didn’t think any more about this until the evening, when one of her children went to lift out a guinea pig for playtime. In addition to the two adult guinea pigs, there were two newborn babies running around the cage. Maybelle had quietly given birth during the day.
Maybelle continued to seem irritated by her “husband”, so Sandra removed Nubby from the group, putting him into a cage of his own. This was only a temporary solution to the future of her “guinea pig family”, and Sandra discussed the options with her children.
There would be no problem finding new homes for the two new guinea pig babies when they were a couple of months old, but what then? If Nubby and Maybelle continued to live together, there’d be regular new batches of babies, and there’d soon be a shortage of good homes for them.



The answer was simple: Nutty had to be neutered. He was booked into our clinic for the procedure. He arrived in the morning, and was castrated under general anaesthesia. He went home the same evening, and when he came back for a wound check five days later, it was as if nothing had happened. He was as bright and cheerful as ever, and his small scar was already almost invisible.
Nutty had to be kept away from Maybelle for a month after the operation, to be sure to avoid another pregnancy. The timing worked out well: when the two babies were taken out to go to their new homes, Nutty rejoined Maybelle in the guinea pig run. The two of them seemed pleased to see each other, huddling together and squeaking quietly to one another.
There are no worries about the “empty nest” syndrome affecting the two guinea pigs. They’re now living very happily as a long-term couple, with no chance of any more new babies disrupting their relationship.

Tips:
+ Guinea pigs are social creatures, best kept as pairs or in small groups
+ They are prolific breeders, and there’s only a limited number of new homes for guinea pigs
+ If males and females are housed together, neutering of males is the best way to prevent breeding
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Dogs: as smart as two-year-old children?

I've written a blog about some new research into the intelligence of dogs. Click here to read it. As usual with the Telegraph blogs, please post comments on their site, rather than here. Thanks. Click here for full post

Fur and the Obama dog - on the radio

This week, on East Coast FM, I discussed the concept of hypoallergenic dogs, dog fur, and other topical issues. Click on the play button below to listen.

Vetobama.mp3

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Questions and answers on Ireland AM

After yesterday's broadcast on Ireland AM, I stayed on to answer some extra questions that viewers had sent in by text. Click here to watch it. Today's questions were as follows:
1) A dog eating its own poo.
2) A 12 year old dog having episodes of collapse
3) A finicky cat that refuses to eat normal cat food
4) A 12 year old dog that's weak on her hind legs
5) A dog damaged a nail and was limping. Should it go to the vet?
6) A dog was excitedly chasing a bee, and when her owner intervened, she attacked her owner. What was going on?
7)What can you do to control Collie Nose, other than steroids?
8) What can be done to help an older dog that's going blind?
9) A dog swallowed some contraceptive pills. What should be done?
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The clothes-stealing Golden Retriever on TV3

On Ireland AM this morning, I discussed the common behavioural problem of dogs stealing items of clothing. Click here to watch it. I also answered a couple of queries that viewers had texted in:
1) A dog that has suffered from sticky eyes for the past two years.
2) A Bull Mastiff dog that keeps attacking the household cat.
Click here to watch for the answers. Click here for full post

Hypoallergenic dogs - what's the truth?

I've written a piece across at the Telegraph about so-called hypoallergenic dogs. Click here to read it. Since the arrival of President Obama's Portuguese Water Dog, there's been the incorrect assumption floating around that a dog can be "allergen free" - but if you want to know to truth, click here. Click here for full post

Vegetarian cats

In my blog at the Telegraph today, I discuss the pros and cons of cats being vegetarian. Click here to read it. As usual, comments to the Telegraph site please, if you have any.... Click here for full post

Experiments on animals: science or torture?

In my blog across at the Telegraph, I discuss the use of the Freedom of Information Act in the UK to find out more about experiments on animals being carried out in universities. Click here to read it. It's certainly a controversial subject.... Click here for full post

Cats, dogs, rats and parakeets

In this week's printed Daily Telegraph, I answered the usual range of readers' queries.
1) Should the owner of a nervous cat consider getting a puppy?
2) What's the best treatment for a rat with bumblefoot?
3) What can be done for a young Labrador with a strong "doggy" smell?
4) Why does a Kakariki make such loud squawks?
Click here to read the answers.
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Easter lamb

Anthony Brabazon of Kilruddery Farm, Bray, Co Wicklow brought a lamb called Fifty-five to see me recently. Fifty-five had been born with a crooked neck, unable to stand up. Anthony keeps two hundred ewes on his farm, producing several hundred lambs every springtime, in the weeks leading up to Easter. The sheep live on the lowlands around Kilruddery, grazing on the pastures around the Little Sugar Loaf for much of the year. He brings them into a large shed just before they’re due to lamb, and they’re kept indoors until all the lambs have been born. It’s a high risk time for both ewe and lamb, and close supervision is essential.
If a ewe gets stuck while lambing, or if a lamb needs to be revived after being born, immediate help can be lifesaving. Someone watches them all the time at this time, even checking them overnight. The stockman watching the sheep makes sure that the newborn lamb is healthy, that the mother has plenty of milk, and that the normal bonding process between ewe and lamb takes place smoothly. If there’s any problem, he needs to step in help.
Most lambs, fortunately, are healthy and normal, and they’re standing up, suckling their mother by themselves, within a few minutes of being born. Fifty-five (so named, you’ve guessed, because she was the fifty-first lamb to be born this year) was in trouble from the moment her mother pushed him out into the straw-lined pen. She was unable to stand up by herself, and when Anthony went to help him, it was obvious that she’d been born with an abnormality. Her neck was twisted to the right, and her spine was S-shaped. Her mother was frantically licking her and nudging her, trying to get her to stand up, but the poor lamb just wasn’t able to do it. When Anthony held her up to her mother’s udder, she was able to suckle normally. But the question was: would she ever be able to stand up by herself?



The general term for this type of abnormality is “wry-neck”, and there are many different causes. Sometimes lambs have been lying in an awkward position in their mother’s womb, causing an odd shape when they emerge. At other times, there’s a more serious birth defect.
Anthony is used to seeing lambs born with mild “wry-neck” every few years, but they’re usually able to stand up without help, and they’re just a bit crooked. He decided to give the lamb a couple of days to see if she would gradually straighten up. He had to hold her up to her mother four or five times a day and she seemed strong. But when she wasn’t improving at all after three days, he decided to bring her to see me.
When I examined her, I couldn’t find any obvious reason for her twisted body. I took “whole lamb” x-rays, to check the bones of her spine. If she had been born with serious abnormalities of her vertebra (spinal bones) then there would be no chance of her ever walking again.
The xrays brought good news: her skeleton was normal. The problem was either to do with her muscles, or with their nerve supply. These could both be worked on, using exercises and massage. I sent Anthony up to a local osteopath - a friend of his- to work on ways of improving the muscles of Fifty-five’s back.
An intensive programme of massage and manipulation was put into place, and three days later, I received a good-news text from Anthony: “Fifty-five is up and suckling his mother this morning”.

Tips:
+ It’s common for animals to be born with minor abnormalities at birth
+ With good nursing care, these often improve after a few days
+ Learn more about Anthony’s farm at www.killruddery.com/killrudderyfarm.htm

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Would Guardian-reading vets be more likely to enjoy playing bongo drums?

Government vets in the UK were recently given lessons in playing the bongo drums as part of an educational day. Some of the vets weren't too impressed - but was that just because they were the wrong type of people for such frivolity? Click here to read my blog about it. Click here for full post

Questions from viewers on TV3

I answered the usual range of queries from viewers on TV3 this week. Click here to watch. Questions included:
+ A coughing Bichon Frise
+ A dog who has started to pass urine on the floor overnight
+ A young puppy who's causing problems by "play biting"
+ A bitch who gave birth to nine pups who all died within the first day
+ A guinea pig who's been castrated. When is it safe to put him back with the femal guinea pig without the risk of pregnancy?
+ How can you remove birds that are nesting in a chimnet? Click here for full post

Why do over 80% of Bulldog births happen by caesarian section?

In my Telegraph blog today, I've written about the astonishingly high rate of Caesarian section in certain breeds of dog. Click here to read it. As usual, please comment on the Telegraph site rather than here. Click here for full post

Preventing rabies from reaching the UK and Ireland

The European Union wants to stop the UK and Ireland from insisting that there's a six month delay between blood testing for rabies and free travel from continental Europe. See here for the Telegraph blog that I wrote on the subject. Click here for full post

The life of an animal lover....

Colette O’Toole Co Wicklow has many animal friends: for starters, meet Sugar, Bibi and Puddle the Jack Russell Terriers, Flora and Bella the Labradors, and Kanga the Springer Spaniel Animals have always featured in Colette’s life. When she was growing up in Dublin, stray dogs used to follow her home from school. From the age of thirteen, she worked with horses at the local riding stables. On leaving school, she moved to the UK where she worked in a pet shop, before getting a job in Harrods, delivering gifts to celebrities in a horse drawn carriage. When she returned to Ireland in the early 1990’s, she worked with vets in south Dublin for fourteen years until she decided to set up her own business of dog minding.
Dog minding originally happened by accident: the vet she was working for asked her to look after his dog for a week. He was going away on holidays and he didn’t want his family dog to go into kennels. Colette enjoyed looking after the dog in her own home, and she started taking in other dogs that she came across through her work at the vets. They were mostly high-care cases where medication was needed or where there were other special needs. As time passed, her reputation as an animal carer spread, and more and more requests came in for her to look after pets.
Three years ago, she decided to make this part-time hobby into a full-time business. She moved from Dublin to south County Wicklow, buying a larger house with a garden of almost an acre, surrounded by fields and forestry. Since then, she has been providing a personalised service that’s different to normal boarding kennels. All the dogs live in the house with Colette and her sixteen year old daughter, Emma. They share their lives in the same way that pet dogs living with their owners at home. She has space for up to fifteen dogs at one time, and when visiting her, there’s a relaxed sense of community, with animals lounging around together. She takes the dogs outside for exercise twice daily, using a tennis racket and balls to encourage each animal to burn up energy. After each session, the dogs return the house exhausted, and there’s a peaceful hour as they all lie down to recover.
Colette has learned to understand dog behaviour through years of experience, and she finds that with the right treatment, nearly all dogs can get on well with each other. So far, she’s never had a dog fight between her charges, and this is largely due to her careful supervision. Male hormones make a significant contribution to dog-dog aggression, so if she has unneutered male dogs, she keeps them separate. When playing with the dogs outside, Colette keeps them under close supervision at all times, so that any signs of a disagreement can be nipped in the bud. “Oi”, shouted loudly and sharply, is her favourite training word, distracting mischievous dogs from disruptive behaviour. She finds that dogs in her care get on well together, even making friendships. Some dogs get to know each other so well that if they meet again many months later, they’re happy to see each other, tearing off down the garden together in excitement.



Colette doesn’t advertise her dog boarding service, preferring to get business by word of mouth. She provides a collection and delivery service and people appreciate the convenience. She leaves her card with receptionists at local veterinary practices so that if someone is looking for this alternative to boarding kennels, the veterinary team is able to let them know about Colette. She also has a website at www.mysugarpups.com , but this is low on her list of priorities. Walking the dogs is much more fun than gazing at a computer screen.

+ Home carers like Colette can provide a useful alternative to boarding kennels
+ Some dogs find this type of minding less stressful than normal kennels
+ All dogs need to have up to date vaccines before any type of mixing with other dogs

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Q and A in Telegraph

Click here to see my Telegraph column, printed todayAnd here is the rest of it. Click here for full post

Guest post on tail docking

Something different - I was asked to do a guest post for a pet blog in the USA - and I wrote about tail docking. Click here to read it. The more coverage I can give to that subject, the better. Click here for full post

Early Easter warning about chocolate toxicity - on the radio

This morning, on East Coast FM, I discussed the danger posed by dogs raiding hidden stashes of Easter Eggs in the run up to Easter.

pete vet slot 2-4-09.mp3

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The real story about the spring lamb... and more

Once the laughter had settled down, we talked in detail about the background to the young lamb that I'd brought with me. Click here to see it. I also answered a few viewers' texts:
+ A cat who disappears for up to six days at a time
+ A dog that's pining because his owner is in hospital
+ A dog with itchy ears
+ A dog that barks every time the front door bellrings. Click here for full post

An April fool on TV3

This morning, I brought a spring lamb with me onto TV3. The Ireland AM crew made it into an "April Fool" opportunity, changing the auto-cue so that Alan, my co-presenter, found himself reading the words "Spring is a time of.... good value lamb dinners". Plenty of laughter resulted, as you'll see if you click here! See above for the real video discussing the lamb Click here for full post