Mix With Care

Some pets just should not be kept under the same roof.

The trouble is there are no hard and fast rules about what combinations will, and won't, work and sometimes it's just a matter of try it and see.

For example we have the Lurcher and we used to have 2 cats. Some lurchers and greyhounds get on fine with cats, others can't live in a house with them, or any small furry animals, because of their excessive prey drive. We got our lurcher as a puppy, and she was brought up around a number of different animals, so the chances were good that she would learn not to chase our cats.

Unfortunately we had not reckoned with the temperament of our cats. Our cats have lived with the Old Boy, our 9 year old collie cross, for years, without any inter species friction. But along came the puppy, who yapped a bit, the cats took off, the puppy chased them, and so a habit was born.

If even one of our cats had been a bit tougher, and given the Lurcher a sharp whack across the nose for being so nosey or just stayed sleeping, rather than fleeing the room I'm sure things would have been different.

But now we have two cats who refuse to enter the house but deign to enter our separate utility room now and again. We leave food out for them and replace it when necessary, but they are obviously eating elsewhere as 7.5 kgs of dried food has now lasted us almost a year!

And I can now tell you exactly how embarrassing it is to have a neighbour from across-the-way and down-a-bit come over to you and ask if you can scan the 'stray' cat that's been hanging around their house for the last few months, for a microchip.Of course, I didn't need to scan it; when she described the big ginger tom that  was camping out at theirs, I knew it was one of ours. 

You can't tell a cat where to live, so while she doesn't want to adopt Ginger, she's agreed to feed him for us and will notify me if he needs any veterinary attention.

We don't know where our other cat is eating, but it's obviously somewhere  with generous proportions as he's looking a lot rounder than he used to. He is long haired and really needs regular grooming, but obviously isn't getting this atm so needs to have his knots shaved. I'm going to have to wait until I find him in the utility room to have a go at sedating him so I can give him a good grooming.

On the other hand, we have rats, and used to have guinea pigs, that the Lurcher has showed no interest in at all. It's only cats she hates; this is something it would have been useful to know before we got her.

Cats are a common factor in many inter species problems as they can be both 'prey' and 'predator'.

Many a pet rodent, bird or fish has met it's end via the family cat. I've also been told a story about a family cat who ate 3 newborn chihuahua pups, when the owners were out at work. I'm inclined to believe it; puppies of that size would make a convenient meal for a cat bored with dried biscuits.

This doesn't mean you can't have a bird/rodent/fish if you have a cat, but be sensible. Don't let the prey species roam freely around a room/house with a cat in it. Not even if it's a geriatric cat with arthritis and kidney failure. Cats are killing machines and some will respond  energetically to the presence of prey even while on deaths door.

Make sure the cage or tank you use to house your small pets is sturdy enough to keep the possible victim in, and the cat out. It's a case of you get what you pay for. Bars are better than plastic enclosures for small furries, but check the clips that hold bars to plastic trays are not going to give way to a determined cat. It's a good idea to keep the cage in a room that can be closed off from other pets when the house is empty of humans.

Our cats were regular hunters of mice and brought in the odd bird, but they were uninterested in both the rats and guinea pigs that shared our house with them. 

It goes to show that you just can't tell.

. 

Back To Reality.

We've been out of the country over Easter, and one of the countries our family visited was Sri Lanka.
We've been to Asia a few times in the past, but only to places like Hong Kong and Singapore, during stopovers on long-haul flights. Sri Lanka was a new experience for us.
 Driving through Colombo, we saw how genuinely poor people live; crowded into makeshift wooden shelters that most people in the UK would be ashamed to have as a garden shed.

When we travelled south to our villa, just out of Galle, people seemed slightly better off. The walls of their houses were made of concrete blocks, and the roofs looked at least waterproof. There still seemed to be too many people to possibly live in one small room, but the houses looked solid, permanent.
In the area we stayed in, there were a lot of ruined buildings especially on the coast road. Of course these were remnants of the 2004 Tsunami, in which at least 30 000 people died.

Sri Lanka has many stray dogs. We did see some dogs wearing collars, but if they were pets they seemed to spend a lot of time wandering along the roads with all the rest.
Most of the dogs we saw were obviously unowned, with signs of skin disease and lameness but there were very few that looked like walking skeletons. Most seem to get enough to eat by hanging around restaurants, hotels, villages and temples.

Dogs in Sri Lanka appear to have a lot more road sense than dogs in the UK. I saw many of them check the road for vehicles before stepping out into the traffic but I guess they learn this the hard way.

And you'll see by my photos, that a lot of these dogs look similar. The ones we saw were all the size of small Labradors and most had a short coat in some shade of brown.We did see a couple of German Shepherds at a guest house, but I'm pretty sure they must have been imported from somewhere. And we did see one smaller dog, living on an island that had a black and white shaggy coat; so was maybe a collie cross of some kind? No one spoke enough English to satisfy my curiosity, so I'll just have keep wondering.

I asked our driver what people did if they found an ill or injured dog and it seems ill dogs are avoided due to the risk of rabies. He did mention the possibility of taking an injured one to a vet, but most vets specialise in farm animals, so are mainly concerned with production. in most areas, there simply isn't usually the money available for specialised equipment or drugs for companion animals.

Many people in the UK consider their pets a right, not a luxury, but a visit to a less wealthy country should be able to convince most reasonable people otherwise. We didn't witness any animal cruelty on our travels, but it's obvious that people in Sri Lanka struggle to provide their families with the basic necessities of life, so the needs of animals such as dogs must be way down that list.



 

I Hope They Name Him 'Lucky'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12944317


Coastguards patrolling the coastline of Japan for survivors that may have been washed out to sea by the tsunami that hit the country's north-east coast three weeks ago, have rescued a dog found living on the roof of a floating house.


If you watch the video found in the link above, you can see that the dog is obviously hungry but appears otherwise healthy.


This must be the luckiest dog on the planet, surely?

Read My Guest Posts

The Visiting Vet has done a few guest posts lately, one at Mum’s The Word and now one at Little Mummy. If you haven’t already, go and have a read of them and please, leave a comment to let me know what you think.

There Is No Immunity For Vets.

Being a vet can is an emotionally draining job.

 Our patients are rarely 'just animals' to us and we often get more involved than is probably wise. We celebrate when things go well and someones pet is made well again, and grieve alongside the owner when results are not what we wished for and then again when all hope is lost.

We all have lost sleep over cases that have had less than ideal outcomes, and have wondered if we could have done things differently. We have moments of self doubt and sometimes advising clients on what they 'should do' makes us feel completely inadequate.

Of course, unless the patient is in agony, with no hope of recovery, we can't tell you what to do with your pet. There are almost always choices to be made, and unfortunately we often need to run more tests, which cost more money- money, clients sometimes don't have readily available. 

And even if the tests are affordable, should they be done?  Are they invasive? What will they tell us? Will we be able to fix the problem?  These are questions clients ask us and we ask ourselves every day.

Today The Old Boy went down the road to a local surgery to have a broken tooth out and a couple of lumps removed. The lumps were cysts and the sore tooth won't trouble him again but his blood results show some abnormalities. His liver isn't not be doing its job properly and his kidneys aren't what they used to be. I was trying to listen to his blood chemistry results during the school pick up this afternoon, and then didn't have a chance to ring back later. I'll find out more tomorrow. But it's clear all is not well with him.

The weight loss I've noticed probably isn't down to an improved exercise regime after all, and that panting I've noticed may have another cause rather than sitting next to the radiator. The Old Boy is 10, and had a spinal stroke in 2009. He sleeps a lot these days and can't get in the car without assistance, but is happy to eat his food and come for walks with The Lurcher. I want him to have a good quality of life, I don't want him to waste away in a corner.

There are tough decisions ahead for our household and I too will be seeking advice from vets. I will ask my colleagues ' What would you do?'They will offer me words but I know they can't really help me. 

It's going to be me that has to make the ultimate decision. It's such a hard thing to do.

Even for a vet.

TVIL: Should I spay my bitch?

I received this question via email from someone who follows me on twitter but for some technical reason I haven't been able to email them a reply. Sometimes my computer doesn't like AOL addresses, sorry.
So I'm popping it up on here in the hope that the person who emailed me reads it. Let me know if you do! Hopefully my answer to you might help other people to decide whether to spay their bitches, or not, as well.


Dear Jacq

I wonder if you would be so kind to advise me about my little rescue whippet cross (aged 3-5yrs approx).

When I saw her at Battersea Dogs Home (Christmas just gone), I was advised that they would spay her before I took her home. Then, on the morning of the op, they called to say that they had found a mid-line scar and were certain she'd already been spayed (They did say that if for some reason they were wrong, they would spay for free), so off I went to collect her. When I got her home and she rolled over on my bed, I had a good look and saw no sign of a scar. Low and behold, within a week of being home, she came into season. So, now I have the spaying dilema. I had my previous greyhound bitch spayed, as I also had an entire boy greyhound at the time. She was very sorry for herself after the spaying, for quite some time, and I felt awful for putting her through it.

My dilema is that I feel like I'm having her spayed for my own convenience, for boy dog hassle free walks etc, as I no longer have a male dog at home. I know all about pyometra and mammary tumours, so I know that it would be good for her in that respect. The last dog I had spayed was about 13 years ago, so I imagine the procedure may have advanced since then.

 Please could you tell me your thoughts on spaying and how long they take to recover etc.

 Kind Regards and thank you in advance, S

Dear S,

I do think you should have her spayed.

It might be invasive surgery but is very routine these days. You can specifically request that an experienced vet does the surgery, and check she will be given pain relief during the surgery so she wakes up pain free. Hounds aren't the bravest dogs in the world ( I have one myself!) so ask if you can have some pain relief for the next few days post op. The anaesthetics used these days ( as opposed to 13 years ago) are much easier on the dogs,so they have less of a hangover.

You can expect your bitch to be a little subdued for a couple of days but by day 3-4 you will probably have trouble keeping her on lead.

Most vets like to wait until 3 months after the last season to spay a bitch. This is to minimise blood loss and prevent a large drop in hormone levels once the reproductive system is removed.

Any risks of spaying are firmly outweighed by the advantages. Your pet will have no chance of contracting uterine or ovarian cancer and her chances of developing breast cancer are also lessoned. Pyometra is an infection of the womb that most commonly occurs in middle aged bitches. After each season without pregnancy, the lining of the uterus thickens a little and it is these changes that cause pyometra to develop 1-2 months after her heat. A bitch with pyometra will need spaying but the surgery will cost at least twice as much as the routine equivalent, as your pet will need antibiotics and iv fluids, and the surgery is more complicated. She will have a bigger scar and will take longer to recover. Some affected dogs need hospitilisation and more intensive nursing and in some cases a bitch with pyometra will die.

A spayed bitch can not get accidently pregnant, leaving you with puppies to rear and find homes with and she is less likely to get stolen for breeding purposes. This is a very common problem with sight hounds unfortunately.

As you can see, spaying a bitch is not just a matter of convenience for you, but is important for her health as well. She will have a couple of quiet days but hopefully will bounce back from her operation very quickly compared to your last greyhound.

Best of luck  with whatever you decide.

Jacq

Think Twice About Touching WIldlife.

Today I'm guest posting over Mum's The Word about what to do if you find an abandoned wild animal this spring.
Check it out here