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HE is on a mission to assist our pets . . . and is right here to reply YOUR questions.
Sean, who’s the pinnacle vet at tailor-made pet meals agency tails.com, has helped with homeowners’ queries for ten years.
4 This week Sean helps a reader with a frisky feline Credit score: Alamy
4 Sean McCormack, head vet at tails.com, guarantees he can ‘assist maintain pets blissful and wholesome’ Credit score: Equipped
He says: “In case your pet is performing humorous or is beneath the climate, otherwise you wish to learn about diet or train, simply ask. I may also help maintain pets blissful and wholesome.”
Q: MY cat Mick retains bringing a feline good friend house.
I get up and there’s at all times one other white cat there in the home with him.
I really like that Mick is a sociable animal — however isn’t this uncommon for a cat?
I believed they have been meant to be territorial?
How can I clear up it?
Emma Hollick, Basingstoke, Hants
Sean says: Good outdated Mick, the women’ man.
Or man’s man, all cool!
Though we’re instructed that usually cats are fairly anti-social, they’ll additionally develop pleasant bonds with different cats.
If you wish to exclude his new playmates, then I like to recommend a microchip-operated cat flap which can permit Mick in however not his mates.
And sure, I’d contemplate one other cat good friend when you can, there are such a lot of in rehoming centres needing good houses.
Q: I’VE received a hyperactive hamster. Generally Brian runs so quick on his wheel, he flies out.
Is he an adrenaline junkie?
Severely, is there the rest I can do to expend his power, as a result of I need him to be as blissful as doable?
He has three ranges in his cage, and plenty of tubes to run in.
I additionally deal with him so much.
Sophie Stuart, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Sean says: That is commonplace hamster behaviour, and a sign of maybe some of the severe mismatches for the way we are likely to maintain sure pets.
Hamsters within the wild roam giant distances each evening, scurrying about discovering and stockpiling meals for leaner instances, and searching for mates within the breeding season.
They cowl plenty of floor.
In fact, once we place them into usually fairly tiny cages, all that power has to return out someplace and it will usually be on the addictive, high-reward thrill-ride of an train wheel.
My advice is to hamster- proof a room and let Brian out to discover every night and work off a few of that power in a extra complicated setting than his cage.
Supervised, in fact.
Q: WE have a ten-year-old Shih Tzu canine referred to as Ralph and for the final 4 years we now have lived with my companion’s daughter and her husband and their two Shih Tzus.
As Ralph spends plenty of time with them, is he going to have the ability to regulate to life with out them once we transfer quickly to a brand new house?
Graham Dutty, Southport, Merseyside
Sean says: Briefly, sure he’ll regulate over time to being a solo canine.
Will he take pleasure in that course of?
Most likely not, initially.
Will he be lonely at instances? Sure.
It appears a good time to contemplate whether or not you may assist one other canine, ideally a rescue searching for a great house.
If you happen to don’t assume it’s time to turn out to be a two-dog household, I’d attempt to discover some mates he will get together with you could go on walks with, or have over for play dates.
Q: WHY are cats fearful of cucumbers? I put one subsequent to my cat Fergus and he ran off.
I’m puzzled. Are there every other fruits and veg I should be cautious of?
Bryan Downs, Crayford, South East London
Sean says: It’s bizarre, eh? I’ve seen these movies too. My interpretation is that it have to be an instinctive worry of lengthy objects, which might have protected their ancestors from snakes.
It is also startling to have a weird-shaped object positioned beside you with out realising, when you’re alleged to be a stealth predator.
So perhaps it’s not the cucumber itself and only a social media pattern that went viral.
Acquired a query for Sean? SEND your queries to vet@the-sun.co.uk
Star of the week
TED the cat likes nights out on the tiles a lot his proprietor has constructed him his personal devoted SHED to snooze in till she wakes up.
Julie Bow, 56, of Plymstock, Devon, mentioned her 13-year-old puss gave her a morale enhance when she was made redundant following Covid – however then he used to wake her yowling at 4am wanting to return in from late-night prowls.
4 Ted the cat likes nights out on the tiles
So she kitted out her backyard shed with a cat scratching submit, raised camp mattress and cozy seating and referred to as it Ted’s Cat Cave so he can nap till morning.
Julie mentioned: “Now we’re each getting our magnificence sleep.”
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The canine ate my underwear and socks!
DOGS and cats have been gobbling up their homeowners’ underwear and socks – main to large vet payments and pet insurance coverage claims.
Tesco Financial institution has revealed it had 1,250 claims final yr for pets consuming objects they need to not, which blocked their abdomen or have been poisonous.
4 Tesco Financial institution has revealed they’d 1,250 claims final yr for pets consuming objects they should not Credit score: Alamy
Puppies have been answerable for 41 per cent of those claims final yr, with a mean worth of £1,215.
Grownup canines have been much more mischievous, accounting for 51 per cent of claims final yr, averaging £1,561.
Though cats are far much less more likely to eat issues they ought to not, it really works out way more costly in the event that they do – with almost 100 claims, averaging £12,936.
Different objects eaten by pets embrace golf balls, hen bones, toys and stones.
Alex Cross, Insurance coverage Director at Tesco Financial institution, mentioned: “Anybody with a canine will know that the outdated excuse ‘My canine ate my homework’ is way nearer to the reality than one would possibly assume.
“Our inner claims reveal that some pets are tempted to eat no matter they’ll get their paws on, which may result in surprising payments.
“It serves as a reminder that pet homeowners ought to maintain the place they depart their issues in case they’re in attain of their mischievous pups or curious cats.”
