Commenting on the completion of the final stages of the passing of the Bill through the Oireachtas, Donal Lynch, President, Veterinary Ireland, stated “this is welcome news for Animal Health and Welfare in Ireland. The 2013 Bill once enacted will replace and update the Protection of Animals Act of 1911 and all subsequent animal welfare related legislation and will give us one of the most modern legislative frameworks for animal health and welfare in the world, one that I have no doubt other countries will aspire to. The Act will support our aspirations for the highest standards of animal health and welfare in Ireland”.

Veterinary Ireland congratulates the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, T.D. and his officials for the excellent work in bringing such a detailed, comprehensive and considered piece of legislation to fruition, and for the inclusive way this Bill was brought to bear.

Veterinary Ireland looks forward to working with the Minister and his officials on the Regulations that will follow the Act to give full effect to the legislation.

Commenting on the Bill, Alan Rossiter, MVB a Companion Animal Vet in Greystones, Co. Wicklow and Past-President of Veterinary Ireland stated “one provision we particularly welcome is the absolute ban contained in the Bill to prohibit cosmetic procedures on animals, and also the ban on the showing of animals that have had cosmetic procedures performed upon them. We have for many years requested that tail docking of dogs is prohibited and we are now delighted that all dogs can keep their tails and not have them removed at a few days of age by unqualified persons, using no pain relief and inappropriate instrumentation. We will be working with the Minister to finalise the detail of this prohibition and to examine if there is any scientific evidence to justify the preventative docking of individual working dogs”.

ANTIFREEZE is deadly for dogs and cats. It’s sweet tasting and they will often drink it if they find it spilt, or if it drips from a car radiator. If your pet drinks it you need to get to the vet as fast as you can – this is an extreme emergency. Left untreated any pet that has ingested antifreeze WILL die from seizures and/or acute kidney failure, and even with treatment they may well die. It’s absolutely deadly.

For treatment the vet will induce vomiting to bring up any unabsorbed amounts of the antifreeze and will then give a dose of activated charcoal that will stop any that didn’t get vomited up from being absorbed. If your pet is having seizures the vet will have to give drugs to control these.

And here the crazy thing – the next part of the treatment is to give a vodka drip! Seriously, this is the antidote for antifreeze. The alcohol in the vodka stops the chemical in antifreeze (ethylene glycol) from being broken down into the toxic metabolites that in turn cause seizures and acute kidney failure – and death. So if you ever see vodka on your vet’s pharmacy shelf in the practice – that’s why it’s there!!

A percentage of dogs each year will show heightened or extreme (phobic) fear responses to fireworks. Preventative advice may help reduce the occurrence or development of these responses. A fearful temperament can be inherited, and a percentage of dogs in the population will, as result of their genetic makeup be more likely to respond with fear to a variety of situations.

Studies have found that events which are unpredictable, and which the animal is unable to control in any way (including removing themselves from the situation) result in high levels of stress. The unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of fireworks, from a dog’s perception is likely to contribute to the high levels of fear displayed by many pets during the Halloween season. Unfortunately, the behaviour is frequently unwittingly reinforced or rewarded by the owner’s behaviour (comforting and reassuring the animal when fear responses are displayed). The level of fear displayed by the pet frequently increases year by year unless intervention or treatment by the owner is undertaken.

Treatment of fearful or phobic responses to Halloween related activities usually require some or all of the following steps to be carried out

Minimise exposure

Dogs should be kept indoors at times when fireworks are likely to be heard. This may require that the owner exercises the dog earlier in the day. If this is not possible, extra stimulation may be given through the use of food releasing toys, play sessions, etc.

Radio and television may help to drown out the noises from outdoors. Similarly, closed curtains and windows will help reduce exposure.

Removing the dog from the vicinity of high levels of fireworks activity (e.g., by taking the pet out of the city during Halloween) where possible may benefit the dog by reducing exposure and resultant increases in fear.

Increase stimulation

Ensuring that the dog is tired will in many cases increase the likelihood of the dog relaxing and even sleeping at times of greatest fireworks activity. Walking the dog, play sessions, delivering the rations through food releasing toys all help to use up the dog’s energy and reduce activity levels at the end of the day.

Provide retreat area

Many dogs retreat to a secluded area in the house in response to hearing fireworks. This should be allowed, and that area made as comfortable as possible for the dog. It is vital that owners do not reassure the dog during a display of fearful behaviours as by doing so, they may be unwittingly reinforcing or rewarding these behaviours.

Medication

Few medications are likely to overcome the fear response of dogs to fireworks, particularly if the level of fear is high. However, in conjunction with the measures outlined above, medication may be of benefit to the dog to reduce the level of fear and increase the welfare of the dog during the Halloween period. It is though only your vet who will be able to give you the proper, specific advice on medication for your pet, and who can prescribe certain classes of medications (anxiolytics, sedatives), so whilst this the information below is informative, you will need to talk to your vet about what is best for your pet.

Anxiolytic medications needs to be administered for a period of 3 to 4 weeks before maximum benefit can be enjoyed by the dog. Therefore, these drugs need to be administered several weeks in advance of Halloween period where established fear problems exist.

The use of sedatives may be the most suitable approach where high levels of fear are likely to occur over a relatively short period of time. Other approaches that may be beneficial, particularly if the level of fear is not of phobic proportions include:

a)     Pheromones (DAP/Adaptil)

b)     Tryptophan supplements (e.g., KalmAid)

c)     Milk proteins (Zylkene)

On a long-term basis recurrent fear of fireworks (and also thunderstorms or other fear inducing noises) can be greatly reduced through the use of systematic desensitization and counter-conditioning. Therefore this is not a feasible option for overcoming fear of Halloween activities unless you plan several weeks to months ahead.

Orla Doherty MVB MSc MRCVS

www.animalbehaviourclinic.ie

Are stray, feral cats a problem in your area? I’ve recently had an experience that clearly demonstrates the best way to deal with this perennial issue.

I was visiting  the housing estate where I used to live,  fifteen years ago. I was talking to a former neighbour, when a large distinctive looking ginger tom cat strolled by. I recognised him: the upper half of his left ear was missing. It was Ginga, a cat who I had last seen fifteen years previously when I lived in the area.

Ginga was one of the leaders of the feral cat colony that had begun to cause problems in the housing estate. Initially there had only been half a dozen cats, but they had begun to breed uncontrollably. At the start of the year, the three females had six kittens each: by the following spring, there was a core group of almost twenty adult cats who made their home in the area. A few kindly residents were leaving out some cat food but there wasn’t enough. The cats began to go hungry, and they soon started to annoy residents by ripping open bin bags,  creating a mess, in their efforts to avoid starvation. Something had to be done.

As the local vet, I decided to help. I put together a plan and presented it to the residents’ committee. Some people had already told me that they just wanted me to catch the cats and euthanase them but I explained  that this would not solve the problem. If this was done, within weeks or months, other feral cats from adjacent areas would notice that there was an area that had no cat population. They’d move in to occupy the territory and soon enough, we’d be back to the same situation, with a rapidly expanding population of unowned cats. The “catch and kill” policy has been proven many times to be ineffective.

The better answer, as I explained to the residents’ committee, was to carry out the type of Trap Neuter and Release (TNR) programme that I’ve discussed before in this column. I asked each resident in the estate for a donation, and I used the funds to trap all of the cats, neuter or spay them, then release them back into the estate. As it happened, when we trapped the cats, we found that a few of them were seriously ill, and we did have to euthanase those ones. A few other cats were rehomed to farms and stables that had been looking for cats to carry out rodent control. We ended up returning around a dozen cats, including Ginga. We’d reckoned that the area could comfortably host this number of feral cats without causing difficulties to the cats nor to the residents.

The plan worked: the smaller number of feral cats fitted well into the area. A few residents were happy to leave out food for them, and they did a good job of preventing rats and other rodents from causing a nuisance. The bin-raiding stopped, and the number of cats remained stable because they were no longer able to reproduce. At the time, I reckoned that we had solved the problem for around a decade: around then, the cats would begin to die from old age and there was a risk that a new bunch of feral cats might move in from other areas. At that point, a second phase of Trap/Neuter/Release might be needed.

In fact, the original scheme has had an even longer effect than I’d expected. Fifteen years later, Ginga is still there, the proud ringleader of his bunch of cats.. How do I know that the cat is the same animal? It’s obvious: the upper half of his left ear is missing. Ear tip removal is an important part of a feral cat control programme: if every cat that’s neutered has an ear tip removed, it’s easy to spot the ones that have been done, and those that still need to be trapped. I remember Ginga particularly well because the procedure was carried out by a new graduate vet who had not been involved with this type of programme before. Instead of just snipping off the top 1cm of his ear, he had taken a more radical approach, removing twice as much. It didn’t bother Ginga: he was deeply anaesthetised when it was done, and he would never look in a mirror, so he wouldn’t realise that he had a shorter ear than other cats.  But as a result, Ginga has a unique appearance: he’ll never be mistaken for any other animal.

Ginga is elderly now: his vision is dimming and as he’s become more reliant on humans, he’s become tamer. He’s had a good life, and along with his extended family, he’s done a good job of maintaining a pleasant environment in the housing estate.

Alan Rossiter, the 2012 President of Veterinary Ireland and a vet in practice in Greystones, Co. Wicklow adds the following:

Veterinary Ireland actively promotes Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) as the most effective and most humane way of dealing with the feral cat situation, and, as opposed to paying a pest control company to come in, trap and kill the cats, we encourage any organisation that need to deal with their feral cat ‘problem’ to employ TNR as their method of choice. Compared to ‘Trap and Kill’, the TNR method is more humane, works better, is often cheaper and portrays an image of a caring and compassionate company putting animal welfare at the forefront of their policy of social corporate responsibility.

As a positive example I worked with Tesco in Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow a few years ago where we trapped the few feral cats that where there, neutered them, found homes for 2 relatively tame little kittens and returned the remainder to the store.

There remained this small, healthy, stable population of cats doing a useful job. Not only that but my fee to do this was actually cheaper than it would have cost the store to engage a pest control company to trap and dispose of the cats - which in any event would only have resulted in new, feral cats coming back and presenting the same problem all over again several months later. I congratulate the local Tesco manager for agreeing to use this as their method of cat-control, as opposed to taken the ‘easy option’ of calling in a pest control company. It is, as they say, a no-brainer and I sincerely hope all supermarkets, hotels, hospitals, restaurants, resident’s organisations, etc. can see that this small trial I did with Tesco, and Ginga’s story so well told by Pete, are great examples of the way to go.

You can support the national TNR initiative by visting the ISPCA Spay Drive and making a donation. If you have a problem with feral cats in your area, contact www.feralcatsireland.org. 

Last weekend, I had to deal with a classic example of a “new puppy” crisis. Ms M had bought the pedigree Shih Tzu pup from breeder 9 days previously. The pup had collapsed the previous night, with bloody diarrhoea everywhere. When I saw the pup, his gums were white as a sheet, and he was lying totally flat-out, semi-conscious. Blood tests showed severe anaemia on top of everything else. The pup was dying & it was a Saturday morning. The pup had some type of overwhelming gastroenteritis, perhaps caused by Parvovirus. He needed intensive care to save him: this would will cost €€€€ & the pup might still die. The owner had spent the money on buying the pedigree pup & hadn’t enough to pay for the potential high costs nor had they taken out pet insurance. This situation is common.

How should vets deal with it?

The pup had been sold as “vaccinated”, but he was only 8 wks old, so could not possibly have been fully vaccinated & his vaccine certificates told a story…. there was no owner’s name and address, and no details of the animal. The certificate could be for any puppy rather than this individual. Furthermore, the certificate was not signed by a vet, so there was no certainty that the vaccines had been stored properly or given correctly. This vaccine cert means nothing at all but many members of the public are fooled by this sort of thing – they don’t know enough to realise that there’s a problem here.

So what to do? Ideally, I wanted to transfer puppy to the weekend emergency clinic for 24 hour supervision & care, i-v fluids, perhaps blood transfusion, antibiotics & all sorts of other possible interventions. But the cost of this would be several hundred Euro. And even then, the pup could still die. The owner could not afford this:they had to confront the option of having to have the pup euthanased as the only affordable way of preventing him from suffering.

For me, as a vet, this was also an emotional crisis. How could I euthanase an animal with the potential to live? But that said, I could not afford to pay his costs out of my own pocket. What could I do? I decided to do a deal with the owner: I was prepared to do everything within my own power to save him, taking him home and giving him the best care that I could organise under the circumstances. I would charge them a reduced fee, something which unfortunately is not usually possible, with the owners to pay this whether he lived or died. In return for this offer, they had to agree to allow me to publicise the case on Facebook and Twitter, so that other people could learn important messages from the little pup’s sad situation. This type of challenging case happens every week across Ireland, yet because it’s behind closed doors, no-one knows about it. I decided that it would be useful to share his story, so that others might be able to learn from it, and then maybe fewer pups will suffer the same fate in the future.

Over the weekend, there was genuine drama, as the pup rallied at first, then deteriorated, then after a blood transfusion, he rallied again. He ended up surviving, and will go on to be a healthy adult dog. Over ten thousand people followed his story on Facebook and every day, thousands more are logging on to read about this real life drama.

So what message do I want people to take away?

First, don’t just go and buy a puppy. Do your research first. The UK-based Advisory Council for Welfare Issues of Dog Breeding has launched an excellent web guide to buying a new puppy. The guide uses a simple question and answer format to lead the user through a wealth of information on topics ranging from time, cost, exercise/play and socialisation needs of puppies and dogs, through finding out about dog health, to obtaining a dog from a rehoming centre or finding and recognising a careful and reliable breeder. Visit http://www.dogadvisorycouncil.com/puppy/ to find out more.

Second, if you do get a pup, take him up to your local vet as soon as possible, so that he can be checked over, along with any paperwork that you’ve been given. The vet will be able to give you independent professional advice about what needs to be done to protect your new pup against disease and parasites. This may include basically ignoring any ‘vaccines’ that were given by the breeder if there is not a genuine veterinary certificate and commencing the vaccination course again.If in doubt this is the safest thing to do.

Third, make sure that your pup is insured from day one, so that if you have a dramatic medical crisis like this, you will be covered for the high costs of doing everything to save him. Whilst I was in a position to look after this pup for a reduced price as a one-off it is not possible for any vet to do this for all animals that come in.

And finally, rather than buying a new pup, why not consider taking on a rescue dog? You’ll be giving an unwanted animal a good home, and for less than it costs to buy a pedigree animal, you’ll be taking on a pet that has often been fully vaccinated, neutered and microchipped. So you’ll be getting good value as well as doing an animal a good turn.

Oh, and don’t forget to get your rescue dog insured too. Whatever type of animal you have, it’s worth taking steps to protect yourself against the emotional nightmare of having to consider euthanasia because you cannot afford the necessary vet bills.

Alan Rossiter, President Veterinary Ireland

Veterinary Ireland has a long standing policy that tail docking should be prohibited by law, this being in line with the policy of European and world veterinary associations (FVE and WSAVA). In addition the Veterinary Council of Ireland has ruled that tail docking should not be performed by a veterinary practitioner, be that for cosmetic or so called ‘prophylactic’ reasons in working dogs, and any vet performing this procedure is liable to investigation and censure by the Council. Thus if a vet is that if asked to dock puppies’ tails by a client they must refuse to do so.

However whilst the representative and regulatory bodies of the profession have clear and unambiguous policies on this matter, the law in Ireland is long outdated. Currently, and unbelievably, it is quite legal for any member of the public to dock tails of pups that are under one month of age, and indeed it is also legal for any member of the public to remove dew claws of pups whose eyes have not yet opened.

Tail docking is a procedure that is commonly done by or at the behest of the breeder, using no anaesthesia or analgesia, using unsuitable instruments and in unsterile conditions. This procedure causes pain, confers no medical benefit to the individual animal, and carries a high risk of post-operative infection and medium- to long-term pain.

Indeed in a recent survey undertaken by Veterinary Ireland revealed that 44% of all tail injuries seen by vets were as a direct result of tail docking itself. On the other hand a paper published in the Veterinary Record ¹ concluded that the incidence of tail injury is so low (about 0.2%) that it would be necessary to dock 500 pups to prevent one tail injury. Clearly the current situation  - where a vet cannot dock tails but anyone else can, where the risk of tail injury is tiny, and where a large proportion of tail injuries are due to this procedure – is ridiculous.

The very good news though is that tail docking will be prohibited in the Animal Health and Welfare Bill which is currently passing through the Oireachtas. Veterinary Ireland welcomes this and looks forward to the day when dogs can have and wag their tails without them being cut off as pups for no good reason.

There is, though, a minority of dog breeders who are of the opinion that tail docking should be permitted for ‘working dogs’ on the basis that the increased incidence and severity of tail injuries suffered by working dogs is of such significance that it justifies prophylactic tail docking of these dogs.

Clearly before a decision is made to legislatively permit the tail docking of all working dogs there has to be clear scientific evidence to support that contention. To justify the pain and risk of tail docking of all working dogs it is necessary to demonstrate that full-tailed working dogs suffer significantly more tail injuries than full-tailed non-working dogs.

From the available scientific evidence and experience of the veterinary profession, our organisation does not support this claim and therefore the Veterinary Ireland position is that there must be no exceptions in the Bill or in subsequent regulations for prophylactic docking of working breeds.

In addition to, and in support of, a complete prohibition on tail docking, Veterinary Ireland has also asked for the following additional measures to be included in the Bill:

• The showing of dogs docked after the introduction of the legislative ban on docking should be prohibited (as is the case in the UK). This is the best way to reduce the demand for docked dogs.

• It should be an offence to take an animal out of the jurisdiction to have it docked, even if that procedure is legal in the other jurisdiction. This is similar to Scottish legislation, where tail docking is prohibited with no exceptions for working breeds.

• In addition, dew-claw removal & ear-cropping in dogs and declawing in cats should also be specifically prohibited. This has also been requested by the Veterinary Council of Ireland.

References: 

1 Risk factors for tail injuries in dogs in Great Britain” (Ref: Veterinary Record 2010 Jun 26;166(26):812-7)

2. “Association between tail injuries and docking in dogs” (Ref: Veterinary Record 1985; 116: 409),

3. A recent survey of the profession undertaken by Veterinary Ireland revealed the following opinions of Irish vets:

• 98.8% of vets said tail docking caused pain
• 93% of tail injuries seen by vets are caused by reasons other than working/hunting, with 44% of tail injuries seen by vets were as a result of the tail docking procedure itself (infection/chronic pain)
• 89% of vets said tail docking should not be permitted for working dogs

Teaching your dog to accept brushing will take some training, but will be very beneficial to the dog once he is accustomed to the process. Daily brushing is most beneficial and will help to establish a routine for your pet, but brushing twice a week is acceptable if your schedule can’t accommodate daily brushing.

Water requirements – the way in which water is presented to a reptile is important, some (most) species will prefer to be able to partly submerge in water to drink, others may have a need to lick up droplets from surfaces such as plants or the sides of the vivarium. As a result daily misting is vital in these species.

Food sources – Reptiles will be broadly vegetarian, omnivorous or carnivorous in nature. It is important to avoid feeding animal protein to vegetarian species. Variation in the diet is important and the use of commercially available diets is advised as part of the food intake. It is important to realise that albino mutations of rodents will not be recognised as food by reptiles and should not be offered. Snakes must not be fed live prey. This causes suffering on the prey species and can lead to significant injury to the snake if bitten. We also see bite wounds from hungry crickets.

Supplementation – all captive reptiles will require supplementation especially with Calcium and vitamin D₃. It is important not to overdo supplementation. Getting the supplement into the reptile can be difficult. Dusting vegetables and insects with a powder is one way. Larger prey items can have the powder placed inside the mouth. Pre-loading livefood is a good option. In the wild the reptile ingests the entire insect including its bowel contents. So loading the gut of a cricket with calcium and vegetable matter can help balance the diet of your pet. Fish eating reptiles may become deficient in Thiamine due to the activity of enzymes in fish; in these cases supplementation with vitamin B1 will be needed.

Presenting the diet – carnivorous snakes may need to feel ‘confident’ before they will strike at prey. In these cases a dark box will be needed. Raising the temperature of defrosted carnivorous diets to 38⁰C will also help. All uneaten food should be removed quickly as it will go off, but in the case of livefood may start to ingest the reptile overnight (crickets do get hungry!).

As a general rule Lizards will need to be fed small amounts twice a day to every other day. Obesity in carnivorous species is common due to overfeeding.

Snakes can be fed twice a week to once every 14 days depending on size. Obesity in larger snakes is also common.

Tortoises will need feeding small quantities once every other day.

Bearded dragons come from Eastern Australia. They can grow up to 50 cm (1.5 feet) in length. They can live for up to 12 years in captivity.

Diet

They are omnivorous but take a greater percentage of herbivorous food as they age. Juveniles will take a higher percentage of invertebrate prey such as house crickets, black crickets and locusts. Waxworms and mealworms should be given in moderation. Livefood should be gut loaded with a high calcium content food (8% of calcium in the dry matter) and many products are commercially available. It is worth checking the label for the calcium content. Livefood should also be dusted with a high calcium balancer with no or minimal phosphorous content. Livefood should be fed immediately after dusting and eaten promptly. Dark leafy salad items and weeds should be the main vegetable matter offered and this also needs to be dusted with a calcium supplement.

Water

Water should always be available and a container is required which will allow the lizard to submerge completely. This should be changed daily.

Accommodation requirements

• A large a vivarium as possible should be provided, but at least 120 cm (4 feet) long x 60 cm (2 feet high) and 60 cm (2 feet) deep. This is required to enable a thermal gradient to be created along the length of the tank (hot to cold). Wooden or fibreglass vivaria are ideal as this provides the lizard with some visual security and ventilation can be provided at lizard level.
• Reptiles are ectothermic so a heat source is required. Typically a spot area is created using a spot bulb, providing a basking temperature of 40⁰C. This should be kept on all day. Temperatures should be measured to ensure the tank is not overheating. The cool end should be maintained at 25⁰C.    Background heat can be provided with a heat mat (on the back wall) a tubular heater, a heat plate or a ceramic bulb. This should be set on a thermostat so that the overnight temperature does not drop below 25⁰C. The temperatures should be measured with a maximum/minimum thermometer. During the cold winter months careful checking is required to ensure the heat sources are keeping the tank sufficiently warm. Heat sources should be guarded to prevent thermal burns.
• Bearded dragons must be exposed to UV-b light. The best sources are the mercury vapour lamps which give out heat as well. This will need to be on all day for 12 hours and at a distance of 30 cm (1 foot) from the lizard. A small branch or rock can be placed below the basking site. It is important to get the basking temperature correct. The mercury vapour lamps cannot be fitted to a thermostat. These lamps should be checked regularly for their UV output and should be changed at least annually.
• Good ventilation is required and many commercial vivaria are lacking good ventilation. Additional ventilation holes may need to be created.
• Hides are required to provide some security. Artificial plants, cardboard boxes, plant pots, logs or commercially available hides can be used. They should be placed both at the warm and cooler ends of the tank.
• Substrates suitable for housing lizards include newspaper, Astroturf and some of the commercially available substrates. It is important that the substrates either cannot be eaten, or if they are, do not cause blockages as this can prove fatal. Wood chip based substrates should never be used for this reason.
• The vivarium should be cleaned out at least once a week to help prevent disease and a suitable disinfectant used.

Companions

• In general the happiest lizard is the solitary lizard. Adults can be maintained in pairs or a harem.
• All reptiles can potentially carry Salmonella.
• However it is rarely a cause of illness and treatment is not required.
• It can be transmitted to people and good hygiene after handing the reptile is important. Generally washing your hands in soap is sufficient. There are commercially available disinfectants that can be used as an alternative.

Salmonella

• All reptiles can potentially carry Salmonella.
• However it is rarely a cause of illness and treatment is not required.
• It can be transmitted to people and good hygiene after handing the reptile is important. Generally washing your hands in soap is sufficient. There are commercially available disinfectants that can be used as an alternative.

Parasites

• Internal parasites are common but it is important to check what parasites are present as both pinworms and coccidiosis are commonly found and the treatments vary. It is best to get a faecal sample checked by your vet.
• Cryptosporidium is one that is of concern and special stains are required to detect if it is present.

 Signs of ill health – call your vet if you see any of these

• Anorexia – although lizards can go for a little while without eating it is important to get the lizard looked at early so that husbandry corrections or treatment can be started as it can take time for the lizard to respond.
• Dysecdysis – shedding problems are commonly seen and this can be due to husbandry problems or a sign of ill health.
• Poor growth – There are a number of reasons for a lizard to grow poorly and if your lizard is not growing it should be presented to your vet.
• Stomatitis – in many beardies dental disease can develop over time if fed on a poor diet and if there is any discolouration of the mouth veterinary advice should be sought.
• Metabolic bone disease – this is sadly still very common. Lizards may have difficulty moving around and feeding. It is important to get these checked out early on so that treatment can be started.
• Reproductive disease – many females can collapse while trying to produce eggs. It is important that these are presented promptly to your vet for medical or surgical treatment.

“Dog Training Made Easy” Video Library

In partnership with Dogs Trust, we are happy to present a series of videos – Dog Training Made Easy – to teach your dog basic training and commands. Carolyn Menteith, host of the 25 videos, guides dog owners through important topics such as handling your dog, biting, sitting, barking, digging, eating poo, commands such as sit, stay, and retrieve, and so much more.

These videos are around 2-5 minutes each and can be watched in order or individually. As a whole, the series aims to help you ensure your dog is socialable, well trained, and a happier dog.

To view, you can click on any of the videos in the mosaic below: