27/10/2008 by Arielle.

My heading is a bit deceiving - I do not mean be frightened of old cats with long claws, but be aware that old cats can end up in a lot of pain if their claws are not checked regularly!

I had a client in today with her 18 year old cat which was limping. On close examination, I saw that one of her claws had grown right round and into the pad. It was so sore to touch and bled once the claw was safely clipped. I had to put her onto antibiotics as well as the claw in the pad had resulted in bacteria causing a nasty infection.

I obviously clipped all her claws and the relieved owner said that she would probably now not end up always caught in the carpet.

Clipping cats’ claws is an easy procedure but just take care to clip only the tip where it hooks as there is a nerve and blood vessel that you can cut if you cut too high.

See an accompanying article in my site for further advice

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20/10/2008 by Arielle.

I just had the word ‘parrot’ marked on the computer as my next client to call through. I expected to see a large covered cage with an African Grey parrot in it and was startled to call through a couple with a huge pet carrier on wheels and a beautiful Macaw hanging onto the door of the cage.

They had called her Tess and she needed her nails clipped. I had a lovely young human physiotherpaist watching my consultations with me as she wants to become a pet physiotherapist. We both marvelled at the beauty of Tess (I had never dealt with a Macaw before) but then I had to work out a way of safely clipping her very sharp claws without stressing her to much or getting bitten.

The owner held her on his arm and she let out an almighty squawk and shed all the morning’s breakfast down his leg. I went to fetch my satsuma that I had for my lunch to bribe her to stay still.

When I started the procedure (trying to avoid her extra long hooked beak), she took fright and flew to the furthest spot of my room; her huge wings flapping in the small space and all I could see was Anya the physiotherapist hiding her head in her hands as the huge Macaw tried to land on her head but then realised it would have no hold and landed on my computer instead.

After all the excitement, I realised that Tess was actually quite tame and I just got on with the job and quickly popped her back into her large pet carrier. Anya was relieved. My satsuma remained uneaten!

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15/10/2008 by Arielle.

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13/10/2008 by Arielle.

My last consultation of the morning was a very emotional one. A young couple brought in their two 5 month old kittens Belle and Jasmine with suspected smoke inhalation.

They had been woken at 2am by smoke pouring through their ceiling and a fire burning their house. The neighbours semi-detached home had caught alight and it has spread into their home. They were able to get all 6 cats out of the house (luckily the neighbour had no pets), but Belle and Jasmine took fright with the fire engines arriving and darted indoors through the catflaps.

The owner was ready to rush in after them but the house was full of smoke so 1 fireman went in to find them. The owners were both very shaken and emotional and both exhausted. I was thrilled to put their minds at rest that both kittens were fine. The smell of smoke in my room was very strong but both kittens were bright and Belle was purring so much that I struggled to hear her chest sounds.

I asked the owners where the fireman had found the cats and he said he had not asked but was sure that they would been to hide under the stairs - their favourite hiding place when strangers enter their home. They were born in that very spot. I reassured him  that this would been an ideal spot as the smoke from upstairs would not have travelled there. All I advised was bathing both kittens as they would have licked the smoke off their fur. What an ordeal for all of them!

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04/10/2008 by Arielle.

Every evening when I return from work, my children ask me what I have seen in my day. Today’s memorable consultations have to be a gorgeous black Pug puppy called Bubu for his second vaccinations. The owners made me laugh when they said that when he was 6 weeks old, you could not make out any facial features in his tiny squashed black face!

My second memorable case was a Pekin duck that came in. The owner had rescued 3 of them quite literally from the pot (they are the breed used to fatten up for Pekin duck - a delicacy in certain restaurants - not the ones I go to!!)

She had 3 ducks that lived in her garden but had the freedom to leave her property and go onto the canal to swim. She had found one dead and one with a large open wound on his neck on the canal. There were no feathers anywhere so she did not imagine it was a fox or dog but was concerned that a very territorial swan had attacked them.

We x-rayed the dead duck and found a pellet in his chest. How cruel some people can be with such beautiful creatures. She now had the evidence needed to report the incident with the x-ray. The duck that came into my consulting room appeared bright, made a huge mess with his water and droppings all over my consulting room floor; but hopefully will respond well to the antibiotic treatment and will live with his pellet buried in the muscle in his neck.

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01/10/2008 by Arielle.

If you followed the previous entry about Harvey belonging to the old man (Where identichipping a cat was possibly the wrong thing) - it has a happy ending! The original owners were contacted and as Harvey had been missing for so long, they had acquired 2 new cats. They felt that he would be very put out to return home to 2 extra cats and were just happy to hear that he was alive and being well looked after.

The old man was thrilled and will probably have many more happy years ahead of him (even at the age of 94) with his pampered companion.

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