Learn from the vets

Many bird species kept as pets, particularly parrots, are highly intelligent and very sensitive to their environment. Being a bright spark is all well and good when you can explore the wide world, but can become a problem when you are confined to a cage or aviary.

In an effort, I can only assume, to bring merit to my writing, my beloved pooch recently decided to test my knowledge (and nerves) by ingesting toxic and dangerous substances not once but TWICE in one day!

It is possible for any bitch that has not been spayed to exhibit symptoms of pregnancy without actually being pregnant.

Clawing in cats is a natural, instinctual behaviour that helps remove old claw sheaths and acts as a marking behaviour. As many frustrated cat owners will testify, these natural behaviours are all well and good until they involve systematic destruction of your furniture!

Just like us, our feline friends can suffer from high blood pressure. This is usually a condition of older cats and can occur on its own or secondary to other elderly cat diseases such as kidney failure and hyperthyroidism (an over active thyroid gland).

We've all fallen victim to a bad hair day at some point or another, but luckily for us it's only covering a small portion of our bodies. However when our pets have a bad hair day, not only is more like a bad hair week, it covers their entire body, not to mention they can't just jump in the shower and wash it away.