I walked into the house after a particularly long day at work and was greeted by the shredded roll of toilet paper that lay strewn across my living room floor like some sort of white paper carpet laid out to welcome me. I followed the bits through the house and into the bathroom, where my kitten was proudly finishing off the cardboard roll. Right then and there I swore I would never get a kitten again. But then she looked up from her kill and gave me the most loveable little meow with a face that just oozed how happy she was to see me. I was almost fooled but quickly regained my senses as I remembered that that was my last roll of toilet paper….

As a vet I can’t recommend microchips highly enough. I’ve seen so many grateful owners reunited with their pets through microchips and too many times I’ve watched the clock ticking by as dogs and cats lie injured whilst we try desperately to find their owners. Without the owner to give consent, and tell us their wishes are for their pet, vets can only administer pain relief and other first aid.

At this time of year many people are planning their summer holidays, and so need to make arrangements for their pets too. Some people use their family, friends or pet-sitters to care for their pets in their own home; others prefer to use a boarding service, either in a home setting or a kennels or cattery. The choice is a personal one and depends on the services available in the area. As pets are members of the family, it is important to make arrangements that you are happy with.

Whichever type of service you decide to use, there are several ways in which you can help to make it a happy experience for your dog or cat:

Vets are very used to dogs, cats and small furries developing growths on various parts of their anatomy. We very often take a small sample of the growth by means of a needle (known as a fine needle aspirate or FNA) before deciding what action to take. In most cases the growth is removed surgically.

Skitzo was a 9 year old cat with something of an attitude to being handled by vets (and sometimes his owner). A fast growing lump had come up beneath his right eye and was very close to the edge of the eyelid. A fine needle aspirate was impossible in this case without him being anaesthetised so we decided to remove the lump and send it off to the lab for the pathologists to tell us what tissue type we were dealing with….

Cat is the vet for petstreet.co.uk; an on-line social networking site for pet lovers.

This afternoon I had a consult with a women who had recently bought a Bichon Frise puppy and was at her wits end. The pup was refusing to settle at night and she hadn’t slept properly for several days. But, she wailed, as soon as she cracked and took the pup upstairs to bed with her, she settled down quickly and slept though the night with no problems. And there in lay the problem.

Leaving the litter and their mother is a very stressful time for a new puppy; not only have they been taken on by a completely new set of people and moved into a new home, it is also likely to be the first time they have ever been left on their own.  So, it is very common for them to not settle well for the first few nights.  However, there are several things you can do to help them; the most important of which is to NOT give in!…….

Gizmo was a lovable cat who had been known to the practice for many years. In fact he had reached the tremendous age of 21 years with no major health problems until his teeth started to loosen and he had difficulty eating. We are always extremely cautious with giving anaesthetics to aged cats so we took some blood tests for organ function which came back completely normal. He came through his dental with flying colours.

A couple of months later he came back with a very painful leg, swollen around the left knee (stifle). When we X-rayed the leg our worst fears were confirmed: Gizmo had bone cancer….

One recent morning, in the middle of the snowy weather, it was a real struggle to get to work. After a difficult journey, I was surprised to find that the nurse was already checking in a patient. A motorist had found a seriously injured fox which had been hit by a car.

He hadn’t seen the accident happen, so he did not know how long the fox had been lying by the road, and we can only hope that no-one was injured in the accident. All the cars in front of him had pulled out round the fox, but he had stopped. On finding the fox was still alive, he picked it up and put it in his boot and brought it to the surgery…..

Joe Inglis BVSc MRCVS is the vet for the One Show, This Morning and BBC Breakfast. He runs his own line of natural pet food called Pet’s Kitchen

As you may have seen there was an article in The Daily Mail recently about pet food and the dangers some processed foods can potentially pose to pets’ health. I was interviewed briefly for this and I’m quoted talking about the problems that artificial additives can cause.

The rest of the article is not so great though, pedalling many of the myths and un-scientific arguments that are put forward by people who believe that all commercial pet foods are terrible and the cause of all ill health in pets. In particular the arguments that feeding foods containing carbohydrate is responsible for urinary and renal disease in cats, something which has been clearly shown not to be true, and the claim that the only healthy way to feed a pet is on raw chicken wings.

Young Rusty the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel had an embarrassing problem. Everything was going well until he started to cock his leg at about five months of age. Instead of watering the local lampposts, Rusty urinated on the underside of his body and his skin was starting to get sore.

His owners were becoming very distraught about the problem. It meant Rusty had to be bathed at least once a day and his skin was starting to get sore where it was constantly wet. Something drastic had to be done…..

We had decided the time was right to get a second boxer for all sorts of reasons. Most importantly, it was right for our older boxer to get a new companion while she was still young enough to enjoy her….

Tilly had her first and second puppy vaccinations at 10 weeks and at 12 weeks old. She had a full examination first and was completely healthy. She also continued her worming course, which is very important as most pups are born with worms even if the dam was wormed properly.