Deafness in Cats and Dogs

Deafness is often difficult to assess accurately, mainly because pets are not able to tell us when they have trouble hearing. Usually, it is their failure to obey our commands or respond to familiar noises that first alerts us to …

Hair Loss in Rabbits

There are four main causes for a rabbit suffering from hair loss, known as ‘alopecia’. These include ringworm, fur mites, behaviourally-induced hair loss and a disease called ‘sebaceous adenitis’.

You may have heard of ‘ringworm’ which is a disease that can affect different species including rabbits, dogs, cats and humans. It’s a condition primarily characterized by areas of hair loss. Ringworm is actually not a ‘worm’ at all. Ringworm is a type of fungus that grows within the outer layer of an animal’s skin and hair. The technical name for ringworm is ‘dermatophyte’. Dermatophytes are not very common in adult rabbits, they are more common in young rabbits due to an immature immune system.

Cats Sucking on Wool

Sucking, and wool sucking in particular, is a common behaviour in cats. While the causes are unknown, it is most often seen in Siamese or Burmese cats, suggesting that there may be a genetic basis to this behaviour.

A possible …

Senior Dogs

“It seems just like yesterday that you were a puppy”. Time flies when you are having a good time. But for our four-legged companions, time flies even faster. If you are a giant breed dog, you may be considered a …

Thinking of Getting a Cat?

Should I get a cat and why choose a cat over another pet

Why do people choose cats over other pets?

Cats are the most prevalent domesticated animal, 63 million of them are kept as pets around the world! Cats …

Hermit Crabs – Molting

Imagine what it would be like if every time you grew an inch, your skin got so tight that you had to shed it! Our human skin grows with us; however, hermit crabs (a popular exotic pet in recent years) …

Probiotics for Dogs and Cats

“Probiotics” is a general term used to describe bacteria or yeast that may potentially be beneficial to health when supplemented in the diet. Most probiotics used for humans and animals are normal inhabitants of the gut and they are often …

Cancer in Cats and Dogs – Pet tip 230

The word cancer scares the heck out of most people. Most of us know someone that has had cancer and many of us know of friends or family members that have died of cancer. In terms of a basic definition, …

Tip 74 – Jealousy and dogs – Is my dog a jealous dog?

Despite the fact that jealousy is a human emotion, many dog owners can attest to the fact that their dogs seem to exhibit jealousy related behaviours. Usually this occurs when a new person enters a dog’s household and spends time …

Dog Tails – Why Dogs Wag their Tails

“….In some ways, tail-wagging serves the same functions as our human smile, polite greeting, or nod of recognition. Smiles are social signals, and human beings seem to reserve most of their smiles for social situations, where somebody is around to see them. Sometimes, vicarious social situations, as when watching television or occasionally when thinking about somebody special, can trigger a smile. For dogs, the tail wag seems to have the same properties. A dog will wag its tail for a person or another dog. It may wag its tail for a cat, horse, mouse, or perhaps even a butterfly. But when the dog is by itself, it will not wag its tail to any lifeless thing. If you put a bowl of food down, the dog will wag its tail to express its gratitude to you. In contrast, when the dog walks into a room and finds its bowl full, it will approach and eat the food just as happily, but with no tail-wagging other than perhaps a slight excitement tremor. This is one indication that tail-wagging is meant as communication or language. In the same way that we don’t talk to walls, dogs don’t wag their tails to things that are not apparently alive and socially responsive.

A dog’s tail speaks volumes about his mental state, his social position, and his intentions. How the tail came to be a communication device is an interesting story.