As this cold wintry snap continues to grip us all please make sure you take special care of your pets kept inside and out, as well as keeping a close eye on your garden guests too; because even with natural fur coats most animals will be struggling right now.
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A Happy National Rabbit Week to you all! If you own one (or more) of Britain’s third most popular pets, you’re thinking about getting one in 2009, or you’re just a fan of lagomorphs in general, then you’d better read on.
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In my last column of the year I urge you all to please consider how your festive celebrations may affect your pets, so we can all enjoy a safe and happy Christmas and New Year together.
Will your Christmas be spent at home or away? Leaving your pets at home will require the help of a responsible (and sober) friend or neighbour to visit, feed and care for them. Don’t forget that seasonal plants such as holly, poinsettia, ivy and mistletoe are all extremely toxic, so please think very carefully when you’re busy decking your halls.
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Christmas is exactly a month away and we’re all planning who’s getting what present, desperately trying not to leave anyone, or anything, out. But have you found your four-legged loved-ones’ special Yuletide gift yet? Most of you I’m sure will buy your pet special gifts all year round, but how about giving something original to honour this festive time of year?
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Our own back gardens have now become a fantastic refuge for our native species of birds, as they can actually find the countryside around them a hostile place these days.
So if you’ve a garden or a secluded area where birds can feed safely, then please try to do your bit to help them survive these coming winter months. The cold weather’s already arrived and we can all easily help out some of our commoner species such as blackbirds, blue tits, robins, starlings and sparrows by setting up a feeding station and keeping it well-stocked until the spring.
I still derive so much pleasure watching the comings and goings of birds, and within days you’ll even be able to recognise those regular visitors making routine visits to your garden in their daily search for food. You may even discover species you’ve never seen close-up before, such as the nervous nuthatch or even the stunning but extremely shy Great Spotted Woodpecker.
“Britain’s gardens are our biggest nature reserve”
Peanuts have long been a traditional favourite food but there is now such a wide range of specially prepared foods available you can even specialise in which birds you would like to attract.
Many of our favourite garden guests like the robin or thrush are not natural seed-eaters, much preferring fruit, berries, various insects, worms, grubs and snails; a diet fully catered-for by most bird-food producers, local pet shops and garden centres. When setting up a feeding station make sure your table or feeders are near to branches or perches where birds can land and look around – they need to feel safe before feeding. Also try not to put feeding stations too near thick bushes where a crafty cat might be hiding.
Please don’t feed birds rice, desiccated coconut or cooked meat. Bread isn’t very nutritious either, but it’s not harmful and should always be broken into tiny pieces. Scatter food on the floor for ground feeders such as song thrushes and chaffinches.
Provide birds with a fresh supply of water for drinking and bathing but never add salt, antifreeze or other chemicals to melt the ice. These hazardous substances can also prove deadly to our pets.
Find time to sit, relax and enjoy watching the birds in your garden. Combined, Britain’s gardens are our biggest nature reserve and go a long way to providing places where our native birds can not only just survive but also flourish.
Finally, please try to keep areas where the birds collect nice and clean. Sadly, they can become seriously ill, or even die when there’s a build-up of infected droppings. Prevent this by always cleaning your bird-table or patio regularly and changing their water frequently.
Following the discovery of dormice for the first time in Brighton earlier this month, I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you more about one of Britain’s rarest, most protected and intriguing species of mammal.
A few weeks ago a volunteer from the Friends of Waterhall, an environmental group concerning themselves with all aspects of looking after Waterhall Valley and Downland, found three dormice while cleaning out bird nesting-boxes which the group put up a few years ago.
Dormice are some of the smallest members of the rodent family, weighing roughly as much as two £2 coins; and with a body length of between six and 19 cm (2.4 and 7.5 in) these incredibly agile creatures make exceptionally good climbers and spend most of their time in trees.
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Most of us will find this time of year quite emotional. This Sunday’s Remembrance parades help us reflect on how lucky we really are as a nation and how it’s all due to those brave heroes that fought for us in every bloody battle, conflict and terrible war.
But does anyone ever consider those poor animals that helped bring us peace, employed by mankind for use in warfare? They didn’t volunteer – they had no choice.
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Harvest mite, only 1 mm in length
I think we can now safely assume that summer is well and truly over for another year, which means it’s time to look at some of the issues facing our pets this autumn.
“Small amounts of antifreeze can cause serious irreversible kidney damage and usually death”
As temperatures drop and the nights draw in, it’s extremely important to remember to continue (or even start!) decent anti-parasitic treatments to prevent problems associated with annoying fleas. These tiny wingless insects are always such a major cause of irritation to both pets and their owners and, with our centrally heated homes, are now a year-round menace.
This Sunday 7 September sees the 11th annual Sponsored Walk for the Animals, raising much needed funds for both excellent local charities; Cat Welfare Sussex and Sussex Pet Rescue; by far their biggest fundraising event of the year.
But for me, what makes this year’s sponsored walk even more special than the last ten is the effect of the current state of this country’s economy on our innocent pets. It may be credit crunch time for us humans, but never has there been such an increase in dumped, unwanted, and abandoned animals by thoughtless owners as a direct and incredibly tragic consequence.
Rescue centres across the country are trying their hardest to keep up with this latest influx as pets become too expensive to feed, treat and in the worst cases, even to put to sleep.
One doggy question asked loads by concerned clients these days is “My dog hates going in our car, yet we’d love to take him with us now that the good weather’s arrived. How can I stop him hating the car and treat his car-sickness?”
Now it could simply be that he’s just sick because of his actual fear of cars. Like with humans, vomiting can well be a reaction to fear, and most dogs simply don’t understand the purpose of the car – the big smelly tin box which shakes and bumps along.
“Once your dog associates the car with pleasure, not fear, you will have conquered the problem“
I often wonder what they must be thinking. Like most people, dogs are frightened of what they don’t know. I mentioned smell because a dog has a far greater sense of smell than us humans.
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