Whitchurch and Llandaff Living Issue 61

pets
Your pet
questions
answered
Chris Troughton is clinical director of Heath Vets. He’s here to answer all your pet
questions. If you’d like to ask Chris a pet-related question, drop us a line
I took up knitting during lockdown
which is something I now enjoy.
My cat also enjoys me knitting as
it allows her to play with the wool
thread. I’m always reluctant to let
her play in case it gets stuck in her
throat. Should I allow her to play
with the wool and what do I do if
she gets some stuck in her throat?
The way the ball of wool bobs about
erratically when you’re knitting is
irresistible for many cats and they
pounce and pat and play with it.
That’s all harmless but you are right
to be concerned about the risks of
swallowing it.
Long pieces of wool or string can
cause very serious problems in the
intestines, so you must make sure
your cat does not start to chew the
wool. If she does swallow some and
you spot it happening, gently pull
it out of her mouth. If it won’t come,
don’t pull hard, but tie something to
the free end that she won’t be able
to swallow the rest of it, and then
get her to your vet as quickly as
possible.
I have several guinea pigs but I was
recently told about how prevalent
dental disease is in the animals.
How common is this and what can I
do to keep it at bay?
Guinea pigs make lovely pets –
they’re sociable, talkative and relate
well to people who look after them.
But they do have their full range
of medical problems, and dental
disease is certainly quite common.
Guinea pigs’ teeth grow continually
and need to be worn down by
chewing abrasive food for a large
part of every day.
If the teeth don’t wear down, they
will grow too long and make eating
difficult or even impossible. In the
early stages, symptoms can be very
subtle and weight loss is often the
only clue, so I always recommend
you weigh your pigs every week
and record the results – you can
then spot problems before they
become too bad.
Treatment involves filing the
overgrown teeth down under
general anaesthesia. Unfortunately,
once this becomes necessary, the
shape and position of the teeth
have often altered permanently,
meaning that the procedure may
need to be repeated every few
months.
The best way to prevent dental
problems is to feed a diet based
mainly on good quality grass and
hay. 80% of the daily food should
be fresh grass or hay, 15% should
be other leafy vegetables, and only
5% should be high-quality pelleted
guinea pig feed.
How do I stop my cat from
scratching my furniture? I’ve
spent good money on all kinds of
contraptions to save my home, but
the cat insists on destroying my
best furniture. How can I try and
stop this?
The main reason that cats scratch
furniture (and wallpaper and long
curtains too) is not to sharpen their
claws as is commonly believed,
but to mark their territory. The
scratching roughens the surface
and then scent from the cat’s pads
impregnates it.
Because it is a marking behaviour,
new furniture and new wallpaper
or curtains are particular targets
because they haven’t yet absorbed
the cat scent. The location of
favoured scratching points is
usually adjacent to doorways or
along travel routes through a room,
so you might be able to move
furniture out of the way. There is a
very effective pheromone treatment
(Feliway) that mimics the scent the
cat wants to smell. You spray it on
affected areas and the cat then
has no need to mark/scratch it
further. This is available in most vets’
surgeries.
Are probiotics for dogs worth the
money? And more importantly,
does it do them any good?
Probiotics are live bacteria and
yeasts that are administered with
the aim of normalising the bowel
microbe balance. In veterinary
medicine they are usually used to
help treat diarrhoea, and they are
mixed into a paste with various
ingredients such as kaolin or
montmorillonite, which help to bind
the faeces and prevent looseness.
In mild diarrhoea, they are often
effective, provided other measures
(such as feeding a bland diet)
are also introduced. If your dog is
prone to diarrhoea, it’s useful to
have some probiotic paste ready
in your doggy first-aid cupboard.
Longterm use of probiotics is much
less often needed, but occasionally
it is useful for dogs with recurrent
diarrhoea problems, when there is
no diagnosed underlying reason.
I don’t think there’s any benefit in
giving probiotics to a healthy dog
with no bowel problems.
Rhiwbina
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