It is nearly bonfire night

And then there's Halloween with streams of children knocking on your door, people who let rockets off until mid-November. It is time to plan ahead... Zylkene from Pet Drugs Online

10th Birthday Infographic

Just wanted to share a pictorial version of the blog post a couple of weeks back, all about how Pet Drugs Online has (or is it have, I never can remember the companies singular rule) reached its 10th birthday.


So we drew a picture. With some words. And hitched a lift on the infographic bandwagon!

Dieting Ms Daisy

 

Cats can frequently put on some extra pounds, particularly as they become older and less active or if they are kept inside. Especially if their name is Daisy.

Now Daisy had a tough upbringing before she settled with us. Until then she'd never been sure when the next meal was coming, or where it was coming from. As a result she gulped down her own food, then pushed her kids off of their bowls, before she went a scavenging. We let this behaviour slide "because she's had it tough" but this was a bad idea. Now settled, Daisy did less. So she got bigger. And bigger. Until she had a real problem; she was obese.

 

Obesity is a particularly common nutritional disorder, with approximately one in three of every adult cats affected. As cats become overweight it makes them more prone to health problems such as constipation, diabetes, osteoarthritis and lower urinary tract problems. As a result it’s important to keep a regular eye on your cat’s weight and body condition.

 

How can you work out if your cat is overweight?

 

As weight gain is gradual it can be hard to work out if your cat is overweight, so it’s advisable to get your vet to make regular checks. However, to check yourself you can simply run your hands around your cat’s abdomen and sides.

• If your cat is a good weight you should be able to feel but not view their ribs relatively easily without them being covered by too much fat.
• Your cat is likely to be moderately overweight if their waistline is difficult to see, you can feel some fat under their tummy, but their ribs can still be felt.
• Your cat is likely to be classified as obese if no waistline is visible, their ribs cannot be felt and they have a rounded tummy with a hanging layer of fat (especially if it sways when walking).

However, before making any changes to your cat's diet to reduce weight, please speak to your vet. It is important that your vet checks your cat's weight and assesses whether any underlying diseases might be contributing to the issue.

 

Reduce/cut out treats and snacks

 

One way to help reduce your cat's weight is to begin stopping all treats for a period.  They will give you THAT look but it is for their own good. For this to work it's important that everyone in the family and even close neighbours know this to ensure there's no selective cheating or stocking up on food with Mrs Miggins at Number 9! Also if you have a number of cats, you should feed the cats separately to avoid any stealing from others - although this is easier advice to give than to follow!

 

Try light food formulas

 

It may also be worth considering putting your cat on a special 'light' food formula. These light diets are enriched with all the essential nutrients your cat should need, but are less concentrated, with reduced calories. This also means that you may not need to reduce the quantity of food that you give your cat. If your cat is already on a prescribed diet from your vet, it is important to contact them first before changing their food.


Several leading brands offer carefully prepared light diets based on the latest scientific advances in quality, taste and nutrition to help support a managed weight loss program. These include:


Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Obesity Management Feline
Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Obesity Management Feline Wet
Hills Prescription Diet R/D Feline
Hills Prescription Diet R/D Feline Minced (Tins)
Hills Prescription Diet W/D Feline
Hills Prescription Diet W/D Feline Minced (Tins)

Keep your cat active

 

Don't forget that food is only part of the equation. Like with humans, lifestyle can be important too. Lack of exercise can often lead to cat's putting on weight, so encourage your cat to keep active and use up more calories. This could be for instance through scheduling some dedicated playtime with toys or introducing a climbing tower or scratching post, as well as time outdoors. Find what works for each cat - Daisy loves scrunched up bits of paper she pushes around the floor like an ice hockey puck. But she only wants to play around 9pm in the evening, but when you find works with them - use it to your and their advantage.

Things have changed a fair bit in 10 years

Back in 2005 Tony Blair was elected for a third term, while Charles and Camilla got hitched. London won the right to host the 2012 Olympics, then suffered the terrible bombing on July 7th. Liverpool FC won their 5th European Cup, while Lance Armstrong won his 7th Tour de France. Live 8 concerts were held to highlight global poverty, while New Orleans was smashed by Hurricane Katrina. Oh and in the basement of veterinary surgery just outside Bristol a small business was started.
That was us, Pet Drugs Online, and now we’re nigh on 10 years old. As great aunt Maude was so fond of saying, “my how we’ve grown”*.

A tentative dip of a veterinary toe in then unknown waters of e-commerce, Pet Drugs Online was at first an experiment to see if pet owners really would buy their medicines via the internet. Employee No.1 Steph, (who now oversees the prescription team) would regale the vets with news of how 5, then 10, and eventually an incredible 20 orders were placed each day. There was an appetite and it was growing.

The following years have seen a huge number of changes for both us and our customers. We’ve out grown four buildings and have had five iterations of our website. Our customers now shop by smartphone rather than landline, while more prescriptions are now sent via email and social media than post. Initially were part of a veterinary group with 9 surgeries, but now we total over 150. Which offers us business stability and an increasing pool of expertise to call upon, all focused on the one thing that has stayed the same – making pets better!

From day one, the focus of Pet Drugs Online has been to lower the cost of veterinary medicine and to make this service available to all of the UK. That way customers get more meds for their money, and that means longer term, higher quality care for their pets. Which is the point. It’s about the pets. And although we now serve 1000’s of customers a day rather than 5 or 10, we need to remember this lies at the very heart of what we do.

What will the next decade hold for Pet Drugs Online? No idea! We’ll be ready, looking at each and every new development (3D printed tablets anyone?) to see if it can help make pets better – and if it is possible/practical/feasible. But who knows what the world will be like in 2025! After all in 2005 who would have predicted Bournemouth in the Premier League, twerking becoming an entry in the dictionary or that beards would regain a level of popularity not seen since Victoria ruled!
*And I’ve never worked out why great Aunt Maude so muddled her impersonal pronouns

Ageing gracefully

Thanks to advances in veterinary medicine over the last few decades, the average life expectancy of a cat has nearly doubled. It’s brilliant news; we get double the time with our beloved felines, which means double the purrs and double the love. The same is essentially true for dogs (although the size of breed has more of an impact), but here I'll use cats as the example as I've known more elderly cats.

 
Living longer sadly also means they can suffer from a larger range of age-related conditions. While some of these conditions can be managed and the effects of others offset, it’s important to keep an eye out for any changes in your ageing cat’s behaviour.
 
The first and most important thing you can do is take them for regular veterinary checks. Just as with your own doctor, be frank about your cat’s behaviour. They’re relying on you for important clues about your cat’s health.

• Are they eating more or less?
• Drinking more?
• o they urinate more often?
• Groom them regularly and pay particular attention to their coat condition.
• Are they stiff when they get up from a nap?
• Or do they seem to forget where they are and yowl?

They’re all things worth mentioning.

As cats age they simply don’t process food as effectively as they used to. It can lead to gradual but consistent weight loss and leave them looking skinny. There are specific higher-calorie foods for senior cats, so ask your vet. If your older cat starts drinking more it can be a down to a range of conditions which again can be treated with special foods. These foods have added vitamins and minerals and can help correct specific nutritional balances. But an increasing thirst can be a symptom of other more major problems - so tell their vet.

Poor coat condition can be symptom of under-nourishment or because they’re losing interest in grooming. You can give them a boost with supplements such as Omega 3 & 6 or Evening Primrose. Adding these nutrients to their food can help to keep coats looking glossy and minimise the need to groom.

A wide range of supplements are also available to help repair, maintain and loosen stiff joints. They come in tablet, capsule and liquid form so no matter how fussy they are you should be able to find a delivery method that will help their ageing bones. My cat Macy begs (quite literally upright with front paws flopped down)  for a Seraquin tablet as a morning treat!

Senility or loss of cognitive function is increasingly common in our ageing cat population. It usually shows up as confusion or a sudden departure from a lifetime’s routine (such as missing the litter tray). Again, supplements specifically designed to boost or support brain function in older cats can really help – Senilife, for example. Also just be patient with them, it is not their fault.

The best advice of all is to enjoy the developments in their personality as they age. Treasure your time with them and never forget their glory days when they could leap up a fence panel in a single bound!

Talking of ageing gracefully allows me to gratuitously post a picture of our cat Fudge. She made it to the grand old age of 22. A lovely girl, she was a little wobbly on her pins in the last few months but was still mobile - even if she did occasionally forget where she was! This is her on the day of her 21st birthday.

10 Important Points On Pets & Parasites

Or how to take action against sea of troubles (well, fleas & worms if not the 14th century Danish court) and by opposing end them!

1. Nearly every puppy and kitten has worms. You're not a poor pet parent, it just happens! These are passed to them from their Mother before and after they are born. Sometimes worms can slow an infant animals growth and, in severe cases, can also cause illness. All puppies and kittens need frequent worming in the first few months of life.
2. As many as 1 in 3 puppies and kittens may have a parasite, such as fleas, living on their skin when they go to their new home. Small numbers of parasites on a mother can cause bigger problems in their offspring. So be ready for them.
3. The common dog worm Toxocara can cause disease in humans, especially children. The problem arises from coming into contact with dog faeces contaminated with worm eggs. This can be totally prevented with regular worming. Think of it as an extra incentive to keep up a constant and comprehensive worming regime. We've got a full range of dog wormers and cat wormers that can help.
4. Cats and dogs that hunt and eat mice and rabbits are at risk from tapeworm. Your pet can also catch worms from its fleas - a double-whammy! This is because the flea is host to the Tapeworm, Dipylidium caninum.
5. Fleas and ticks live freely in the environment. This makes then hard to find until it's too late and an infestation has been established. Prevention is often better than cure - but is a constant and never ending battle.
6. Fleas and ticks need a blood meal to breed. A flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day after feeding. The best chance to target them with products to kill them is while they are on your pet, either with treatments given orally or applied to the skin (to see our range of flea treatments click here for cats and here for dogs). You will also need to treat the house with anti-parasitic spray to fully break the flea life-cycle.
7.  Fleas and ticks love heat and humidity. Wet, warm summers and mild winters are perfect conditions for them to breed. And, when it gets cold outside, we turn on the heating and create perfect conditions for fleas to breed inside. Some areas in the UK are worse than others for ticks, which can carry disease, but usually the more rural the area the greater the risk.
8. Your pet does not need to go outside to be exposed to fleas! The hitchhiker flea can come home to your pet with you from outside your home, especially if you meet other pets with fleas.
9. Fleas are the most common cause of skin disease in pets. Pets with allergies often react to the flea's saliva when it bites, resulting in red itchy spots which rapidly get worse as the pet scratches.
10. People frequently react to flea bites. Although we won't play host to the parasite for long, some people may develop uncomfortable red wheals and spots if exposed to their pet's fleas.

Hope you're not feeling too itchy!
Pet Drugs Online

The flies the limit!

The sun may have started shining (well for an hour or two, last Tuesday) and for horse owners this means dry stables and great riding, but it does however mean that it is peak fly season.

As the weather warms up so flies and midges start to become a real issue. These are not only annoying for horses; but they can cause very real problems. Biting flies, horse flies, feeding midges, you name it; horses are being nibbled by it.

Apart from being obvious nuisances, flies carry diseases and trigger allergic responses through their secretions. Biting flies pierce the skin and transmit toxins, sending the immune system into overdrive. One debilitating condition, Sweet Itch, is caused by the saliva of the Culicoides midge. In some horses, the protein components present in midge saliva trigger the over-production of histamine, resulting in inflamed and itchy skin that is easily broken.

Even more unpleasantly, flies tend to congregate around the horse’s eyes, nose and mouth which causes near enough constant aggravation. These areas are particularly sensitive and next to impossible to scratch. If flies are not kept away, their secretions can cause irritation and inflammation of the skin and are capable of contaminating feed.

How can I help?

Preventing flies is extremely difficult once horses are put out to graze over the summer months, there are some steps you can take to reduce their impact.

• Repellents may be effective. Products we stock include Cooper’s Fly Repellent, Deosect and Summer Fly Cream. Citronella oil can also be used to help reduce flies, along with natural remedies such as lemongrass, peppermint and eucalyptus oils.
• Fly rugs also provide excellent barrier protection against flies and midges. These include ones that include hoods which are particularly useful as they cover key vulnerable areas such as the neck, head and ears.
• Screening and Fans – stables and tack rooms can be screened to help stop flies. For instance this could include the use of mesh or sticky paper across stable doors and the use of fans pointing down to provide good air circulation.
• Don’t leave your horse grazing outside during peak periods – flies and midges are most active at dusk and dawn and keeping horses in at this time can help to minimise their effect.

But most importantly keep an eye for fly and midge problems, and if you think they're getting your horse down take action.

Now here at Pet Drugs Online we really do like summer. Even if the first few posts are about the hassles and dangers of sunny days and hot weather. Just be careful out there. And take a coat. Maybe an umbrella...