From a bad-tempered cat to a canine with pores and skin issues – your pet queries answered

HE is on a mission to assist our pets  . . . and is right here to reply YOUR questions.

Sean, who’s the pinnacle vet at tailor-made pet meals agency tails.com, has helped with house owners’ queries for ten years. He says: “In case your pet is appearing humorous or is below the climate, otherwise you wish to find out about vitamin or train, simply ask. I will help preserve pets pleased and wholesome.”

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Q) MY eight-year-old cat Mo is de facto bad-tempered.

He hates the postman, being woken up and generally even me.

He just about hates every part besides being fed.

Any concepts to cheer him up?

Sam Davies, Brighton

 Sean says: This might simply be his purpose for being, and who’re we to query it?

Or perhaps there’s one thing else occurring.

You don’t present a lot element which makes my guessing recreation more durable. Is he outdated?

May he be in ache, with arthritis and stiff joints, maybe?

That might make me fairly grumpy, if I’m sincere.

And we regularly discover it tough to recognise ache in our pets, firstly, as a result of they don’t converse our ­language.

Secondly, they have an inclination to cover it and simply get together with life as finest they will.

I’d extremely suggest a vet go to so he can have a full bodily examination

Q) MY 16-month-old neutered Chihuahua Daisy has points with meals, treats and toy-guarding, growling and attacking.

We’ve had her from eight weeks outdated and now we have taken her out each day, in all places, socialising her.

Her barking at something that strikes began at six months.

One minute she seems like butter wouldn’t soften then the subsequent second she’s going to launch herself at you, snarling with enamel exhibiting and hackles raised.

She is a daring, assured canine however fairly frankly I’m getting stressed along with her and I’m somewhat afraid of her.

Please are you able to tell us the place we went improper and is there any hope for this example

Lynne Owen, Wolverhampton

 Sean says: There’s a purpose why some people name Chihuahuas land-sharks.

However I’m not a fan of simply portray a whole breed with such broad brushstrokes.

Particularly after we can simply perceive why these canine are vulnerable to creating such behavioural points.

To begin with, they’re completely tiny so the world is an intimidating place for them.

Additionally they typically get handled nearly as equipment (I’m not saying you do) however their potential to regulate their surroundings and place in it typically suffers when they’re picked up on a regular basis or simply not allowed to be little canine.

A method of telling individuals, different canine or something that feels threatening to again off is for them to point out aggression by growling, barking and so on.

Chihuahuas have that drive and a purpose to carry out it.

If it serves them a goal it will possibly turn into ingrained.

A very good behaviourist can come and assist Daisy to be much less angsty.

A) IS there something I can attempt to assist my rescued Akita, Coco, as she retains scratching and licking her paws?

We have now tried totally different canine meals for pores and skin.

We aren’t certain of her age however we expect she is about 5.

She has no sore patches however her paws are fairly pink.

I took her in as a result of the person who had her couldn’t take care of her.

We’re updated with common flea therapy.

Toni Phillips, Loughton, Essex

 Sean says: Poor Coco. It’s very irritating to be so itchy on a regular basis.

And irritating additionally that there’s a lengthy listing of potential causes.

Sadly, attending to a agency prognosis of the precise trigger generally is a tough, time-consuming and generally costly course of.

Coco might have meals allergic reactions, so a hypoallergenic weight-reduction plan reasonably than one simply formulated for wholesome pores and skin is an concept.

Way more frequent could be environmental allergic reactions to pollens, fungal spores, home mud mites and the like.

Your finest wager is to go to your vet, speak about a practical price range and give you a plan collectively.

Star of the week

BEAGLE Lola is high of the pups on the subject of classical music.

House owners Amy, 38, and Scott McKenzie, 44, from Ellon, Aberdeenshire, say the 12-year-old pooch not solely has a tremendous sense of odor – typical of Beagles – however she has acquired a tremendous ear for the greats too.

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Amy stated: “Lola enjoys chilling out to classical music and her favorite tune to fall asleep to is Sleeping Magnificence Waltz by Tchaikovsky.”

Lola, who has battled critical well being points together with epilepsy, additionally lives with rescue canine sisters Ayda and April.

Amy added: “She’s a really courageous woman.”

WIN: Xiaomi feeder and fountain

WE’VE joined forces with Xiaomi to supply two readers the possibility to win each its £99.99 sensible pet meals feeder and £54.99 sensible pet fountain, designed for cats and small to medium-sized pets.

You may schedule mealtimes or feed them remotely by means of the Xiaomi app.

To enter, ship an e-mail headed XIAOMI to sundaypets@the-sun. co.uk by February 12.

See mi.com/uk. T&Cs apply.

Two in ten have tried tiddles’ nibbles

TWO out of ten cat-lovers have secretly nibbled pet meals, a brand new ballot has discovered.

House owners revealed they have an inclination to indulge as a result of they both just like the style or to encourage their cat to eat its dinner.

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The most important culprits come from Birmingham, with 25 per cent proudly owning as much as attempting their moggy’s grub.

London is second at 23 per cent, Sheffield and ­Norwich got here joint third (22 per cent) and Manchester fourth with 21 per cent.

Glasgow and Bristol got here joint fifth on 16 per cent forward of Brighton in sixth place on 14 per cent and Nottingham seventh on 12 per cent.

Cat house owners in eighth-place Cardiff are the least prone to tuck into pet meals with simply 9 per cent.

A spokesman for pet deal with model Acana, who did the survey, stated: “It might be the feel, the odor or the packaging that awakens Brits’ curiosity to attempt their cat’s meals.”

Tails.com head vet Sean McCormack stated: “There’s this concept that pet meals is one way or the other gross or unpalatable, however in actuality it makes use of the components of livestock we have a tendency to not eat.

“Scrumptious and nutritious, it’s additionally planet-friendly to make use of these substances after people take the ‘finest cuts’.”