From a cat telling time to hydrating a rabbit – your pet queries answered

HE is connected a ngo to assistance our pets  . . . and is present to reply YOUR questions.

Sean, who is the caput vet astatine tailored favored nutrient firm tails.com, has helped with owners’ queries for 10 years.

He says: “If your favored is acting comic oregon is nether the weather, oregon you privation to cognize astir nutrition oregon exercise, conscionable ask. I tin assistance support pets blessed and healthy.”

Q) I HAVE seen radical taking cats for walks connected leads.

My moggy, Marmalade, would ne'er tolerate it, but what are your thoughts?

Is it a bully idea?

Sarah Smith, Maidstone, Kent

A) This is simply a spot of a favored hatred of mine. I’ve seen it spell incorrect connected a fewer occasions. It’s unsafe and astir cats bash not bask it.

They request workout and stimulation, but besides request to consciousness they tin flight from danger, perceived oregon otherwise.

If a canine comes along, for example, a feline connected a pb is apt to get tangled astir the proprietor and, judge me, you are going to get bitten and scraped arsenic they panic.

Cats similar roaming and exploring their contiguous territory. Bringing them retired connected a pb to unfamiliar environments adds a batch of over- stimulation and stress.

You whitethorn spot connected societal media cats who look to instrumentality it successful their stride, but they are the exception.

Q) MY rabbit, Dan, ever goes potty erstwhile the prima is out.

I marque definite helium has shadiness and plentifulness of h2o — but what causes it?

Ann Dougherty, Edinburgh

A) The joys of life? Perhaps he’s a prima worshipper?

I’ve seen chaotic rabbits connected sunny evenings travel retired of their burrows seemingly afloat of precocious jinks, jumping astir and playing with 1 another, truthful possibly they truly are conscionable successful emotion with the sun.

You whitethorn beryllium amazed to larn rabbits are not autochthonal to the rainy UK,

but to the Iberian Peninsula — fundamentally the Spanish and Portuguese coastline — truthful it would marque sense.

It’s adust and lukewarm there, with light, sandy, gravelly soils to burrow in.

Maybe their frolics are owed to their ancestry, reminding them of home.

Q) OUR feline seems to cognize erstwhile my hubby’s coming home.

Five minutes earlier helium walks done the door, Freckles sits similar a canine waiting for him.

Do they person an interior clock? How does she know?

Julie Gray, Plymstock, Devon

A) They bash person an interior assemblage timepiece and are remarkably bully astatine telling the time.

Just similar us, they volition instrumentality cues from the environment, which tin beryllium earthy (level of daylight) oregon unnatural (when Corrie comes connected the telly).

It whitethorn beryllium that Freckles knows that a mates of hours aft you’ve had your lunch, you spell to the fridge and propulsion retired immoderate items to hole meal each evening.

About 45 minutes later, your neighbour gets location from work. Once that happens, it’s lone going to beryllium a substance of clip earlier your hubby arrives. Bingo!

Q) OUR Jack Russell Delcie, nine, has had scans and steroids for tummy problems.

She’s precocious started waking to pee astatine 2am.

I’ve tried walking her past happening astatine night, and adjacent feeding her earlier, but it persists. What much tin I do?

Julie Dowling, Crayford, Kent

A) Wow, determination are a batch of unknowns here, for maine to enactment retired what’s going connected — oregon if immoderate of these things are adjacent connected.

Steroids tin summation the level of thirst and drinking. As what goes successful indispensable travel out, that volition pb to accrued urination.

You don’t notation whether Delcie is inactive connected steroids. If so, it mightiness beryllium worthy talking to your vet astir these broadside effects being hard to manage, and whether it mightiness beryllium worthy trying to trim them implicit time.

Whatever you do, bash not trim steroids oregon ever halt them abruptly without your vet’s proposal arsenic this tin origin adjacent much superior broadside effects.

The different solution is giving her entree to the plot by a flap.

Star of the week

AUTUMN the guide dog is acceptable to bent up her harness and discontinue aft a fun-filled 8 years of guiding her owner.

Laura Bradley, 43, from Glasgow, was calved with an oculus information called retinitis pigmentosa, which worsened successful 2006, leaving her astir wholly blind.

She said: “Autumn has perfectly deserved her retirement, aft giving maine my independency backmost and redeeming my life.

“She volition stay with maine arsenic a pet.

“Guide Dogs UK has fixed maine my beingness back, and fixed maine this beauteous girl. It is specified an astonishing foundation that truly changes people’s lives. I’m impervious of that.”

Guide Dogs UK relies connected volunteers to provide its services.

See guidedogs.org.uk/volunteer.

Move implicit Larry, there's a caller prince

PET experts are predicting Prince volition go 1 of Britain’s favourite feline names – aft a caller kitten entered Downing Street.

Sir Keir Starmer’s latest summation is simply a Siberian cat, which has been crowned with the moniker – and arsenic a result, the sanction is predicted to participate the apical 10 moggy names for 2025.

The existent feline king of Downing Street is aged Larry who has been main mouser to the Cabinet Office since 2011.

The 17-year-old mog was branded “a small s**t” by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray past week who declared helium was “the astir miserable carnal you’ll ever meet”.

There is even, reportedly, an authoritative program successful spot to denote his decease erstwhile the clip comes.

Prince is seen by galore arsenic Larry’s heir apparent.

The Starmer family besides has a third, rescue feline called Jojo.

A Pets At Home spokesperson said: “It’s nary concealed that cats are the royalty of our households, with names specified arsenic Simba (the prince of the jungle) and Loki (the trickster god), keeping their presumption successful the apical 10 astir fashionable feline names this year.

“It remains to beryllium seen if we spot an upward inclination successful regal names going into 2025.”