We like to think of ourselves as serving the local community but now and again we don’t mind venturing further afield. So when the BBC asked us to help with their piece on vegan diets for dogs, Sarah Ginger and Fizz stepped up. The piece first aired on the 1330 London news on BBC 1 on the 27th September 2018, with a longer version on the 1830 news the same day. A short extract can be found on the BBC website at:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-45665974/should-dogs-go-vegan

See if you can spot the slight BBC captioning error…

Sarah and Fizz are now considering entering into talks to present their own show on various aspects of the animal world. Suggestions for titles welcome.

You may have noticed increasing numbers of cats around our clinic. Well, they certainly know a soft touch when they see one! There has been a feral cat colony living around our property for many years but we used to only see them occasionally. Then last year a beautiful queen, we call Eleanor, had not one but two litters of kittens right outside our backdoor. So then there were 8 kittens all living here and as if lured by the promise of top class veterinary care we now have a multitude of other feral cats living around Hope Vets. We have set up a cat shed for our most loyal crew which they are very much enjoying.

Obviously these are feral cats so they can’t be touched so it is not an easy task but we managed to catch and neuter 12 feral cats last year. There are many more to go but we are hoping to outwit more of them this year.

Despite them being more wild-animal than pet, we are all really taken with them. We watch “cat TV” daily and really enjoy watching them interact with each other. As you can see from the many photos, they all have names and different personalities and are all part of the Hope Vets crazy family.

Happy Easter!

A time for chocolate eggs and hot cross buns – but not for dogs!

Chocolate, while delicious, contains a substance called theobromine which is poisonous to dogs. Raisins in hot cross buns and other tasty Easter treats are toxic to dogs. Both can make your pet ill and can cause long term issues if not dealt with quickly.

Signs include: vomiting, diarrhoea, weakness and lethargy, tremors and in the long term – kidney problems.

If your dog eats chocolate or anything containing raisins, please call to book an appointment with us as soon as possible on 01442 833198, or call Vets Now Out-of-hours in Hemel Hempstead 01442 768 484. Please retain the packaging if possible so that we know exactly what has been ingested.

Be selfish this Easter, and keep all your goodies to yourself!

There are now two main ways to battle parasites – do you prefer tablets or spot ons?

A tablet once a month will cover your dog’s main parasites such as fleas, roundworms, lungworms* and mites* and even ticks!!

Or use a spot-on once a month to cover your dog’s main parasites such as fleas, roundworms, lungworms and mites.

With these main treatments only tapeworms are left to consider. Tapeworms are picked up from fleas or carcasses, meaning that it will only be an issue for certain pets. A simple tablet can be given to protect against tapeworm on top of either main parasite treatments.

If you’re interested in any of these products for your pet, please just give us a call or pop in and ask at reception. They are prescription products so we will need to have seen your pet in the last year to be able to prescribe them. However if we haven’t seen your pet recently you can come in for a free check up to dispense anti-parasite treatment.

*Off licence use.