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There are a number of reasons why you may need to wash your dog. They may have graced your house with a fragrant roll in fox or badger poo, you may find that your own allergies reduce with regular dog baths, or the dog may have a skin disease requiring medicated shampoo as treatment. There is now a massive range of dog shampoos, but surely a human shampoo, or even soap or washing up liquid would be just as effective?

Research has found some 19 different vocal patterns in cats, with individuals adding personal sounds only used with their owners. Most sounds fall into three groups: closed mouth greeting (purr or chirrup), fixed open mouth emotional sounds (hissing, growling or spitting), and open then closed mouth ‘meow’, which cats change depending on the circumstance. Kittens meow to communicate hunger, cold or fear to their mum. Adults communicate with each other by hissing, growling and using body language and scent. An exception is the ‘yowl’ (similar to a meow but more drawn out and melodic). Adult cats yowl at each other specifically during breeding season. Meowing in adults is usually reserved for communicating with humans.

In this final part of our series on zoonotic infections, we’re going to look at rarer or emerging zoonoses – those where the zoonotic risk is perhaps less well known.

Yes, you read that right… and no I haven’t lost the plot, and nor has the website run amok. I’m sure that some of my readers in academia and education will have already sussed out where I’m going… September is the Academic New Year in the UK! And this is something I wanted to talk about, because whether or not you realise it, this has a major impact on what’s happening in many veterinary practices up and down the country.

In the first of this series, we looked at what a zoonosis was, and the 'worst case scenario’ of a rabies outbreak. In this second part, we’re going to look at some of the more common conditions that vets (and doctors!) in the UK see in general practice day in, day out.