All the latest info on caring for your pet

‘Neck lesions’, more properly feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions (FORL), are a common dental issue in cats. They are thought to affect more than 70% of cats over the age of 5.

In the early stages, these lesions may not cause signs or be easy to spot. They do have the potential to cause significant pain, eventually leading to loss of tooth structure and fractures of the affected teeth. Cats are known to be good at hiding pain, so it’s considered that many cases may be missed. Here we will go into more detail about what these lesions are, and how you might know if your cat is suffering from them.  

Grooming is a one of the normal behaviours shown by cats. It's a process to clean and optimize the quality of their natural furry coats. The action of grooming also releases “happy” chemicals within the body (endorphins) which promote self-comfort and overall well-being. Grooming becomes “over”grooming, when a cat spends too much time on the activity. This impacts the quality of their coat and sometimes also, their skin.

“Oh no... it’s that time again... Tabby needs her tablet...” If this sentence sends shudders down your spine, you may be one of many cat owners who struggles to give their cat medication. We don’t blame you! Unlike most dogs who will happily eat anything, cats are renowned for being fussy; reluctant to eat strange things and incredibly wriggly.

Unfortunately, as all good cat owners know, we sometimes need to medicate our mogs. Whether with routine worming tablets or drugs for a specific disease, it happens. So today we are going to explore some of the best techniques on how to give different drugs to your cat, as well as cat-friendly handling techniques. All of the following techniques will depend on the type of drug given, so please double-check with your vet first.

While it may seem tempting to smarten up your cat’s appearance and give their wild unruly whiskers a neat trim, this should never be done and we will explain why.

You might have heard of hypertension as it is a common problem in humans. Hypertension is high arterial blood pressure. It is also a common condition seen in cats, particularly older cats. Some cases of hypertension occur without any other underlying problem; however, this is much more unusual. In most cases hypertension will be a secondary complication of another disease. The most common scenario is hypertension seen secondary to chronic kidney disease or hyperthyroidism. Other risk factors are heart disease, obesity or diabetes. Occasionally a tumour of the adrenal gland can also cause hypertension.

Now there’s a good question! Albeit, not one with an easy answer…

Firstly, we should remember that there is a difference between heart disease (a structural or functional change to the heart) and heart failure (a state where they show clear symptoms, arising from inadequate blood flow from or towards the heart).