Pet subjects: a dog obsessed by squeaky toys and costly veterinary fees

By pete Wedderburn 300PM GMT twelve March 2010

Novelty captivate a reader"s Scottie is spooky with squeaky toys Photo ALAMY

Q My nine-year-old white Havanese dog has taken to beating unclothed earth, so he right away has a black moustache. Is this a pointer that he is blank a vegetable in his diet? MW by email

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A Your dog is pang from "pica", that is tangible as "an assumed longing for unsuited food, such as chalk, sand, clay". Owners mostly incorrectly hold that pica is an denote of a dietary deficiency, but the scarcely regularly seen in dogs with well-balanced diets. Theres no justification that dogs ever do this as a approach of anticipating a full of health dietary supplement. Most often, pica is simply a robe that dogs clarity to enjoy. There contingency be something about the ambience or hardness of the earth that your dog likes. If your dog seems differently healthy, afterwards this poise is probably only an idiosyncrasy, and youll have to get used to his mustachioed look.

Q I have a two-year-old Scottie dog who is spooky by squeaky toys. She successfully manages to "de-squeak" them inside of twenty-four hours and afterwards refuses to have anything to do with them. I cannot assimilate how only by the smell and steer of pronounced toys, she knows either or not they enclose a squeak. She doesnt even have to hold them to know. I try to pretence her in to personification with the de-squeaked ones but all I get is a proud peek whilst she wanders off in poke of new toys with total squeaks. Can you insist this phenomenon? CM by email

A Dogs are smart and they can understand sights, scents and sounds that are over human senses. But I cannot hold that any dog has a abnormal capability to acknowledge the deficiency of a cheep but physically grabbing a toy. Its some-more expected that shes captivated to the newness of a new toy, rather than the actuality that it will cheep when she grabs it.

She probably finds the old de-squeaked toys tedious since shes already outlayed time personification with them, and theres zero new or engaging about them. You should do a elementary experiment. Deliberately de-squeak a new fondle and see if she is still meddlesome in it. Im roughly certain bombard be gay to fool around with it at first, nonetheless she might lose seductiveness in it some-more fast than the untampered squeaky toys since of the defective sound-producing qualities.

Q I have a 14-year-old cat that is right away display signs of his age and I am anticipating the cost of veterinary fees formidable to cover. Already this year it has cost me �195 to have dual of his teeth removed. Blood tests taken at the same time indicated early signs of kidney disaster and arthritis. Its right away costing me �210 each 3 months to buy remedy to provide these problems. Are there any services and products accessible by alternative outlets that would be as in effect but less costly? GP by email

A As far as veterinary caring is concerned, there are a little animal charities that suggest means-tested help, together with the Blue Cross and PDSA. You need to ask around locally, but as an example, if you live inside of thirty mins transport time of your internal PDSA sanatorium and you are on legislature benefits, you would validate for free diagnosis (although youd be asked for a donation).

A series of internet pharmacies sell all of the equipment that vets prescribe. They can mostly sell products some-more low since they have reduce overheads. You will need to buy a remedy from your oldster to sequence remedy from internet pharmacies, but even then, if youre rebuilt to put the time and appetite in to you do this, you might be means to save yourself a poignant total of money.

Q My one-year-old goldfish, Paisley, has proposed swimming at an point of view and has stopped being eager about his food. Should I take him to the vet? Or would that only prominence him even more? EH, Leeds

Most goldfish health problems are caused by bad H2O quality, so rather than receiving the fish to the oldster it creates some-more clarity to get a representation of the tank H2O checked out. You can buy H2O contrast kits at aquarium shops. Some shops (such as the Pets At Home sequence see www.petsathome.com) suggest water-testing as a use you take a representation of H2O along and they do the rest.

The staff in the emporium will additionally be means to give you over-the-counter remedies and theyll give you recommendation on how to say a full of health tank of water. You can get great goldfish recommendation online these days, with fish enthusiasts happy to share their knowledge. See goldfish-emergency.com as an example.

WHAT"S HAPPENING AT CRUFTS?

Crufts 2010 "the worlds largest dog show" takes place at the NEC in Birmingham this weekend. The eventuality the prominence of the dog-showing monthly calendar is at the centre of the discuss about bad health in extraction dogs. Ill be there today, giving unchanging updates on my blog and on Twitter.

See blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/peterwedderburn to find out moreSend problems to pete.wedderburn@telegraph.co.uk We bewail that he cannot answer all readers letters personally. All ill animals should be taken to a vet.