How To Be The Perfect ‘Pet Parent’!
JUNE 2015 www.petsmag.co.uk
It’s A Dog’s Life For A Vet’s Husband... MY PET: Guy Blaskey, Founder of Pooch & Mutt
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My Pet
This month we catch up with Guy Blaskey, founder of Pooch & Mutt, and his pet dog Pepper. The Pooch & Mutt range features functional grain-free dog food, treats and supplements that are ethical and hand made with natural ingredients that help target specific problems in dogs. Guy is an avid runner and marathoner, with a strong interest in nutrition and wellbeing. He is a regular speaker at the UK's leading trade events, including PATS Telford and Sandown.
fun they are to train and their ease meeting new people, as she always at picking up new tricks. Pepper’s seems to come out with a new current favourite trick is playing pack of friends! dead! What difference does Pepper make How long have you had Pepper? to your life? Around two and a half years Pepper makes a huge difference, she is the best dog ever! She loves Does Pepper come with you to to stay healthy and fit, so she’s work? always out running and playing. Pepper has come to work with me She also contributes to everyone’s every day since she was 8 weeks life in the office as well and makes old (when I had to carry her to our working environment so work in a bag!). She is not just in pleasant. Whenever we need a few the Pooch & Mutt office to keep us minutes break, Pep is always all company either, she has work ready for a cuddle- which makes What breed is Pepper and why did to do! She tests all products and is getting back to work even harder! you choose him/her? used in a lot of our marketing, Pepper is a cockapoo. I chose the especially photos and videos for Do you take take doggie-friendly breed because I wanted a dog both social media. Pepper loves holidays with Pepper? small enough to spend all day in working but she also loves to play Occasionally, more so when we go the office, and energetic and hardy as well, which is a nice break for and visit friends and family for a enough to do 10km runs with me. everyone in the office. We always break. With Clapham Common so She is a great dog and she is have a drink on Friday, after a close, Pepper and I are always always learning new tricks. I love long week and Pepper even comes enjoying the wonderful weather cockapoos because of how much to the pub with us. She’s great for London can provide.
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What are the best holidays you’ve taken with Pepper? The best holidays for Pepper are usually trips to my parents in Derbyshire, as she gets to run in fields all day with my parents' dog, Cookie. Pepper loves being out in the countryside and being able to run all over the place. She loves running up hills and will often play for hours in the field.
Do you take Pepper with you to restaurants and pubs? Pepper joins the Pooch & Mutt team for after work drinks in the pub every Friday. As mentioned, she is a customer favourite at our local pub. Everyone seems to know who Pepper is and it wouldn’t be a pub visit without her, as she really is part of the team.
Does Pepper have any tricks or special character traits? She is great at high 5s, you can pretend to shoot her and she will roll over and 'die' and she has used 'Poochie Bells' her whole life, a set
Pepper the Cockapoo
of bells hung on the door that she rings when she wants to go out. What are Pepper’s favourite things Her Poochie Bells are a great way for everyone to know when it’s in the world? time for her to go out, as we all Pepper’s favourite toy is actually an old towel that is tied in a knot! share responsibility in the office for taking Pepper out for daily She can occupy herself for hours walks. with it. She also loves lots of cuddles! Her Pooch & Mutt food Is there anything you feel strongly and treats are also a must have. about regarding pet welfare? Pepper is a big fan of Turkey and I am on the board of The Dog sweet potato. Rescue Federation; one of our
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main aims is to inform people about the huge number of healthy dogs put down each year, after not being claimed from dog pounds.
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We are working to get exact statistics, but estimates are up to 127,000 dogs per year. That is around one every four minutes. I am dedicated to improving education and information so that the British public has more information about really important causes.
How to be the perfect pet parent!
SARAH LIDDELL, founder of Day Care 4 Paws, on what it takes to be the perfect ‘pet parent’.
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By SARAH LIDDELL We all strive for it – how can we do better? How can we ensure we provide all the right things for our pets? How can we know our best friends are truly happy? For most pets, the basic requirements of food, water and shelter aren’t nearly enough to keep them truly happy. Of course these things are a good start, but to truly go above and beyond their basic requirements, to truly become the perfect pet parent, you need to do more. I’m not talking about Divalike-dog requirements – no dog actually needs Prada handbags to be carried around in - and indeed I would go so far as to say they probably feel deeply embarrassed about being seen in public being carried around in such a ridiculous fashion! For the discerning pooch, clearly good quality food - there so many of them about, well worth speaking to your vet about this if you aren’t sure where to start should be provided twice a day or three to four times a day for puppies. The quantity should be measured out correctly based on your dogs’ size and exercise regime as podgy pooches are unhappy pooches. We all know that nearly all dogs will just eat and eat but no perfect pet parent
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Sarah Liddell walks and trains dogs
would willingly let their dog become overweight.
learning new tricks, being taught basic obedience and taking your dog to new places. These things Exercise requirements vary greatly truly make for a well-rounded, depending on the breed, size and happy, waggy-tailed dog. age of your dog. Again, if you aren’t sure, it is worth speaking to For the discerning cat owners out your vet or other doggie there, of course they don’t require professional - such a recognised “walkies” but the point I made dog trainer - for advice on this about providing mental one. Of course, the true perfect stimulation still stands. Many pet parent will have the time to cats, especially house cats, can get devote to exercising their dog bored easily. daily, but realistically, this isn’t always possible so to ensure your Providing toys, large scratching dog stays happy, fit and healthy. If posts/climbing frames and playing you can’t walk your dog on certain games with your cat(s) is a must. days then hiring a dog walker or Of course some cats seem to relish enrolling your dog with a doggie nothing more than simply eating day care centre should be high on and sleeping in a spot of sunshine your list of priorities. or in front of the fire, but even the most laid-back, seemingly lazy By “exercise”, this doesn’t (or cats should be at least given the shouldn’t) just mean physical, it chance to hone their natural should encompass a range of hunting skills inside with a few mental stimulations too such as games every few days or so with hide-and-go-seek games, their owners. interacting with other dogs, Pets Magazine
One particularly hilarious game (and nigh on always elicits a reaction from even the laziest of moggies) is to use a torch or pet-safe laser beam. Use your wits to try to pretend the beam or red dot is a mouse and play hide-andseek with it to keep your cat from getting bored within the first 60 seconds. For energetic cats, they usually love nothing more than to chase the “mouse” laser dot up and down the Cats need entertainment too! stairs if you have any. A perfect way to abnormalities such as lumps and keep them both physically fit and bumps that may appear from time mentally stimulated, like killing to time. A perfect pet parent must two birds with one stone, only be prepared to take their pet(s) to without the mess! a vet when required as of course Edible treats should be only given on special occasions as they are often high in fats and often sugars too. You may feel like your pet is missing our when your friends or family claim they give their pet about six treats a day but in reality you are doing your pet a favour.
our furry best friends cannot speak and tell us when something is hurting or when something isn’t right. Fresh water should be available for all pets, at all times (or thereabouts) – of course short trips in the car can go without - as we all know how easily water spills in the boot of a car when you happen to have to stop at any traffic lights!
A true perfect pet parent wouldn’t opt for an impractical style particularly true for many fashionable “designer cross breed” pooches at the minute, as this is often simply not comfortable for our beloved furry friends.
Sarah runs Day Care 4 Paws, which is a fully licensed Dog Day Care Centre near Consett in County Durham. The business caters for up to twenty dogs per day. Sarah also runs puppy training and Remember your pets don’t feel socialisation classes and will peer pressure when they meet in be starting agility classes in the park – they don’t chat about the near future. For further what they do and don’t have or get Grooming requirements vary information: http:// and don’t get! Treats in the form greatly depending on breed of dog, www.daycare4paws.co.uk of cuddles and strokes are a must size, coat type and this also stands http://www.facebook.com/ though. true for cats and small animals DayCare4Paws. such as rabbits and guinea pigs Stroking our pets has been shown but do remember to groom or get to lower our blood pressure and it them professionally groomed in a is an easy way for us to show our style that is practical and affection for our animals, plus it is comfortable. also a means of checking for any
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It’s a dog’s life for the other half!
STEVE ANKERS is the author of ‘It’s a Dog’s Life For The Other Half’ - a very entertaining account of what happens when your brother and your wife are both vets. There is no escape from call-outs in the middle of the night, disrupted dinner parties, uneaten Christmas lunches, weddings thrown into disarray by escaping animals, and having to act as the stand-in (untrained) veterinary nurse in emergencies. Life may be chaotic and unpredictable when you’re a vet’s “other half” – but it is certainly never boring! Steve wouldn’t have it any other way ….
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required. Once the more oldfashioned Broken nights, clients had anti-social hours, established eye-watering that, despite dinner table conversations, clearly being maggots under the finger nails – the male, I and that’s just me, the vet’s wasn’t husband. As for my wife, well… actually the vet and that How did it come to this? I could my wife have married someone from a would be more respectable profession, like taking on the parking warden or investment more banker, but no, I had to fall for technical one of the young vets at my roles for brother’s practice in tonight’s Northumberland, and I should performance, have known better. I became not only the It’s not just the vet’s sleep that’s unpaid disturbed, you know, when the anaesthetist phone goes at 3 a.m. to report a and general road traffic accident, or inform us dogsbody (a that a Thai water dragon has its lip sort of stuck to the side of the tank or that Debbie an owner is concerned because her McGee to dog won’t come out from under Paul Daniels) the bed. And why do callers ask but also the what other vets are available: how shoulder to many do they think might be cry on, sitting around in our kitchen at dispensing that time of night?
By STEVE ANKERS
The author’s wife treating ‘Bruno’, one of BBC TV’s Spring Watch hedgehogs fitted with a tracking device.
essential advice on such emotive It was matters as common whether the practice newly on night terminated calls, after Tyson should our be daughter accompanied was born, into woofy for us to slip her into the carrycot afterlife by his collar, favourite toy and for the three of us to head to or the household cat. I listened the surgery as there would attentively one night as the vet otherwise be nobody around to carefully outlined the tried and assist if emergency treatment were tested procedures which would
“I could have married someone from a more respectable profession... but no, I had to fall for one of the young vets...”
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come into operation now that the beloved family pet had gone to meet his doggy maker. She covered everything from the lying at rest of the newly deceased pet in the veterinary practice’s special, dedicated, state of the art storage facility (or fridge) through to the cherishing services provided by a selection of local pet cremation businesses. “Well, you’ve certainly put our minds at rest,” said one grateful client. “We thought you just burned them.”
acquisition. “Oh, not a Westie! How much trouble is that going to be! Great Dane? They don’t live long you know – have you warned the children? A Cavalier? You’re kidding, right??”
Evenings out can be a fraught occasion if the wife is on emergency duty. More than one concert or play has been augmented by the sound of the vet’s pager or mobile phone sounding at a sensitive moment during a violin solo or operatic death scene, and meal times can frequently be disrupted, at home or away. One vegetarian restaurant, that fortunately knew us well, took a while to get over the sound of the vet answering a call on the landline in their kitchen with the words:
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Of course, if I hadn’t spent my life surrounded by vets, I probably wouldn’t have ended up sharing my home with the kitten that wanted to be a goalkeeper or the duckling that thought her mother was a rabbit. Or got to experience the joys of assisting at a lambing or being spat at by a llama. Or chasing escaped wallabies at a wedding reception or Steve gets to grips with a wilder patient helping the family’s camel to remember its lines in the nativity play. “And can you describe the But, hey, it’s still been a bed of motions? Is there blood in the stools?” We tipped well that night. roses. I feel I must stress this. Even if work is over for the day an evening out can still be challenging. The wife can sometimes be taken out and introduced to normal people at parties. To be fair, she generally scrubs up well after surgery and is careful to check with me before we go anywhere that she hasn’t still got poo in her hair, but her social skills can leave something to be desired. Woe betide any friend proudly informing us of their new canine Pets Magazine
I’ve seen some impressive looking blades in the wife’s surgery and I’ve witnessed at close hand how she applied them to our tom cat’s most sensitive parts, and it’s really, really not in my interests to complain.
Steve Ankers is the author of It’s A Dog’s Life For The Other Half. ISBN: 978 1 86151 199 7 RRP: £12.99 www.memoirspublishing.com Available from: Amazon.co.uk; Barnes and Nobel; Waterstones; WH Smiths and Google Books (Also available as an ebook.) Follow Steve at: www.sankersblog.wordpress.com.
Retired Vet MALCOLM D WELSHMAN B.V.Sc shares with Pets Magazine readers another of his short stories based on his many years in practice. Battles With Blodwyn is the story of a very bouncy bull terrier. May was turning out to be a warm month. Not that I needed to feel the heat. Blodwyn, the bull terrier, was able to raise the temperature simply by her presence. She’d steamrollered into my consulting room with jowls sloshing from side to side, ears flapping like out-ofcontrol windsocks, her owner, Mrs Evans skidding in behind her. By the time we had wrestled Blodwyn onto the table and collapsed in a sweltering heap on top of her the temperature had definitely soared. ‘It’s her ear,’ spluttered Mrs Evans, her face puce.
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‘Blodwyn didn’t see eye to eye with my neighbour’s Alsatian.’ There was a jagged tear in the dog’s left ear. As I tried to examine it, Blodwyn swung round, her vast lolling tongue showering me in a spray of hot spittle. Talk about letting off steam. It was easy to stitch the wound but it took the two practice nurses to hold Blodwyn down while I administered the anaesthetic. There was a lot of mutinous muttering. A lot of hot air. A few weeks later the bull terrier was back in. ‘It’s her eye this time,’ shouted Mrs Evans above a boisterous bark from Blodwyn. ‘When I let her out last thing there was this terrible commotion. I think our neighbour’s cat must have
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strayed into the garden.’ ‘It should have had more sense,’ I muttered, as in a sea of flying dog hair, Blodwyn was levered onto the table. Two nurses held her down while I nervously peered at her partially closed left eye.
panting heavily, her body quivering. ‘When did all this happen?’ I asked. ‘Must have been about an hour ago. I heard this yelp in the bracken and she came rushing back to me. By the time we’d got home she’d collapsed.’
I gave Blodwyn an anti-inflammatory injection and promised to visit the next day. ‘So how is she?’ I enquired, standing in the lounge, beads of perspiration dripping down from my forehead.
Mrs Evans was about to reply ‘Did the cat get her?’ asked when I heard this pounding on the Mrs Evans. patio. I scarcely had time to turn Mrs Evans knelt down and stroked before thirty kilos of bull terrier ‘Most likely,’ I said as I gently Blodwyn’s head. But there was no tore in through the French pressed on the lower lid response. All her zest, all her windows and rammed into the to evert the conjunctiva. back of my legs. I went flying and It was red and swollen. ‘I scarcely had time to turn collapsed on the carpet. Tongue Something was lolling, back end swinging from before thirty kilos of bull protruding. I fetched a side to side, Blodwyn pair of artery forceps stood on my chest and gave a deep terrier tore in through the and waved them in the woof of welcome. French windows and air. ‘Well..’ said Mrs Evans with a rammed into the back of my ‘Are we ready folks?’ nervous little laugh. The nurses nodded. I cautiously pulled down the lower lid again, opened the teeth of the forceps and fastened them on the foreign body I’d spotted lodged in the conjunctiva. Blodwyn howled. She swung away. The table, two nurses and Mrs Evans were dragged across the room while I was left holding the evidence. The tip of a cat’s claw. Before the month was out I had to make a house visit. ‘We were up on the Downs,’ said Mrs Evans ushering me into the lounge. ‘Blodwyn spotted a pheasant and gave chase into the bracken. Now she can hardly stand.’ This time there was no boisterous greeting from Blodwyn. She was lying stretched out on the hearth rug,
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legs.’
bounce had vanished. I ran my hand down her back, noting her left hind leg seemed to be swollen. ‘Help me roll her over,’ I instructed. With Blodwyn levered onto her left side and her right leg pushed back, I was able to examine the inside of her left thigh where there was less hair. I could see a small area of mottled red and purple bruising; and on closer inspection two tiny puncture wounds. ‘She’s been bitten by an adder,’ I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. ‘That’s why she’s in a state of shock.’ Mrs Evans’ hand flew to her lips. ‘But don’t worry. We can remedy it.’
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‘She certainly seems pleased to see you.’ I remained flattened on the carpet. Having been bowled over by Blodwyn, I was too stumped for a reply. Malcolm D. Welshman is the author of the bestseller, Pets Aplenty available from Amazon on www.tinyurl.com/mxg85wn His website is www.malcolmwelshman.co.uk.
Date For Your Diary: National Pet Remembrance Day (05.07.15) We’ve teamed up with Arty Lobster (www.artylobster.com), a company that specializes in 3D pet sculptures, to launch a brand new official day in recognition of pets that have gone to the rainbow bridge.
A Twitter chat will take place on Sunday July 5 using the hashtag #PetRemembranceDay for people to show their support and share thoughts and photos. In addition, people can nominate pet owners who have lost their beloved companion animal to have the pet commemorated as a 3D sculpture. Please post your suggestions on either the Arty Lobster or Pets Magazine Facebook pages.
National Pet Remembrance Day (Sunday, July 5), which has launched on social media under the hashtag #PetRemembranceDay, has been set up to provide an opportunity for people to celebrate the lives of departed pets and the increasing number of ways in which to commemorate them.
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Lars Andersen, Managing Director of Arty Lobster, said: “We’ve launched National Pet Remembrance Day with Pets Magazine because we wanted to create a space for people to remember their departed companion animal. “While it’s now accepted and acceptable to grieve for a muchloved family pet, we still, as a country, do not really know how to remember our pets and to deal with their loss. “Pets are increasingly regarded as members of our family, and Pets Magazine
Activities for National Pet Remembrance Day (Sunday July 5) could include: • A memorial service in a place where the pet liked to walk or play. • A memento mori such as a sculpture of the pet • A living memorial by planting a tree or flowerbed • A pet portrait featuring the pet or their image printed on a coaster or other accessory • A scrapbook with photos and other reminders of the pet. • An online memorial with photos of the pet • A poem about the pet
basically we do not remember them as we should.” To find out more, visit the Arty Lobster or Pets Magazine Facebook pages. For more information about 3D pet sculptures, visit the Arty Lobster website at: www.artylobster.com.
Sophie’s Choices Top product picks by our resident reviewer Sophie, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
Old Mother Hubbard Dog Biscuits Founded in 1926 in the US, all-natural treat company Old Mother Hubbard is available exclusively from Pets at Home nationwide and online. The treats contain wholesome, all-natural ingredients in a wide variety of flavours from chicken to cheddar cheese. Nine variations will be stocked at Pets At Home designed to cater for the dog’s individual needs, including; low fat, fresh breath, puppy and even hip and joint support. We love their small size and tastiness; they do seem like a healthy option. For more information visit Pets At Home.
Nutriment Dog Food Nutriment is an award-winning, family-owned dog-loving business whose innovative small-batch recipes are made wholly from human-grade meat & veg, a generous dash of metabolism-friendly superfoods (kelp, salmon oil, coconut oil…) Nutriment’s commitment to RAW pet food is founded on a proud, long-standing relationship with a number of the UK’s leading top dog breeders and vets. Never having tried RAW food before, we started slightly tentatively on the sample batch. Our panel of canine tasters, including me, love, love this food, especially the natural taste. It’s certainly got the ‘lick factor’ and I’m certain there’ll be a repeat order. I tried the Dinner for Dogs range, which is designed for smaller dogs. My Collie friends sampled a batch for working dogs. For more details visit www.nutriment.co.
In association with... Personalised Pet Sculptures www.artylobster.com
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