SimplyCats Vet Clinic Blog

We would like to wish all our customers and web followers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year !

Don’t forget that we still have raffle tickets available here at the practice at £1.00 per strip – all proceeds going to our local branch of Cats Protection. Lots of great prizes to be won, including electric guitar and amp, large cat scratching post, signed Sunderland football, chocolates and many more!

We teamed up with our sister company, SimplyHorses for a Christmas night out. Everyone enjoyed their meal at Melanzana Durham and a few drinks afterwards.
Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks to the generosity of local companies and some of our clients,we have amassed a great selection of prizes for the ongoing Autumn Raffle! All proceeds are going to help the local Durham branch of Cats Protection. If you can, please pop down to the surgery and help the cause by purchasing your tickets, priced at £1.00 per strip.
Many thanks.

At this point, there is no closing date for the raffle – we will keep it going until as many tickets as possible have been sold, in order to help as many needy cats as we can.

Why not treat yourself or a friend to the luxurious smell of one of our pet odour eliminator candles. Gorgeous scents include vanilla & rose, french lavender, vanilla, clothesline fresh, pineapple & coconut, green apple pomegranate, cherry blossom, cherry pomegranate & hot apple cobbler, to name but a few! 70 hours of burn time – great value at £9.38 each.

For your furry friend we stock a range of soft, sisal and vibrating toys. Get in early and avoid the Christmas rush!

We are pleased to announce our July winner of a £10.00 voucher is Poppy Wilson !

Our kitten lineup is as cute as ever! These three all started their vaccination course within the month of July and one lucky kitten will win a £10.00 voucher to spend on any product or service here at SimplyCats. Book your cutie in for August and be in with a chance of winning!

We are pleased to announce that Mr & Mrs Dickson will be offering this doorstop / draught excluder cat a new home! It was handmade and donated by a staff family member in order to raise funds to support the treatment of a local registered charity – Cats Protection, Durham Branch. We are pleased that we managed to raise nearly £50.00 for them.
Many thanks to all those who purchased tickets.

Caroline has been out with her camera again! Wasington Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust provided some beautiful subjects in bird and flower form. Enjoy!

A few days ago we held a client evening in Durham, aiming to educate our client owners of older or geriatric cats on the best nutrition and healthcare for them.

It was a very informative evening with a talk first by Louise from Royal Canin to discuss the nutritional requirements for the older cat. This was then followed by a presentation from our resident vet, Sarah Middleton on health problems associated generally with the older cat. A lot of the symptoms described by Sarah rang true with some clients…some having ongoing problems such as renal failure or diabetes and they were able to ask further questions that they may have forgotten to ask during a consultation. They in particular found the evening very informative and it made aware the need to monitor their pet’s progress by regular check ups with the vet.

We had a ‘buffet break’ which was kindly sponsored by one of our drug reps – Mick from Novartis.

This was then followed by our Registered Veterinary Nurse, Penny Dyer who introduced her new nurse clinics aimed specifically at the geriatric patient.
As with all our client evenings it is a great opportunity for like-minded people to congregate in an informal manner and we would welcome suggestions from our clients for future topics that they would like to see covered in evenings such as this.

We named this little cat “O’Mally” when he was brought in as a stray by a member of the public from the Penshaw area. Approximately 3 years old and according to the member of the public who brought him to us, he had been living rough for quite some time

His tail had an open fracture on arrival at the surgery which was causing him a considerable amount of pain and distress. This wound had originally alerted the member of the public that something was wrong with him. After phoning the RSPCA, he was instructed by them to bring the cat to us here at SimplyCats Vet Clinic for initial treatment.

However, after examination by Sarah, our vet, the tail had to be partially amputated to limit the risk of infection, leaving a cute stump of about 4 inches. She also castrated him whilst under anaesthetic, and he is now looking for a new home.

Unfortunately the local branch of RSPCA’s rehoming centre was full, and unable to take him from us, leaving the majority of our vet’s work in this case to be a goodwill gesture….

On a brighter note we have now managed to secure him a place in a foster home until he finishes his recuperation, organised through Cats Protection Gateshead Branch

All the local rescues, including Cats Protection are full of cats like O’Mally needing a second chance. If you feel you would be able to offer a loving home to a cat in need, please contact the surgery on 0191 385 9696 and we will give you the relevant rescue contact details for your area

We had an unusual customer the other day in the back yard at SimplyCats – a very hypothermic snow cat. It remains in quite a critical, frozen state, but will hopefully make a full melted recovery if we ever get a thaw!!

Caroline’s youngest cat, Maisey enjoys ruining a game of ‘pop up pirate’ by patting the dice and playing pieces away from the board with her paw – but the question is – is it really Maisey or some strange alien cat in disguise???

I have just returned from a lovely holiday to USA. We went to Memphis to visit the home of Elvis Presley (I am a HUGE fan) and have previously been in 2007. We had planned to go back again this year with my Mam and Dad but very sadly, I lost my Mam last July so we decided that my husband Keith, my Dad and myself should still go, as that is what Mam would have wanted. It was strange without her but we managed to have a good time and remembered her every day. We moved onto Las Vegas after Memphis and that really was something to see…..an experience you could say . We also went to the Grand Canyon, which was spectacular.
I have eaten too much but I suppose that’s what holidays are for and I am now trying to lose the extra pounds I have put on.

My best friend’s Mam and Dad looked after my two cats and my Dad’s cat while we were away. They only live 3 doors down from my Dad so she just came up to the house to feed and clean them all.

When we arrived back, my Dad’s house looked like a bombsite!  My Dad’s cat Tibby had broken through the cat flap and my oldest cat, Maisie had followed him out…problem being, Maisie is a house cat and dosen’t go out. Anyway, when my friend’s Mam came the next morning and discovered the cat flap broken, she panicked, but to everyone’s suprise Maisie came trotting up the garden path and straight into the house.

My kitten, Megan had been such a good girl and hadn’t made any attempt to go out, she was just curled up on the settee. Only problem was they had been in Dad’s cupboard and pulled all sorts out, there was ornaments all over and hairs on everything….oh well the joy of being a c at lover I suppose.

Joanne

Cats will drink water from the strangest of places – puddles, the toilet, bath, sink, even the shower tray.

Being guilty of all of the aforementioned, Caroline decided to purchase a cat water fountain for her cats.

This was especially for Maisey who is the worst offender, climbing into the sink while Caroline was getting washed and licking the water from the tap as it is flowing.

Here is a picture of Maisey licking the actual fountain, rather than drinking out of the reservoir itself.

Caroline can now get washed in peace and can recommend the use of water fountains for similar offenders.

Caroline

Maisey strikes again at Caroline’s house sleeping where she shouldn’t.

This time on the piano stool which is covered in a velvet-like fabric, perfect for attracting cat hairs! Despite pushing the stool halfway under the piano.

Maisey still manages to squash herself in and deposit the required hairs, ready for the posterior of the next piano-playing victim!!

Caroline