SimplyCats Vet Clinic Blog

Animals in all shapes an sizes never fail to amaze and often humiliate vets

This image below shows the back of a Flea, obtained with a very high power microscope.

If you look very carefully you can see the flea being parasitised by tiny mites under the scales.

So you see that eliminating fleas from your cats has a double effect. Even more interesting do the flea mites have parasites?

The picture was taken while Sarah and Paul were at a conference in Prague late 2007 on cat diseases, and was taken to emphasise the importance of flea control in cats. Cat fleas carry a bacteria called Bartonella which can cause a very serious illness in humans. The bacteria, we think is transmitted via flea dirt (faeces) that infects the human by a skin wound.

So please make sure your flea control is robust and up to date depending on your animals life style and habits.

Claire

I found this video online and just had to share it with you

Claire

A couple of weeks ago during some heavy rain some fledgling starling chicks took refuge within the bird table in the back garden. They were forced to remain there all day due to the fact that the heavy rain had drenched their feathers and they weren’t quite sure how to deal with it. Popping out occasionally for a fat ball treat and some seeds, they obviously were quite comfortable in their ‘hotel’ as when the rain stopped, they stayed there for quite some time. Luckily, Caroline’s three cats are ‘fair weather’ cats and stayed indoors through the starling ordeal!

Who says you can’t enjoy birds in your garden when you have cats!

Caroline

A not so cat related post today, I’ve always loved Formula One and got tickets from my boyfriend at Christmas to go to Silverstone to see the 2010 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix. The day was fantastic and the weather was glorious. Ieven got to see my favourite driver Sebastian Vettel who drives for Red Bull, unfortunately he came off the track right in front of us, he still managed to have a fantastic race, finishing 7th overall.

We had a fantastic time and are already talking about going back again next year.

Sebastian Vettel

Claire

This could be a regular topic for Caroline as one of her cats, Maisey takes time out on the dining table from examining a giant lava lamp which she found really scary!

Caroline

After her first adventure in the garden, Megan now wants to be out everytime the Patio door is opened. She is very good because if she does get out, she just stays on the top step and dosen’t make any attempt to run away. She was playing around in the garden and the window cleaner appeared on Tuesday…what a commotion!!! She took off into the house and managed to wrap herself around the table legs. All I could hear was a pathetic little squeaky meow . I picked her up and poor little thing was shaking so I cuddled her in. Normally when the window cleaner comes, she sits on the window sill and chases after his cloth ….much to his amusement. Anyway no harm was done and she soon regained her confidence and was back to business in the garden again.

Maisie is a bit too adventurous when she is out on her harness. We have a large fence between us and our neighbour and I just caught her jumping on top of it and disappearing down the other side, thank goodness the lead on the harness was very long or goodness knows what would have happened. I now make sure that she isn’t near the fence when she is out……it’s like having children….you can’t take your eyes off them for a moment

Joanne

Caroline’s eight year old son, Calum has plenty of soft toys to choose a favourite from. Like all children, he has to choose the same toy that Katie likes to snuggle up to. Here she is pictured taking advantage of the fact that Calum is at school and she has Spongebob all to herself – she looks very smug!

Caroline

I decided long ago after one of my cats was killed on the road that all other cats I ever owned after that would be house cats. So, one warm sunny Saturday afternoon, I decided to show Megan the delights of the outdoors (this being the garden). I had bought Megan a lovely girly pink harness for this purpose and she was a bit apprehensive when I put her in it at first but then seemed to accept it. At first she didn’t want to walk in it and just lay down, we have laminate floors so she ended up on her side skidding along the floor .
 
We got out of the patio doors and she stood on the top step sniffing the air and eventually deciced….after some persuasion to walk, very carefully down the next few steps onto the grass. She lay down in the grass and decided on a game of ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ with me. Maisie, my other cat was also out on her harness, which she is used to, and Megan thought it would be fun to charge after her but got a shock when she realised she couldn’t go exactly where she wanted to.

After a while of skulking about, she decided to play hide and seek with me in the grass. 

She seemed to enjoy her first day outdoors and I think this will be the first of many, although Maisie didn’t seem too pleased

Joanne

Take a look at this gorgeous cat, she was thrown out of a car when she was 5 weeks old. She was then taken on by a local riding school and were much loved by everyone. She now lives on a farm after the riding school closed down.

Lynne

You may have seen a ‘bionic’ cat in the news this week.

The cat had its back feet badly damaged by a combine harvester and has now been given two prosthetic limbs in a pioneering operation.

To view the news report, click here

Claire

Those of you who have signed up to receive our monthly e-mail ‘Mewsletter’ will already know that Caroline, one of our receptionist’s cats, Dubby is on a strict diet.

Having topped the scales at just over 9 kilos some months ago it was time to take drastic action!

Dubby joined Nurse York’s slimming regime and now Caroline feeds Dubby measured diet food sachets so there can be no ‘extras’ and she is happy to say that he is losing weight, slowly, but steadily. He is pictured sporting his sunglasses but is not ready to wear the bikini yet!

You can follow Dubby’s progress by signing up to the Mewsletter . If you feel your cat may be overweight, you can bring him along to a free nurse weight clinic here at SimplyCats – call 0191 3859696 to make an appointment.

Caroline

After a fantastic holiday in Florida I am officially back to work and back to reality.

I loved spending time at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Seaworld and Busch Gardens mainly because of the animals but also because of the big rollercoasters (I’m a huge adrenaline junkie). The animals in the parks are kept in fantastic condition and I enjoyed chatting to the keepers at these parks and discussing all things animal related, mainly cat related (I just can’t seem to turn off work mode sometimes).

Here are just a few of my holiday snaps I thought I would share with you.

If any of you are considering a trip to Florida, I strongly urge you to go. It is a fantastic, magical place and I loved every minute of our holiday. Infact we enjoyed it so much we’re already planning a holiday back there next year.

Claire in a Stitch hat (who says we have to be mature all of the time?)

Claire & Neil in Universal Studios, Hogwarts in the background

Claire & Neil at Seaworld

Claire & Neil waiting to ride the world's largest SlingShot

Claire at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Lion at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Claire at Pixar Studios, home of Toy Story

Claire and David Hasslehoff's handprints at Planet Hollywood

Claire with a lego boy and lego dogs at Downtown Disney

Claire at Honeyduke's shop in Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Claire's nickname is Duke)

Invisible cat at Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Claire & Neil at Universal Studios

Claire

We are offering our clients the chance to see their cat appear on SimplyCats vaccine reminders and the Mewsletter. If you would like your cat to feature in these materials, please contact us and include a photo of your beloved cat.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please click here to contact us. Any feedback welcome on how we can improve our site.

If there is any subject you would like to read about on the blog or in the Mewsletter, please let us know, as we are always grateful of any suggestion.

Claire

SimplyCats would like to thank everyone who attended our Open Day on Saturday 8th May and made this a fantastic day!  

We are pleased to announce that so far we have raised over £150 and are still receiving donations.

 We certainly had nice weather for it and the day was brilliant, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

The day would not have been a success without those who attended so once again, a big thank you from everyone.

Many thanks go to all who attended and helped to organise the event.

Please click here for more information and photos from the Open Day.

Claire

We are celebrating our first birthday today at SimplyCats! We opened a year ago today, May 5th