Letter of the Week

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IT’S that time of year again as children across Australia wait in anticipation of the wonderful chocolatey delights the Easter bunny will bring.

Easter is a great celebration of family and friends, however, it’s also around this time of year we see an increase in poisoning that effects our pets.

Having an emergency situation during the holidays is no fun for anyone, particularly the household pet.

Chocolate is highly toxic to dogs. Plus, being natural scavengers, they can sniff out these delights even if well hidden.

In 2017 over 1000 pet treatment claims for Theobromine/Chocolate poisoning were processed by our Claims Administrator, PetSure.

The actual figures could be much higher as this number only relates to those Australian dog and cat owners that have pet insurance.

The danger of chocolate is being severely underestimated by unsuspecting owners.”

If you suspect your pet has ingested chocolate, it’s important you seek veterinary treatment quickly. Dogs will also tend to ingest the entire box, including the wrappers, plastic and ribbon.

All of this can wreak havoc on their systems and cause your pet to become very ill.

But why is chocolate so very bad for our pets?

It is made from roasting the seeds of the Theobroma Cacao, which contain two toxic properties for animals; caffeine and theobromine. Ingesting these properties can be fatal for a companion animal.

Chocolate poisoning is the most common form of claimed toxicity in Australia, so it’s very important that the message is out loud and clear about this dangerous and common issue.

It’s also good to remember that the common Easter flower lilies is highly toxic to cats, particularly cheeky little kittens who may curiously have a munch so always keep your flowers out of reach for your cats.

NADIA CRIGHTON, PET INSURANCE AUSTRALIA

I AGREE with Terry Keane regarding welfare cards for the poor indigenous communities.

As an experienced ex midwife I have worked with many indigenous women and their families, they have many problems.

A welfare card is not the answer though as they find ways to get around it such as buying goods that they then on-sell to someone else for cash which they use for their drugs/alcohol.

More to the point though is that white people do the same thing.

The grog and drugs come before their children.But please remember that not every poor person black or white behaves this way.

And a thank you to Rod Watson for giving me a laugh, I cacked myself over his very funny letter. Keep them coming Rod, haha.

W WILSON, OXENFORD

IT is hard to think of a more lunatic development than the one proposed for Broadbeach (‘Star multimillion dollar masterplan’, GCB, 22/3). Four towers, enclosing 1794 apartments.

The council’s planning committee chairman, Cameron Caldwell, has described it as “a wonderful development” and “just what the city needed post-Games”.

Discounting all the hype, Cr Caldwell can perhaps tell us where he will find space for the avalanche of cars pouring out of these 1974 apartments on roads already choked with traffic.

Or perhaps he’s more interested in the jingle of money arriving in council coffers via its approvals. Were the people of Broadbeach consulted on this “masterplan”? Was anyone? Or is it just being rammed through?

At this rate, it cannot be long before the central Gold Coast – Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise – grinds to a halt. This is development gone mad.

P C WILSON, MIAMI

STEVE Smith, stop whinging and act more like the captain of your country.

All Test bowlers celebrate a dismissal – Australians are well known to be more “enthusiastic” than others, in demonstrating their success, verbally and advancing threateningly.

When the boot was on the other foot, in earlier days, our batsmen faced just as fierce speed as Rabada – Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Wassim Akram, Alan Donald, the list goes on.

I don’t recall any previous Australian captain complaining celebrations were over the top. And anyway, the pair of you only lightly brushed shoulders, if you hadn’t complained no-one would have noticed. Steve, you saw him coming, why did you do nothing to avoid the so-called clash.?

You and other commentators are predicting an escalation, even punch-ups.

Grow up, you are recognised as the best batsman in the world and Rabada the best bowler, show your class.

Petulant dummy spits only raises the question, are you up to being the Australian captain.

JP WILLIAMS, NERANG

FOR the government, especially the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Please explain in detail what is the difference when selecting Syrian Christians and White South Africa Christian when granting refugee status?

What is the barrier to separating the Syrians and South Africans in regards to coming to Australia?

ROBERT S BUICK, MOUNTAIN CREEK