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ANIMAL Planet (Sky Channel 076) is raw, visceral and immersive entertainment that takes us to a different world, with documentaries of animals in the wild, quality pet entertainment showcasing our domestic friends and everything in between.
Animal Planet has now joined with Pet.co.nz to offer a weekly prize for the best weekly pet photo.
Pet.co.nz is a new breed of pet store, offering 7000 premium pet products from food to leashes, beds and more.
Plus free nationwide delivery on orders over $39, available 24/7 from our online store.
For passionate pet lovers, don’t forget to tune into Pets’ Night In every Saturday from 6.30pm on Animal Planet!
HOW TO SEND YOUR PHOTOS
To have your pet included on our Pets page, email a JPG photo with its name and age and your name and address to etc@sunday- news.co.nz with My Pet in the subject line.
The best photo each week wins a $50 Pet.co.nz voucher, redeemable online at pet.co.nz Last week’s winner: Elaine Katene, of Hawera, for her dog Mordecai. I am about to give my chihuahua puppy, Lois, her first vaccinations but I am concerned about possible side effects. What should I watch out for?
The risk of side effects is small in comparison to the consequences of disease when not vaccinating. With modified live viral vaccines there may be a mild fever after the vaccination, but no treatment is needed. Leptospirosis vaccine will sometimes cause a small painful lump at the injection site but this goes after two to three days. Small breed dogs are prone to develop some coughing or sneezing when the kennel cough vaccine is given by drops into the nose. I prefer to give the kennel cough vaccine by injection with these breeds. Very rarely an allergic reaction can occur which may need medical treatment. Our 6-year-old cat, Blackie, appears to be drinking more water than usual. We have not changed his food and he has a good appetite. How can we tell if he has a problem?
The simplest test to have done on Blackie is to get your vet to take a urine sample. With older cats I would be worried about kidney problems or diabetes. These would both be unusual in a cat of Blackie’s age. The urine sample is easily taken from a cat by use of a fine needle and syringe drawing it directly from the bladder. A test strip is used to check for sugar and if this is negative it rules out diabetes. The other important test is the concentration of the urine measured by a refractometer. If this is 1.040 or greater then it is unlikely to be a kidney problem. Often this is the finding in cats of Blackie’s age so your vet can reassure you that there is not a problem with the apparent increased thirst.