Ask our expert
PDSA Vet Nurse Nina Downing answers all your pet questions
Dear PDSA Vet, I’m pregnant with my first baby and worried how my dogs will react. How can I prepare them ahead of his or her arrival? Thanks, Harrie Hi Harrie, congratulations! There are plenty of things you can be doing now which will help your dog's adjust to your growing family. Start by setting your boundaries in advance so any rooms that will become ‘pet free’, or any new ‘house rules’ such as waiting for a command before jumping up on the sofa, won’t be a huge shock when baby arrives. As you start to buy things for your baby, bring them straight into the house. This will give your dogs plenty of time to get used to the new sights and smells. They'll be much less curious about them by the time baby arrives. And finally, if you have willing family members, friends or neighbours, get your dogs used to spending time with other people so that when baby arrives you have help from familiar people to walk and look after the dogs when you need to focus on baby. Dear PDSA Vet, I saw the story a few weeks ago about rat myths. I had no idea they could be pets. Can I get one rat or do they need to have company? Thanks, Carl
Hi Carl, although rats enjoy human company, they’ll also need other ratty friends to be happy as they are very sociable animals. It’s best to keep rats from the same litter together as they’re less likely to fight. But you’ll need to be sure of their sexes and keep rats of the same gender together boys with boys and girls with girls – so you don’t end up with lots of unplanned baby rats to rehome. If you are wanting to rescue rats, then male rats can be neutered if you want to form a new social group, it’s more straightforward than neutering females. When creating a new family group, this will take time and patience. Introductions will take time, but when done correctly they should get on fine.
Dear PDSA Vet, my cat Jude has pink, sore eyes that weep. Does he need to see a vet? Thanks, Hamish
Hi Hamish, it sounds like your cat will need to see a vet urgently as this sounds very uncomfortable and they will need medication to ease the symptoms and treat the problem. There is a condition called conjunctivitis, this is when the cat’s conjunctiva, a very thin layer of tissue that covers the inside of the eyelid and runs across the front of the eye, becomes inflamed. It can be caused by a number of things, maybe a virus, infection, something stuck in the eye, cat flu or allergies. Eyes are too important to ignore so I’d definitely recommend booking Jude in at the vets.