The recent storms have taken their toll on the island’s trees and there are plenty of fallen branches and twigs lying in our gardens and parks.
But dog owners and walkers beware: throwing sticks for your dog might seriously damage its health.
This is not a message coming from ‘health and safety fanatics’, but is one that leading vets are urging dog owners to heed. On average a veterinary practice treats a stick-related injury at least once a week, with the worst cases involving paralysis of limbs, life-threatening blood loss, acute infection, or even death. Sticks can be sharp and they are usually dirty and so when a dog grabs them in its mouth the end of the stick can easily pierce the skin and go through to penetrate the oesophagus, spinal cord or blood vessels.
However, the most prevalent problem is the infection caused by splintered sticks spreading around the body and lodging in the dog’s oesophagus or intestine where the bacteria can develop. So keep a toy that can be thrown, and hopefully fetched back, in your pocket when you go out for walks to keep your dog happy.
We welcomed a clinical animal behaviourist, Carrie Evans, back to the kennels last week. She is coaching the staff team and volunteers and helping them, in particular, to deal with challenging behaviour in dogs – identifying the triggers, understanding the handler’s reactions, and developing techniques to address the problems on a long term basis. We have several dogs in our kennels that are not quite ready for rehoming, but with Carrie’s input we are hoping to be able to place them on the adoption list very soon.
One dog that is ready for his new home is Buster, a four-year-old Staffie who came to us because his owner’s landlord wouldn’t allow pets. He is very intelligent, responsive and quick to learn, and also affectionate and loving. In the words of one of the kennels team ‘Buster would steal anybody’s heart’ and as Valentine’s Day approaches this is a particularly poignant comment. While Buster’s relationship with people is great, he is a little more selective with fellow dogs, and if he were to be rehomed with other dogs a series of introductory and socialisation sessions would need to take place. He will need a confident owner, and will prove to be the most loyal and rewarding companion.
Unlike Buster, Derek is a rabbit with attitude! He has been receiving lots of socialisation time both from the team in the small animals unit and the volunteers who help them, and he is now jumping up to sit on their laps and is progressing with harness training. Yes, rabbits really can be taken for walks using special rabbit harnesses, although training them isn’t easy and the best form of exercise is for them to have the run of a large enclosure or garden. Derek is a three-year-old Dwarf rabbit with tiny ears that really don’t match his big personality, and needs an owner who will carry on helping him to get over his ‘small rabbit syndrome’. He makes the team and volunteers laugh with his antics, and he has never bitten anyone - so he will make the perfect pet.
Moving on to wildlife, we seem to have a swan problem on the island at the moment. We have had more than 20 calls in the last few days about swans that have become disorientated and appear to be acting strangely – walking down the middle of Regent Street, stopping buses outside the Gluepot, and creating mayhem outside Lazerblast. This is probably due to the high winds, and our advice to the public is to observe the bird for as long as possible to establish that it needs help. Most swans will recover and re-join their partner or gaggle, but one is currently in our aviary recuperating and should be released soon. Sadly another needed to be euthanised and our vet wonders whether contaminated water sources are also a possible factor, and so we are taking water samples when feasible.
We can’t do this work with domestic and wild animals without the support of the Manx public, and many of you have responded generously to our recent news that our reserves are diminishing.