Are You Your Pet's Best Friend?

Are You Your Pet's Best Friend?

August 2003

We all love our pets, after all a dog is 'man's best friend' and for most of us our animals are seen as a member of the family. But despite loving them as much as we do it must be remembered that they are not humans and shouldn't be treated as such, as this can actually do more harm than good. Research has revealed that 'near death' experiences continuously happen to much loved pets and much of the 'cruelty' witnessed comes, not from people intentionally harming their pets, but from ignorance and a lack of education. To help combat this, pet charity The Blue Cross is launching the 'All About Pets' campaign to make sure pets are loved in the correct way and provide Britain's pet owners with a comprehensive range of information on caring for cats, dogs, horses and small animals.

One such case, which will hopefully be prevented from happening in the future, involved an elderly woman who gave her 'peeky' cat a paracetomol that nearly killed it. More alarming is that one Blue Cross vet had no choice but to put a pet rat to sleep after it was brought into the hospital so obese it could barely move. The owners admitted they regularly fed it curry as it seemed to like it. Feeding animal's take-aways such as curries, pizzas and Chinese food, not knowing that this may cause digestive problems and can lead to obesity, is a common problem. Animal's bodies are not meant to consume human food so giving your pet a 'treat' is actually doing more harm than good.

With 70 leaflets available throughout the UK covering all common pet and horse care problems such as 'safety around horses', 'caring for your puppy' 'the overweight cat' and 'A house for your hamster', The Blue Cross aims to get rid of the ignorance people have when it comes to pets and show owners how to love not smother their animals.

The leaflets are available through the website at: www.allaboutpets.org.uk

Or by writing to them at:

All About Pets
The Blue Cross
FREEPOST OF224
Shilton Road
Burford
Oxon
OX18 4BR