So finally May is here - and summer has begun!  Our ancestors celebrated this month as the feast of Bealtaine.   This feast traditionally begins on May 1st - May day.  Various activities are associated with this day - from washing your face in the dew to maintain a youthful complexion, to various animal-related practices. … Continue reading Bealtaine

A question that we are often asked in the clinic is “Can I Feed My Dog Raw Meat?”.  Most people feed their dog on branded pet food, but some folks like to make their own diets for their pet.  This trend stems from a desire to feed the dog the “best quality” ingredients, or sometimes … Continue reading Should You Feed Your Dog Raw Meat?

One of the toughest things about being a vet, and one of the privileges is ending a life humanely.  In this country we are licensed to euthanize animals.  This act has many euphemisms - “put to sleep”, “put down”, and “say goodbye”; among others.  These phrases all mean the same thing - taking a conscious … Continue reading The Hardest Goodbye

If you eat food that has come from animals, do you care if those animals were well treated in their lifetime?  If you do, how would you know?  After all, one packet of smoky streaked bacon looks like another, right?  This question has tasked animal welfare campaigners for generations.  Market research has indicated that the … Continue reading Is Your Food Animal Welfare Friendly?

This week I would like to time travel into the near future.  I wish to take you on a journey to see some of the advances in veterinary medicine, and how they could benefit your dog.  Specifically I would like to look at the future of bionic support for dogs - using modern materials to … Continue reading Robo-Dog – The Future?

This month at Downe Vets we have been busy lambing!  This means helping mummy sheep (ewes) give birth.  You may not know this, but sheep, unlike people, generally have a season for giving birth.  We call this “lambing season”.  The idea is that the lambs are born at a time of year when the weather … Continue reading It’s Lambing Season!

This week’s local news cycle has been dominated by the story of the chimpanzees who briefly strayed outside their pen in Belfast Zoo.  This got me thinking, “what do I really know about these guys?”  Well, I decided to do some research, and here is what I found.Chimps are a type of great ape - … Continue reading Fearing a Chimp Doesn’t Make you a Wimp

  I think we can all agree that the NHS is a great institution.  Sure, it has its flaws, but all of us have benefitted from the care provided as a result of the vision of Nye Bevan and his contemporaries 70 odd years ago.  From the first breath we took in this world, it … Continue reading Should there be an NHS for Pets?

Following on from our previous and popular article about Kittens, this week’s article is all about puppies!  Now, who doesn’t love a puppy?  Many of you will have new puppies after Christmas - but as the old maxim goes “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas”.  I know all of our readers want … Continue reading How to Care for your New Puppy