Could Your Pet Win The
         Pet Factor? 

Has your pet got a special story to tell? As part of its Pet Factor campaign, the National Office of Animal Health’s (NOAH) website Pet Health Information is looking for winning pets with amazing stories to be entered into a competition for a prize worth more than £1,000. 

Pet Health Information www.pethealthinfo.org.uk is asking pet owners to go onto the website to explain why their four-legged friend has the Pet Factor in 200 words or less. Maybe you wouldn’t recognise your rescue dog from his neglected former self? Or your brave cat has recovered from being run over?  Whatever makes your pet special, this is your chance to shout about it. 

The Pet Factor campaign was launched with a viral video trilogy, focussing on Pet Factor auditions for a dog, cat, and hamster that reminded owners of the importance of basic pet care – worming, flea control, exercise and a healthy diet. 

Phil Sketchley, chief executive of NOAH, said: “The video campaign was an amazing success, and even got its own following on Facebook. Now we want to take the campaign even further and have launched a competition to find pets that have done something special in a way that really embodies the spirit of the Pet Factor.” 

The winning pet and their owner will have a full photo shoot worth over £1,000 with renowned animal photographer Sam Lunt.  The final photographs will be presented to them in a beautiful bound book, to remember their special day. 

If you missed the pet factor viral videos, click on www.youtube.com/petfactor and if you think your pet has what it takes to win the Pet Factor, submit your 200 word entry, with a photograph if possible, at www.pethealthinfo.org.uk, by 28 February 2010.

      

  
    Britain’s Pets Face

    Dietary Time Bomb

 

Forget eight out of ten cats, nine out of ten vet professionals believe UK  pets are at serious risk of diet related diseases, mirroring the alarming  trends seen in human health, and the recession has increased the risk.
 
 A study of more than 100 veterinary professionals suggests their daily  case loads are weighed down with a host of serious “man-made”  dietary-related problems including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and  high blood pressure, simply because owners are not feeding their pets  appropriately. What’s more, these problems are on the increase as a  result of owners switching to lower quality food – or feeding a man-made  diet of crisps and chocolate as in the case of Barney the 70kg Dalmatian  uncovered recently.
 
 "As a nation, our modern lifestyles of fast food, large food portions, and  too little exercise are taking a toll on our health, our children's health, and now our pet's health. Excessive calories and lack of physical activity are leading to alarming rates of obesity, which has become the most common  form of malnutrition in pets today.

"As the links between obesity and  disease are becoming clearer, it is vital that pet owners adopt healthier  practices such as feeding appropriate portions of food, avoiding too many  snacks and treats, and exercise with their pets," said Pet Obesity Task  Force Committee Member and Veterinary Nutritionist, Dr Daniel Chan.

 Alarmingly, despite obesity being the most physically obvious diet related disease in the UK, the vet professionals who participated in the Hill’s  Pet Nutrition study agreed unanimously that owners do not realise their  much-loved but overweight pet is actually suffering from malnutrition. If  the most physically obvious diet related disease is not recognised as a  health problem, little wonder vets have such concern regarding the more ‘silent’ yet no less deadly diseases such as diabetes and heart  disease.
 
 The vet professionals were also in agreement that not all pet foods are the  same, believing to some degree you get what you pay for. Yet worryingly, 83% of vet professionals believe our pet’s health has been another casualty of the economic downturn, as cutbacks in the family budget saw  trading-down on pet food. Vets suggest the effects of these cutbacks will  lead to increases in cases of diet related diseases in the next two years,  with a surge in potentially fatal conditions such as diabetes (61%), intestinal problems and pancreatitis (66%).
 
Adrian Pratt BVSc MRCVS, Hill’s Pet Nutrition Veterinary Affairs Manager, said: “The results make sombre reading. Almost all (98%) of the vet  professionals who participated report seeing a host of preventable diseases  in practice which are the result of inappropriate feeding. While obesity  tends to be caused by an excess of ‘empty calories’ and too little  exercise, inadequate nutrients or excess nutrients like salt, will also affect a pet’s general health and wellbeing, leading to sickness or  long-term diet related diseases.”

 Other findings of the study include:
 · Diet-related problems that cause suffering on the most widespread  scale include problems in the intestines and pancreas, which 40% of vet  professionals saw at least once a day in practice. Pancreatitis is one of  many dietary-related diseases that can be fatal.

 · Vet professionals expect to see an increase in diseases associated  with malnutrition such as kidney disease (55%), lower urinary tract disease  and urolithiasis (58%), heart disease and high blood pressure (30%). Over half (56%) also anticipate an increase in growth abnormalities and/or  skeletal deformities and skin diseases (51%). All of these conditions can  be avoided or managed with the appropriate diet.

· On the point that you are what you eat, 93% of vet professionals  agree that this is relevant to pets just as it is in humans.

· More than three-quarters of vet professionals agree that feeding  quality will save money in the long term.

 · In addition to trading-down on foodstuffs, owners have been tightening the purse strings and cutting back on vaccinations, worming and  flea treatments (80%), routine surgeries, such as neutering (51%) and pet insurance (50%).

The study was conducted by Hill’s Pet Nutrition, global leaders in pet  food and makers of Hill’s Science Plan, one of the few products available  in the UK that provide specifically tailored nutrition to ensure that pets  receive the optimal range of nutrients, every day.

 A cat can be fed on Hill’s Science Plan for as little as 38p per day  (£2.66 per week), less than the price of a cup of coffee.  Based on feeding a 4kg cat a 5kg bag of Hill’s Science Plan Adult  Optimal Care at midpoint.
 

      Two Girls For Every Boy
     Perfect Start to Pochard
       Breeding Programme

Scientists working to save the rarest bird in the world, the Madagascar pochard, have reported ducks (girls) outnumber drakes (boys) by almost two to one in the first two broods being reared in captivity, giving further hope to the emergency rescue mission. 16 ducklings being raised by WWT’s ‘Team Pochard’ in Madagascar, along with colleagues from Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and The Peregrine Fund, have now been “sexed” and 11 are female. 

WWT’s aviculture manager Nige Jarrett explains: “This is a perfect start to a conservation-breeding programme. There are fewer than 20 adult birds left in the wild, all on one lake – their future is very precarious. In 2010 we will be working to breed as many  pochards as possible to reintroduce on to wetlands across the species’ former range. To do this we need our young birds to lay lots of eggs , so females  really are the currency we’re dealing in. 11 out of 16 in the first two broods is fabulous news.” 

Team Pochard is raising three broods of pochard ducklings in captivity in Madagascar. Like all ducks, it is possible to tell their sex by examining their bottoms. The two eldest broods were recently handled to be leg ringed and at the same time the birds were sexed: well over half of them turned out as females. The sexes of the birds in the third brood may yet bring more good news. 

The current emergency rescue mission was mounted after a reconnaissance team visited in July and found the situation was worse than feared.

The team discovered just six females and evidence that ducklings from 2008 had died at just a few weeks old, leaving the entire species highly vulnerable to extinction. 

Working with local people and the government of Madagascar, this work is part of a wider plan to establish a conservation breeding centre in the region in 2010. You can follow the team’s progress at wwt.org.uk/teampochard.