We have discussed the dangers of giving pets human chocolates before, and no doubt most of you are all too aware that you should never give your pets even the smallest taste of the stuff. However, with Easter almost upon us, we thought it would be a good idea to remind you once again (if it avoids just one animal facing emergency treatment over the holidays it will have been worth it!)

Those who have only recently welcomed a pet into their lives may be unaware that chocolate is poisonous for all pets – it contains a stimulant called THEOBROMINE, which is similar to caffeine. The danger this poses to your pet is directly linked to how much he/she consumes (dose-dependent). Cocoa powder and dark chocolate contain the highest proportions of theobromine, and therefore eating even a couple of squares is likely to make a small dog ill. Cats are even more susceptible to the effects of theobromine, but are less likely to be tempted by chocolate.

Common signs of chocolate poisoning to look out for include:

• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Restlessness and hyperactivity
• Rapid breathing
• Muscle tension
• Lack of coordination
• Increased heart rate
• Seizures

If you spot any of these symptoms in your pets and suspect that they may have got hold of any chocolate, contact your vet for advice straight away (we always recommend that you check in advance with your practice as to what their emergency cover arrangements are for the long bank holiday weekend). You will almost certainly be advised to take your pet in for urgent assessment and treatment, and it’s a good idea to take the outer packaging with you if possible, so that your vet can assess the likely level of theobromine exposure. It is also important to know that some chocolates can contain either xylitol (a sweetener) or raisins/currants, both of which can be poisonous to dogs even in tiny quantities (non-dose dependent).

There is no antidote for chocolate poisoning. Your vet may make your dog vomit to clear the chocolate out of his/her body. Your dog may then be fed activated charcoal to absorb any remaining theobromine from the intestines. Not a pleasant process, and certainly an upsetting and potentially expensive end to the Easter fun!

Of course, chocolate drops and chews that are formulated specially for pets are perfectly fine to treat those special dogs in your life with.

Until next time, best wishes from Shailen and The Ralph Site team
The Ralph Site, non-profit pet loss support

Please note: The Ralph Site is not affiliated with the third-party organisations in any of the links shared here, and the views, ideas and suggestions expressed in this and other blogs are simply shared with the intention of helping you, our friends, take care of the special animals in your lives.

Following the loss of any significant presence in our lives, humans have an innate need to remember and celebrate the life of their dear friend. Obituaries, gravestones and memorial services all play an important role in helping us work through our feelings of grief, and can be just as crucial for pet carers. This week we take a look at some of the many options available online.

Slate and stone have long been popular materials for constructing memorials – elegant and enduring, a carved stone will stand for many, many years.
Scottish Slate Gift offers an engraving service so that you can tailor your words in fitting tribute, with prices starting from £53.99.

You can also choose to create your own permanent reminder by taking a cast of your pet’s paws. Plaster casts will not survive the elements if placed in open spots, but can be mounted under a tree or displayed in a sheltered part of the garden. A cost-effective option is a more generic mould, such as this one, which could be pressed into concrete or a new path or patio.

A quick search for ‘pet photo memorial’ returns hundreds of options for poly-resin frames and memorials, most of which can be personalised either with words of your choosing, and / or with the addition of a favourite photo. These memorials tend to range from £8-£20 and thus would be a great option for anyone on a budget.

Popular online currently, this solar-lit memorial cross can be placed close to your pet’s grave, illuminating automatically at dusk.

However, other carers may prefer to mark their pet’s grave or a favourite part of the garden, with a more subtle presence – perhaps an interesting or practical focal point. Popular options might be a string of white solar lights, a young tree, a bird feeder, bench or water feature. Added to mark the passing of a pet, but not specifically featuring their name or image, such garden ornaments form a sensitive reminder of a much-loved pet.

Of course you may prefer to create your own uniquely personal memorial to your pet, and a simple wooden cross or a rockery constructed and planted in a favourite sunny spot are as cost effective as they are meaningful. On the other hand, you may find that it is just too painful to see a reminder of your missing friend every time you set foot in the garden, and choose to remember your pet’s life with quiet inner thoughts instead.
All options are valid and perfectly normal, and as always, the choice is entirely yours.

Until next time, best wishes from Shailen and The Ralph Site team
The Ralph Site, non-profit pet loss support

Please note: The Ralph Site is not affiliated with the third-party organisations in any of the links shared here, and the views, ideas and suggestions expressed in this and other blogs are simply shared with the intention of helping you, our friends, take care of the special animals in your lives. The Ralph Site can also not vouch for the quality of the products mentioned.

Don’t leave it too late, or you’ll be breaking the law!

If you share your home with a dog, hopefully you are already aware that as of the 6th April this year, your dog must be microchipped. Under the The Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2015, all dogs over the age of eight weeks must now be microchipped and their keeper’s details registered with one of the UK’s six central databases. The only permitted exemption is when the animal is deemed by a vet, in writing, to be unfit to undergo the chipping procedure.

So if your dog has not already had a microchip implanted, please remember that you have only a few weeks left in order to make the necessary arrangements – anyone who does not comply with the new legislation can be served with a notice requiring the dog to be microchipped, and may face criminal prosecution and a £500 fine if they do not subsequently comply.
The full statute is available for reference here.

The advantages of microchipping are many (in theory at least) including:

• Helping to reunite lost and stolen dogs with their carers
• Acting as a deterrent to dog theft
• Enforcing lifelong responsibility on puppy farmers
• Making it easier for vets to contact owners in emergency situations

It seems unlikely that everyone will initially comply with the law – it is estimated that between ten and twenty percent of dogs in the UK will remain unchipped after April 6th and it’s difficult to see how the law can be enforced. However, with time, veterinary practices, animal welfare centres and local authorities will be able to identify dogs that have not previously been chipped when they are routinely scanned on being brought in for treatment or re-homing. The animals will then be chipped and prosecutions potentially brought.

At The Ralph Site we are supporters of microchipping, whether or not the law requires it. Several of our Facebook friends have shared the feelings of emptiness, frustration and guilt they experienced after their pets went missing, and a microchip greatly increases the chance of pets that are subsequently found being reunited with their families. The new law applies only to dogs, but we always recommend that cats and rabbits are chipped too, as there is always a risk of wandering off, getting locked in somewhere or escaping from the garden run.

The procedure itself is quick and relatively painless – the microchip capsule is smaller than a grain of rice and is implanted gently under the skin at the back of your pet’s neck. Once in place it provides a unique, and permanent method of identification – all you need to do is remember to update your contact details whenever you change mobile numbers or email addresses, or if you move house.

Many veterinary practices are offering free or reduced price microchipping throughout March, so if your pet is not already microchipped, don’t delay – give your vet a call today.
You might also like to know that The Dogs Trust is offering free microchipping at a number of locations across the UK – you can find more details here.

Until next time, best wishes from Shailen and The Ralph Site team
The Ralph Site, non-profit pet loss support

Please note: The Ralph Site is not affiliated with the third-party organisations in any of the links shared here, and the views, ideas and suggestions expressed in this and other blogs are simply shared with the intention of helping you, our friends, take care of the special animals in your lives.

Those of us who have shared even a small part of our lives with a much-loved animal friend will carry the experience with us forever. And yet just as we find joy in the memories of happy times shared together, the pain of saying goodbye and the gaping hole left behind are also indelibly stamped on our hearts.

Sometimes the visceral pull of grief feels almost too much to bear. And whilst there is no magic button to press to make everything feel better, each of us is stronger than we know. Endurance and fortitude are uniquely human traits, helping us overcome the pain and sorrow whilst always retaining the sense of loss that reminds us of the depth of connection we enjoyed with our lost friend.

At times like these it is always helpful to speak with someone who really understands what you are going through, who has a small sense of what you’re feeling. You may have sympathetic friends or family who have lost their own pets, and talking over how you feel with them will provide some small comfort. However, if you feel there is nobody you can share your thoughts and feelings with, we have put together a list of experienced Pet Bereavement Counsellors from across the UK who may be able to help you work through the grieving process. (Please note that whilst we provide details for your convenience, we are unable to directly endorse or recommend these individual services, and you may also wish to research other alternatives to suit your own preferences and requirements.)

In addition, there is also plenty of support and advice to be found in the Counselling Directory, the UK’s largest database of registered professional counsellors. Here you’ll find answers to any questions you may have about how counselling works, and which type of approach might be best for you if you do decide to seek professional help. You can also search for pet bereavement counsellors near you.

The Blue Cross provides an excellent free resource, the Pet Bereavement Support Service. Its support line can be accessed free from landlines (some mobile networks may charge) in the UK and Northern Ireland on 0800 096 6606, and is open from 8.30am – 8.30pm everyday. More details can be found here.

You might also like to join The Ralph Site’s private Facebook support group, where you can discuss how you feel about your pet’s passing in a confidential and safe environment. Membership of this private group is by invitation only; however all you need to do is click on the link here and leave a request to join.

Please don’t ever feel that you should be able to cope on your own; there is no need to suffer in silence. Each of us needs someone to share our thoughts and feelings with sometimes, and without acknowledging and expressing the pain we feel we may simply be storing up future problems. Time after time we hear that what helps people dealing with pet loss grief the most is being able to share their feelings with and get support from other people.

According to recent statistics from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, as many as 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of diagnosable mental distress during their lifetime, with 20% of people becoming depressed. And we all know that bereavement is widely acknowledged to be one of the most traumatic experiences to go through. Well-meaning friends may tell you that “it’s only a dog” and encourage you to get another one – not everyone understands the deep bond that we form with our pets. You will know when, indeed if, the time is right to bring another animal into your life, and it will never be to replace an old friend, rather to make a new one.

Until next time, best wishes from Shailen and The Ralph Site team
The Ralph Site, non-profit pet loss support

Please note: The Ralph Site is not affiliated with the third-party organisations in any of the links shared here, and the views, ideas and suggestions expressed in this and other blogs are simply shared with the intention of helping you, our friends, take care of the special animals in your lives.

With so much suffering and bad news filling the newspapers at the moment, we thought it might be nice to take a more animal-centric look at the news. It seems that the internet was practically invented for funny videos and pictures of animals, and any scroll through social media will soon unearth several gems, usually showing cats and dogs being unintentionally hilarious. But what about the stories behind the memes and gifs?

In the last week or two we’ve heard about the well-earned promotion of Felix, the resident cat at Huddersfield railway station. Felix has lived at the station since 2011, brought in to catch mice and keep the platforms pest-free. In recognition of her sterling work, station staff have recently ‘purr-moted’ her (groan) to the role of Senior Pest Controller, complete with her own high-vis vest. A cat flap has even been installed at the ticket barrier to allow her easy access to the platforms. The feel-good story quickly went viral, and Felix now has her own Facebook page, with over 42,000 likes! More HERE.

Panasonic has revealed filmed evidence of exactly what our pets get up to whilst they are home alone. In video footage captured by its home monitoring system in 2,000 homes across the UK, the company witnessed a number of unexpected sights:

• A dog who managed to dig down through the kitchen floorboards and subsequently spent two days beneath the house before being safely rescued
• Two cats who had somehow flicked the kitchen tap on and flooded the kitchen
• Another cat who managed to drag a whole cooked chicken in through the cat flap
• Several clever pets who managed to open the fridge and devour the contents
• An excitable puppy who jumped up and knocked over an urn, spilling the precious contents on the floor
• The delivery of a parcel of jumpers, left in the garden and torn apart by the resident dogs

You can read more stories HERE.

The PDSA has just launched a ‘Pet Fit Club’ and are currently looking to recruit overweight dogs, cats and rabbits to embark on a six-month diet and exercise programme. With the programme tailored to produce a gradual weight loss and promote a healthy lifestyle, participating pets will then battle it out to be crowned the UK’s pet slimmer of the year. The charity has run a weight loss campaign for the last 11 years, and its website reports on the biggest loser to date:

“‘Jumbo Jack’ became Jumping Jack when he won the 2011/12 Pet Fit Club. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel shed nearly one third (31%), of his bodyweight in our slimming competition. The eight-year-old was transformed by his involvement in the contest. At the beginning of the competition he tipped the scales at 20.5kg, around double his ideal weight. Six months on he was a far healthier 14.1kg (a loss of 6.4kg) and trimmed an impressive 20cm off his waist, beating 16 other pets to the title of ‘biggest loser’!”

If you’d like to sign your pet up for the Pet Fit Club, you can find out more HERE.

And finally, sadly, a topical animal story without a happy ending. The nation watched with bated breath as marine experts tried desperately to save a number of sperm whales stranded on the shallow shores around the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coast. In total six whales have beached and died in the UK, but sadly there have been a further 24 along the coasts of Holland, France and Germany. It is believed that a pod of the gentle giants became disorientated on their long journey south to the tropics, entering the relatively shallow waters of the North Sea instead of travelling down the Atlantic coast of Britain. All the beached whales have been male – the females and calves tend to stay in warmer waters through the year whilst the males leave to form bachelor pods. On average seven sperm whales beach on UK shores each year, so sadly the recent news is not unexpected.

With animals forming such a large part of our lives, and occupying such a big space in our hearts, you don’t have to look far to find uplifting, humorous, inspiring or humbling stories from the animal kingdom. In fact, you’re bound to have plenty of such stories of your own?!…

Until next time, best wishes from Shailen and The Ralph Site team
The Ralph Site, non-profit pet loss support

Please note: The Ralph Site is not affiliated with the third-party organisations in any of the links shared here, and the views, ideas and suggestions expressed in this and other blogs are simply shared with the intention of helping you, our friends, take care of the special animals in your lives.