I love the spring time! I have just come back from a day in the surgery … The snow is melting fast and furious and the birds are singing cheerfully in the trees. Spring time in Norway is so different from spring time in UK!! The snow, the cold and all the clothes we have to wear …puh…. I do miss the yellow fields of daffodils and the massive Easter eggs we can buy in the shops for Easter in the UK, I really do…

It’s now a few years since I moved back to my Viking country and it’s now a few years since I started my veterinary practice in Oslo. At the time I thought it would be very different from being a vet in the UK, thinking the Norwegians wouldn’t care about their dogs and cats at the same level as the British…but they actually do! It only took me a few days to see that love for your pet is international and that it doesn’t matter which country you live in. The Vikings have, a long long time ago, realised that their little Fluffy ‘meow meow’ and Fido ‘woof woof’ brings them happiness.

You might wonder what kind of questions the Norwegians ask me in the surgery and yes, they are all the same as the ones I get in UK …..what sort of pet is best for me?…how do I make my dog lose weight? …and how do I stop him from humping my leg?

It’s so important that you choose the right pet for you from the very beginning to avoid being disappointed. Most pets that you find in rescue centres need to be re-homed because the owners didn’t know what to expect. I spend a long time helping people to choose the right type of pet. For example I’ll advise them on the breed of dog all the way through to the right breeder if they choose a pedigree dog.

Last night in evening surgery I had the most wonderful customer…his name is Dan, he is 8 weeks old and already has a lot of muscles and stocky. He is a bulldog, an American bulldog and lovely!!

He and five other puppies spent a whole night in my puppy party where we talked in great length about how to keep these little babies healthy throughout their life…it all starts with good habits, good food, preventing diseases through vaccines, and looking after teeth. It became so obvious for all the new puppy mummies and daddies that by feeding their puppies a good quality food, they potentially prevent health problems. ‘’You are what you eat’’ is such a good expression…watching these bouncy puppies made us all realise how much they rely on us to make the right decisions on how to feed them, when to walk them and what to do with vaccines…it was such a great evening. I really felt the owners understood the importance of looking after your dog makes a happy and healthy dog which leads me nicely to….

….this year National Pet Month is all about raising awareness about your pets health…and this is obviously something close to my heart as a veterinary surgeon….as a vet I see a lot of unhappy sick pets and what strikes me more and more is that a lot of the illnesses and pains could have been avoided if the owner had been more aware on how to prevent different conditions.

National Pet Month is a great month to reflect on health and your pet - why not grab your running shoes and take your dog for a gentle walk?!! It’s good for both of you!!  I remember last year’s success when you all raised over £60 000 for animal charities ….how fabulous is that!?!

Let’s see if we can beat that this year!!

Have a great day !!

…packs are going out tonight! Please don’t forget to register your events on the website - it’s great to hear about all the fantastic things that are planned.

Due to overwhelming demand, we have run out of posters and collection boxes but don’t panic - more have been ordered and are on their way very soon. Event packs are all made up waiting to go just as soon as our stocks are replenished and will be with you well before NPM starts.

If you’re extremely tight on time, don’t forget that once you’ve created your supporter’s account you can download the posters from the website when you’ve logged in and print copies off yourself.

We’re really excited about the number of people who have logged on and the events that we are reading about sound fantastic - if you’re planning something don’t forget to register the details onto the website and this will help direct people - and publicity - to what you’re doing.

National Pet Month will be with us soon…….!

Well that’s Crufts over for yet another year and what a show!! The best in show winner at Crufts was a lovely Sealyham Terrier with a black patch over his eye I had a look on the Crufts website as it wasn’t televised this year which was a shame.  We had a blinder of a show - s’cuse the pun - with the “Pin the Tail on the Doggy” competition. Which proved to be very popular with all ages. There were different prizes each day for the entrant who pinned the tail nearest to the dog’s natural position and there were some rather interesting  positions it must be said! If you weren’t able to make it to Crufts why not check out the video on YouTube. Marc Abraham stopped by the stand to have a go  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KepkA4mppAE.

We also had a great response to our Art Competition which takes place on the run-up to National Pet Month, the winners from which will be displayed in the hall of fame at The Ultimate Pet Show in Birmingham NEC on the 2-3 May.

It was wonderful to get the chance to have a chat with you all and some of the ideas for the events for 2009 were hilarious including a sponsored aerobic class - complete with pets, a singing competition - pets and owners can both compete and a shiniest hair competition! I cant wait to see the pictures.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all the companies who kindly donated prizes for our Pin the tail on the Doggy competition they included, Countrywide, The Ultimate Pet Show, Hugx….