Vets Naturally

14/08/2026

14/08/2026

Definitely should not be done as a routine. You need to look into breed specific issues, timing of neutering, age of maturity, possibility pyometra in the future etc. gather facts and then make an informed decision based on all circumstances.
Please don’t base your decision on convenience alone.

05/08/2026

Millions of doses of pet flea treatment are being applied unnecessarily each year, potentially causing widespread damage to the environment, peers have warned.

The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee is calling for a ban on the general sale of off-the-shelf and unchecked online pet treatments for fleas and ticks.

A new report from the committee said the intensive overuse of veterinary medications to treat for parasites such as fleas, ticks and worms in pets is not supported by robust scientific evidence.

It warned the treatments are released into the environment from homes and are potentially causing widespread damage to nature, in rivers and other aquatic systems as well as on land.

Two of the key chemicals used in treatments are fipronil and imidacloprid, which are banned for use as agricultural pesticides because of their impact on wildlife such as bees, while the committee said “very little is known” about the impacts of newer chemicals.

The peers said pet owners should receive a thorough assessment of their animal’s needs and advice about the potential health and environmental risks of pet parasite treatments, with the drugs only distributed through vets, pharmacists and appropriately trained people.

They also raised concerns about how close the pet health industry is to the regulatory and advice-setting frameworks.

The peers called on the Government to establish a clear and comprehensive evidence base on the use of the treatments, and to ensure research addresses significant evidence gaps between environmental impacts and the potential risks to human health.

They said there should be a more precautionary approach to reduce the number of unnecessary treatments, particularly for low-risk animals, including strengthening advice, ensuring they cannot be sold without qualified advice – including online – and making risks more visible on packaging. The report also called for a review of the relationship between the industry and UK and international veterinary medicine regulators, to ensure appropriate and independent guidance is prioritised.

Baroness Sheehan, chairwoman of the committee, said: “Our report raises serious questions and concerns about the environmental risks of pet flea and tick treatments as well as how they are sold to pet owners. Their over-use on household pets is the equivalent of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

“The lack of scientific evidence and data, poor customer guidance and the relationship between the pet medication suppliers and regulators appear as murky as the waterways these flea treatments are polluting. Pet owners deserve accurate evidence-based guidance on the need for, and risks of, the existing and new chemicals which are being prescribed and the impact they are having on their pets, home and the environment.”

British Veterinary Association senior vice president Dr Elizabeth Mullineaux, said: “Parasiticides, like flea treatments, are vital tools in preventing, treating and protecting people and animals from disease and related welfare issues. However, there’s increasing evidence some of these products are damaging to the environment.”

She said the report’s recommendations were in parallel with many of the BVA’s own, saying: “We’ve long called for more research and for a risk-based approach to be taken when using these treatments. We also support calls for a ban on over-the-counter sales – it’s important pet owners have access to professional, tailored, veterinary advice on how to use these treatments appropriately, responsibly and safely when purchasing these products.”

George Duncan Jones, biodiversity policy lead at Greenpeace UK, welcomed the calls, saying that banning the sale of the toxic chemicals as part of over-the-counter flea treatments was “long overdue”.

“Reining in the use of these treatments is a crucial step towards cleaning up our degraded river systems and allowing life to flourish again in the water.”

A Veterinary Medicines Directorate spokesperson said: “We recognise that while pet parasite treatments play an important role in protecting pets and people from parasites and the diseases they carry, they are entering our watercourses, which could be contributing to wider environmental impacts. That’s why we have consulted on this issue to help us maintain appropriate market availability of these substances while also protecting wildlife and the environment.”

Donal Murphy, deputy chief executive of the National Office of Animal Health, said: “The animal health industry remains open to engage in constructive dialogue with regulatory authorities, the scientific community, vets, animal owners and government on how to address the concerns raised, including on data availability and research gaps, while also ensuring that animal health and welfare needs are catered for. NOAH supports the recently launched government ‘Be Spot-On Aware’ public information campaign, which educates pet owners on the careful, responsible application and disposal of flea and tick spot-on treatments.”

A spokesperson for the Environment Department (Defra) said: “This Government is committed to restoring nature and cleaning up our rivers whilst upholding the highest animal welfare standards. While these treatments play a vital role in public and pet health against fleas and ticks, it is right that we assess the availability of these treatments to ensure correct usage by owners. The VMD have recently consulted on this as an important step towards reducing forever chemicals in our waterways and protecting the nation’s wildlife.”

✍Steven Smith
📷The proposal would see off-shelf sales banned(Image: Alamy/PA)

25/07/2026

🐶🍄🦁 LION’S MANE MUSHROOM MAY DO MORE THAN SUPPORT THE BRAIN.

A new peer-reviewed laboratory study published in Veterinary World found that a Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus) extract slowed the growth of canine mammary (breast) cancer cells, triggered them to self-destruct, and reduced their ability to spread. Even more encouraging, it had much less effect on healthy dog cells than on cancer cells.

Researchers discovered that Lion’s Mane appeared to fight cancer in several ways at once:

🔬 Slowed the growth of canine cancer cells

💥 Triggered apoptosis—the body’s natural process of removing damaged cells

🚫 Reduced the cancer cells’ ability to migrate, an important first step in metastasis (the spread of cancer)

🔒 Shifted cancer cells toward a less aggressive state by changing genes involved in tumor spread

🍄 Identified 17 naturally occurring bioactive compounds, including erinacines and hericenones, that may contribute to these effects.

One of the biggest surprises of the cell culture study was that the extract appeared to attack cancer cells while leaving most healthy dog cells largely unaffected.

21/07/2026

There are a huge amount of different joint supports available for dogs, many of which contain specific ingredients to support either the cartilage, the joint fluid, or act as an anti-inflammatory.
It’s a good idea to support joints as dogs and horses age, ideally before issues begin.
This is especially important for large breed dogs and sporting or working dogs.
Available on our website, Hypolene granules contain hyaluronic acid, glucosamine, chondroitin, h**p oil, green lipped mussel, and turmeric.
This provides an excellent all-round support for joints.
Available for dogs and horses.

17/07/2026

Well well well 🤔

Royal Canin has broken cover first and is bringing out 3 "fresh" (well, cooked & heavily ultraprocessed, but fresh for Mars!) veterinary prescription diets!

The ingredients are:

1. Chicken, russet potatoes, pork, green beans, kale, Cremini mushrooms, vegetable oil, fish oil, vinegar, salt, vitamins & minerals.
Guranteed analysis per 100g fresh): Protein 21g, Fat 12g, Carbs 6.5g

2. Turkey, brown rice, spinach, dried carrots, powdered cellulose, vinegar, fish oil, psyllium seed husk, vegetable oil, vit/min mix.
Guranteed analysis per 100g fresh): Protein 15.5g, Fat 7g, Carbs 18 g

3. Pork, sweet potatoes, kale, russet potatoes, fish oil, vegetable oil, vinegar, vit/min mix.
Guranteed analysis per 100g fresh): Carbs 15g, Protein 11g, Fat 7g

Rest assured, this range is as "science-backed" as their other stuff.

It's mad how two completely diverging lines of diet approach - high grain/carb, low protein kibble and now meatier "whole food" diets - are both EXACTLY what your dog and cat needs, according to "science".

It's confusing though, isn't it? Won't all this extra protein harm their kidneys?

And how will our pets clean their teeth now without the kibble skipping off them?!

And what are those veterinary cardiologists who were telling us dogs and cats need those grains for heart health going to say now? Never found out what exactly it was in grain their hearts love, mind. Maybe that's why they have veg oil in all of them...



Jokes aside, crap as these diets will be, and they most certainly will be crap, they will be better than any cereal-based kibble. That's a fact. The protein alone. And now conventional vets can get behind the whole food movement, safe in the knowledge that a candy company is making it better than you can.

I just wonder what they'll be charging per 400g pouch?!

Whatever it is, know you can make these simple recipes at home yourself, guys, significantly better, using superior, local ingredients and, crucially, with more meat, all for a tiny fraction of the price this junk food company will be putting it out at.

07/06/2026

Scary huh??

The Mars pet care empire. Friend or foe?

M&M’s, Snickers, Milky Way… Mars is one of the world’s largest and most famous confectionary companies. But the same privately held corporation, run by one of America’s wealthiest families, is also one of the most world’s most powerful pet food and pet care corporations. And, if this doesn’t worry you, it should!

It all started innocently enough when Frank C Mars started making and selling buttercream candy (aka chocolate to us Brits) in his kitchen in 1911. But it was his estranged son, Forrest, who really built the business into the $50 billion a year empire it is today. Forrest moved to Europe in the 1930s and started his own Mars company there, but after his father’s death returned to the US and in 1964 merged all the operations under his personal control.

The company started making pet food in the 1930s – buying inexpensive ingredients and turning it into dog and cat food. It moved into veterinary care and medical diagnostics in the 1990s. Today it owns over 50 pet food brands including Pedigree, Whiskas, Royal Canin, Cesar, Iams, and Sheba. In veterinary care, it operates Banfield Pet Hospital (more than 1,000 practices in the US), BluePearl, VCA, and the European groups AniCura and Linnaeus — totalling nearly 3,000 veterinary hospitals worldwide. In diagnostic laboratories (the services vets use to test your dog’s blood) Mars Petcare has acquired five veterinary diagnostics businesses in the past seven years. According to a KPMG report, by the way, Mars owns nearly 45% of all corporate-owned veterinary clinics.

In November 2024, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal wrote directly to Mars to raise formal concerns. Their letter, addressed to Mars CEO Poul Weihrauch, is a fascinating document. The senators expressed concern that Mars’s vertical integration in the pet care industry may enable it to charge higher prices for essential veterinary care, and that its significant market power in veterinary diagnostics may allow it to give preference to its own diagnostics laboratories at its own clinics. They also raised the possibility that Mars’s consolidation of pet food companies leaves customers vulnerable to predatory pet food pricing.

The structure Mars has built creates a conflict of interest that no one seems to have formally resolved. If your dog falls ill from a Mars-branded pet food and is taken to a Mars-owned veterinary practice, where the blood tests are processed by a Mars-owned diagnostic laboratory — is that a system designed to serve your dog, or one designed to protect Mars?

None of this would matter quite so much if the food Mars makes were genuinely good for dogs. It isn’t. Mars’s core pet food brands – Pedigree, Whiskas, Iams, Sheba – are quintessential ultra-processed products. Most commercial dry dog foods use a processing technique known as extrusion, where ingredients are mixed, cooked, extruded, and heated again to remove moisture – a process that destroys heat-sensitive nutrients including vitamins, enzymes, and phytonutrients. In May 2025, by the way, a lawsuit was filed against Mars Petcare after Consumer Reports found that Pedigree Complete Nutrition contained more than four times the allowed level of vitamin D.

Mars has enormous control over much of what your dog eats, who treats it when it’s sick, and possibly even what the diagnostic results say. That is a remarkable concentration of power over the lives of animals. The question animal lovers need to ask themselves. Is Mars a friend or a foe?