They are so cute I can’t tell you. I’m dreading how many are female but what can you do? Thank goodness for Wayne! 45 – 55 euros for a female spay. Anyway, back to animal behaviour. One of my female cats, who was not pregnant and isn’t spayed but next in line, moved in with the kittens and started looking after them and letting them suckle. Now it’s just one big love fest in there, one big heap of kittens and four mums feeding and grooming whomever. Heap of kittens: a new collective noun.

Some very interesting dog behaviour; sounds a bit traumatic but it was interesting. Chris, (my husband), had an epileptic fit a couple of weeks ago. It’s the second one he’s had in his life, first one two months ago all due to medication he has now stopped taking. The first one I though he was dying, never seen anyone fit before.

The second one I knew what to do, so I’m sat there on the floor, holding Chris in the recovery position waiting for it to pass. The dogs were so freaked out! Brian stood about two metres away barking at us, looking really nervous. Peluqui, who we call doctor Peluqui because whenever any of the cats or dogs have cuts he sniffs them out and cleans them up and keeps cleaning until they’re better.

Dogs have an enzyme in their saliva that is similar to an antibiotic. It is the reason your dog has brownish-pink stains where he’s been chewing his paw, licking and around his mouth, it causes the discolouration.

So, Peluqui starts frantically sniffing all over Chris as if he could smell a treat that we’d hidden. He looked really serious and wouldn’t stop. Teddy was circling us quite fast and not too close, I don’t know for sure but it honestly felt like he was guarding us. All the other dogs just stood there watching…except the four, eight week old puppies who thought it was all a fantastic game that dad had lay down on the floor as a human climbing frame purely for their benefit! I had to just watch all of this, I couldn’t stop any of them as I was a bit busy myself, I’d sling the odd pup, but this just added to the game. It was truly amazing to witness.

Diatomaceous Earth – what a find. I have no fleas! No ants, a lot less ticks and a lot less flies and mozzies (mosquitoes). It is incredible and people are coming back for more and more. It’s really funny they stand at the gate like Diatomaceous Earth addicts. ‘Got any more of that powder?’ Wayne the mobile vet will be here early July for a cat day and a month later for a cat and dog day if you want an appointment.

Thank you all for your kind comments and support, re: last month’s article.

I called the vet and asked who has reported me, and for what. Basically, very peed off about the affordable mobile charity vet prices.

The vet had not read the article properly and thought I was giving injections and God only knows…spaying animals? So backtracked and said I was not allowed to sell worming tablets, even though you can but them in every chemist, pet shop, garden centre and some hardware stores in town. Not to mention the Internet.

Futhermore, I explained that Wayne is a fully qualified, licensed, English vet with a fully kitted out van, insured by a charity in Málaga, a fully registered rescue centre.
Here I feel the need to brag a little, sorry. Grooming and the kennels is a second career for me, a therapeutic career as I have a terminal illness. In my past life, I worked as an investigative journalist for the BBC for over ten years, closing down residential care homes for the elderly, badly run nurseries etc. Before that, I was part of a team of only ten, hand picked, people to launch MTV into Europe from America, before that toured the world in the 80’s with Eurythmics. Have lived and worked in London, Paris, Australia, Los Angeles and New York. Throw in my degree in communication and psychology. Yes love, my paper work is in order!

I have asked every vet in this town to help with spaying and neutering. And only one has come close to doing so.
I told the vet that people call me about injured and abandoned animals constantly and that the police ring me and ask me what to do with them. I told her I just want to help people afford to spay, to reduce the population and that Wayne, who is also a teacher felt the same way (he was also the celebrity vet on Channel 4’s Big Breakfast some years ago).

I guess my terminal illness, husband recovering from cancer and family to support counts for nothing against their potential loss of earnings. Stupid thing is that the people I’m encouraging and helping couldn’t afford to use normal vets. anyway!

My kennel poster has disappeared, by the way.

So to clarify: Wayne Hockenhull is a fully qualified English vet who has a mobile clinic in a very posh van. He is registered, insured, pays tax and is allowed to charge whatever he wants to operate and sell medication. He’s allowed to park his van on private land wherever he wants. It is a charity.
I do not sell animal medication in my salon. I sell diatomaceous earth for the treatment of fleas and ticks and I am allowed to do so.

Call us to make an appointment. 607 235 572

Bobby! Yeah! Got a new home with lovely, lovely David and Lynn in the Rio Seco. I stopped by to see if he was OK the other day and he looked at me as if to say, “Very pleased to see you Claire but go away!”
Still need homes for other dogs, have put them on the website,
www.perrossi.com if you’re interested.

Please, don’t call me and ask me to take any more dogs or cats, I’m at my limit and I can find enough myself, I’m so financially stretched as I also feed dogs all the way into town every day, along with the clan I already have. In the last six months I have been given four blankets, two bags of dog food and sold twenty worming tablets – times are hard for everyone. Two pregnant cats have turned up; I think my cats have been putting posters up around the Río Seco with directions to the food tree! So, more spaying after the kittens are born. Still need a shed for the cats to nest in, if anyone has one they don’t want.

We have good quality dog & cat worming tablets for sale at €1.50 each (from the vet €4 to €6 each). The whole €1.50 goes towards the upkeep of the animals.

Something new and exciting for all you people with your own mini rescue centre. We are having a fully qualified, British mobile vet visit us in Almuñécar two days a week and one day a week in La Herradura for the following:

Prices:
Yearly Rabies Booster €12.00
Full dog Booster & rabies €25.00
Full Cat Vaccinations & Rabies €30.00
Microchips €25.00
The full dog booster vaccine includes: distemper, parvovirus, adenovirus, parainfluenza, leptospirosis and rabies.
The full cat booster vaccine includes: calicivirus, herpesvirus, panleucopaenia, rabies and leukaemia.
Female cat spayed from €45
Male cat neutered from €30
Female dog from €70 to €90 depending on size
Male dog neutering from €45 to €65 depending on size
Call us to make an appointment. 607 235 572

I have someone learning to groom at present so anyone with a breed dog can have a free groom for the next two months, just call and make an appointment.
Finally, a tribute to my dog Bobby, who died last week. We rescued him from Nerja six years ago. He was a Pekinese cross and was about to be put down, as he had been re-homed several times and then returned. We think it was because he just couldn’t grasp the idea of going for a poo outside! He was OK with us, as we start our day so early because of the kennels, we usually managed to ‘cut him off at he pass’, so to speak. We’d have the occasional accident but we didn’t care because we loved him very much. He was a terrible thief, hated being groomed and anything you put on the ground he peed on it, immediately. He’s left a huge hole. He had a fantastic life here surrounded by people and dog friends. He was a very happy little chap.

The marching caterpillar nest is found in the tops of the Mediterranean pine tree. They look like white candyfloss and contain hundreds of caterpillars that eventually fall to the ground and march in a line. A curious dog will sniff them, try to eat them and then contact the poison that is on the fine hairs of the caterpillar. The poison is an acid and will dissolve the mucus membrane of the nose and tongue. Just as soon as you realize what has happened, rinse your dogs mouth out and his nose with water but be very careful not to let him swallow it. Obviously, rush him to the vet. I know of lots of dogs that have a bit of their tongue missing and they all cope very well. The longer the dog has the poison in his mouth the more problems will develop. The kidneys don’t cope well with the poison and can be damaged. You will also notice the dog has a terribly smelly mouth.

Now is a good time if you see these nests in trees in and around your land or garden to cut them out and burn them as they also start to kill the tree. Rotten little sods all round really! If you see them marching along spray them with petrol and burn them. I know this sounds horrid but it is the safest way to kill them because it stops the hairs flying off and doing further damage.

Poison gives you very little time to act and the further away from a vet you live, the smaller the chances are. The best advice is ‘prevention is better than cure.’ Stay out of the campo and if you live there don’t let your dog wander alone. If you go for a walk use, a lead and possibly a basket muzzle until spraying time is over. As for the small villages, whose inhabitants purposefully put poison down to kill dogs and cats, what can you say? What can you say that you can print!

As the weather starts to warm up and the mozzies come back, it’s worth getting your dog tested for heartworm. If he’s clear, a preventative, monthly tablet is recommended, as heartworm is very, very nasty and can be dangerous and complicated to treat, not to mention expensive.

Good news for Bobby, he’s having a try out with a family and if he gets on with their dog OK, he’s in! I’ve had a good chat with him, ‘told him it’s probably not a good idea to hump their dog, pee on their dog, nick his bed, toys or dinner.’ He agreed, but couldn’t commit. So we’ll see. As always, dogs for adoption and donations of food, blankets, spaying and neutering costs keenly accepted. We need a shed for the cats; if anyone has one they don’t want, we will gladly come and take it down. www.perrossi.com