UK veterinarians to be investigated over rising bills

For me, this is a welcome development. And also for me, the rising bills are due to one primary factor: the buying up of independent veterinary clinics by big business managed by gray men in gray suits who focus on financial profit over animal welfare. 

Vet checks cat. Image: Pixabay.

They saw an opportunity in the marketplace which was veterinary clinics owned by the veterinarians themselves who were not, in their view, sufficiently focused on making money. They've dived in and bought them up and altered the pricing structure and the methodology of operating these clinics.

And now, the competition regulator has begun a review of veterinary services because there are concerns among cat owners and others that their costs are rising faster than inflation.

I suspect that the government's concern is more to do with the inflationary aspect of the services than animal welfare. The UK government is desperate to get inflation down. The Competition and Markets Authority is going to look into how services for pets are bought and sold. About two thirds of households in the UK own a pet.

And The Times agrees with me! I've just read that. They say that, "The market has been transformed by consolidation. Independent practices are being taken over by groups."

At one time, small practices i.e. independently-owned practices accounted for 89% of the veterinary industry in 2013. That figure has fallen to 45% in 2021.

"A single company may own hundreds of practices and it may be unclear whether their vet is part of a large group. This could impact choice and reduce the incentives of practices to compete". Those are the words of the Competition and Markets Authority.

The president of the British Veterinary Association defends veterinary practices for selling up to big business in saying that his association had "not seen any hard data or real evidence to suggest that corporatisation is driving up prices."

In contrast, a spokesman for the consumer magazine, Which?, said: "[Our] research has uncovered a number of areas of concern, such as pet owners not knowing the price of treatments until after their appointment, people being unaware their vet is part of a chain and difficulties [finding] cheaper medication. The Competition and Markets Authority's review must consider these issues and lead to a more competitive veterinary industry which makes it easier for owners to shop around for the best option for them and their pet."

Defector says 2 Russian military helicopters were used to transport pedigree cat during Ukraine war

A defecting Russian helicopter pilot, Kuzminov, told the Ukrainians that when he was fighting for the Russians, his commander "needed to transport a cat, which had some impressive pedigree. To do this, two Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopter crews were assigned. So, two helicopters transported this wonderful animal, so to speak, from Rostov to Yeysk [at which there is a Russian airbase]. The Mi-8 was flying the cat in, while the Mi-24 was circling to provide cover. We burned a lot of fuel, resources. Furthermore, the crews aren't always allowed to rest."

Russian chopper. Image: Getty.

The story is clear. His commander was abusing his position to fly his expensive pedigree cat around Russia. Although it's quite nice to know that his commander loved cats and owned a pedigree cat. But you can imagine the expense of it and you might imagine what his commander is now saying to him after this story was revealed by the defecting pilot.

It seems that this Russian pilot is yet another example of a Russian military man transferring his allegiances from Russia to Ukraine. You may know that the Ukrainians operate a scheme whereby they pay and assist defecting Russian military personnel who come over to the Ukrainian side. This is another example.

The man was paid, I'm told, US$500,000 or £398,000 for defecting with the helicopter. I think that money is partly remuneration for the pilot because of the risks he took and partly to purchase the helicopter!

Kuzminov hinted at the kind of indoctrination that the Russians are being bombarded with by Mr Putin and his cronies when he said that "The truth is, there are no Nazis or fascists". He is referring to the fact that Putin has consistently said that there are Nazis in Ukraine. What he means is that there are people in Ukraine who deny their Russian heritage and he really wants Ukraine to be part of Russia. And if you deny that in Ukraine you become a Nazi according to Mr Putin.

So, Kuzminov, like many other Russian military personnel simply had enough of living the lie and risking his life while killing innocent Ukrainians. He didn't want to do it anymore and changed sides. 

This must irritate Putin massively and I would expect Putin to be tracking him down to kill him. Putin has a very solid history of killing people he considers to be traitors usually by poisoning or some other mysterious accident. Numerous colleagues and associates, oligarchs and businessmen have been killed in this way by Putin.

Kuzminov landed his Russian helicopter in Ukraine's Poltava Oblast on August 23. He gave the helicopter to the Ukrainians of course together with spare parts!

He added that the war is "a real disgrace". He disagrees strongly with it. He hates the fact that "People are simply killing each other. That's all I can make of this, and I don't want to be part of it. What is going on now is simply the genocide of the Ukrainian people. Both Ukrainian and Russian."

Model with chronic back pain hits rock bottom and rebuilds her life with cat sitting franchise

A model has told The Sun newspaper that she hit rock bottom at one stage when she was a model because she developed chronic back pain which the surgeons could not fix. She had numerous operations which failed to resolve the problem but left her back looking a mess and at one stage she was confined to her bed in agony, contemplating suicide. She went further and tried to end her life but she was found the next day unconscious.

Helena when she was modelling. Image: Focus Features.

Her name is Helena Abrahams and she is now 52 years of age. She is a cat lover. She lives with nine cats. Her cats gave her inspiration to start a cat sitting business which proved highly successful. She now runs a franchise and has franchisees all over the country and she turns over £100,000 annually. She is making a good living thanks to her love of cats and getting her health back.

After multiple back operations. Image: Focus Features.

And she praises her cats for seeing her through the darkest days of her illness when she was surviving on Pringles because she had no money for food and any money that she did have she spent on food for cats.

She now has a successful business and a bright future. What is the moral of the story? Cat companions can see you through your darkest hours and give you inspiration to climb out of the abyss of despair and gradually build towards the zenith of success!

I will add a bit of detail to that overview of her story. She said that her whole career was based around her looks but because of her back pain and the multiple operations the surgeons "butchered" her back. It looks a mess but fortunately now after all these years it doesn't hurt as much.

She was even compelled at one stage to sell some nice jewellery that her parents had given her as a present. She had to pay her bills somehow. She had a relationship and that ended. She wasn't seeing anybody except her dad. In her late 30s she could no longer cope. Before she tried to end her life, she wrote letters about her cats to make sure that they went to good homes. She overdosed on the medication that she was using for her back pain.

She said:

"My cats really pulled me through the recovery, so it was natural for me to want to give something back. I really do care about cats, and how they are treated, and my clients see that. I treat every cat as though it is my own. I love working with animals and they have really turned my life around. I am still in pain, and I will need further surgery in the future, but I have so much to celebrate now. I have learned to see my scars as part of my journey, part of who I am."

She added: "For anyone who gets to that low point, please don't despair. There is always hope."

Jackson Galaxy is disappointed with the cat fancy and cat breeding

 It is no surprise to me that Jackson Galaxy, the world's most famous cat whisperer (cat behaviourist) dislikes or is disappointed with cat breeding and the breeds. Well, I have generalised and read his mind so I'll tell you what he says in his book Total Cat Mojo about the purebred cats and you can make up your own mind. 

He always adopts non-purebred cats. He does the right thing. Although he is high profile, he's very down to earth and a realist. He sees the big picture and the need to do the right thing and adopt rescue cat. He worked extensively in cat rescue before becoming a famous cat bebehaviourist.

Jackson Galaxy loved Barry deeply and misses him a lot. Photo: Jackson Galaxy.

He heads his section on breeding and the breeds with "The Puppet Master Enters: Purebred Cats".

You get a hint in that heading. He's saying that people are playing at God when they create new purebred cat breeds and create them for sale.

He explains that in the early days of the cat fancy there was no extreme breeding as there is today. For example, he explains that the Siamese cat's pointed coat was enough to distinguish that cat breed from the rest and it was and still is. 

And the Persian cat back in the old days was pretty much a standard-looking cat. There were no flat-faced oddities in those days. This is what he says. But today "breeding is an altogether different beast (so to speak), with organisations recognising anywhere from 44 to nearly 60 different breeds of cats (I think actually that TICA recognise more than 70)."

And he then goes on to talk about how the cat fancy developed in America in a detrimental way. He says:

"In the process, we have pushed cats' physical appearance to extremes, often without regard for the well-being of the cats being bred. We've made the Persian's face flatter and the Siamese space thinner and more pointed. Consequently, the changes we have imposed through breeding are in many ways detrimental to the Raw Cat."

The Raw Cat that he refers to is the natural domestic cat, the domesticated wildcat with a wildcat character beneath that domestic exterior.

He adds that:

"By selecting Persians for the brachycephalic (short-nosed) appearance, we have actually made it harder for them to breathe, increased the chance of skin, dental and eye disease, and made giving birth riskier and more difficult.

Scottish Folds are used as a model for studying pain and arthritis because the mutations that cause the folds in their ears also lead to painful degeneration in their bones and cartilage.

Manx cats are prone to back pain, constipation, and other elimination problems because of spinal cord deformities.

Maine Coon cats are prone to heart disease, and Siamese cats have a higher likelihood of asthma and hyperaesthesia. Sidebar from Michael: the modern Siamese is the unhealthiest breed and the Persian is in the top three.

RELATED: Siamese: The World’s Most Unhealthy Cat!

These are just a few examples. When you limit the gene pool, you increase the chance of dangerous mutations and disease. There is no other way around it.

Humans may be pulling the strings when it comes to cats' exteriors, but are we making any progress in understanding their inner world?"

As you can see, he is critical of a section of the cat fancy where they breed purebred cats to extreme meaning the anatomy becomes abnormal in order to create a cat which looks different and can be completely distinguished from the other breeds. 

The objective here is to sell more cats and to follow the breed standard accurately but breeders go beyond simply following the breed standard in their efforts to create more interesting cats at which point they create unhealthy cats as is emphasised by Jackson Galaxy.

Choosing a second cat to get along with your resident cat?

How do you go about choosing a second cat to get along with your resident cat? Perhaps the first question is why you want to do it? I think you need to explore that and make sure that you are doing the right thing. You may want to introduce a new cat because you feel guilty that your resident cat is left alone too often. Maybe there is a different solution to that problem such as working from home more often! That's the current trend and employers are having difficulty getting employees back to work in the office! Introducing a new cat is problematic as they say.

Utopia. If you achieve this you've hit the jackpot. Image in the public domain.

But if you are fixed on having two cats, how do you choose a cat which gets along with the other? And I am drawn to that question because in the newspaper today there is an interesting article which kind of answers the question. The title to the article in The Times today is, "For animal magnetism, opposites don't attract".

Similarities work best

Tanya Horowitz of the University of Colorado Boulder researched 80,000 British couples and they found that they got along better when they were similar in their characteristics, personalities and backgrounds. In short, similar individuals couple up.

"The characteristics most likely to be shared included political and religious attitudes, education levels and certain measures of IQ".

Cats - energy levels

That's talking about people and this article is about cats so there will be different ways of matching up but the underlying conclusion is that a similar character is best.

And this takes me nicely to Jackson Galaxy, the well-known American cat behaviourist. He has a section in his book Total Cat Mojo entitled "Choosing That New Cat".

He opens the section by saying, "In my opinion, the main criteria to factor in to matchmaking is to match cats by energy level. Even the cat's history should have less of an impact on your decision. I'd say that the first thing to do before even going to the shelter is to think about what personality type best complements your cat's".

He has decided that cats should be matched on their energy levels. In other words, it should be at a similar level which reinforces what I stated above regarding the Colorado study.

And he goes on to state that, "If you have a shy cat, you don't want that Dennis the Menace because he'll fray her nerves by trying to engage constantly.".

And finally, he concludes with this, "In general, you should try to complement rather than bring home a carbon copy."

I think that his words support what the scientists say about people being complimentary in a stable relationship. A similarity is going to be more successful than opposites. The old adage of opposites attract is incorrect.

Jackson doesn't think that the gender of the cat is particularly relevant in terms of matchmaking. One reason for this is that domestic cats are spayed and neutered. They are neutered individuals. This takes away some of their gender differences.

On the energy level topic, Jackson Galaxy says that it is not a good idea to introduce a kitten to a 12-year-old female cat in the expectation that the female adult cat will mother the kitten. He believes that the energy differences are too big.

Finally, it might be useful to quickly touch on what is often referred to as "expectation management". This is a reference to what the human caregiver expects of the relationship between her two cats when they first encounter each other. It would be a very rare situation where they both get along really well instantly and snuggle up to each other. However, it does happen and it's wonderful to see. And sometimes it happens between dogs and cats. There is this instant connection; it's chemistry on a feline and canine level.

But normally you will do well if a new cat and the resident cats tolerate each other initially and then learn to get along and even become friendly with each other. To enhance that prospect, it might be useful to follow Jackson's advice and think about similarities but not carbon copies.