Pet Health Guides
Practical, veterinary-led guidance for owners managing chronic conditions — written by vets, free to read.
Why is my pet so itchy? The five things it could be
Scratching, licking, chewing, rubbing, a bald patch that has gone from thin to raw: it all comes down to one question owners want answered, which is what is causing it and how do we make it stop. The honest starting...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Recurrent ear infections: why they keep coming back
There is a pattern most owners of a flare-prone pet know by heart. The ear clears on the drops. A few weeks later your pet is shaking their head again, the ear smells, and you are back at the start, opening the third or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The treatments compared: Apoquel, Cytopoint, steroids, ciclosporin and immunotherapy
Look up any of these itch drugs online and you'll spot a pattern fast: almost every page explaining them is published by the company that makes one of them. Apoquel's makers tell you about Apoquel, Cytopoint's about...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The elimination diet, done properly: the only reliable test there is
A food trial asks a lot. Weeks of policing every morsel, no treats, and a wary eye on the dog-walker. It is one of the more demanding things we ask of owners, so it helps to know why we ask. The elimination diet is not...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Flea allergy: how one bite causes weeks of misery
The pet least likely to have visible fleas is often the flea-allergic one, which is exactly why this gets missed. "But I never see any fleas" is the usual line from owners, and it points the wrong way. The allergy...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Calming the flare and controlling the itch: your treatment toolkit
There is no single product that fixes atopic dermatitis, and any plan built around one is already in trouble. What works is an ordered approach: get the itch down fast, then keep it down with as little medication as the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Atopic dermatitis: when your pet is allergic to the world
Atopic dermatitis, often just called "allergies" in the consulting room, is one of the most common skin diseases in dogs, and it has a one-line summary worth getting straight before anything else. In plain terms it is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Allergy tests that work, and the ones that waste your money
When a pet is itchy, "just get an allergy test" sounds like the sensible, scientific next step. You post a kit through the letterbox, or your vet draws a little blood, and a tidy list comes back telling you exactly what...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Treating the infection and finding the cause: why antibiotics alone are not the answer
A course of antibiotic tablets is the classic fix for a flared, smelly, itchy patch of skin or ear, and a fortnight later the problem is gone. So when it returns, and it does return, the natural move is to ask for the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The itch threshold: why your pet copes with one allergy but not three
A pet who is fine all winter and falls apart in July, or whose reliable tablet suddenly does nothing, can look like a run of bad luck. It usually isn't. One idea in veterinary dermatology explains nearly all of it, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Surviving the food trial: treats, family, scavenging and staying strict
The diet is chosen, the bag is in the cupboard, and now eight weeks or more of living it stretch out ahead. This is the part nobody warns you about properly. The food trial is not hard because your dog or cat has tricky...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The smell, the goo and the scratching: skin and ear infections explained
A dog that suddenly smells different, a strong sweetish slightly rancid odour that wasn't there last week. An ear weeping brown waxy gunk, and the head-shaking that goes with it. A patch of skin the pet won't leave...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Dandruff, greasy coat and seborrhoea: when the skin barrier breaks down
White flakes scattered across the bedding, a rancid "off" smell that no amount of brushing shifts, a dull scurfy back or a greasy yellow patch under the chin: that picture is seborrhoea. The most useful thing to grasp...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Ringworm: the contagious one that is not a worm
Ringworm is the odd one out in this library. Almost everything else here is an allergy or a parasite. Ringworm is neither: it is a fungus, it is genuinely catching, and unlike an itchy allergy it can jump from your pet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Is this a skin emergency? Swelling, hives, collapse and the hot, painful patch
Most skin trouble is miserable but safe. A pet who scratches, licks and looks moth-eaten is uncomfortable and deserves help, but is almost never in danger in the next hour. A small number of things are different: they...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Mites and mange: demodex, sarcoptic scabies and the itch that is not an allergy
Two mange mites belong at the start of any allergy work-up, taken off the table before anyone spends a penny chasing an allergy. Both can imitate allergy or stack on top of it, and one of them you really cannot afford...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Riding out a flare: a plan that stops the itch spiralling
The skin has been settled for weeks, the itch quiet, and then one evening the scratching starts up again. A paw licked too long, a back leg working at an ear, and by morning a patch of pink skin where there was none....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Lumps, bumps and spots: which need the vet now, and which can wait
A pea-sized lump under the skin, found by accident while you were stroking your pet, raises one question above all others: how worried should you be? Search for an answer and you will quickly meet the familiar rule,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Daily life with an atopic pet: bathing, barrier, omega-3 and lowering the load
Most atopic pets come to this point with a diagnosis, a plan, and a drug or two doing the heavy lifting. This article is about everything else: the unglamorous things you do at home between appointments. None of it...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Immunotherapy: the only treatment that changes the disease
Nearly every drug we give an atopic pet works the same way: it mutes the itch. Apoquel, Cytopoint, steroids, ciclosporin are all good drugs, and each one turns the signal down without laying a finger on the disease...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Hot spots: the angry patch that appears overnight
A normal dog goes to bed, and by morning there's a raw, weeping, hairless patch the size of a coin, hot to the touch and clearly sore. It looks alarming, and it genuinely was not there yesterday. The single most useful...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Losing fur but not very itchy? When it is hormonal, not allergic
Most of this part of the site speaks to an itchy pet, because itch is what sends owners looking up skin problems in the first place. This article is for the other owner, the one whose dog or cat is going bald, or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Food allergies in pets: what they are, and what they are not
Few topics in pet health are sold to owners as hard as food allergy. Walk down any pet-shop aisle and the bags shout "grain-free", "hypoallergenic" and "limited ingredient" at you, and the internet is full of confident...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Winning the flea war: treating every pet and the home, all year
Half-done flea control is the single commonest reason an itchy pet stays itchy. Owners treat, often faithfully, still see fleas and scratching, and quietly conclude the product has failed. It almost never has. The...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Feline atopic syndrome: how allergy looks different in cats
A cat that licks itself bald, grows scabby little bumps along its back, or scratches its face and neck raw has usually earned one of two labels from someone: "it might be allergies", or "it might be stress". The first...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The smaller culprits: ear mites, harvest mites and walking dandruff
Ruling out fleas does not finish the parasitic part of an itch work-up. Three smaller mites get overlooked again and again because they are easy to mistake for other things: ear mites read as "just a dirty ear", harvest...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
How to check your pet at home, and what to photograph
You see your pet every day. Your vet sees them for about ten minutes, on a day that may not be the day the skin looks its worst. That gap is the whole problem with skin disease, because itchy skin comes and goes, and a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Getting the diagnosis: why atopy is what is left when everything else is ruled out
Atopic dermatitis is the one allergy diagnosis that no single test can confirm. There is nothing to find on a slide or in a blood tube. Instead, a vet arrives at it by carefully subtracting everything else that itches...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
After the trial: the challenge, finding the trigger, and feeding for life
Eight strict weeks, no slips, and your pet is visibly more comfortable: less scratching, calmer ears, fewer flares. The hard part is behind you. What most owners do next is entirely understandable: leave well alone,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Understanding aggression: it is communication, not character
When a dog growls, snaps or bites, the first thing most owners reach for isn't a training question at all. It's a question about who their dog is. Is he a bad dog? Did I get this wrong? Is something broken in him? I...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The departure plan: gradual absence training that actually works
A dog learns to cope with being alone the same way a person gets over a fear of deep water: in tiny, manageable steps where they are never actually overwhelmed. Not by being thrown in. The plan that works is unglamorous...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Event medication that works: Sileo, trazodone, imepitoin and why ACP is the wrong choice
Most dogs who dread fireworks night have, at some point, sent their owner home with a small white tablet "to knock him out for the evening." It is one of the most well-meaning pieces of advice in pet care, and one of...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The litter-tray audit: number, type, litter and location cats actually want
Before we touch a single litter tray, one thing has to come first, because getting it wrong is the most common mistake owners make: rule out illness. A cat that suddenly stops using its tray is very often telling you it...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Is it behaviour or is it medical? Why the first step is a vet check
A dog starts snapping when it never used to. A house-trained cat begins weeing on the bed. The first words out of most people's mouths are some version of "what has got into him?" or "she is doing it to spite me." Those...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Your firework night plan: the safe den, the routine, the do’s and don’ts
The bangs may be only days away, and if your pet falls apart every firework season, there is still plenty you can do before the next display. Start with the scale of it. Noise fear is the most common behavioural problem...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Finding real help: vet, behaviourist or trainer, and how to tell them apart
In the UK, "dog trainer" and "behaviourist" are not protected titles. That surprises almost every owner I tell it to. Unlike "vet" or "doctor", anyone at all can print "behaviourist" on a business card tomorrow, charge...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Cat peeing outside the tray: the first thing to rule out is illness
A previously clean cat starts weeing on the carpet, the bath mat, the bed, or just beside the tray, and most owners read it the same way: a quiet, sinking frustration, and the assumption that the cat is making a point....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Why your pet does this: fear, frustration and the emotions behind behaviour
A dog growls at a visitor, a cat lashes out from under the bed, and the question almost every owner asks is "why is he being like this?" The answers we reach for first are usually the wrong ones. He is being dominant....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Thunderstorms, gunshots and the generally noise-sensitive pet
Fireworks get all the attention, and fair enough, they fill our waiting rooms every November. But a great many noise-fearful pets are not really firework dogs, or not only firework dogs. They are the ones who pace an...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Sound desensitisation: retraining the fear in the off-season
The work that actually changes how a dog feels about fireworks happens in months with no fireworks in them. When November comes and your dog is shaking behind the sofa, the instinct is to reach for the night: more den,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Socialisation done right: the puppy and kitten window, and what to do if you missed it
Early in life there is a stretch of a few weeks when a puppy or a kitten decides, more or less for keeps, whether the world is a safe place. Get a little gentle, varied experience into them during it, and you tend to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Medication for separation anxiety: when, what, and why it is not giving up
When a vet says the word "medication" for a behaviour problem, a lot of owners hear something the vet never meant: that they have failed, that they have run out of patience, or that the plan is to dull their dog into a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Managing the meantime: avoiding full-blown absences while you train
Most separation anxiety plans don't fail on the training. They fail in the weeks around it. You build a careful departure plan, your dog starts coping with two minutes, then five, then ten, and you feel the first...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Separation anxiety, isolation distress or boredom: which is it?
A chewed door frame, a complaint from a neighbour about the howling, a puddle by the back door. Someone has told you it is "separation anxiety", and that phrase tends to close the conversation down, as though there is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The camera test: what your dog actually does when you leave
A separation problem is, almost by definition, a problem you never see. The behaviour shows up when you are out, the one window in which you cannot know what your dog is doing (Harvey et al., 2022). So most owners are...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Resource guarding: food, toys and space, and how to handle it safely
A dog that stiffens over a bone, gulps its food faster when you walk past the bowl, or curls a lip when someone reaches for the stolen sock is showing you one of the most misunderstood behaviours in dogs. Resource...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Reading your pet: body language and the early warning signs
Ask almost anyone who has been bitten or scratched and you will hear the same line: it came out of nowhere. The dog was fine, and then it was not. The cat was purring on a lap one second and drawing blood the next. It...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Equipment for reactivity: harnesses, head-collars, and why a muzzle is kind
The single fact worth knowing before you spend a penny is this: no piece of equipment will train your reactive dog. Gear does not cure lunging and barking, and no harness, head-collar or clever lead does the behaviour...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The reactive-dog walking plan: distance, engagement and the U-turn
A dog that lunges, barks or growls at other dogs on the lead puts you into a particular routine: scanning the path ahead, that dropped-stomach moment when another dog appears, the apology to a stranger while you haul...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Puppies and prevention: building alone-time tolerance from the start
No puppy is born knowing how to be relaxed on its own. It is a skill, like toilet training or walking nicely on a lead, and like any skill it has to be learned, gently and early, before a problem ever forms. Almost no...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Pica and wool-sucking: why pets eat what they should not
A cat suckles the corner of a jumper. A dog keeps swallowing socks. A kitten gets through a length of wool. These look like quirks or passing phases, and sometimes they nearly are. But pica, the eating of things that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Noise and firework fear: why it happens and why it worsens with age
Trembling at fireworks, hiding at the first rumble of thunder, bolting at a slammed door: this is the single most common behavioural problem in dogs, and one of the most under-recognised in cats. It is not an odd quirk...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The hidden pain link: when noise fear is a sign of undiagnosed pain
Some dogs who are frightened of fireworks, thunder or sudden bangs are not "just" noise-phobic. They are in pain, and nobody has spotted it yet. It surprises almost everyone, owners and vets alike, the first time they...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Lead reactivity: why your dog lunges and barks, and what it is not
A dog appears across the road, the lead goes taut, and your dog rears up barking and lunging while you stand there red-faced and apologising. It is one of the most common scenes owners describe to us, and one of the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Cats that do not get along: easing inter-cat tension at home
One cat spends its days on top of the wardrobe. There is a puddle by the back door. One of them has a bald patch on its belly. In a multi-cat home, signs like these often mean the cats are not getting along, even when...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
How animals actually learn: reward, punishment, and why aversive methods backfire
A small set of rules sits under almost every behaviour problem you will ever try to solve, and under almost every nice thing you will ever teach. Your dog learns that the doorbell means a visitor; your cat learns that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The fearful pet: helping an anxious dog or cat feel safe
Some pets meet the world braced for the worst. There's the dog that flinches at the doorbell, paces when the light fades, and will not settle until everyone is home. There's the cat that lives behind the sofa and only...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Frustrated greeters vs fearful reactors: telling them apart changes everything
Two dogs are barking, lunging and straining at the end of the lead at the sight of another dog across the road. To you, to a passer-by, even to a fair few trainers, they look identical: the same noise, the same...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Stress, FIC and the indoor cat: the enrichment that prevents relapse
A cat with feline idiopathic cystitis is usually handed two explanations that sound like they cancel each other out. One vet calls it a bladder problem. Another calls it a stress problem. Both descriptions are correct,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Feline overgrooming: psychogenic alopecia, or something itchier?
Most owners never actually catch their cat in the act. That is the strange thing about overgrooming. One day the fur on her belly looks thin, or there is a neat bald stripe down the inside of a back leg, the skin...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Fear of the vet and the groomer: cooperative care and Fear Free handling
The carrier comes out and the cat is gone under the bed. The lead goes on for a trip to the groomer and the dog plants all four feet at the door. By the time you reach the waiting room your pet is panting, trembling,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
When housemates fall out: dog-to-dog aggression in the home
Two dogs who live under the same roof and have started to fight is one of the quietly devastating behaviour problems we see. It is frightening in the moment, the wounds can be serious, and it carries a particular kind...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Desensitisation and counter-conditioning: the two techniques behind every fear plan
A dog that comes apart at fireworks, a cat that flattens itself at the sight of the carrier, a dog that explodes at other dogs on the lead: three very different problems, and underneath, the same two techniques doing...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Compulsive behaviour: tail-chasing, flank-sucking, light-chasing and more
Almost every dog chases its tail now and then, and almost every cat spends a good chunk of the day grooming. So the question owners actually bring to us isn't "is my pet doing this?" but "is the way my pet is doing this...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Children and dogs: prevention and the safety rules that matter most
Child safety around dogs is usually written about with shock statistics and frightening photographs, and that approach helps nobody. It just frightens the families who least need frightening. So let me put the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Spraying vs squatting: marking is a different problem with a different fix
When a cat starts putting urine where it should not, almost everyone reaches for the same explanation: the litter tray. They scoop more often, buy a new box, switch the litter, maybe shut the cat in a smaller room, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Calming aids, pheromones and supplements: what the evidence really says
Walk down the calming aisle of any pet shop and you would be forgiven for thinking the anxiety problem was solved. Plug-in diffusers, calming collars, milk-protein capsules, "tranquillity" treats, valerian sprays,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Boredom, under-stimulation and the role of enrichment
A dog that shreds the post the moment your back is turned, or a cat that has taken up a 3am sprint up the curtains, tends to get called "naughty." It is almost always the wrong word. A great deal of the repetitive,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
When is it an emergency? Safety, bites and keeping everyone safe
Most behaviour problems are not emergencies. They are slow, frustrating, fixable things you have time to work through with help. A small handful, though, are genuinely urgent, and in those moments the instinct that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
After a bite: safety, the law, muzzle training and getting qualified help
A dog who has bitten someone puts an owner into a difficult few days, and there are really only two things worth saying at the outset. Looking for proper guidance, rather than pretending it never happened, is the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Living With a Breathing Condition: The Daily Playbook
Feline asthma, a flat-faced dog's BOAS, a collapsing windpipe, laryngeal paralysis: these are conditions you don't cure and send home, you live alongside. The appointment is done, you've got the name for it, and somewhere in the conversation the words "lifelong" or "manage it" came up. What nobody quite has time to give you in...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Kennel Cough: Serious or Not?
Kennel cough nearly always announces itself a day or two after something sociable: a weekend in boarding kennels, a busy morning at daycare, a training class, or just a muddy, crowded park. Then comes a noise most owners have never heard before. A harsh, dry, hacking cough, the kind that sounds like something is stuck...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
GOLPP: Why Laryngeal Paralysis Is a Whole-Body Condition
A diagnosis of laryngeal paralysis in an older dog usually comes with three things: it's a problem with the voice box, the breathing can be helped, and there's an operation for it. All true. But it's only the first chapter of a longer story, and I'd rather you heard the whole thing from me, gently...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Laryngeal Paralysis Explained: Reading the First Signs in an Older Dog
Laryngeal paralysis usually creeps in so gently that you only see it looking back. The bark sounds a bit different first, hoarser or oddly quiet, as though your dog has a cold that never quite clears. Walks that used to be easy now end with heavier panting than they should, and on a warm day...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Stent or Medication? How to Think About the Tracheal Collapse Decision
The diagnosis is probably already made by the time you reach a page like this. Your small dog has a collapsing windpipe, the honking cough has a name, and someone, a vet, a forum, a worried part of your own head at two in the morning, has used the word stent. Now you're trying to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Collapsing Trachea Explained: The Goose-Honk Cough
A small dog, often a little older, suddenly produces a cough so dry and harsh it genuinely sounds like a goose honking. It tends to land at the worst moments: when the doorbell goes, when they get over-excited, when they pull on the lead, or after a drink of water. The first time you hear...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Flat-Faced Dogs and Heatstroke: The Rules That Save Lives
For a flat-faced dog, heatstroke is not a hot-summer worry to file away for July. It is a fast, year-round killer, and the difference between a dog that recovers and a dog that doesn't is very often a few decisions an owner makes in the first few minutes, before any vet is involved. So here...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
BOAS Surgery: Should We Operate, or Not?
Operate, or not. That is the question this piece is built around, and it's one of the harder ones in flat-faced medicine. Maybe your vet raised surgery after listening to your dog breathe, or maybe you've watched your Frenchie snore through the night and snuffle through every walk and gone looking yourself. Either way it's...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Flat-Faced Dog Breathing: Normal, or Dangerous?
You know the soundtrack already. The soft snore from the dog bed that everyone finds adorable. The little snort when they get excited at the door. The snuffle on a walk, the gulping and gurgling after a drink, the way they flop down propped against a cushion with their chin in the air. If you've...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
How to Give a Cat an Inhaler: The AeroKat Technique, Step by Step
Handing an owner an inhaler for their cat usually earns a long, doubtful pause. A cat. An inhaler. The picture that comes to mind is a wrestling match twice a day for the rest of the cat's life, and it's a fair thing to wonder. So let me say the reassuring part up front: cats...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Cat Having an Asthma Attack: What to Do Right Now
Read this paragraph first, then the rest. A cat breathing with its mouth open, or with blue, grey or very pale gums, or heaving hard from the belly to get air, is in a genuine emergency. Go to a vet now. Phone ahead if you can, but do not wait, do not dose from the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Feline Asthma: The Complete Guide
Most cats reach a feline asthma diagnosis by a roundabout route. For months the cat does that thing, crouching low, neck stretched out, hacking away as if a hairball is finally on its way, and then nothing comes up. You clear the rug, you wait for the hairball that never appears, and you half-file it...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 13 min read
Why Is My Dog Coughing? Is It the Heart or the Lungs?
A cough almost always shows up at the wrong time of day. A dog brings up a dry, hacking cough after a drink, or a soft one that worsens the moment they settle for the night. Or it's the cat, crouched low with her neck stretched out, making a sound you've never quite heard before....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Belly Breathing in a Cat: The Fluid-Around-the-Lungs Emergency
A cat breathing fast and shallow right now, with the belly doing the work on every breath, and especially with its mouth open, is the situation this opening is for. Don't read to the end of this page first. That picture in a cat is an emergency, and the single most useful thing you can...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
The Snotty Nose That Won't Clear: Causes, and When to Investigate
We're trained from childhood to wave a runny nose away. A sniffle, a sneeze or two, it'll pass. With pets, that instinct is usually right: a snotty nose is common, often harmless, and frequently something we can manage even when we can't make it vanish entirely. But "usually" is doing quiet work in that sentence,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 14 min read
Lungworm in UK Dogs: The Honest Facts, Without the Hard Sell
Two things tend to bring people to a page like this. One is an advert doing its job, the dramatic "Be Lungworm Aware" sort with the close-up of a slug, leaving behind a low hum of worry. The other is the lawn: you've just watched your own dog hoover up a snail before you could...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Pulmonary Fibrosis ("Westie Lung"): An Honest Guide for the Hard Diagnosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a phrase most owners first hear in a consulting room, often about a little white terrier who has been part of the family for years. It sounds frightening, and you've come to understand what it means. So I'm going to be straight with you, gently but properly, because I think that's what...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 13 min read
Pneumonia: Nursing Your Pet Through Recovery at Home
The route in varies. Sometimes it's a cough that wouldn't shift, sometimes a moment where the dog was sick and something "went down the wrong way", sometimes an operation, sometimes it lands on top of a laryngeal paralysis you were already managing. The destination is the same: the word pneumonia has been said, your pet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
When Breathing Gets Harder: Comfort, Quality of Life and the Hard Days
Breathing is the one thing the rest of us never think about, and watching a pet you love work at it is hard to sit with. Perhaps the asthma flares come closer together now, or the flat-faced dog who always snored is tiring on shorter walks, or a dog with laryngeal paralysis is racking up...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Making Your Home a Place for Easy Breathing
A pet with a breathing condition, an asthmatic cat, a flat-faced dog, a windpipe that collapses, a long-term cough, gets most of the attention pointed at the medicine and the vet visits, and rightly so. But your pet spends most of its life not at the clinic, breathing your air, hundreds of times an hour,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Harness, Not Collar: The Free Daily Change That Takes Pressure Off Your Dog's Airway
Swap the collar for a harness. It is the kind of advice that gets said quickly at the end of a busy consult, and then the old collar stays on because it is already hanging by the door. I understand that completely. But of all the things on a long management list, this is one...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
When a Cough Becomes Pneumonia
Most coughs are nothing much. A dog comes back from daycare with a honking cough, or a cat does that flat, crouched cough now and then, and within a week or two it has faded and been forgotten. That is the usual story, and it is worth holding onto, because what I want to talk...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Kennel Cough: Vaccination, Spread and How Not to Pass It On
Every autumn we get the same call. A dog comes home from a weekend in boarding kennels, or a busy day at daycare, and a few days later starts up with that unmistakable honking cough. The owner is half worried and half mortified, because they did everything right, they had the jab, and the dog...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
How Long Does Kennel Cough Last?
In an otherwise-well dog, kennel cough usually clears in one to three weeks. That's the short answer, and it's worth having up front before the detail underneath it. Most dogs are over the worst within a week or two and back to themselves by three. The cough is the last thing to fade, and a...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Living With Laryngeal Paralysis: The Everyday Routine
The diagnosis is done. The bark has changed, there's that raspy in-breath on a warm walk, and a vet has put a name to it: laryngeal paralysis, very probably the first sign of the wider nerve condition we call GOLPP. What comes next isn't the science again. It's the ordinary stuff: how you actually live...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Heat and Exercise Safety With Laryngeal Paralysis
A dog with laryngeal paralysis can look completely fine and still be minutes away from a crisis. He's lying in the kitchen, breathing easily, maybe snoring a little, and nothing about him says anything is wrong. Then the doorbell goes, or a squirrel breaks cover on a warm walk, or it's just one of those...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Laryngeal Paralysis and the Aspiration Pneumonia Risk: Feeding, Water and the Lifelong Watch
Once a dog is diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis, or comes through the tie-back operation, the phrase "aspiration pneumonia" tends to get raised, and raised seriously. It's an unsettling thing to be handed, especially when the surgery was meant to be what made your dog better. So let me set out, calmly and clearly, what this...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Tie-Back Surgery for Laryngeal Paralysis: How to Decide
A specialist has mentioned a "tie-back", quoted a number that made you blink, and somewhere in the small print was the word aspiration. The dog in question is usually older, often a Labrador or another big breed, with breathing that has turned noisy and laboured, and perhaps a frightening episode already behind you on a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Living With a Long-Term Cough: The Honest Long View
A long-term cough usually arrives with a name attached: collapsing trachea, or chronic bronchitis, or a bit of both. The diagnosis is in, the acute fright has passed, and your vet has started a plan. What the consult room rarely has time for is the question that comes next, once the dog is snoring beside...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Cough Flare-Up: How to Settle It, and When to Act
There's a difference between the cough you've learned to live with and the one that arrives tonight. The familiar one is dry and honking, a note you recognise and mostly manage. Tonight the bouts are closer together, the sound is harsher, and the smallest thing sets them off. The question that actually matters in that...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Canine Chronic Bronchitis: The Other Long-Term Cough
A small, greying dog who coughs most mornings, after a nap, the moment they get up to greet you at the door. Not a one-off, not a kennel-cough fortnight that came and went, but a cough that's become part of the furniture. If someone has said the words "chronic bronchitis" to you, maybe alongside "we've...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Calming a Chronic Cough at Home: The Daily Things That Genuinely Help
A dog with a collapsing windpipe, or a long-term cough of some other airway kind, usually comes home from the consult with a diagnosis explained and a tablet or two to give. Then the honking cough carries on punctuating the evening anyway, and the obvious question is what else there is to do. That question...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Thinking of Getting a Flat-Faced Dog? An Honest Guide
There's a reason these dogs are everywhere. A French bulldog tilting its head at you, a pug leaning its whole weight into your shins, a bulldog snoring like a small engine on the sofa: they are funny, affectionate, devoted little companions, and the people who love them love them fiercely. So let me be clear...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Living With a Brachycephalic Dog: The Everyday Playbook
A good life for a flat-faced dog is built out of small, unglamorous, daily habits, and almost none of them cost anything. That is really the whole of this piece. There's no lecture coming about whether you should own the breed, because you already do and you already love the dog. So let's talk instead...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
BOAS Surgery: What It Involves and the Week-by-Week Recovery
Your flat-faced dog is booked in, or has just come home with a shaved patch on a leg and a slightly bewildered look. The practical questions follow quickly. What did the surgeon actually do in there? How worried should you be in these first couple of days, and when will you hear that easier breathing...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
How Bad Is My Dog's BOAS? Grading Explained, and What You Can Check at Home
The snoring, the snorting and the way your Frenchie flops down after a short walk aren't "just the breed", and the penny has dropped: this is effort, your dog working harder to breathe than they should have to. The first question is settled. The harder one is what brings you here now. How bad is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
BOAS Explained: Why Your Flat-Faced Dog Struggles to Breathe
A pug, a French bulldog or an English bulldog comes with a soundtrack: the snore that fills the room, the snort coming back from a warm walk, the head propped up off the floor at night. It's easy to file all of that under "just the breed", and a lot of people do. I'd gently...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Chronic Bronchitis in Cats: The Close Cousin of Asthma
Asthma and chronic bronchitis get used almost interchangeably in the same conversation, and owners often leave a consult unsure whether they mean the same thing, two different things, or whether anyone is quite certain. It's a fair muddle to be in, and the answer is more interesting than a flat "they're different". Chronic bronchitis is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Feline Asthma Medicines: The Controller, the Reliever and Why Inhaled Wins
A new asthma diagnosis usually sends you home holding an inhaler the colour of a child's toy and, often, a pot of small tablets. Somebody used words like "controller", "reliever", "steroids" and "lifelong", and by the time you're through the front door half of it has evaporated. So treat this page as the slow version...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Feline Asthma Triggers: Hunting the Things That Set Your Cat Off
Once the diagnosis is in and the inhaler routine has settled, almost every owner asks the same practical question next: what's setting it off, and can I do something about it at home? It's the right instinct. Feline asthma is, at heart, a problem of over-reactive airways, so the air your cat breathes all day...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Asthma or Hairball? How to Tell a Cough from a Coughing-Up
There is a sound most cat owners know by heart. Your cat flattens herself to the floor, stretches her neck out, and makes that awful hacking, retching noise, the one that always seems to end in a swallow or a gag. Every time, you think the same thing: here we go, another hairball. You wait...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
How Pets Breathe: What's Normal, and When to Worry
Breathing is the one thing a healthy pet does thousands of times a day without you ever noticing. Then one evening you glance across the room and something looks off: the chest moving a little faster than usual, a sound you haven't heard before, or a cat sitting hunched in a way that makes your...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 13 min read
Reverse Sneezing in Dogs and Cats: Alarming to Watch, Usually Harmless
It nearly always happens the same way. Your dog is pottering about, or has just got excited at the door, and suddenly freezes, stretches its neck out and starts making a horrible rapid snorting, gasping noise, as though it's trying to inhale the whole room and can't. It looks for all the world like choking....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Noisy Breathing: When It's Just a Snore, and When It's Dangerous
A noise on the breath can mean almost nothing or quite a lot, and from the noise alone it's genuinely hard to tell which. Maybe it's a snore that's louder than it used to be, a snort, a raspy catch on the in-breath, or a sudden honking fit that stops you in your tracks. The...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Is My Pet's Breathing an Emergency?
Breathing is the one symptom where the order you do things in actually matters, so start with the question that decides everything else: is this an emergency right now? Four signs say yes, and any one of them means you stop and phone a vet straight away: a cat breathing with its mouth open, gums...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
The Lump You've Found: When to Worry, and Why "Wait and See" Is the Wrong Move
You've found a lump, and the question in your head is how worried to be. Most of the time, the answer is: less than you fear. Lumps are one of the commonest reasons owners bring a dog or cat in to us, and the large majority turn out to be harmless.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 7 min read
Cancer and Your Pet: Start Here
People reach this page from a few different places. Some have just found a lump that wasn't there last month. Some sat in a consulting room an hour ago and stopped hearing properly after the word "cancer". Some have lived with a diagnosis for a while and are weighing up what to do next, or...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Benign or Not? The Common Lumps That Aren't Cancer
You've found a lump, you've read that most of them turn out to be harmless, and now you'd like to put a name to yours. It's a fair question, and a hopeful one, so let's go through it properly. A handful of everyday lumps and bumps come up again and again in the consulting room:...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
"My Vet Wants to Take a Sample": Aspirates, Biopsies and What the Results Mean
Your vet has felt the lump, gone quiet for a moment, and then said it: "I'd like to take a sample." Four words that can set a lot of worry going. Does asking for a sample mean they already think it's cancer? Will it hurt? How long is the wait, and what is the result...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
The Warning Signs of Cancer in Dogs and Cats (and the Quieter Feline Ones)
Something has caught your eye. Your dog's a bit slower on walks, or your cat's gone off her food. Maybe there's a lump you weren't expecting, or a smell, or a sore that won't quite heal. And sitting behind it is the word nobody likes to think about.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Osteosarcoma in Dogs: The Amputation Decision, and Life on Three Legs
Osteosarcoma is bone cancer, and the treatment your vet will raise first is amputation. That pairing is enough to make most owners want to stop the conversation right there, because the picture it puts in your head is of your dog hobbling about, diminished and struggling. It's worth knowing before you decide anything: the part...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Mast Cell Tumours: The Lump That's "the Great Pretender"
A mast cell tumour rarely announces itself. More often it's a small soft bump, or a raised patch you took for an insect bite or a wart, sometimes one that swelled up and then shrank back down and so got left alone. When your vet says that ordinary-looking thing is cancer, most owners feel they've...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Lymphoma in Cats: The Commonest Feline Cancer
Feline lymphoma rarely announces itself. Unlike in dogs, there's usually no obvious lump under the jaw. Instead an older cat tends to lose condition slowly: a bit thinner, picking at meals, being sick more often than seems right. The signs are vague enough that the diagnosis, when the tests come back, often arrives with very...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Lymphoma in Dogs: The Most Treatable Common Cancer
Lymphoma is one of the few cancers in dogs where treatment reliably works, and where most dogs feel genuinely well throughout. It usually announces itself as a firm, painless lump under the jaw, found while you're fussing your dog or doing up a collar, in a dog who is otherwise bright, eating and completely themselves....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
"How Long Has My Pet Got?" Reading a Prognosis Honestly
How long has my pet got? It's the question almost every owner asks the moment the room goes quiet, and a lot of people are too frightened to say it out loud. You want a number, something solid to hold on to. Often you'll be given one: "the median survival time is about six months",...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 7 min read
You've Heard the Word "Cancer": What Grade, Stage and Prognosis Actually Mean
A cancer diagnosis is serious. It is not, by itself, a death sentence, and plenty of pets go on to live good lives, sometimes for years, after one. What happens next depends far more on the particular details of this cancer than on the word your vet used, and those details are what this page...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Bladder Cancer (Transitional Cell Carcinoma): Signs and Options
The path to this diagnosis rarely runs through a lump you can feel. More often it runs through a dog who keeps straining in the garden, squatting again and again, leaving little spots of blood, and a course of antibiotics that helps for a fortnight and then stops helping. A second course. A third. You...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Injection-Site Sarcoma in Cats: The One You've Never Heard Of
A week or two after your cat's routine vaccinations, you run a hand over her and feel a small lump under the skin, right where the needle went in. The visit had gone fine. Then you look it up, and a phrase you've never come across appears: injection-site sarcoma. All of a sudden a tiny...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Oral Tumours: Canine Melanoma and Feline Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Most of us check our pets' eyes, their ears, the lump on the flank. The inside of the mouth is the one place we almost never look until something makes us. So oral tumours tend to show up late, and through their side effects rather than the lump itself. A smell on the breath that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Soft Tissue Sarcoma: The Lump That Needs More Than a Simple "Lumpectomy"
A soft tissue sarcoma usually turns up as a firm lump on a leg, a shoulder or the chest wall, sitting just under the skin and feeling neatly self-contained. It can be there a good while before anyone worries about it. Then the diagnosis comes back, and the conversation isn't the one most owners expect....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Mammary (Breast) Tumours in Dogs and Cats, and the Neutering Link
You're running your hand over your dog or cat and your fingers catch on something that wasn't there last month. A small firm bead, or a row of them, sitting along the line of the tummy where the teats are. That's mammary tissue, and the word that tends to arrive next is "breast cancer".
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Haemangiosarcoma: The Hard Truth About the "Silent" Splenic Cancer
Haemangiosarcoma is a cancer that usually announces itself with a collapse, not a lump. A dog who seemed perfectly well in the morning is in an emergency room by the afternoon, and a scan has found a mass on the spleen. If that is roughly where you are, you deserve plain speaking rather than false...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
What Does Cancer Treatment Cost, and How Do People Pay for It?
"And roughly what does that cost?" is one of the hardest questions for an owner to ask, and one of the most sensible. A lot of people swallow it, as though loving a pet properly means money shouldn't come into it. It should, and it does. The cost of cancer treatment is a real constraint...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Pet Chemotherapy Is Not Human Chemotherapy: What to Really Expect
Say the word "chemotherapy" to most owners and one picture arrives: a person they loved, exhausted and sick, hair gone, counting down hard months. It is one of the most frightening images any of us carry. So when a vet uses that same word about a beloved dog or cat, plenty of owners say no...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Should I Treat? Treating, Comfort Care, and Why There's No Wrong Answer
There is no wrong answer here, and that is the thing most owners reach this decision without ever being told plainly. Whether you choose to treat your pet's cancer or to keep them comfortable and happy without treatment, you can be making the right, loving choice. Both paths are real veterinary medicine, chosen by good...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Clinical Trials, Immunotherapy and Newer Options: Real Hope Versus Hype
Most owners who go searching after a cancer diagnosis end up in the same place around midnight: a website promising what the vet wouldn't, a powder or a protocol or a clinic that uses the word "cure". The searching itself makes complete sense. You want to leave nothing untried for an animal you love, and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Getting a Referral to a Veterinary Oncologist, and When to Seek a Second Opinion
Two questions tend to surface once cancer is on the table, and most owners are too polite to ask them out loud. Should we be seeing a specialist? And would asking for one offend our own vet? The answers are kinder than people fear. Seeing a specialist is a normal, well-trodden path, and it doesn't...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Radiation Therapy for Pets: When It's Used and What It's Like
Radiotherapy is one of the three main ways we treat cancer, alongside surgery and chemotherapy, and it does a job the other two often can't: it treats one specific spot very precisely, including spots a surgeon can't safely cut. The word tends to carry a lot of human baggage, though, because in people radiotherapy can...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Cancer Surgery: What Removing It Involves, and "Getting Clean Margins"
For a great many solid tumours, surgery is the main event. When a lump can be removed completely, with a clean edge of healthy tissue around it, that comes closer to a cure than anything else pet cancer treatment offers. It's genuinely good news, and worth holding on to when the word "operation" lands on...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Managing Your Pet's Pain and Comfort Through Cancer
Across all the worries a cancer diagnosis brings, the one that keeps owners awake at night usually isn't the prognosis or the cost. It's a plainer, harder question: is my pet in pain, and would I even know?
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Cancer Treatment Emergencies: When to Call the Vet Right Now
There is one situation on cancer treatment where the difference between ringing tonight and ringing in the morning genuinely matters, and this page is about that situation. Most days, a pet on treatment is doing fine, and most of the small worries you'll have settle on their own. A few don't, and the trick is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Going Through Chemo: What's Normal, and What Isn't
Fewer than one in four pets on chemotherapy get side effects you'd actually notice, like being sick or having loose stools, and most have none you can see at all (Michigan State University, 2024). That's the number worth holding onto in the early weeks, when every yawn looks like tiredness and every skipped biscuit looks...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Feeding a Pet With Cancer: Appetite, What to Feed, and the "Sugar" Myth
After a cancer diagnosis, food is often the first place owners want to act. Three questions come up almost every time: are they eating enough, is there a special diet I should be on, and should I cut the carbs because I read that sugar feeds cancer. Food is one of the few parts of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Quality of Life You Can Measure: Using the Score to See What's Really Happening
Is he still enjoying life? Is she still happy? When a pet has cancer, that question turns up in the quiet moments, last thing at night or first thing in the morning, and there's rarely a clean answer to it. It's the kindest thing an owner can ask, and one of the hardest, because from...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Comfort-Focused Care: Choosing Quality of Life When You Don't Treat
Comfort-focused care is the path you take when you've decided not to treat the cancer itself. The reasons vary: sometimes the outlook didn't justify what the pet would go through, sometimes the cost was simply out of reach, sometimes it just wasn't the right road for this animal and this family. Whatever brought you to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Complementary and Alternative Therapies: What Helps, What's Harmless, What's Hype
A diagnosis of cancer leaves most owners wanting to do something with their hands, and the internet is happy to fill that space. There's a supplement for the immune system, a mushroom blend, a diet that "starves" the tumour, a CBD oil that promises calm, and somewhere in the mix a site telling you the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Making the Most of the Time: Good Days, Normality and What Matters
A few weeks after a cancer diagnosis, the question owners ask me tends to change. At first it's "how long has he got?" Once the early rush of tests and decisions has settled, a better one usually takes its place: how do we actually live with the time we have? That's the question this piece...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Remission: What It Means, and Watching for the Cancer Coming Back
Remission means your pet has come back to themselves. The lumps have gone, they're bright again, eating, daft, well. You'd think that word would bring nothing but relief, and partly it does. But for most owners there's a low hum of fear sitting just underneath it that never quite switches off. Every longer sleep, every...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
The Quality-of-Life Decision, and Where to Go Next
When a pet's cancer can no longer be held back, the decision an owner faces is whether, and when, to let them go gently. It's one of the hardest decisions you will ever make, and you don't have to make it quickly or on your own. This page is here to help you see where...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 6 min read
Signs the Cancer Is Winning: Recognising Decline
There's a question owners often arrive at without quite saying it out loud: how do I tell when my pet is genuinely going downhill, rather than just having an off day? It's a fair thing to want to understand, and wanting to understand it doesn't mean you've given up hope. You know this animal better...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Chronic Kidney Disease in Dogs: The Owner's Complete Guide
Go looking for information after your dog is diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, or after a vet mentions "borderline kidney values," and you'll hit something frustrating fast: almost everything written about pet kidney disease is about cats. Page after page assumes a feline patient. Dogs get kidney disease too, it matters just as much, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 11 min read
Chronic Kidney Disease in Cats: What Every Owner Needs to Know
A diagnosis of chronic kidney disease is not the end of your cat's good life. That is the single most important thing to say, before any of the detail, because the word "kidney" lands heavily and the internet fills in the rest. The disease is usually not curable, and there is no point pretending otherwise,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
Is Your Pet at Risk of Kidney Disease? Breeds and Early Signs
Kidney disease is at its most manageable when it's caught early, and yet the early signs are precisely the ones owners are most likely to wave away as "just getting older." A cat drinking a bit more from the tap. A dog that has lost a little weight without anyone quite noticing when. A coat...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 9 min read
What Causes Chronic Kidney Disease in Cats and Dogs?
After a kidney diagnosis, owners almost always ask the same thing, often with a catch in their voice: why? Why did this happen, and, just beneath that, did I cause it? It is one of the most natural questions in the world, and it deserves a straight answer. So here it is, up front: sometimes...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Your Pet Has Kidney Disease: The First 30 Days
A kidney disease diagnosis lands hard. One moment your pet is just a bit off, drinking a little more, perhaps a touch thinner, and the next a vet is using words like "chronic" and "kidney" and "stages," and the floor tilts. Then you get home, type it into a search engine, and within about ninety...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Reading Your Pet's Kidney Bloods: A Plain-English Guide
A printout of your pet's kidney bloods is a wall of abbreviations and numbers that mean very little at first glance. Creatinine, SDMA, urea, phosphate, a thing called specific gravity, each with a value and a reference range, some perhaps flagged high. The natural pull is to scan for the scariest number and brace. There...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 11 min read
Understanding IRIS Staging: What Your Pet's Stage Actually Means
Your vet has used a word that sounds clinical and a little frightening: your dog or cat is at "stage 2", or "stage 3", kidney disease. It is natural to hear that as a verdict, a fixed position on a countdown. It is not. A stage is a map reference. It tells you and your...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 13 min read
Potassium, Anaemia and Acidosis: The Supporting Cast of Kidney Disease
Behind the headline kidney numbers, the creatinine and SDMA and phosphate, sit a handful of supporting problems that kidney disease can cause: low potassium, anaemia, and a gradual acidity in the blood. Each one sounds alarming when it appears as an unfamiliar word on a results sheet, and each can feel like a fresh disaster...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Helping Your Pet Feel Better: Comfort Medications for Kidney Disease
Some kidney medicines slow the disease. The ones in this article do something just as precious, and more immediate: they make your pet feel better today. Nausea, a fading appetite, and a low-grade, persistent queasiness are common in kidney disease, they are genuinely miserable for a pet, and they are deeply treatable. Yet time and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Protein in the Urine: Why the UP/C Ratio Matters, Especially in Dogs
Protein in the urine sounds like a minor footnote on a results sheet, and it is anything but. A kidney filter that leaks protein is both a sign that damage has occurred and, it appears, something that helps drive the damage faster. It is also one of the more treatable parts of kidney disease, which...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
High Blood Pressure and Kidney Disease: The Silent Risk
High blood pressure travels alongside kidney disease far more often than most owners realise, and it is dangerous for one particular, unsettling reason: it is silent. There is usually nothing to see and no symptom to notice, right up until something breaks, and in pets the first visible sign can be sudden blindness. That is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
Phosphate Binders: When the Renal Diet Isn't Enough
Phosphate is the number the whole renal diet is quietly chasing, as our guide to that diet explains. Controlling it is one of the few things genuinely shown to change the course of kidney disease, as well as how well your pet feels day to day. The renal diet is the first and most important...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The Renal Diet: The Single Most Important Treatment You Control
Of everything in the kidney-disease toolkit, the prescription renal diet has the best evidence for extending your pet's good-quality life. And it is the one big lever you control directly, at the food bowl, every day. So when your vet tells you to switch a dog or cat to a "kidney diet," and you find...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Getting a Cat to Eat the Renal Diet: The Owner's Battle Plan
Getting a cat onto a prescribed kidney diet is one of the genuinely hard parts of managing kidney disease, and almost every owner struggles with it. If your cat has turned its nose up at the food your vet prescribed and is sitting by an untouched bowl, you are not failing, and your cat is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Everyday Life with a Kidney Patient: Litter, Comfort and Routine
A kidney diagnosis can feel as though it is about to take over your whole house, turning your home into a clinic and your days into a timetable of treatments. It does not have to be that way. A handful of small, sensible changes to your pet's environment and your daily routine make caring for...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
Weight and Muscle: The Home Signs That Matter Most
When an older pet slowly loses weight, it is the easiest thing in the world to put it down to age. "She's just getting on," we tell ourselves, "they get a bit lighter as they age." Sometimes that is true. But in a pet with kidney disease, gradual weight loss and the quiet wasting of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Keeping Your Pet Hydrated: A Water Strategy for Kidney Disease
Here is a quiet paradox at the heart of kidney disease: a pet can be drinking more than ever and still be running closer to dehydration than a healthy animal. That is because failing kidneys lose the ability to hold onto water, so they pour it out in dilute urine faster than drinking can quite...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
Subcutaneous Fluids at Home: A Complete Beginner's Guide
A needle, at home, given by me? Is that cruel? Could I actually do it? When a vet first suggests giving fluids under the skin at home, most owners feel some mix of alarm and doubt, and those are the questions that surface. So let me reassure you straight away. Thousands of ordinary owners, with...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
Concurrent Conditions: When Kidney Disease Doesn't Travel Alone
Older bodies rarely have just one thing wrong with them, and kidneys are no exception. By the time a cat or dog is old enough to develop chronic kidney disease, they are often old enough to be carrying one or two other conditions as well, and those conditions do not sit in tidy, separate boxes....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Complementary and Unproven Kidney Treatments: What the Evidence Says
Within minutes of a diagnosis, the internet fills with products promising to help: kidney "support" supplements, "natural" remedies, "detox" cures, each pitched at exactly the worried, loving owner you have just become. Some of these products have genuine, if modest, evidence behind them. Many have none. A few are simply exploitative, selling false hope to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 9 min read
Advanced Kidney Treatments: Dialysis, Transplant and What's on the Horizon
Most owners of a pet with kidney disease eventually ask the same hopeful questions. Is there a transplant? A dialysis machine, like people have? A new drug just around the corner? They're completely natural questions, and you deserve a straight, UK-grounded answer to each one, an answer that neither crushes your hope nor sells you...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Acute-on-Chronic: Recognising and Responding to a Kidney Crisis
Chronic kidney disease is usually a slow story, a gentle drift measured in months and years, and most days with a kidney patient are quiet ones. But it can flare hard and fast, and when it does, the question a worried owner most needs answered is "is this an emergency?" The short answer is that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 9 min read
What CKD Care Actually Costs in the UK: An Honest Breakdown
Money is part of the picture with kidney disease, a real and often heavy part, and almost nobody talks about it openly. Owners are left to discover the costs piecemeal, at the worst moments, with no sense of what the year ahead might hold. That silence helps no one, so this guide does the opposite....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
The CKD Monitoring Schedule: What to Check and How Often, by Stage
A pet with kidney disease gets called back to the vet a lot, and then called back again, with a regularity that can start to feel like a lot. Plenty of owners quietly wonder the same thing at this point: is all this rechecking really necessary, or is the practice "milking it"? Let me answer...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 9 min read
Getting the Most From Your Vet Appointments With a Kidney Patient
Managing a pet with kidney disease is a partnership, and a slightly unusual one, because you and your vet each hold half of what is needed. You are the expert on your pet at home, how they are eating, drinking, moving, and behaving day to day, and your vet is the expert on the medicine,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Living Well With Kidney Disease: Pets Who Thrive for Years
The word "kidney disease" lands like a countdown for most owners. It sounds final, the mind leaps to the worst, and a frightened search online rarely helps. So here is the thing I most want you to take from this article, having looked after a great many kidney patients over the years: for a great...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Quality of Life and Saying Goodbye: The Honest Conversation
This is the hardest article in our kidney guide, and there is no way to make the subject easy, so I will simply be gentle with it, and with you. Owners come to this question by two roads: some are facing it suddenly, some are quietly preparing for a day they can feel coming. Either...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
When Kidney Disease Progresses: Late-Stage Care and Comfort
There comes a point in kidney disease where the condition you have managed so well for so long starts to ask more of you both. What follows is straightforward and practical, written to help you keep your pet comfortable and to know what to expect, with care rather than alarm. Late-stage kidney disease is a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
Has My Dog Done Its Cruciate? Signs and Symptoms
A cruciate problem usually arrives one of two ways. Sometimes it's sudden: the dog jumps off the sofa or skids on the kitchen floor chasing a ball and comes up holding a back leg in the air. Sometimes there's no single moment at all, just a limp that drifts in and out for weeks, worse...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Cruciate Ligament Disease: Understanding the Most Common Reason Dogs Need Knee Surgery
A dog diagnosed with cranial cruciate ligament disease is in very common company. It's the single most common orthopaedic problem in dogs and the most frequent reason a dog ends up needing knee surgery. It's also one of the biggest causes of hind-limb arthritis, which is why it earns a detailed article in this space.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 11 min read
Which Dogs Get It? Breed, Weight, Neutering and Conformation
"Why mine?" is the question that surfaces within a day of a cruciate rupture, and it arrives wrapped in guilt: the muddy field, the ball you threw, the jump off the sofa, the extra couple of kilos you'd been meaning to address. I hear it in the consult room more than almost any other, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
How Cruciate Disease Is Diagnosed
In the consulting room, a vet who suspects a cruciate problem will bend and push the limping leg in a particular way, and a few minutes later may start talking about sedation, X-rays and surgery. It can all happen quickly. So why does the leg get handled like that? Why raise sedation or an X-ray,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Partial Cruciate Tears: The Tricky Early Stage
Lame, then fine, then lame again. That on-and-off pattern is what brings a lot of dogs into my consulting room with a partial cruciate tear, and it tends to come with a frustrating conversation. Your vet has felt the knee, frowned a little, used the words "partial tear", and then said something that sounded a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Why It's Degeneration, Not an Injury
A sentence I hear over and over, usually said quietly, usually while the owner looks at the floor: "I shouldn't have thrown the ball." "He only jumped off the sofa." There's nearly always a thread of guilt running through it, the sense that one ordinary moment broke a healthy dog.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Does My Dog Need an Orthopaedic Specialist?
Being offered a referral for cruciate surgery sets two questions running in most owners' heads at once: is my dog's knee worse than I was told, and did my own vet just admit they're out of their depth. I see that flicker across the consult-room table all the time, and I want to take the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
What Cruciate Surgery Costs in the UK, and Insurance
Most pages about cruciate surgery dance around the money. I'd rather not. Someone has probably said a number out loud, you've got a quote in front of you, and what you want is the actual figures laid out plainly, plus the bits about insurance that almost nobody mentions until it's too late. That's what this...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Conservative Management: When It's a Real Option (and When It Isn't)
Surgery gets mentioned, and a quieter question tends to follow close behind: do we actually have to? Sometimes the operation costs more than a family can stretch to. Sometimes the dog is fourteen and the thought of an anaesthetic is unbearable. Sometimes it's a little terrier who already seems to be coping. Whatever the reason,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Surgery or Not? How to Think About the Cruciate Decision
Your dog has done its cruciate, someone has said the word surgery, and there's almost certainly a number attached to all of it. So the question now is whether you're about to do the right thing or the wrong thing by them, and it's a heavy one to be sitting with, often a day or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Braces and Orthoses: What the Evidence Says
Type "dog knee brace cruciate" into a search bar and what comes back is a wall of confident advertising: hinged braces, before-and-after photos, the strong implication that for a few hundred pounds you can sidestep the operation altogether. When surgery is off the table, or a long way down your list, and the surgical numbers...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The Meniscus: The Other Injury in the Knee
Somewhere in the conversation about your dog's cruciate, a second word usually gets mentioned. The vet might say "we'll check the meniscus while we're in there," or "there's a meniscal tear too," or the surgeon reaches for "meniscal release" just as you'd finally got your head around the cruciate itself. There's a second reason owners...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Lateral Suture: The Less Invasive Option
A lateral suture is the cruciate operation that doesn't cut your dog's shin bone, and that fact tends to pull owners two ways at once. There's relief that a saw isn't part of the plan, and there's a nagging suspicion that the gentler-sounding option must be the second-rate one. Neither reading holds up. The lateral...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
TTA and the Other Osteotomies
The letters on your consent form say TTA, or MMP, or CBLO, and somewhere along the way the internet told you everyone does the TPLO. So a familiar worry arrives: a surgeon you trust has recommended a different set of initials, and it's hard not to read that as your dog getting the lesser version....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
TPLO Explained: What It Is and Who It's For
A TPLO is the operation most surgeons reach for when a dog tears its cruciate, and the acronym sounds a great deal more alarming than the procedure deserves. Once you have a date in the diary and a consent form to sign, the four letters tend to sit there looking ominous. So let me do...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
TPLO vs TTA vs Lateral Suture: An Even-Handed Comparison
Start reading about cruciate surgery and you'll hit a wall of acronyms within five minutes. TPLO. TTA. Lateral suture, extracapsular, TightRope. One forum swears blind that TPLO is the only thing worth doing; the next says their dog did beautifully on a lateral suture and the bone-cutting operations are overkill. Your own vet has recommended...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Conservative Management, Day to Day
The decision is made. Perhaps you and your vet weighed it up together and conservative management was the sensible call. Perhaps surgery was never realistically on the table, for health or financial reasons, and this is simply the road you're on. Either way, you've probably hit the same frustration: nearly every page that says "you...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Is This Normal? Red Flags During Cruciate Recovery
Most of the worried phone calls I take in the weeks after cruciate surgery end the same way: the dog is fine. The leg looked a bit puffier than yesterday, there was an off day, and an owner sat by the crate late at night talking themselves into the worst. I've taken those calls for...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Home Exercises by Recovery Phase
The discharge sheet says "gentle controlled exercise", or "we can show you some physio", and leaves it there. What that means at home, with your own dog on your own kitchen floor, is anyone's guess. Most owners want to help and are quietly terrified of doing the wrong thing, because every time the dog shifts...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Physiotherapy and Hydrotherapy After Cruciate Surgery
Somewhere in the discharge conversation, between the wound care and the rest rules, somebody said the word "physio." Maybe they handed you a leaflet, maybe they just said your dog would "need some rehab" and moved on. The questions tend to land once you're home. What does it actually do? When can it start? Is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Strict Rest Without Losing Your Mind
The hardest part of cruciate recovery usually isn't the operation. It's the weeks afterwards, when your dog feels brilliant, looks brilliant, and has absolutely no idea that the repair holding their knee together is still healing. They want to leap onto the sofa. You have to stop them, again, for the fortieth time today, and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
The First Two Weeks at Home After Surgery
The shaved leg, the cone catching on the door frame, the wound that looks more dramatic than you'd braced for: that's what most dogs come home looking like, and most owners spend that first evening watching for every wince and quietly dreading that they'll undo a very expensive operation. So let me say the useful...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The 12-Week Recovery Roadmap After Cruciate Surgery
The surgery takes one day. The recovery takes around twelve weeks, and it's the recovery, far more than the operation, that decides how well your dog ends up. So this page isn't a single instruction sheet for tonight. It's the whole road mapped out, so you know not just what to do this week but...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Weight, Muscle and the Long Game
Two of the most powerful tools in orthopaedic medicine sit in your hands at home, and neither needs a prescription or a referral. By the point most owners reach this article the big decisions are already behind them. The surgery is done, or the conservative plan is underway, and the worst of the worry about...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Spotting Early Signs in the Other Knee
Once a dog has been through a cruciate on one side, most owners start watching the other leg. You've learned to read your dog's back end in a way you never used to: the pause before the jump, the way they shift their weight at the food bowl, the morning they're a little slow off...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Will the Other Leg Go Too? The Bilateral Risk
Once the first knee has been fixed and the limp has settled, a lot of owners arrive at the same quiet question: what about the other leg? Maybe a friend mentioned it, maybe you read it somewhere, or maybe nobody warned you at all and you're meeting the idea right now, a few weeks or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Keeping a Post-Cruciate Dog Comfortable for Life
The crate rest is over, the limp has gone, and the dog who couldn't put a foot to the floor is trotting around the kitchen again. Whether you chose surgery or managed the knee without it, the hard part really is behind you. What most owners want to know at this point is simply what...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Cruciate Disease and Arthritis: The Lifelong Picture
There's a question that almost never gets asked in the consult room, because by the time the leg is working again the appointment is over and everyone's relieved. The diagnosis landed, you made a decision about surgery or conservative care, you got through the recovery or the long slow build of it, and your dog...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
"Is This a Death Sentence?" The Honest Prognosis for a Diabetic Pet
It's the question really underneath all the others, even when no one says it out loud. An owner takes in the word diabetes, asks sensible things about insulin and diet, and behind their eyes is the thought they're too frightened to voice: is this it? Am I about to lose her? It's a fair thing...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Diabetes in Dogs and Cats: The Same Word, Two Different Diseases
When a dog or a cat is diagnosed as diabetic, most owners' minds reach straight for what they know about diabetes in people: a relative who injects insulin, a colleague who manages theirs with tablets and diet. Let me gently take that off the table, because the most useful thing I can tell you on...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Feline Diabetes Explained: Why a Cat's Diabetes Is Its Own Disease
Most of what gets written about pet diabetes carries, quietly, a canine accent. So if you've just been told your cat is diabetic, here is the thing worth knowing first: your cat's diabetes is not a smaller version of a dog's. It looks far more like human type 2 diabetes, and because the insulin-making cells...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Getting the Diagnosis: How Vets Confirm Diabetes
Most owners arrive at the diagnosis the same way. Something had been off for a few weeks: the water bowl emptying too fast, puddles where there had never been puddles, weight sliding off despite a hearty appetite. A sample went off, and now there's a word on the page. Let me walk you through how...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Can I Do This? The Honest Commitment of Caring for a Diabetic Pet
There's a particular silence that falls in the consult room after I say the word diabetes. The owner nods, asks a sensible question or two about insulin, and then, often while standing up to leave, comes the real one, the quiet one. "I work full time." "I'm not sure I'm the right person for this."...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
What Diabetes Actually Is in Dogs and Cats
When I tell an owner their dog or cat has diabetes, I can see the same thing happen behind their eyes. They half-remember something about human diabetes, sugar, injections, and they're trying to map all of it onto the animal in front of them. Some have already decided it sounds like a death sentence. It...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Hypos: The Emergency Every Diabetic Owner Must Be Ready For
Of all the things I tell a new diabetic owner, this is the one I'd ask you to hold onto hardest. Most of the daily routine you're learning is forgiving: get the timing a bit off, run a little high for an afternoon, and your pet is fine. The one exception, and the reason this...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Your First Insulin Injection: How To Do It Without Fear
There's a moment I've come to recognise in the consult room. The owner has the diagnosis and the kit, they've nodded along to everything, and then I hand them a loaded syringe to try for the first time and their hand goes very still. They're not frightened for themselves. They're frightened of pushing a needle...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
The First Two Weeks on Insulin: What To Expect
You're home from the vet with a little vial in the fridge, a box of tiny syringes, and a head full of half-remembered instructions. You've given the first injection, or you're about to, and the practical worry sits on top of a quieter question: how will I know if it's working? What if I'm getting...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Feeding a Diabetic Pet: Timing, Portions and Treats
Owners walk out of the diagnosis consult braced for the injections. Almost no one walks out worried about the bowl, and yet it's the bowl that trips most people up a fortnight later. What do I feed? How much? When, relative to the jab? Can he still have his bedtime biscuit? Feeding quietly does a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Storing, Drawing Up and Handling Insulin Properly
There's a sentence I hear in the consult room more often than almost any other once a pet is a few months into treatment. "The insulin's stopped working." The dog is drinking again, the cat is losing weight, the readings have crept back up, and the obvious conclusion is that the dose has failed or...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
The Insulin Types Explained (and the New Oral Options for Cats)
Most owners meet their pet's insulin as a single box pushed across the desk, a name they've never heard, with no sense of why that one. Then they search it and fall into forum threads arguing about Lantus versus ProZinc versus something they can't even buy here. So let me do what the leaflets and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Continuous Glucose Monitors (FreeStyle Libre) on Pets: The Game-Changer
A few years ago, knowing what your diabetic pet's glucose did across a day meant grim choices: a row of finger or ear pricks at home, or a long, stressful day at the clinic having blood drawn every couple of hours. Then a small white disc designed for people with diabetes quietly changed everything. I...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Home Blood Glucose Monitoring: Curves and Spot-Checks, Done Properly
The first time most owners hear the words "blood glucose curve", the real question follows fast: you want me to take my pet's blood, at home, with a needle, every couple of hours? It sounds like something that should happen in a hospital.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Diet as a Lever: Low-Carb Cats, Consistent Dogs
Most owners arrive at the food question expecting me to hand over the name of a prescription diet and send them on their way. It's a fair expectation, but it sells the subject short. For a diabetic pet, food isn't only fuel. It's one of the levers we actually pull to change the disease, sitting...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Fructosamine and the Vet Rechecks: The Bigger Picture of Control
A few weeks into life with a diabetic pet, the rechecks start to feel like a ritual. You bring your dog or cat in, often with a phone full of home readings, the vet draws a little blood, weighs them, has a feel, and then talks about a number you may never have heard of:...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Reading a Glucose Curve: The Nadir, the Duration and Stress Hyperglycaemia
For most owners, a first glucose curve arrives as a column of numbers on a scrap of paper, or a wavy line on a phone app, and it can leave you feeling shut out of your own pet's care. Six readings, a squiggle, and the nagging sense that everyone but you knows which number matters....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
How Insulin Dose Titration Works (and Why It Takes Weeks)
There's a question I can almost set my watch by. About two or three weeks after a pet starts insulin, the owner rings, and somewhere in the first minute it comes out: "I don't think the dose is right yet." Often there's a flicker of failure underneath it, as though they were meant to have...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The Lifetime Cost of a Diabetic Pet, and How Insurance Really Works
There's a moment, usually a day or two after the diagnosis, when the worry turns from your pet to your bank account. The leaflet says "diabetes is manageable," the forum says "it cost me a fortune," and nobody has given you the actual numbers. So let me lay them out plainly, because in twenty years...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Travel, Boarding and Sick-Day Rules for a Diabetic Pet
Diabetes settles, in the end, into a pleasant kind of dull. Two meals, two injections, a quick note in the app, twice a day, until it's muscle memory. And then one of three things happens. Your pet wakes up off their food. You've a holiday booked and a cool bag you're not sure how to...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 13 min read
Weight, Dental Disease and the Other Things That Quietly Wreck Control
There's a particular call I take more than any other from a settled diabetic family. The pet was doing well, the numbers had stopped sliding around, the dose hadn't changed in months. Then it all drifts: more water in the bowl, a litter tray needing doing twice as often, a morning glucose that creeps up...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Diabetic Cataracts in Dogs: Spotting and Managing the Blindness Risk
There's a phone call I take more than almost any other from owners of newly diagnosed diabetic dogs. The dog was fine. Then, over a weekend, the eyes went cloudy and the dog started bumping into the coffee table. The owner is frightened, and underneath the fright there's usually a flicker of guilt: did I...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
What To Watch at Home: The Signs That Tell You How Control Is Going
In the early weeks, owners ask me a version of the same anxious question: "How do I know if it's working?" Behind it sits the assumption that the answer lives in a meter, that without a row of glucose numbers they're flying blind. The truth is more reassuring: the best monitoring tool you have is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Settling Into the Daily Routine That Works
There's a moment, usually around the third or fourth week, when an owner rings the practice and I can hear that something has shifted. The panic has gone, the needle they were certain they could never manage has become a non-event done while the kettle boils, and the question is no longer "can I do...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Feline Diabetic Remission: Real, and the Window Is Now
When I tell an owner that their newly diagnosed cat might one day come off insulin altogether, I often watch the same thing happen on their face: hope, then a flicker of suspicion, because it sounds too good to be true. It isn't. Feline diabetic remission is real, common enough to be a genuine goal...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
What "Good Control" Actually Looks Like (and Why It Isn't Perfect Numbers)
There's a particular worry I see in diabetic pet owners a few months in. The injections are happening, the pet seems well, and yet the owner is anxious, because they've been checking glucose at home, or reading a forum, and the numbers aren't "normal." Their own blood sugar would sit around 5 mmol/L. Their dog's...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
What Good Control Buys: Heading Off the Complications
There comes a point, usually a few weeks in, when the injections and the meals and the logging stop being terrifying and turn into a chore. The fear fades, and what's left is the grind: two needles a day, every day, seemingly forever, for a pet who looks, frankly, fine. And a quiet question surfaces....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Staying in Remission, and Spotting a Relapse Early
There's a particular happiness I see in owners whose cat has just come off insulin. Relief, mostly, after weeks of injections and finger-pricks and worry. And then, usually in the same breath, a flicker of something else: but is it really gone? Will it come back?
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Giving Your Cat the Best Shot at Remission: The Playbook
When an owner first hears that a cat, unlike a dog, can sometimes stop being diabetic, the next question is almost always the practical one. Not "is it true," but "what do I actually do?" The why and the biology live in feline diabetic remission, and I'd read that first if you haven't. This page...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Quality of Life and the Honest, Hard Decisions
The numbers won't settle no matter what you try. Or the cost has crept beyond what you planned. Or your pet is simply old, and you're starting to wonder whether you're holding on for them or for yourself. Whichever of those it is, let me start with what I'd say if you were sitting across...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Somogyi and Dose-Chasing: When More Insulin Is the Wrong Answer
There's a logic that feels unarguable when you're holding the meter. The number is high. Insulin brings numbers down. So surely the answer is more insulin. I've watched careful, loving owners follow that thread into trouble, nudging the dose up week after week because the morning reading stays stubbornly high. It's the most intuitive move...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
When the Insulin Just Won't Work: The Resistance Work-Up
There's a sentence I hear when an owner has reached the end of their patience, and it always carries the same flat exhaustion. "We keep putting the dose up and it makes no difference." By then they've usually been climbing the dose for weeks, the numbers are still stubbornly high, and the fear underneath is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA): The Emergency and Its Warning Signs
Diabetes can throw up two emergencies, and they run in opposite directions. One is the hypo: too much insulin, a blood sugar that crashes in minutes, the wobbly, trembling pet I write about in the hypoglycaemia guide. This page is about the other one, and it worries me more, because it's quieter at the start...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The Concurrent Diseases That Fight Your Insulin
The dose has crept up again. We're at numbers that would have sounded alarming three months ago, the glucose curve is still a flat high line that barely dips, and you're doing everything right. And yet the insulin just isn't working. The natural instinct, yours and sometimes mine, is to reach for the dial and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
The Unstable, Brittle Diabetic: Why Control Slips, and What To Do
There's a particular kind of tiredness I've learned to recognise across the consulting table, and it doesn't belong to the pet. It belongs to the person opposite: the one who's been up in the night checking the cat, who's turned down a weekend because nobody else can manage the injections, whose meter read 4 one...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
My pet is being sick or has diarrhoea: what is going on, and what to do
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
When can you treat a tummy upset at home, and when must you call the vet?
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Pancreatitis: the painful belly, and the fatty-meal myth
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Is this an emergency? The digestive red-flags you must not wait on
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Chronic enteropathy: the modern way to think about "IBD"
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The diet trial, done properly: the first and best treatment
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Worms and giardia: when a parasite is behind the diarrhoea
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Vomiting or regurgitation? Why the difference matters
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Recurrent anal sac trouble: why it keeps happening and how to break the cycle
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The pancreatitis flare: pain relief, anti-nausea, and feeding through it
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Megaoesophagus and chronic regurgitation: the condition behind bringing food back up
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Managing EPI for life: enzymes with every meal, B12, and getting the dose right
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Managing constipation: fibre, lactulose, prokinetics, hydration and the litter-tray truth
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Feeding for a pancreas: the low-fat life, treats and the long game
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Living with a chronically sick gut: B12, fibre, the microbiome and managing flares
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Wind, gurgling and the rumbling tummy: when flatulence is normal and when it is a clue
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The cat who cannot poo: constipation, megacolon and when it is an emergency
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Feline chronic enteropathy and the small-cell lymphoma question
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Why the weight still will not come: cobalamin, dysbiosis and the slow responders
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
EPI: Ravenous, Thin, and Passing Greasy Stools, the Diagnosis Vets Miss
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Constipation in dogs: diet, dehydration, and the causes worth ruling out
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Dietary indiscretion and garbage gut: the dog who ate something he should not
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
How to describe it to your vet (and what to photograph)
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Chronic, grumbling pancreatitis: spotting the slow burn
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
When Diet Is Not Enough: The Step-Up, and Where Steroids Actually Fit
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Getting the diagnosis: why chronic enteropathy is what is left when everything else is ruled out
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Does my pet need antibiotics for diarrhoea? (Usually not)
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Scooting, licking and that smell: anal gland problems explained
_By Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS | Reviewed by Claire Greenway BVM&S MRCVS_
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
What a Seizure Actually Looks Like
Something happened to your dog or cat. It lasted seconds, or a couple of minutes, and it frightened the life out of you. Maybe they collapsed and went rigid. Maybe they just stared through you, or their face twitched, or they snapped at something that was not there. And now you are trying to answer...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
What Seizures Look Like in Cats
Cats rarely seize the way we expect them to. Most of us picture the dramatic version: collapse, stiff legs, paddling, the whole body taken over. That happens in cats too, but a great many feline seizures are quieter and stranger, so easily mistaken for odd behaviour that owners often don't realise they've witnessed one. A...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
How (and Why) to Film a Seizure for Your Vet
The single most useful thing you can bring your vet about your dog's seizures is a video you took on your phone. Not a careful description, not a researched symptom list, not even the timeline you pieced together at three in the morning. A clear recording of the event itself.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
The Hours Afterwards: Understanding the Post-Ictal Phase
The seizure is over. The jerking has stopped and your dog is breathing again, and then comes the part nobody warned you about. They stagger into the furniture, stare through you as if they have never met you, pace the same loop of the kitchen or bump into walls as though the lights have gone...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Is This an Emergency? Status Epilepticus and Cluster Seizures
You need an answer now, not a lecture, so here it is.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Seizure First Aid: What to Do and What Not to Do
Phone in one hand, dog or cat seizing on the floor in front of you: start here and read the rest later. Stay calm. Don't touch their mouth. Move hard objects out of the way. Note the time. Don't hold them still. Most single seizures stop on their own within a couple of minutes, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
What Causes Seizures in Cats
When a cat has a seizure, the first question an owner asks is why, and in cats the answer matters more than most people realise. In dogs, the most likely explanation by a wide margin is idiopathic epilepsy, a seizure disorder with no findable cause. Cats are different. A feline seizure is more often the...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
When Your Vet Refers You to a Neurologist
The word "referral" lands hard. A voice at the back of your mind says it must be serious, or your own vet wouldn't be passing you up the chain. In epilepsy, that voice is usually wrong.
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Idiopathic Epilepsy: Breeds, Genetics and Age of Onset
Two questions come up again and again once a dog is diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. "Did we cause this?" And, with the breeder's paperwork in hand, "Will the rest of the litter get it too?" Both are fair, and both deserve straight answers rather than reassuring fog, whether your own dog has just been diagnosed...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The Diagnostic Workup: Bloods, MRI, CSF and What It Costs
A seizure, or a handful of them, tends to be followed by a list of tests. Bloods, maybe blood pressure, possibly an MRI under anaesthetic with a price tag that makes your stomach drop. You want to do right by your dog, but you also want to know what's genuinely necessary, what each test actually...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Reactive, Structural and Idiopathic Seizures Explained
A seizure sends most owners home with one word ringing in their head: why. Why my pet, why now, and is this something that can be fixed or something we have to live with?
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Why Epilepsy Is a "Diagnosis of Exclusion"
Your dog has had a seizure, maybe more than one. You've been to the vet, perhaps had blood taken, perhaps been quoted for an MRI. Then the verdict comes back: "the tests are all normal, it's most likely epilepsy." And the obvious question lands: how can anyone know what's wrong if nothing showed up? It's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Realistic Goals: Control, Not Cure
A few months into treatment, a particular kind of disappointment turns up in the consulting room, and it almost always comes from the same place. The owner started their dog on medication expecting the seizures to stop. Just stop. So when one breaks through, even after months of calm, it lands like a failure: the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The First Weeks on Medication: What to Expect
The tablets have started, and so has the question almost every owner asks in the first few days: is this working, or have we got it wrong? Your dog may be sleepy and a bit wobbly. They may have had another seizure since you began. Either way, doing something at last brings relief and worry...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Imepitoin (Pexion) Explained
Pexion is the brand name your vet has either just started your dog on or laid on the table as an option, and it tends to raise the same handful of questions. How is it different from phenobarbital, the drug everyone seems to mention first? Is it as good? Why no blood tests? And what...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Phenobarbital: What to Expect (and the Liver Question)
Type "phenobarbital" into a search bar the night your dog starts it, and within a few clicks you'll hit a forum thread insisting, in capital letters, that the drug "destroys the liver". It's worth knowing how little that headline reflects the real picture.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The Anti-Seizure Drugs Compared
Four drug names do most of the work in canine and feline epilepsy: phenobarbital, Pexion, bromide and Keppra. Once you and your vet agree it's time to treat, the question becomes which of them, and why that one rather than another. There's a lot of strong opinion attached to each name, so what this page...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
When Should Treatment Start?
Your dog has had a seizure, maybe two. The bloods and the examination point towards epilepsy, and now the question on the table is whether to put a young, otherwise healthy animal on a tablet every twelve hours for life. It is one of the hardest conversations I have, and it usually lands at the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Giving Medication Reliably (and Never Stopping Abruptly)
When a pet is diagnosed with epilepsy, the part nobody warns you about isn't the decision to medicate or the seizures themselves. It is the ordinary, relentless business of getting a tablet into an animal twice a day, every day, on roughly the same schedule, for the rest of their life, without missing so many...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
When the First Drug Isn't Enough: Adding On vs Switching
A meaningful minority of dogs keep seizing after the first anti-seizure drug is started and given faithfully, and that is a normal point on this journey rather than a dead end. If you've done it all by the book, given the medicine religiously and sat through the blood tests, and the seizures haven't stopped, it's...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Managing Anti-Seizure Medication Side Effects
The seizures are settling, and yet the dog seems different. Sleepier. Wobblier. Suddenly ravenous, and draining the water bowl. A few weeks into treatment this is when a lot of owners come back to me quietly worried, and the question underneath is almost always the same: have we traded one problem for another?
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Why Your Vet Checks Blood Levels
A dog who has just started phenobarbital or potassium bromide usually goes home with a little timetable of blood tests attached. The dog seems perfectly fine, so the obvious question is what all those needles in the vein are actually for.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
How Dose Titration Works
A medication has been started, and now your vet keeps talking about "adjusting the dose." You go back for a blood test, the dose changes, you go back again. Meanwhile your dog has had another seizure, and the question that nearly everyone asks at this point is a fair one: is this actually working, or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Can a Dog With Epilepsy Live a Normal Life?
Of all the questions a new diagnosis raises, this is usually the one owners reach for first, sometimes the same night, with the dog asleep and looking utterly normal. Can he still have a good life? Will this take years off her? It sits underneath all the others, and you deserve a straight answer rather...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Routine, Exercise and Quality of Life
A new epilepsy diagnosis often brings a quiet fear in alongside it: that ordinary life is over, that the walks have to shrink, that you can never leave the house again. I understand where that comes from, but it isn't true, and living as though it were can cost your pet the very thing all...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The Cost of Epilepsy and How Insurance Works
Once the diagnosis lands and the panic of the first seizure fades, a more practical worry tends to follow: what is this going to cost us, for the rest of his life? It's a fair question, and an awkward one to ask out loud when your dog is the one who's unwell. So let me...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The Emotional Toll of Caring for a Pet With Epilepsy
When UK researchers sat down with owners living alongside canine epilepsy, the phrase they chose for the study came straight from those owners' own mouths: "We have a ticking time bomb" (Pergande et al., 2020). It captures the whole thing. The seizure itself is only part of what wears people down. The rest is the...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
CBD for Dogs With Epilepsy: What the Evidence Actually Says
Spend any time in epilepsy forums and you'll meet the same two voices. One owner whose dog "hasn't seized since we started CBD." Someone underneath insisting "the drugs are poison, get him off them." Between those poles sits a real question that deserves a real answer, and that's what this page is for.
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Diet and Epilepsy: The Evidence for MCT and Ketogenic Diets
Spend ten minutes online after a diagnosis and the diet claims find you: switch to grain-free and the seizures stop, a ketogenic diet cured someone's spaniel, some oil is "nature's anticonvulsant". It is a seductive idea, partly because it feels like something you can do today without a prescription, and partly because the human epilepsy...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Identifying and Managing Seizure Triggers
In the days after a seizure, most owners arrive at the same question, and they usually ask it quietly, half-afraid the answer points back at them. Was it the walk? The fireworks? The new food? Underneath sits a very human hope: find the thing that set it off, and you can stop it happening again.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Keeping a Seizure Diary (and Why It Changes Your Vet Visits)
Your vet will almost never see your dog have a seizure. By the time you reach the surgery the event is over, and what is left to go on is your account of it. So the single most important piece of evidence in your dog's diagnosis and treatment plan is not a blood test or...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
New and Emerging Treatments, Realistically
Two appropriate medications in, the seizures are still coming, and the midnight search begins. That is the usual route to a page like this one, and the internet has plenty waiting at the other end: a device that stops seizures, a breakthrough drug, an oil that cured someone's dog completely. When you're frightened and watching...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Quality of Life and Difficult Decisions
There's a particular tiredness that comes with epilepsy, and it's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't lived it. Perhaps the gaps between seizures are getting shorter. Perhaps the drugs meant to help have left your dog flat and wobbly and not quite himself. Perhaps a question you can't say out loud has started to...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Your Status Epilepticus Emergency Plan
I've watched this play out more times than I'd like. A dog who has had seizures for a while has a bad one, a long one, and the owner who asked all the right questions at the calm consultations freezes. The out-of-hours number is somewhere in an email. The rescue medicine is in a drawer,...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Advanced and Add-On Treatment Options
By the time an owner reaches this point, the harder parts are usually behind them. Your dog has been on treatment for a while, the first add-on has been tried, and the seizures still keep coming. So let me be straight from the first paragraph: yes, there are more options, and many of them help....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Managing Cluster Seizures at Home: Rescue Medication
Cluster seizures have a cruelty of their own. The seizure in front of you is only half of it; the other half is knowing another may follow within hours, and waiting for it. If your vet has handed you a rescue kit, or has started talking about one, this article turns that waiting into a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Drug-Resistant (Refractory) Epilepsy Explained
You give the tablets on time. You've sat through the blood tests, watched the dose creep up, and still, every few weeks, your dog goes down again. Then a vet uses a word that sounds like a door closing: refractory. Drug-resistant. And underneath every other worry sits the frightening one: have we run out of...
Claire Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
What FIP is: the coronavirus connection
If you have just heard the letters FIP, whether in the consult room, down the phone, or read off a lab report while you sat in the car park, I want to say the most important thing first, before anything else, because...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Wet, dry, ocular, neuro: the four faces of FIP
You are probably here because you are watching one particular thing and trying to work out what it means. A belly that has swelled up over a few days. An eye that has gone cloudy or changed colour. A back leg that has...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Is it FIP? Why there's no single test
If you are here because a test came back saying "consistent with FIP" rather than a clean yes or no, I understand exactly how maddening that is. You wanted an answer and you were handed a probability. You may be...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Reading the bloodwork: A:G ratio, globulins, PCV
If you have a printout of your cat's results in front of you, a column of numbers with a few of them flagged in bold or marked with an H or an L, and your vet mentioned "the globulins" or "the A:G ratio" and moved on...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Multi-cat homes, shelters and stress as a trigger
There is a particular guilt that comes with an FIP diagnosis in a busy household. You start turning it over. Was it the number of cats? Was it the rescue you took in? Was it the move, the new baby, the building work,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
FIP in kittens vs adult cats
There is a question underneath the question you came here with, and I want to answer it first. Whether your cat is a tiny kitten or a settled older cat, what you are really asking is: why mine, why now, and did I let...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
FIP and your other cats: is it contagious?
If you have just been told one of your cats has FIP, and you have others at home, there is a very good chance the first thing you did was look at the rest of them and feel your stomach drop. You are not being paranoid....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Can you prevent FIP? The coronavirus-is-everywhere reality
If you are reading this, there is a fair chance you have already lived through an FIP diagnosis, and the question you are really asking is "how do I make sure this never happens again", either to the cat you have or to...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Breeders and FIP: what responsible breeders do
Whether you are a breeder who has just lost a kitten, or an owner whose beloved pedigree cat has been diagnosed and you are now wondering hard about where they came from, this is a fraught subject. There is loss on one...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
FIP is treatable now: the legal UK route via your vet and Bova
If you have just been told your cat has FIP, and you have spent the last few hours reading that the only cure is something you have to smuggle in from abroad or buy from a stranger in a Facebook group, please take a...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
What FIP treatment costs in the UK, 2025-26: an honest look
If you are reading this at the kitchen table with a calculator and a knot in your stomach, sick with the fear that money is going to decide whether your cat lives, I want to say the thing first that too many articles...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
The black market, answered honestly
If you have been researching FIP for more than an hour, you have almost certainly found them: the Facebook groups, the unofficial suppliers, the owners sharing photos of vials and spreadsheets of doses, all promising to...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
How to talk to your vet about FIP treatment
You have read that FIP is treatable in the UK, and you believe it. Now you are sitting with a different worry, one that a lot of owners feel and very few say out loud: what if my own vet doesn't know? What if I walk in,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
GS-441524, remdesivir and molnupiravir explained
If you have spent any time reading about FIP online, you have probably met three drug names by now, and they have probably left you more confused than when you started. GS-441524. Remdesivir. Molnupiravir. People use...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
FIP myths vs facts in 2026
FIP has one of the worst information problems in all of cat medicine, and it is not your fault that you feel lost. The disease was a near-certain death sentence for decades, then it changed almost overnight, and the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Does pet insurance cover FIP antivirals?
When you are staring at the cost of FIP treatment, the next question comes fast and hard: will my insurance actually pay for this? It is a question with real weight, because for many families the answer decides how the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Weigh weekly, re-dose weekly: the growing-kitten trap
There is one habit that quietly decides more FIP outcomes than almost anything else you will do across the eighty-four days, and hardly anyone warns owners about it. It is not dramatic. It is a set of kitchen scales and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The daily dosing routine: pills, injections, timing, missed doses
The medicine is on the kitchen counter. Your vet has explained it, you nodded along, and now it is just you, a small cat, and eighty-four days stretching ahead of you. If your hands are shaking a little and your head is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
When FIP treatment stalls: "if in doubt, increase the dose"
You started treatment expecting a clear line: sick cat, then medicine, then better. And for a lot of cats it really is close to that. But your cat is a few days or a couple of weeks in and she isn't bouncing back the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
What to track during treatment (and why)
Once the daily dose is under way, most owners hit the same quiet question: what am I actually supposed to be watching for? You want to know what "getting better" looks like, day by day, so you can tell the difference...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Side effects and what's normal on FIP treatment
You've started treatment, you're watching your cat like a hawk, and now something has changed. Maybe there's a firm little lump where the last injection went in. Maybe she's had a quiet day, or a soft stool, or she...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Giving FIP injections at home without the stress
There's a particular kind of dread that comes with a box of syringes and the knowledge that you'll be reaching for it every day, sometimes for weeks. You love this cat. The whole point is to make her better. And here...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Bloodwork checkpoints: day 30, 60 and 84
A recheck appointment is coming up, blood is going to be taken, and you would rather not walk in blind. You want to know what your vet is actually looking for, what counts as good news, and what the numbers on the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
The 84-day observation window
You imagined the last day of treatment would feel like a finish line. You'd give the final dose, exhale, and finally let go of the fear you've been carrying for twelve weeks. Instead, someone has handed you another...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Relapse: the signs, the timing, and what to do
If you're reading this while your cat is well, doing the daily checks and quietly terrified that the disease is going to come back, I want to start with the thing that matters most. Relapse is a real possibility, but it...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Neuro and ocular relapse: the barrier problem
If your cat had neurological or ocular FIP, or you've been told the disease has reached the brain or the eyes, you're carrying a particular worry that owners of the "wet belly" cases don't always have. You may have...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
"Is my cat cured?" What remission really means
You have almost certainly been waiting a long time to ask this question out loud, half afraid that saying it will jinx it. After 84 days of daily medicine and weeks more of watching an apparently-well cat like a hawk,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
When treatment doesn't work
If you're here because treatment isn't working, or because you've already had to say goodbye, I'm so sorry. I want to sit with that for a moment before anything else, because you have almost certainly spent weeks or...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Life after FIP: your cured cat's future
There is a particular quiet that arrives after FIP treatment ends well. The daily medicine is done, the observation window has passed, your vet has used the word remission, and after months of living on high alert you...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Understanding the ACVIM Stages of Mitral Valve Disease (A to D)
"She's a stage B2." "He's in stage C now." A vet says it, hands you a leaflet, and the letter and number do most of the talking while you are left to work out what they actually mean. So let's translate. The staging is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
How Your Pet's Heart Works, and What Can Go Wrong
The heart is one of the simplest organs to explain and one of the easiest to be frightened by. Before any diagnosis makes sense, and before you can tell which articles in this space are actually about your pet, it helps...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
"The Vet Heard a Murmur": What It Means and What It Doesn't
"There's a heart murmur." Your pet went in for a routine vaccination or a check-up, the vet listened with the stethoscope a beat longer than usual, and out came those words. It is one of those sentences that can hijack...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Heart Medications Explained: What Each Drug Actually Does
A heart diagnosis often comes home in a paper bag of tablets with names that sound far more alarming than they are. Pimobendan, furosemide, benazepril, spironolactone, clopidogrel: it looks like a lot, and the leaflets...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Recognising a Heart Failure Crisis: The Emergency Signs and Your Action Plan
A heart failure crisis is fluid flooding into or around the lungs faster than the body or the medicines can cope, and it can come on over hours. If your pet has heart disease, the time to read this is before you need...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Screening and Genetics: Maine Coons, Ragdolls and the proBNP Test
Three different tests get talked about for feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and online they are often thrown together as if you could pick any one of them. A gene swab, a blood test, a heart scan. They are not...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The Resting Respiratory Rate: The Most Useful Heart-Monitoring Skill You Can Learn at Home
Count how fast your pet breathes while they are fast asleep. It takes about thirty seconds, it costs nothing, and it tells you more about their heart between vet visits than almost anything else you can do at home. No...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Mitral Valve Disease Explained: The Leaky Valve Behind Most Canine Heart Murmurs
If your vet has mentioned mitral valve disease, or told you the murmur they heard points to a "leaky valve", start here. By a wide margin it is the most common heart condition we see in dogs, and it gets misunderstood...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The Grain-Free Question: Diet-Associated DCM, Explained Fairly
Few topics in canine heart health have stirred up as much worry, and as much heated argument, as the link between grain-free food and dilated cardiomyopathy. Maybe a frightening headline sent you here, or your vet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Feline HCM Explained: The Thickened Heart, and Why Cats Hide It
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a mouthful of a diagnosis, and most owners leave the consulting room holding the letters HCM and not much else. Meanwhile the cat it refers to is asleep on the sofa, looking entirely fine....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Saddle Thrombus: The Sudden Clot Every HCM Owner Should Know
A cat who seemed entirely well an hour ago is abruptly screaming in pain, dragging its back legs, and unable to stand. There is one feline emergency that frightens vets as much as it frightens owners, and this is it. To...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Dilated cardiomyopathy explained: what DCM is, which dogs get it, and why it stays silent for so long
Dilated cardiomyopathy is one of the most serious heart diseases of dogs, and there is no point pretending otherwise. It is also one of the most misunderstood, partly because it behaves so differently from the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Congestive Heart Failure Explained: What It Is, What "Congestive" Means, and What You Can Do
If your vet has used the words "congestive heart failure", or you have seen them written on a discharge note, they can land like a verdict. They sound final, and they sound frightening. So the first thing worth saying...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Working With a Veterinary Cardiologist: Referral, Costs and What to Expect
A referral to a veterinary cardiologist is a normal step, and for some hearts it genuinely changes the outcome rather than just the bill. It can sound expensive and serious, and it can feel as though your familiar vet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
When Heart Failure Stops Responding: Advanced Options and Comfort
There is a point in some heart journeys when the medicines that worked so well start to lose their grip. The cough creeps back, the breathing rate climbs more often, the dose goes up and then up again, and the good...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Mitral Valve Repair Surgery: Is It an Option for My Dog?
Tablets for mitral valve disease are genuinely good, and pimobendan in particular can buy a great deal of good time (Boswood et al., 2016). But they manage a leaking valve. They do not mend it. Sooner or later most...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Mitral Valve Disease: Prognosis, and What the Numbers Really Mean
Almost every owner asks the same question after a diagnosis, even when they cannot quite say it out loud: how long has my dog got? It is the most human question there is, and you deserve a straight answer rather than a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Living With a Dog in the Pre-clinical Stage: Monitoring and Rechecks
A murmur has been heard, and the plan is to "keep an eye on things". No tablets, no procedure, just an appointment for some point down the line. After coming in worried about your dog's heart, that can feel oddly like...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
When Mitral Valve Disease Becomes Heart Failure (Stage C)
A murmur you have lived alongside for months or years has a way of fading into the background. Your dog has one, you keep half an eye on things, and life carries on much as before. Then the rules change. Your vet says...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Managing Furosemide at Home: Dosing, Dehydration and the Rescue Protocol
When a pet goes into heart failure, furosemide is almost certainly the tablet doing the most visible work. It is the one that clears the fluid off the lungs and lets your pet breathe again, and it is also the one that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
A Low-Sodium Diet for Heart Failure: What to Feed and What to Avoid
Once a pet is in heart failure, with fluid backing up on or around the lungs and a water tablet on the prescription, the bowl stops being a side issue. Salt makes the body hold on to water, and a heart that is already...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Living With a Cat With HCM: Monitoring, Stress and Rechecks
A diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy comes with a steep learning curve, but here is the part to hold onto first: it does not have to mean a fearful life, for you or for your cat. Many cats with HCM live for years...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Living With a DCM Dog: Diet Correction, Exercise and Monitoring
The name dilated cardiomyopathy sounds final, and a "weak heart muscle" is harder to picture than a leaky valve, so a diagnosis can feel as though it has taken matters out of your hands. In practice, day-to-day life...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Heart Tests Explained: X-ray, Echo, ECG, Blood Pressure and proBNP
A murmur, an odd rhythm, or just an older pet whose heart your vet wants to check: any of these tends to lead to the same next step, a test or two. What comes back is a list. A chest x-ray, an echo, an ECG, a blood...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Quality of Life with Heart Failure: Knowing When, and Saying Goodbye with Support
How will I know when it is time? It is the question that sits behind every other worry once a pet is living with heart failure, and most owners are too frightened to say it out loud. You are not being morbid for...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Feline HCM: Prognosis, From Incidental Murmur to Managed Disease
The question behind every other question, the one that rarely gets asked aloud in the consult room, is how long you have and how bad it will get. You deserve a real answer to that, not a single grim figure...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
When a Cat With HCM Goes Into Heart Failure
Heart failure in a cat usually skips the warnings owners brace for. No cough builds over weeks, no visible slow decline. A cat who seemed perfectly fine in the morning is, by the evening, sitting hunched and breathing...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Preventing Clots: Clopidogrel and the FATCAT Evidence
Clopidogrel is a small daily tablet your vet may have started, or suggested, for a cat with heart disease. You have probably been told it is "to thin the blood" or "to prevent a clot". That is the gist of it, but it is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
HCM and Anaesthesia: Why Screening Before a Routine Op Matters
Most cats sail through a neuter, a dental or a lump removal without a hitch, and modern feline anaesthesia is genuinely safe. There is one quiet exception worth understanding, though, because it is both real and largely...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Is It a Heart Cough or an Airway Cough?
A dog has a heart murmur, then starts to cough, and the two facts seem to lock together into one frightening conclusion. The words "heart" and "cough" sit so close in most owners' minds that a single dry cough can ruin...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Dobermans and Sudden Death: Arrhythmias, Monitoring, and What Can Be Done
Of all the heart problems a dog can have, the one that frightens Doberman owners most is the one that arrives with no warning. You have probably heard about it already, from a breeder, a forum, or a vet picking their...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Diet and the Heart: Sodium, Taurine and the Supplements Worth It
"Is there something I should be feeding, or not feeding?" That question turns up almost every time a pet is diagnosed with a heart problem, and it is a good instinct. What goes in the bowl genuinely does matter for a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Screening at-risk breeds for DCM: Holters, echo and why catching it early matters
Dilated cardiomyopathy can sit in a dog's heart for years before anything shows on the outside. Owners of Dobermans, Great Danes, Irish Wolfhounds and the other prone breeds are usually told this, often quite bluntly,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
DCM Prognosis, and Why Catching It Early Changes the Story
How long has my dog got? That is the question almost every owner asks within a minute or two of hearing the words "dilated cardiomyopathy", even when they can barely bring themselves to say it aloud. It is the right...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
When DCM Becomes Heart Failure
Dilated cardiomyopathy can run quietly for a long time. The heart muscle is weakening and the chambers are stretching, yet on the outside your dog looks well: eating, walking, greeting you at the door. Then the balance...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The Heart Failure Medication Toolkit: Diuretics, Pimobendan and the Rest
When a pet tips into congestive heart failure, the prescription often jumps from one or two tablets to what looks like a small pharmacy. That escalation can land hard, and plenty of owners quietly assume more drugs must...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
My Puppy Has Just Been Diagnosed With Hip Dysplasia: What Happens Now
Hip dysplasia is one of the commonest orthopaedic conditions in large breeds, and a diagnosis in a young dog is far more manageable than it sounds in the moment. Most of these dogs go on to live full, happy, active lives. Here is what it means and the calm, practical steps to take next.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Is My Large-Breed Puppy at Risk of Hip Dysplasia? Early Signs and Prevention
A large or giant-breed puppy comes with a fair question attached: how worried should you be about hip dysplasia? Genetics set the baseline, but how you feed, exercise and grow your puppy really shifts the odds. This guide explains who is most at risk, the early signs to watch for between roughly four and twelve...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Conservative Management for a Young Dog With Hip Dysplasia
A diagnosis of hip dysplasia in a young dog does not force a choice of surgery. For many dogs, especially milder cases, a carefully managed non-surgical path is a sensible first approach, and a good number do well on it for years. This guide explains what that path involves, when it suits a growing dog,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Hip Scoring and Buying From a Responsible Breeder: OFA, PennHIP and the BVA/KC Scheme
Hip dysplasia is substantially inherited, so the single most powerful thing you can do for a large-breed puppy happens before you ever bring it home: choosing parents whose hips have been screened. No scheme guarantees perfect hips, but breeding from low-scoring dogs measurably lowers the odds. This guide walks through the three main screening schemes...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
FHO or Total Hip Replacement: How Vets Choose Between Them
Once a young dog has moved past the windows for preventive hip surgery, or has already developed arthritis in the joint, two surgical routes usually remain on the table: total hip replacement and femoral head ostectomy. They sound like two answers to the same problem, but they aim at quite different goals, and this guide...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Hip Dysplasia Surgery by Age: Which Options Are Open at Your Dog’s Stage
For a young large-breed dog with hip dysplasia, the surgical options on offer depend heavily on age. Some of the most useful procedures can only be done in puppyhood, and those doors close early. This guide maps which options fit which stage, so you know what is still on the table.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Addison's, the great pretender: vague signs that crash into a crisis
If your dog has Addison's, or you think they might, and they suddenly collapse, go profoundly weak or wobbly, start vomiting or have diarrhoea, or feel cold and look shocky, treat it as an emergency and get to a vet now. Don't wait to see if it passes.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Cushing's explained: the thirsty, pot-bellied, balding dog
If you've ended up here, it's probably because your older dog has started drinking gallons, seems hungry all the time, wees more than they used to, and has developed a sagging, pot-bellied look with a thinning coat and a lot of panting...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The under-active thyroid in dogs: the over-diagnosed, very-treatable one
If your dog has slowed down, put on weight without eating any more than usual, started seeking out warm spots, and lost coat in a thin, balding pattern that doesn't seem to itch, hypothyroidism is a fair thing to wonder about. It's a real condition, it's common, and here's the genuinely good news up front:…
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Treating hyperthyroidism: the four options, compared honestly
When your cat is diagnosed with an over-active thyroid, you'll quickly notice that whoever you ask seems to favour a different treatment. That's not because anyone's being dishonest, it's because there are genuinely four good options, and the right one depends on your cat...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The over-active thyroid: why your older cat is wasting away despite eating everything
If your older cat is eating like never before and still getting thinner, it's natural to find that frightening. The most likely explanation is one of the most common things we see in senior cats, it's well understood, and it's very treatable.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 7 min read
Drinking gallons, always hungry, or fading? What the classic hormone signs mean
You've noticed something's off. The water bowl empties twice as fast, or your cat is eating like never before and somehow getting bonier, or an older dog has gone slow and round and just isn't quite right. You've typed "why is my dog drinking so much" or "cat losing weight but eating loads" into a search box...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Acromegaly and insulinoma: a signpost (owned by the Diabetes space)
This is a short one. Two conditions get a mention in this Hormone Health home but live properly in the Diabetes space, because both are really about blood sugar and insulin. If your vet has named one of them, or you've come across the word and want a calm sense of what it means, this is your map...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Conn's and the rarer adrenal problems worth a name
Most of this Hormone Health home is about the common conditions: the over-active thyroid cat, the over-diagnosed under-active thyroid dog, the thirsty pot-bellied Cushing's dog, the great-pretender Addison's. But the adrenal glands, the two small organs that sit just in front of the kidneys, can go wrong...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Diabetes insipidus: the water diabetes that is not about sugar
If your pet has just been told they have "diabetes insipidus", the most reassuring thing to know is this: it's not the sugar diabetes you have probably heard of. That one shared word makes it sound alarming, but it's a completely different disease, with a different cause, a different test and a different treatment…
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Living with Addison's: injections, tablets and a genuinely normal life
If your dog has just been diagnosed with Addison's, here's the part that often gets lost in the worry: this is one of the most rewarding chronic conditions there is to manage. Once your dog is stabilised on the right replacement hormones, the prognosis is excellent and life expectancy is essentially normal.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Diagnosing and surviving an Addisonian crisis
If your dog has Addison's, or you suspect they might, and they suddenly collapse, go profoundly weak or wobbly, start vomiting or have diarrhoea, or feel cold and look shocky, treat it as an emergency and get to a vet now.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Cushing's from steroids: the iatrogenic kind owners cause by accident
If your dog has been on steroids for a while, for itchy skin, an immune problem or joint disease, and is now starting to look a bit Cushing's-like, this is the article for you. The medical name is iatrogenic hyperadrenocorticism, which just means Cushing's caused by tr...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Treating Cushing's with trilostane: when to, when not to, and the monitoring
If your dog has just been diagnosed with Cushing's, the next conversation is usually about a tablet called trilostane. It's a well-understood drug that genuinely helps, and most dogs do well on it. But there are two things the single-product manufacturer pages tend to skip...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Diagnosing Cushing's: the testing maze (and the over-testing trap)
If your vet has mentioned Cushing's and then started talking about a morning of blood tests, a urine sample, maybe a scan, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're being indecisive. They're not. Cushing's is one of the few conditions in dogs where there genuinely isn't a single clean blood test that settles it…
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
The thyroid and the skin: coat changes, recurrent infections and the derm overlap
If your dog has been losing coat in a slow, even pattern, or keeps getting skin and ear infections that clear on antibiotics and then come straight back, the thyroid is one of the first things worth ruling in or out. The skin is the system most owners notice first with hypothyroidism, and skin or coat change is the…
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Levothyroxine for life: getting the dose right and what to expect
This is one of the genuinely happy stories in this part of the site. Once your dog has a properly confirmed diagnosis of an under-active thyroid, the treatment is a small daily tablet that's cheap, safe and usually transformative, and most dogs brighten up noticeably over the following weeks...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Getting the thyroid diagnosis right: the tests, and the traps
If your dog has slowed down, put on weight without eating more, and started losing coat in a tidy, symmetrical, non-itchy pattern, hypothyroidism is a fair thing to suspect. It's a real disease, and once it's confirmed it's one of the most satisfying conditions in practice to treat. The catch is the word "confirmed".…
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Living with a treated thyroid cat: tablets, gels, rechecks and the long game
Once your cat's hyperthyroidism is diagnosed and you've settled on a treatment, the day-to-day becomes quite manageable. If you've chosen medication rather than a one-off cure like radioiodine or surgery, this article is about doing that medication well over the years…
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
The kidney catch: why treating the thyroid can unmask kidney disease
If your cat has just been diagnosed with an over-active thyroid, you'll probably have been told that it's common, well understood and very treatable. All of that is true. But one piece often gets left out of the first conversation, and it surprises owners...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Radioiodine: the one-and-done cure most owners aren't offered
Of all the treatments for an over-active thyroid, radioiodine is the one most likely to make an owner say "nobody told me that was an option." It cures the condition outright in the great majority of cats, with a single injection and no anaesthetic, yet plenty of cats are never offered it...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 6 min read
Weight changed but nothing else did: when it's a hormone
You haven't changed the food. The walks are the same. Nobody's sneaking extra treats that you know of. And yet the scales, or the way your pet feels under your hands, say something has shifted. That quiet "I haven't done anything differently" is exactly the line that should make a vet reach for a blood test...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Drinking and weeing far more than usual: measuring it, and what it means
You've noticed the water bowl emptying faster than it used to, or you're refilling it twice a day when once was plenty. Maybe there are puddles where there never used to be, or the litter tray is heavier and you're scooping more. It's unsettling, and it's one of the most common reasons owners get in touch.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
The hormone blood tests, explained (T4, ACTH stim, LDDST, basal cortisol)
Your vet has "run some bloods", or mentioned "a stim test", or said the first result "isn't quite enough on its own". If you're now staring at a form full of acronyms, this page is for you. It walks through the handful of blood tests behind the four common hormone diseases...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
IMHA in Dogs: When the Immune System Attacks the Red Blood Cells
Immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA) is a serious illness in which a dog's own immune system attacks and destroys its red blood cells faster than the body can replace them. The result is severe, sometimes life-threatening anaemia. If you suspect it, treat it as a same-day emergency and ring your vet straight away.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Your Cat Has Tested Positive for FIV or FeLV: What It Really Means
A positive FIV or FeLV result lands hard, and the worst-case picture is usually the first thing it brings to mind. So let us be clear up front: this is the start of a plan, not a reason to give up on your cat. Many cats with these viruses live happy, comfortable lives for years....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
IMHA Recovery: The Long Steroid Taper and Watching for Relapse
Your dog is home and through the immediate danger of an IMHA crisis. The hard part isn't over, though; it has simply changed shape. What comes next is months of medication, a slow taper guided by blood tests, and a watchful eye for relapse. This guide explains what that long haul actually looks like.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Treating IMHA: Immunosuppression, Transfusions and the Critical First Weeks
Treating immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA) means switching off an immune system that is destroying your dog's own red blood cells, while supporting them through the dangerous early days. It usually combines immunosuppressive medicines, clot prevention and, often, blood transfusions. It is intensive and not cheap, but for many dogs it works.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Testing for FIV and FeLV: When to Test, How It Works and Reading the Results
Testing a cat for FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus) and FeLV (feline leukaemia virus) means a small blood test that tells you something important about your cat's health and future. Knowing the result is part of responsible care, but reading it well matters just as much. This guide walks you through when to test, how the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
FeLV: The More Serious Retrovirus, Its Outlook and Protecting Other Cats
Of the two feline retroviruses, FeLV (feline leukaemia virus) is the more serious. It suppresses the immune system and is linked to anaemia and cancer, and many cats with persistent infection die within a few years. Yet with good care some live well for longer, and you can protect your other cats.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Living With an FIV-Positive Cat: Lifespan, Indoor Life and Multi-Cat Homes
A positive FIV result carries a worse reputation than it deserves. Many cats carrying feline immunodeficiency virus live a normal or near-normal lifespan, especially when they are kept indoors, neutered and seen promptly when anything is wrong. With sensible day-to-day care, your cat can stay comfortable and well for years.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
IVDD in Dogs: What It Is and Why Discs Go Wrong
IVDD, intervertebral disc disease, is a common spinal condition in dogs, and the letters alone can be unsettling when a vet first mentions them, especially since a quick search online tends to throw up the frightening end of the spectrum first. So let this be the calm starting point. It comes in several forms ranging...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
IVDD in Dachshunds: Why Your Breed Is at Risk (and What the Genetics Really Say)
"Dachshunds get back problems." Every dachshund owner has heard it, usually delivered with a knowing nod and a remark about their long backs. The real story is more interesting than the folklore, more reassuring, and genuinely more useful for protecting your dog. Intervertebral disc disease is indeed common in dachshunds, but it is not inevitable....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Is This an IVDD Emergency? The Red Flags That Mean Act Now
A dog that has suddenly gone wobbly, started dragging a back leg, or cried out in pain needs an answer fast, not a biology lesson. So here it is, straight away.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
The First Few Hours: A Calm, Step-by-Step Action Plan
When a dog suddenly goes weak or off its legs, the last thing that helps is an essay. What helps is knowing exactly what to do, in order, calmly. So here it is, step by step. Work through it one step at a time; you can read the detail later. The most important thing has...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 5 min read
Neck vs Back IVDD: How Cervical and Thoracolumbar Disc Disease Differ
Picture intervertebral disc disease and most people picture a dog dragging its back legs. That image is real, but it's only half the story. IVDD is not one disease that always happens in one place. A disc can herniate anywhere along the spine, and where it happens, in the neck or in the back, genuinely...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 5 min read
The Early Warning Signs: Spotting a Disc Problem Before It's a Crisis
Most owners meet intervertebral disc disease as a sudden catastrophe: a dog that was fine in the morning is dragging its back legs by lunchtime. But it doesn't always arrive without warning. Quite often there's a quieter phase first, a few days of a dog being subtly "off", in pain or stiff but still walking,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
IVDD in French Bulldogs & Other At-Risk Breeds
Say "dog with a bad back" and most people picture a dachshund, and they're not wrong to. But dachshunds are far from the only breed at raised risk of intervertebral disc disease, and one breed in particular has come up fast on the inside: the French bulldog, whose soaring popularity means more affected dogs every...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
IVDD Surgery vs Conservative Treatment: How to Decide
Surgery, or strict rest? For most owners facing intervertebral disc disease, this is the hardest call they will have to make, and it usually arrives tangled up with fear, cost, and very little time to think. Let me say something reassuring at the outset, because the way this decision is often framed is unfair to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
IVDD Grades 1 to 5: What Your Dog's Grade Actually Means
The grade is the single most important number in this whole condition, and your vet or a neurologist has just handed you one. If "grade 5" was the word in the room, that lands hard, because it sounds like the worst end of a scale. What you actually want to know is plainer than that:...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Seeing a Neurologist: Referral, MRI and What to Expect
A referral to a specialist neurologist can land like a sudden escalation, and it usually arrives with a flurry of questions. What does referral actually mean? What happens on the day? What will it cost? And does agreeing to see a specialist commit you to surgery? This guide answers all of that, walking through the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 6 min read
What IVDD Surgery Actually Involves
Once surgery is on the table for a dog's disc problem, the questions tend to come in a rush. What actually happens in theatre? How long does the hospital stay last, how well does it work, and what could go wrong? The unfamiliar is what makes the decision feel so heavy, so this guide walks...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 7 min read
The Medications Used in IVDD (and the Steroid Question)
When a dog is treated for IVDD, especially without surgery, medication does a lot of the quiet work alongside the rest. Good pain relief is not a luxury here; it keeps your dog comfortable, helps them stay still enough to heal, and makes the long weeks of recovery bearable for you both. This guide explains...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Deep Pain Sensation: The Single Most Important Test
When a dog can't walk after a spinal injury, one piece of information matters more than almost any other for what happens next and for the odds of recovery: whether the dog still has what vets call deep pain sensation. It's the single most important test in the whole situation, the line that separates a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
What IVDD Treatment Costs in the UK
MRI, surgery, weeks of medication, hydrotherapy: intervertebral disc disease can be one of the most expensive things that ever happens to a dog. Far too often, owners only discover the figures at the worst possible moment, mid-crisis, in a referral waiting room, trying to make a huge decision with no sense of the numbers. That...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Slings, Harnesses and Safe Lifting
A dog that cannot walk, or is weak and unsteady on its feet, needs lifting, supporting and moving many times a day, for toilet breaks, position changes and simply getting about. How you do that genuinely matters. Done carelessly, lifting can twist a recovering spine and undo healing, and it can wreck your own back...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
"Is This Normal?" Red Flags to Watch For During Recovery
Recovery from a disc problem turns most owners into close observers of every twitch, every off day, every change. Is that stiffness this morning a setback or just a normal bump? Is the wobble as function returns a good sign or a worrying one? That worry is completely understandable, and this guide is here to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 6 min read
Keeping a Confined Dog Calm and Content
Weeks of strict crate rest are hard on a dog, and hard on you. Once the initial crisis has passed and your dog starts to feel a bit better, a new challenge appears: a bored, frustrated, sometimes whining dog who wants to move and cannot, and an owner worn down by the constant vigilance and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Nursing a Down Dog at Home: The Complete Guide
A dog that cannot walk, whether home after spinal surgery or to be nursed through conservative recovery, suddenly needs help with the most basic things: weeing, staying clean, changing position. That is a daunting amount to take on, and a daunting amount to learn at once. This guide is meant to be the calm, complete...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Preventing Pressure Sores & Urine Scald
A dog that cannot move freely, whether through strict crate rest, recovery from spinal surgery, or longer-term hind-limb disability, faces a quiet problem on the skin that is entirely preventable. Lie in one position for too long, or lie in dampness, and the skin can develop pressure sores and urine scald. Both are painful, both...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
How to Express Your Dog's Bladder, Step by Step
When a dog has lost the ability to wee on its own, perhaps after a spinal injury or during IVDD recovery, helping to empty its bladder by hand, what vets call expressing the bladder, becomes one of the most important parts of its daily care. I know this sounds daunting. Pressing on your dog's belly...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Strict Crate Rest for IVDD, Done Properly (and How to Survive It)
Weeks of strict rest is the centrepiece of conservative treatment for intervertebral disc disease, and it is quite possibly the most daunting thing your vet has ever asked of you. Keeping a dog still for weeks, when every instinct of theirs and yours rebels against it, is genuinely tough. But the encouraging truth is simple:...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 13 min read
Re-teaching Your Dog to Walk
Few moments in a spinal recovery move owners the way the first wobbly, lurching step does after weeks of a dog not walking. Your dog may be beginning to recover genuine movement, or it may be working, in a different way, towards the reflex-driven gait some paralysed dogs develop. Either way, supporting those first steps...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 6 min read
Acupuncture and Laser for IVDD: What the Evidence Actually Says
Once a dog is recovering from a disc problem, the suggestions start to arrive. Someone mentions acupuncture; an article turns up about laser therapy; and the question you actually want answered is simple. Do these things work? It is a fair question, and it tends to draw out two unhelpful answers. The enthusiast promises miracles,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 5 min read
Home Physiotherapy: Safe Exercises by Recovery Phase
There is a great deal you can safely do at home to help a dog recover from a spinal injury, and most of it takes the form of gentle, guided physiotherapy that supports recovery and keeps the body in good condition. The crucial words are "safely" and "guided", because the wrong exercise at the wrong...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Hydrotherapy for IVDD: Does It Help, and When to Start?
Hydrotherapy comes up a lot when a dog is recovering from a spinal injury, and you can see why. The idea of a dog that can barely walk on land moving freely in water is an appealing one, and it is genuinely a useful rehabilitation tool. Owners tend to arrive with two questions, and both...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 6 min read
Rehabilitation After IVDD: The Roadmap
Once a dog has come through the frightening acute phase, the surgery or the first weeks of strict rest, the natural next question arrives: what now? How does a dog that cannot walk, or can barely walk, actually get back to moving? The answer is rehabilitation, and it is the part of the journey that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 7 min read
The Permanently Affected Dog: A Genuinely Good Life Is Still Possible
Once it becomes clear that your dog's disability is permanent, that the paralysis, the incontinence, the loss of normal mobility are not going to fully resolve, a hard and quiet question often surfaces: is it fair to carry on? Are you keeping your dog going for its sake or for your own? It is one...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 7 min read
Adapting Your Home for a Mobility-Impaired Dog
A dog left with lasting mobility problems, whether using a wheelchair, dragging the back legs, or simply weak and wobbly, suddenly finds the home it knows full of small obstacles: the slippery kitchen floor, the step up to the garden, the sofa it used to leap onto. Here is the encouraging news. Adapting your home...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Managing Long-Term Incontinence with Dignity
Lasting bladder or bowel problems after a spinal injury are, for a lot of owners, the part of the road ahead that feels most daunting, practically and emotionally. The worry tends to take one of two shapes: that it means an undignified life for the dog, or that you simply will not be able to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Life on Wheels: Choosing and Using a Dog Wheelchair
A dog that cannot use its back legs can still live a happy, active, genuinely full life. That is the most important thing in this whole article, and it sits right at the top because it changes everything that follows. When a dog loses the use of its hind legs, a particular fear tends to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Quality of Life, and Saying Goodbye
Loving a dog through a serious illness includes, in the end, watching their quality of life clearly, and sometimes facing the hardest decision an owner ever makes. This is a gentle guide to that part of the journey: how to think clearly about your dog's quality of life, how to recognise when the balance has...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
When Surgery Isn't the Right Choice
For some dogs with a serious disc injury, surgery is not the right answer. That sentence is hard to read if you are facing it, because so much of what is written about IVDD treats surgery as the thing a good owner does, and anything else as giving up. That framing is unkind and untrue,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 7 min read
Protecting an At-Risk Dog: Weight, Ramps, Harness, and the Evidence
Dachshunds, French bulldogs and a handful of other breeds carry a built-in tendency to disc problems, and if yours has not had an episode yet, the natural wish is to keep it that way. Trouble is, much of the prevention advice floating around mixes genuinely useful guidance with well-meaning dogma. The "never let a dachshund...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Will It Happen Again? Reducing the Risk of Recurrence
After one IVDD episode, with all the fear and effort it involved, one question tends to loom over the whole recovery: will it happen again? It is a natural worry, and you deserve a straight answer rather than false comfort. So here it is, with the real figures and, just as importantly, what genuinely lowers...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 6 min read
Breeding & the Genetics of IVDD
Nearly everything written about IVDD deals with coping once it has already happened: the emergency, the surgery decision, the weeks of crate rest. This article turns and faces the other direction, toward prevention at its deepest level, which is breeding. Because IVDD in the at-risk breeds is so strongly genetic, the breeding choices made today...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Liver Shunts (PSS): Surgery or Medical Management?
If you are reading this, you have probably just been told that your dog has a liver shunt, and you are trying to work out what on earth to do next. Perhaps your puppy has always been the small one, the slow grower, the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Your Dog's Liver Enzymes Are High: What It Actually Means
It's late, your dog is asleep on the sofa looking completely normal, and you're staring at a blood result with a number highlighted in red or marked with an asterisk. Maybe the vet mentioned it in passing at the end of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Hepatic diets: Royal Canin Hepatic vs Hill's l/d, honestly
Your vet has handed you a bag of prescription food with "Hepatic" or "l/d" on the label, quoted you a price that made you blink, and told you it's for your pet's liver. You've come home, looked at the ingredients, and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Gallbladder Mucocoele: The Senior-Dog Surprise on the Scan
Your older dog went in for an ultrasound, quite possibly for something else entirely, a lump, a routine senior check, a vague off-colour week, and the report has come back with a phrase you have never heard: gallbladder...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Denamarin, SAMe, silybin and milk thistle: what the evidence says
Someone has recommended a liver supplement for your pet. Maybe it was your vet, maybe the pet shop, maybe a well-meaning post in a Facebook group. The name was probably Denamarin, or perhaps just "SAMe" or "milk...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Copper and the Liver: The Dog-Food Copper Debate, Honestly
You have probably arrived here worried, and possibly a little angry. Somewhere in the last few days you have read that the copper in ordinary dog food is damaging dogs' livers, that it has been quietly rising for years,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Chronic Hepatitis in Dogs: The Honest UK Picture
If a vet has just used the phrase "chronic hepatitis", or you have read the words "chronic active hepatitis" on a biopsy report and had to look up what they meant, you are probably somewhere between frightened and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Cholangitis and Triaditis: The Liver-Gut-Pancreas Triangle
You have probably arrived here holding a diagnosis made of words you had never heard before last week. Cholangitis. Cholangiohepatitis. Triaditis. Your cat has been having a run of off-days, maybe some intermittent...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Your Cat Has Stopped Eating: A Liver Emergency (Hepatic Lipidosis)
If your cat has barely touched their food for the last couple of days, and you have landed here at some anxious hour trying to work out whether it can wait until morning, let me give you the honest answer straight away,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
The Bile Acids Test, Explained
So your vet has recommended a "bile acid stimulation test", and you've said yes without entirely understanding what you agreed to. There's a fasting sample, then a meal, then a second sample a couple of hours later, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Which Breeds Get Chronic Hepatitis, and Why It Matters
If you own a Springer Spaniel, a Labrador, a Dobermann, a Cocker or a Bedlington Terrier, and someone has mentioned chronic hepatitis, or you have simply gone looking because a routine blood test flagged a liver value,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Tracking liver values over time (and why the trend beats the number)
Most of the fear in liver disease lives in a single number. The vet says "the ALT is up again" or "the ALP has come down a bit", you catch one figure on a printout, and your whole week hinges on whether it sounds high....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Mucocoele: Operate Now, or Watch and Wait?
Your dog has a gallbladder mucocoele, it was found by chance, and your dog seems completely well. Now you are being asked to decide something that feels impossible: do you put a well dog through major abdominal surgery...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
When to worry again: the liver red flags
When your pet has a liver or gallbladder condition that's been stable for a while, life settles into a rhythm: the medication, the diet, the rechecks. And then, quietly, a new worry moves in behind the calm. How will...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
From a Blood Test to a Biopsy: The Liver Workup, Step by Step
Once a raised liver value refuses to go away, the conversation shifts from "what does this number mean?" to "what's the next test?" And that's a harder place to sit, because each step sounds a little bigger than the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Life After Shunt Surgery: What Recovery Really Looks Like
You have made the decision, or you are close to making it, and your dog is going to have shunt surgery. Now you want the honest version of what comes next. Not the leaflet, not the best-case story, but the realistic...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Jaundice in Cats: What the Yellow Actually Means
You have noticed something yellow. Maybe it was the gums when your cat yawned, or the whites of the eyes catching the light, or a faint tinge to the skin inside the ears. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it, and you...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
High Liver Values in Cats: Why It's a Different Conversation
You've done the sensible thing. Your cat's blood test flagged a liver value, you went looking for answers, and you found a lot of pages, almost all of them written about dogs. So now you're trying to translate advice...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
High Liver Enzymes But My Pet Seems Fine: Do I Panic?
This is one of the most unsettling situations in the whole of pet ownership, and it's oddly specific. Your dog or cat is bright, eating, playing, completely themselves, and yet a blood test has come back with a liver...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Hepatic Encephalopathy: The Staring, Circling and Seizures
Your dog stops mid-room and stares at nothing. He presses his head into the corner and stands there. He circles, or paces, or seems suddenly not to know where he is, or walks into furniture as though he cannot see....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Feeding Tubes for Fatty Liver: The 6-7 Weeks That Save Cats
Your cat has been diagnosed with hepatic lipidosis, fatty liver, and somewhere in the conversation your vet said the words "feeding tube". If your stomach dropped a little at that, you are in good company. Almost every...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Feeding the copper-restricted dog: the practical guide
Your dog has a diagnosis now. The biopsy came back, the word "copper" was in the report, and your vet has told you that diet is going to be part of how you manage this from here on. Which is reassuring in one way,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Cushing's, Thyroid Disease and the Gallbladder Link
Your dog has Cushing's disease, or an underactive thyroid, and now a scan has found a gallbladder mucocoele, and you are wondering whether the two are connected. Or perhaps it is the other way around: a mucocoele turned...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
The Copper-Storage Breeds: Bedlingtons, Labradors and the Rest
If you share your home with a Bedlington Terrier, a Labrador, a Dobermann, a West Highland White or a Dalmatian, and the words "copper" and "liver" have come up together, you want breed-specific facts, not general...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Too Much Copper in Dog Food? What the 2021-2025 Science Shows
If you have already read the headlines and the forum arguments, and what you actually want is the evidence itself, laid out in order, without a slogan attached, this is the piece for you. The question "has the copper in...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
ALT, ALP, AST and GGT in Plain English
You've got the printout in front of you, and it's a wall of three-letter abbreviations with numbers beside them, some flagged, some not. Somewhere in there are the "liver enzymes" your vet mentioned, and you'd quite...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Pet insurance for a new pet: lifetime vs annual, and why timing wins
Of all the admin that lands on you with a new puppy or kitten, insurance is the one that feels the easiest to put off and is actually the most urgent. Not because something is about to go wrong, but because the choice...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Buying safely: Lucy's Law and spotting a bad seller
Of all the decisions you'll make in your pet's first year, where you get them from is the one that sets the most. It quietly shapes their health, their temperament and how the next twelve to fifteen years go, and it's...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
The paperwork decoded: Puppy Contract and Kitten Checklist
Collection day is close, and at some point a folder of paperwork is going to be handed over to you. Or, and this is the part worth watching for, it won't be, and you'll be left wondering whether that's normal. Most new...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Choosing well: breed, rescue, and your real life
There's a particular kind of daydream that comes before a puppy or a kitten. You picture the walks, or the cat curled on your lap while it rains. You've probably got a breed in mind already, or a photo saved on your...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Worming and flea control in the first year
If you have ever stood in a pet shop aisle staring at a wall of wormers and flea spot-ons, feeling faintly grossed out and completely unsure which one is "right", this is the article for you. Parasite control is one of...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
The UK vaccination schedule explained (10-week vs 16-week finish)
If you have found this page, there is a fair chance you are confused, and honestly, that is not your fault. The breeder said one thing, your vet said another, a forum said a third, and somewhere along the way you have...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
The first vet visit and the microchip law
Booking your new puppy or kitten in for its first proper vet visit is one of the best things you can do in the first week, and yet a lot of people put it off, either because they are not sure what happens, or because...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Preparing your home and the first 72 hours
Collection day is one of the most exciting days you will have as a new owner, and if you are anything like most people, it also comes with a low hum of anxiety underneath. You want to get it right. You have probably got...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
FeLV and FIV: should you test your kitten?
If someone has mentioned "cat AIDS" or "feline leukaemia" to you, or you have seen the initials FeLV and FIV on a rescue's paperwork, you might be feeling a jolt of fear that is out of all proportion to what these...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Cat flu: what every kitten owner should know
Very few things throw a new kitten owner more than the first sneeze. One day you have a bright, bouncy kitten, and the next it has runny eyes, a snuffly nose, and that small, wet sneeze that makes your heart sink. Is it...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The puppy blues: it's real, it's common, and it passes
If you have just typed something like "do I still want my puppy" or "I regret getting a kitten" into a search bar, and you feel a bit sick for having done it, please read the next sentence before anything else. What you...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Teething and biting: surviving the land-shark phase
There is a particular moment, usually a few weeks in, when a lot of new owners quietly panic. The adorable puppy has turned into a set of needle-sharp teeth attached to a small body that launches at your hands, your...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Sleep, crates and settling in
The first nights with a new puppy or kitten are, for a lot of people, a genuine shock. The crying starts the moment the lights go off, it does not stop, and you lie there torn between "I should go to them" and "if I go,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Litter training and scratching: setting a kitten up right
Two of the things new kitten owners worry about most, missing the litter tray and shredding the furniture, are actually two of the easiest to get right, once you understand that you are not really training a kitten at...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Introducing your new pet to resident pets and children
The moment a lot of new owners are most nervous about is not the vet visit or the first night. It is the first meeting: carrying a new puppy or kitten through the door while the older dog stares, or the resident cat...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
House-training that actually works
If you are reading this standing over yet another puddle, wondering what you are doing wrong, take a breath. You are almost certainly not failing. House-training is one of those jobs that feels like it should be simple...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
How to socialise before the vaccinations finish
You have almost certainly been given two pieces of advice that seem to flatly contradict each other. One says: keep your puppy off the ground and away from the world until the vaccination course is finished, or you risk...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Titre testing, honestly
Somewhere in the first year, often around the time of the first booster, many owners come across the idea that vaccines are "overdone", that yearly jabs are unnecessary, and that a blood test called a titre test could...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The socialisation checklist: weeks 3 to 14
If you have read that socialisation matters and felt a small wave of panic about doing it "right", this is the article that turns the worry into a plan. Good socialisation is not a race to expose your puppy to as many...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Preventing separation problems from day one
Here is a truth that catches out a lot of loving new owners: the more time you spend glued to your puppy in the first weeks, the harder you can make it for them to cope when you eventually leave. It feels kind to be...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Puppy classes: what good actually looks like
A good puppy class is one of the best things you can do for your dog in the first few months. A bad one can do real harm, teaching your puppy that other dogs are overwhelming, or worse, teaching you methods that damage...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Handling your kitten: the 2 to 9 week window
Most of us think of socialisation as a dog thing: puppy classes, meeting other dogs, walks in the park. It is easy to assume cats simply are what they are, aloof or affectionate by luck of the draw. That is not true....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
When to neuter your dog: the breed and size evidence
Few questions get you more confident, contradictory answers than "when should I neuter my dog?" The rescue said do it before you collect him. The breeder said wait, whatever you do. One vet said six months, another said...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
When to neuter your cat: the four-month myth-buster
Let me start with the sentence that matters most, because it is the one an older leaflet, a well-meaning relative or an out-of-date breeder may have got wrong. For cats, the right time to neuter is by four months of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Growth charts and a healthy weight for young pets
Somewhere in the first few months, almost every new owner asks the same quiet question. Is my puppy the right size? Is my kitten too small, or is that a bit of a belly? You compare them to the littermate photos on the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Indoor or outdoor: making the decision for your cat
Of all the decisions a new cat owner agonises over, this is the one that seems to carry the most guilt in either direction. Let them out and you picture the road. Keep them in and you worry you are caging a creature...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Feeding a puppy or kitten: how much, how often, and switching food
Feeding a new puppy or kitten ought to be the simple bit. Then you stand in the pet-food aisle, or scroll a brand's website, and you are hit with grain-free, ancestral, human-grade, hypoallergenic, cold-pressed,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Body condition scoring: the hands-on check that beats the scales
If a vet has ever run their hands down your pet's sides, pressed gently over the ribs and along the back, and then said something like "he's carrying a bit of condition" or "she's looking lovely and lean", you have...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
What "done" looks like: your pet's lifetime record
You made it. The animal who arrived as a wobbly, sleep-stealing, expensive little disaster is now, more or less, a functioning adult. The vaccinations are done, the sleepless weeks are behind you, and one morning you...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
The transition to adult food and adult care
Somewhere in the second half of the first year, the frantic pace of new-pet life starts to slow. The jabs are done, the toilet training has held, the biting phase is a memory, and your puppy or kitten is beginning to...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Surviving adolescence: when your good puppy "forgets everything"
There is a moment, usually somewhere around six to eight months, when a lot of owners quietly panic. The puppy who sat beautifully at four months, who came running the instant you called, who was basically a small furry...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Spondylosis in Dogs: What That X-Ray Finding Actually Means
Spondylosis usually turns up by accident, on an X-ray taken for something else entirely, and the word alone is enough to set a frightening picture going: a dog's spine slowly fusing into a solid rod. The internet, when you look, rarely helps. So here is the reassuring headline straight away, and the rest of this...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
How Arthritis Is Diagnosed: Understanding the Vet Visit
Most owners notice the same odd thing. The dog who was stiff, slow and reluctant at home walks into the consulting room and turns into a bright-eyed, bouncy version of themselves on the floor. Adrenaline and unfamiliar surroundings mask a remarkable amount of discomfort, so by the time the vet is examining them, your dog...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 18 min read
How to Spot Arthritis in Your Dog: The Signs Most Owners Miss
Ask most people what arthritis looks like in a dog and they'll describe a limping older Labrador struggling up the stairs. That picture is right, but only partly. By the time a dog is obviously limping, the disease has usually been progressing quietly for months or years. The signs you were meant to catch came...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 16 min read
Arthritis in Dogs: Everything You Need to Know
Most owners arrive here for one of two reasons: a dog who's just been diagnosed with arthritis, or a nagging sense that something isn't quite right and a wish to work out what's going on. Either way, you've come to the right place.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 13 min read
Arthritis in Cats: The Invisible Epidemic
There's a very good chance your cat has arthritis, particularly if they're getting on in years. And the odds are that nobody has told you.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 16 min read
Your Dog Has Arthritis. Now What? The First 30 Days
The diagnosis is in. You've come home from the vet clinic with a prescription, a leaflet you'll probably never read again, and a head full of half-remembered advice. Now you're standing in the kitchen, looking at your dog, and you're not sure what to do first.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 19 min read
How Feline Arthritis Is Diagnosed: Why There Is No Single Test
There is no blood test or single scan that diagnoses arthritis in a cat. The diagnosis is a piece of detective work: your story, a careful examination, an X-ray that tells only part of the truth, and sometimes a treatment trial that proves the point. Here is how vets actually reach the diagnosis, and why...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
Protecting Your Young Dog's Joints: What You Can Do Before Arthritis Starts
Almost everything else in this space is written for owners whose dog already has arthritis. This article is different. It's for people at the other end of the story: those with a puppy or a young dog, who have the chance to do something most owners never get to do, which is to act before...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
What to Avoid: Misinformation, Myths and Marketing
Owners of pets with arthritis are a marketing target. I want to say that plainly at the start, because once you see it, you can protect yourself and your pet from a great deal of wasted money and occasional genuine harm.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Recognising Pain in Cats: Even Harder Than Dogs
Recognising pain in dogs is harder than most owners realise, as our article on how dogs hide pain explains. With cats, the difficulty multiplies. Cats are extraordinarily good at concealing discomfort, often to the point where they appear completely normal until an underlying condition has progressed significantly. The signs that do exist are subtler than...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 21 min read
Young Dogs and Arthritis: It's Not Just an Old Dog's Disease
A two-year-old dog comes in with arthritis more often than most owners would ever guess. Maybe yours is three. Maybe just over a year old. And the vet has just used a word you'd filed away for old age.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 17 min read
Causes of Arthritis: Developmental Disease, Injury, and Beyond
"Why has my dog got arthritis?"
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 18 min read
Librela: What You Need to Know
Librela is one of the most discussed veterinary medications of the past few years, and for good reason. When it launched, it represented a genuine breakthrough in canine arthritis pain management, offering a completely new mechanism of action and a different side effect profile from traditional NSAIDs. For many dogs, it has been transformative. For...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 17 min read
CBD and Cannabis for Pet Arthritis: What the Evidence Actually Says
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Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
Arthritis and Kidney Disease: Treating Pain When the Kidneys Are Struggling
Chronic kidney disease and arthritis are the two most common conditions of older cats, and they very often arrive together. That combination is the single hardest balancing act in feline pain management, because the safest painkillers for the joints are the ones the kidneys like least. Here is how vets weigh that trade-off, and what...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 12 min read
Solensia: The Game-Changer for Feline Arthritis
Solensia is the most important development in feline arthritis management in the past two decades. That's a strong statement, and I stand by it. Arthritis affects nine in ten cats over the age of 12, and until recently the options were thin: NSAIDs that came with kidney worries, or, for a lot of patients, nothing...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 20 min read
Managing Your Cat's Arthritis: Medications, Environment, and Diet
Your cat has arthritis, either confirmed on examination or suspected strongly enough that we'll treat the suspicion as good as confirmed. The question now is what to do about it.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 26 min read
Central Sensitisation: When Pain Becomes Its Own Disease
Modern pain medicine has a concept that explains a great deal of what we see in chronic pain patients, yet owners rarely hear it named. It's called central sensitisation, and once you understand it, the way you think about your dog's arthritis shifts.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 17 min read
How Dogs Hide Pain: Why You're Not Failing as an Owner
When an owner finds out their dog has been in pain for months or years before they realised, the response is usually some variation of the same thing. "I should have known. I'm a terrible owner. How did I miss this?"
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 17 min read
Arthritis Pain Relief: The Complete Medication Guide
There are more options for treating arthritis pain in dogs now than at any point in veterinary history. NSAIDs that are safer and better tolerated than ever. Monoclonal antibody therapy that didn't exist five years ago. Adjunct medications that fill gaps the traditional drugs couldn't reach. Multimodal protocols that combine treatments in ways tailored to...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 22 min read
Mobility Aids and Equipment: Harnesses, Slings, Ramps, Grips and Carts
The right piece of kit can transform an arthritic pet's day. A sling gets a stiff dog up the stairs, grips stop the skating on a slippery floor, a good bed actually supports sore joints. This is a practical guide to the mobility aids and equipment worth having, how to choose and fit them, and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Managing a Flare-Up: What to Do on a Bad Day
Even a well-managed arthritic pet will have bad days. A flare-up is a sudden spell of more pain and stiffness, and it is frightening when you do not know what to do, and dangerous if you reach for the wrong thing. Here is how to handle a flare safely at home, what never to give,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
Keeping an Arthritic Cat Active and Engaged
A stiff cat still needs to move, and still needs to be a cat. Gentle, regular activity keeps joints mobile, weight down and minds engaged, as long as it is pitched to what an arthritic body can now do. Here is how to keep an arthritic cat moving and playing without asking for the leaps...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
Weight Management for the Arthritic Cat
Weight is one of the few arthritis levers entirely in your hands, and in cats it is both common and stubborn. Feline weight loss is its own discipline, though: rush it and you risk a dangerous liver complication. Here is how to take the load off an arthritic cat's joints safely.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Home Modifications for Arthritic Cats
For an arthritic cat, your home is their entire world. Unlike a dog who escapes for walks and outings, a cat lives almost exclusively within the four walls of your house. Every jump, every step, every climb, every trip to the litter tray happens inside the space you've created for them. The design of that...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 22 min read
Grooming, Nail Care, and the Details That Matter
Plenty of owners file grooming, nail care and the rest under "nice to have" rather than serious arthritis management. They're wrong. The small details of daily grooming, nail care, paw maintenance and coat condition compound over time, and for an arthritic dog they make a measurable difference to comfort, mobility and quality of life.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 21 min read
Feeding the Arthritic Dog: Diet, Nutrition, and Meal Planning
What goes in your arthritic dog's bowl matters more than you might think. Not just the quantity, which we covered in detail in our weight management article, but the actual composition of the food. The nutrients in their diet are working with their arthritis or against it, every single meal, every single day.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 23 min read
Home Modifications: Room by Room
Your arthritic dog spends most of their life inside your home, not out on walks. They're moving around the kitchen, the hallway, the living room, the garden. They're getting up from beds, climbing on and off furniture, navigating thresholds, crossing the floor to a water bowl. Every one of those movements either helps them or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 23 min read
Weight Management: The Single Most Effective Thing You Control
If I could give only one piece of advice to the owner of an overweight arthritic dog, it would be this: get the weight off, and the rest gets easier.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 25 min read
Exercise and Arthritis: The Complete Guide
Exercise is one of the most powerful things you can do for your arthritic dog. It's also one of the easiest things to get wrong.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 23 min read
Supplements for Arthritis: What the Evidence Actually Says
Walk into any pet shop in the UK and you'll find a wall of joint supplements. Glucosamine. Chondroitin. MSM. Green-lipped mussel. Turmeric. Collagen. CBD. Every one carries a confident label suggesting it will transform your arthritic dog's life. The marketing is sophisticated, the packaging is reassuring, and the prices run from modest to eye-watering.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 21 min read
Beyond Medication: Physiotherapy, Laser and Acupuncture for Cats
Medication is the backbone of feline arthritis care, but it is not the whole story. Physiotherapy, laser, acupuncture and gentle home movement all get asked about. Here is a clear, evidence-weighted look at what actually helps a cat, what the dog playbook gets wrong for cats, and why surgery is rarely the answer.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Patellar Luxation: Understanding the Condition and Its Surgical Options
A small-breed dog who occasionally skips or hops for a step or two and then carries on as if nothing happened is showing you patellar luxation in action. It's one of the most common orthopaedic conditions in dogs, especially small breeds, and while it's often mild, it can also be a significant cause of knee...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
Elbow Dysplasia: Understanding the Condition and Its Surgical Options
Elbow dysplasia is the most common cause of front-leg lameness in young large-breed dogs, and one of the leading developmental causes of elbow arthritis. If your dog has been diagnosed with it, you may already have run into something that confuses many owners: elbow dysplasia isn't one single thing. It's an umbrella term covering several...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
Hip Dysplasia: Understanding the Condition and Its Surgical Options
Hip dysplasia is one of the conditions owners most fear hearing about. Part of that is the name, which is familiar and carries a weight of dread, and part of it is how strongly the condition is tied to large breeds, so that many owners of big dogs worry about it from puppyhood onward. It's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 10 min read
Regenerative Medicine: Stem Cells, PRP, and Beyond
Regenerative medicine for canine arthritis sits in an interesting position. The science is genuinely exciting, the early case reports include some remarkable transformations, and specialist centres are increasingly offering these treatments. The marketing around it, in some cases, is several steps ahead of the actual evidence base.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 20 min read
Surgery: The Decision-Making Framework
Surgery tends to enter the picture in one of a few ways. Your vet has raised it as an option, your insurer has prompted a conversation about referral, or your own reading has led you to it. Whichever route you've taken to this page, there's a common misconception I want to clear up first, because...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 22 min read
Home Physiotherapy: Exercises You Can Do Together
Most articles on home physiotherapy for arthritic dogs end up either too vague to be useful or too technical to be safe. They tell you to "do some gentle stretches" without explaining how, or they describe complex protocols that need professional supervision to perform safely.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 21 min read
Hydrotherapy: The Complete Guide
Hydrotherapy is one of those interventions that genuinely changes outcomes for arthritic dogs. The evidence is good, the mechanism makes sense, and in many dogs the response is dramatic and visible. In the UK it's widely available too, with hundreds of qualified centres operating across the country.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 23 min read
Complementary Therapies: An Evidence-Based Overview
Walk into any arthritis discussion online and you'll find people enthusiastically recommending acupuncture, laser therapy, massage, chiropractic, magnets, ultrasound, and a dozen other complementary approaches. Some of these are recommended by qualified veterinary professionals. Some are recommended by people with no specific training. The evidence behind each modality varies enormously, from genuinely impressive to essentially...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 29 min read
Monitoring Your Cat at Home: Tracking Pain You Can't See
For a cat with arthritis, the home is the clinic. Feline arthritis is invisible at the vet, and the X-ray rarely tells us how much it hurts, so the most valuable data in the whole condition comes from you, watching at home, over time. What follows is a simple, sustainable way to track pain you...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The Cat-Friendly Vet Visit: Getting a Real Picture of a Stoic Patient
A frightened cat on a cold steel table will not limp, will not play, and will not show you the stiffness you see every day at home. The vet examines the cat in front of them, and that cat is not your cat. So this article is about getting a visit that produces a real...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
When Pain Needs a Specialist: The Veterinary Pain Clinic
Some owners managing a pet with arthritis reach a particular crossroads. The medication that worked beautifully for a year isn't quite holding any more. The dose has been increased, a second drug added, and still there are bad days that don't make sense. And then the vet says something that lands with a small jolt:...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 14 min read
Funding Long-Term Arthritis Care: Insurance and Beyond
Most owners put off reading anything about money until a bill forces the issue. I understand why. Money conversations are uncomfortable, the UK pet care funding landscape is genuinely complex, and the decisions you make about funding your dog or cat's chronic disease care will shape what's possible for them across the years ahead.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 27 min read
Monitoring and Knowing When Things Change
The single most useful skill you can develop as the owner of an arthritic dog or cat is the ability to monitor them well at home. It does more than any single medication, it's more reliable than any specialist appointment, and it matters more than any therapy you might consider.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 25 min read
Building Your Dog's Care Team
Ask most owners who looks after their pet's health and the answer is one word: "the vet." That model works fine for routine care, vaccinations and the occasional bout of illness. For a chronic condition like arthritis, though, it's too narrow. Managing arthritis well across the years of your dog's life takes a team of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 23 min read
Getting the Most From Your Vet Appointments
A useful vet appointment and a frustrating one usually don't differ on which vet you see. Twenty-five years in the consulting room have taught me they differ on how well prepared the owner is, and how clearly they can describe what they've actually seen at home.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 23 min read
Living Well and Ageing With an Arthritic Cat: The Long View
An arthritis diagnosis in an older cat is not the beginning of the end. It is the start of a long, manageable chapter that can run for years of good, comfortable life. This article takes the long view for cats: ageing well, keeping life rich as the years pass, and recognising gently and clearly when...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 9 min read
The Quality of Life Conversation
There comes a point with some chronic conditions when a pet can no longer be made meaningfully better, and the question that has been hovering at the edge of things has to be looked at directly: is their life, as it now is, still a good one for them? This article is about that question,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 11 min read
When Things Get Harder
The earlier articles in this stage have been, for the most part, hopeful, and deliberately so. Most pets with arthritis live well for a long time, and the bulk of the journey is the long, manageable middle we've been describing. I stand by all of that.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
Keeping Them Happy: Enrichment When Walks Aren't Enough
When a dog's walks get shorter, or a cat stops doing its acrobatic laps of the house, owners naturally worry about the physical side. Are they getting enough exercise? Are the muscles wasting? Is the weight creeping on? Those are good questions, and the rest of this guide answers them.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
Living Well With Arthritis: The Long Game
When a dog or cat is first diagnosed with arthritis, most owners ask me some version of the same question, even if they don't say it out loud. How long have we got? Underneath it sits a fear that the diagnosis is the beginning of the end, that life from here is a managed decline,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS, 25 years clinical experience · 8 min read
What Arthritis Treatment Actually Costs in the UK
Nobody at the surgery enjoys talking about money, and I think that silence does real harm. Owners make decisions about their pet's care in a fog, afraid to ask what things cost and ashamed when the answer is more than they can manage. So this article does the thing most veterinary websites avoid. It puts...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Anticipatory Grief: Mourning a Pet Who Is Still Here
Crying over a pet who is still here, still eating their dinner, still pleased to see you when you walk through the door, is not a sign you have done anything wrong. You have not given up on them. You are not wishing them away, or being morbid, or loving them any less for letting...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 18 min read
Preparing the Family When a Pet Is Dying
For most children, the death of a pet is their first real encounter with death, which makes it formative whether we plan it or not (Blue Cross, n.d.; VCA Hospitals, n.d.). That is the fact worth holding on to before any of the words come. There is no easy way to tell a child that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
When Age Becomes Illness: Understanding Decline in a Senior Pet
Some worries never get a diagnosis attached to them. No one has said anything frightening at the vet's. There is no scan, no result, no word like "terminal". There is just a creeping sense, building over weeks or months, that the dog who used to meet you at the door now lifts his head from...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
The Questions to Ask Your Vet About a Poor Prognosis
A scene plays out in the consult room more often than you would think. I say the word, the grave one, the one that changes the shape of the next few weeks, and something behind the owner's eyes simply closes. They nod. They say "right," or "okay." And every question they meant to ask, the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 19 min read
Your Pet Has a Terminal Diagnosis: What Happens Now
Certain words change the air in a consulting room. "I'm so sorry." "There's nothing more we can do." "It's terminal." "The outlook is poor." Most owners walk out having held on to only half of what came after, having nodded at a plan they can no longer recall, the whole conversation gone quiet around a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Measuring Quality of Life: The HHHHHMM Scale, and How to Use It
The feeling moves too much to look at, and that is the cruellest part of watching a pet you love decline. Some mornings you are almost sure. By the afternoon, when they lift their head for you or finish their dinner, you are sure of the opposite. The question of whether their life is still...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
How Will I Know When It Is Time?
Owners carry this question to me more than any other, usually in a near-whisper, often with a hand resting on a greying head. "How will I know when it is time?" Underneath it sit two fears at once: that I will leave it too late and let them suffer, and that I will act too...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 18 min read
When the Family or the Vet Sees It Differently
Most of these pages are written for one frightened owner standing over a beloved animal. This one is different. Here you are that owner, but you are standing inside a frightened, grieving, divided family, and very often feeling alone in there too. Your husband thinks it is time and you are not ready. Your wife...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 19 min read
The Guilt Is Normal: Making Peace With the Decision
Guilt is one of the most common companions of this decision there is. If you are lying awake landing, every time, on the certainty that you failed them, two things are worth knowing before we go any further. You are not the first owner to lie there like this. And you have not failed them....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Too Soon, or Too Late? Living With the Timing
Two fears tend to keep owners awake at this stage, and they pull in opposite directions. One says: I cannot possibly do this yet, he still wags his tail when I come in, who am I to take that away. An hour later the other arrives: have I already left it too long, is he...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
More Good Days Than Bad: Tracking the Trend, Not the Day
Reading your pet one day at a time wears you down in a way few people warn you about. This morning he ate his breakfast, lifted his head when you came in, managed the garden, and the relief floods you, along with a guilty little voice asking how you could ever have doubted him. Then...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 19 min read
Pet Hospice: Comfort Care at Home in the Final Chapter
A decision has been made, by you or by the disease, and the aim is no longer to fix this. The aim now is to give your pet the best of whatever time is left, at home, where they are loved. A quieter worry usually arrives once the house has gone still: can I actually...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 18 min read
Giving Medication and Managing Comfort at Home
Seven in the morning, no proper sleep in days, a tablet in one hand and in the other a cat who has already worked out what you are up to. Or a dog who used to inhale anything you offered and now turns his head from the cheese with the pill tucked inside. The vet's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Making Memories: A Good Last Week
A particular pressure tends to arrive once the first shock of a hard prognosis has settled. The appointments thin out, and your pet is still here, still reasonably comfortable, dozing in their usual spot. And then a thought creeps in that can feel almost worse than the diagnosis itself: I should be doing something. There's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
Keeping a Frail Pet Clean, Comfortable and Mobile
Most of what you are doing for your pet right now will not happen in a consult room. It happens on the kitchen floor at six in the morning, with a towel and a damp cloth and a dog who can no longer stand to be cleaned. It happens lifting a cat onto the windowsill...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 19 min read
Appetite, Hydration and the Final Weeks: What to Expect
"He won't eat." Of all the sentences I hear in hospice care, that one comes up more than almost any other, and it is rarely said calmly. It is said over an untouched bowl, sometimes at two in the morning, sometimes with a syringe in one hand and a favourite food going cold in the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 20 min read
Spotting Pain in a Pet Who Hides It
One question tends to surface in the quiet of the final chapter, often at night, once the diagnosis has settled and the busy part is over. You watch your pet asleep in their usual spot, and you wonder: is he in pain, and I just can't see it? It is one of the hardest questions...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
After They Have Gone: Cremation, Burial and the Options (UK)
One question tends to arrive at the worst possible moment, and it catches almost everyone off guard. You have just held your pet through the end, the room is still, and someone, gently and through no fault of their own, asks: "And had you thought about whether you'd like a burial or a cremation?" Often...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
What Actually Happens When a Pet Is Put to Sleep
Once the deciding is done, or very nearly done, a different fear tends to move in to take its place: not knowing what the day itself will be like. Owners ask me about it in a lowered voice, almost apologetically, as though wanting to know is somehow ghoulish. It is the opposite. The single thing...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
When There Was No Time to Prepare: The Emergency Decision
Some goodbyes give you weeks. This one gave you minutes. One moment a normal evening, the next a crisis you did not see coming, and a vet you had perhaps never met asking you to make the largest decision of your life in the time most of us take to choose what to have for...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 18 min read
Paw Prints, Fur and Keepsakes: Deciding in the Moment
A lot of owners turn the same small thought over in the days before they say goodbye, and almost none of them say it out loud. It runs something like: I think I might want to keep something. A print of her paw. A little of his fur. And then, often in the very same...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Should Children Be There When a Pet Is Put to Sleep?
It is one of the hardest small decisions inside a very large one. You are at, or close to, the point of letting a much loved pet go, and now a second question sits just behind the first: should your child be in the room when it happens? Perhaps your eight-year-old has asked to be...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Should I Be There at the End?
The hardest decision a pet owner ever faces is one you have made, or very nearly made. You thought that was the whole of it. And then, somewhere in the quiet of the night before, a second question crept in that you did not expect and cannot now put down: do I have to be...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
At Home or at the Clinic? Choosing Where to Say Goodbye
The hardest decision an owner ever faces is made, or very nearly made, and just when you thought the deciding was done, one more choice is waiting. Where. At home, in their own bed or a sunny patch of the garden, or at the practice where you have taken them all their life. The most...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
Is It Normal to Grieve This Much? Pet Loss Is Real Grief
People come to me weeks after a pet has died and half-apologise before they have finished the sentence, asking some version of the same question: is it normal to feel this much, this hard, for an animal? They expected sadness. They did not expect to be ambushed in the supermarket, or unable to sleep, or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Helping Children After Losing a Pet
For many children, a pet is the first death they ever meet, and you are now the person who has to walk them through it while your own heart is in pieces. It shows up in all sorts of ways. A seven-year-old keeps asking when the cat is coming home. A toddler starts wetting the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Do Other Pets Grieve? Helping the Companion Left Behind
There is a second animal in the house, and they have gone quiet. Maybe they are off their food, sleeping in odd places, or padding from room to room and pausing at a door as if waiting for someone. Maybe they have curled up small and will not be coaxed out, or have turned into...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 18 min read
The First Days: The Empty Bowl and the Quiet House
The first morning is usually the one that undoes people. Not the appointment, not the long drive home with an empty collar in your pocket, but the ordinary morning after, when your body wakes into a routine that no longer has anything to do. Your hand reaches for the lead before your mind catches up....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Pet Loss Support: Where to Turn When Grief Is Overwhelming
One thing comes first on this page, on purpose. If you are reading this in the small hours and a thought has crept in that you cannot go on, or that you might harm yourself, please stop here and ring the Samaritans on 116 123. It is free, from any phone, at any time, day...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
Ways to Honour and Remember Your Pet
Once the first shock has eased and the house has gone quiet, many owners feel a small, insistent pull to do something. To mark that this animal was here. That they mattered. And then, almost in the same breath, a doubt arrives: is it silly to make a fuss over a dog, a cat, a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
Are We Ready for Another Pet?
This question usually arrives carrying two opposite weights at once. Some owners catch themselves, weeks or months after losing a dog or cat, glancing at a rescue page, and the wanting is followed straight away by a hot wave of shame, as though they had been caught betraying someone. Others sit on the far side...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 21 min read
Grief Has No Timetable: Waves, Triggers and Anniversaries
It is rarely the funeral that undoes people. It is the supermarket. You are halfway down an aisle you have walked a hundred times, thinking about nothing in particular, and there is the food you used to buy, or a lead on a clearance shelf, or just a dog the same colour as yours rounding...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 21 min read
"It Was Just a Pet": Grief That Others Do Not Understand
Someone has said it to you. Maybe out loud, maybe with a look, maybe in the cheerful way a colleague asked whether you would be getting another one. "It was just a dog." "It was only a cat." And it has done something quietly cruel: it has made you doubt your own grief. You came...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 19 min read
When is a dog "senior"? Ageing by breed and size
There is no birthday for it. A grey hair or two appears on the muzzle that you are fairly sure were not there last summer. A pause arrives at the bottom of the stairs that did not used to happen. The lie-ins get longer, the greeting at the door a touch slower, and the question...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
When is a cat "senior"? The mature, senior and super-senior years
With cats it tends to creep up on you. There is no single moment, just a slow accumulation of small things. A few white hairs on the chin that you are fairly sure were black last year. The windowsill she now reaches by way of the chair, when she used to clear it in one...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Setting a senior baseline: the numbers and notes worth having now
One quiet afternoon you notice the grey has crept further up the muzzle than you remembered. Your dog is asleep in the low light, and the years have shown up all at once. Or your cat takes the long way down off the bed instead of her old flying leap, and lands a little softer...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
The first signs your pet is getting older (normal vs not)
A few grey hairs around the muzzle that you are fairly sure were not there last year. A slower greeting at the door. A cat who used to pour herself onto the top of the wardrobe and now takes it in two careful stages, or skips it altogether. Notice enough of these and you reach...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
The senior wellness check: what your vet should do twice a year
When an older dog or cat seems perfectly well, the yearly check-up and booster can feel like plenty, and a second visit can look like fuss, or like a practice drumming up business. I want to argue the opposite, because the twice-yearly senior check is one of the genuinely high-value things you can do for...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 19 min read
Weight and body condition in the senior years
One number quietly tells you the truth about your older pet, and most of us only glance at it once a year at the vet's. Their weight. The figure itself isn't magic. What matters is everything it sits on top of: the joints that have to carry it, the muscle that is or isn't still...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Dental care for senior pets: why "too old for a dental" is a myth
Somewhere in an older pet's life, a quiet decision often gets made on their behalf. The vet mentions that the teeth need attention, perhaps a dental under anaesthetic, and a single thought arrives almost before they have finished the sentence: but he's old now. It feels like the responsible call, the loving one even. Why...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Senior blood tests explained: bloods, urine, blood pressure, SDMA, T4
"Senior bloods", your vet says, maybe a urine test and a blood-pressure check alongside, and you go home with a sheet of numbers you cannot quite read and a knot in your stomach. Is something wrong? Why now, when she seems perfectly well? Take the reassuring part first. In a well older pet, these tests...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Muscle loss in older pets (sarcopenia): spotting it and slowing it
Most owners feel it before they ever see it. You lift your old cat and she seems to have hollowed out under the fur, lighter than her cuddly outline suggests. Or you run a hand down your dog's back and the muscle over his hips, the solid haunch that used to power him up the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Keeping an older pet moving: exercise, joints and staying strong
Somewhere in the middle of a pet's life, a kind instinct quietly takes over. The walks get a little shorter, the jumps a little more careful, and without quite deciding to, you begin to wrap them in cotton wool. Fewer stairs. A gentler game. Best not tire her out. It comes from love, and from...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Feeding an older pet: what changes, and what "senior diet" really means
The pet aisle has a particular bag of food: greying dog or softly lit cat on the front, the word "senior" in friendly letters, doing a lot of quiet emotional work. Your own pet's muzzle has frosted a little, and reaching for it feels like the responsible thing. I understand the pull, and I do...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Weight loss in an older pet: why it is never just old age
The thought usually creeps in sideways. You rest a hand on your dog's back and there's more spine under your palm than there used to be, or you lift your cat and she weighs almost nothing in your arms. The food bowl is emptying, more or less, so the comforting explanation suggests itself: she's just...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 17 min read
Is it pain, age, or disease? Reading the slowdown in an older pet
The slowdown usually arrives quietly. The walk that used to take in the whole park becomes a slow shuffle to the corner and back. He takes the stairs one careful step at a time now, or waits at the bottom for a lift. She sleeps through things she used to come running for. And at...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
Lumps, bumps and the cancer conversation in senior pets
New lumps tend to turn up during an ordinary moment. Your hand is moving through your dog's coat on the sofa, or you're rubbing an old cat's chin the way you have a thousand times, and your fingers stop on something that wasn't there before. A small, soft swelling. A firmer pea under the skin....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Hearing and sight loss in older pets: helping fading senses
You call her in from the garden and she does not turn round. You ring the doorbell yourself, almost as a test, and he sleeps through it the way he never used to. He pauses at the top of the stairs he used to fly down, or plants a paw squarely in the water bowl...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
Is my dog losing his mind? First signs of canine cognitive dysfunction
It is usually something small and strange that sends an owner looking. A dog standing in the corner of a room he has lived in for a decade, facing the wall, as if he cannot quite work out how he got there. Or he walks up to the hinge side of a door and waits...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
The treatment tug-of-war: when managing one condition affects another
By the senior years, a lot of pets are running more than one problem at once. You are managing the sore joints and the kidneys and, since the spring, the heart as well. There is a tablet at breakfast and two at teatime and a syrup that has to go down somehow. And then your...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
Juggling medications for a senior pet: the safe-polypharmacy guide
Somewhere in the senior years, the cupboard quietly becomes a small pharmacy. A tablet for the joints, a capsule for the kidneys, something for the heart that has to be split, a sachet stirred into food, drops, and a supplement a friend swore by. Some go with food, some on an empty stomach, some morning...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
When your old pet has several things wrong at once: the whole-pet view
There is a particular kind of tired that comes with an old animal. You stand at the kitchen counter with three or four bottles in front of you, a folded printout from the last visit, and a feeling you cannot quite name. One tablet is for the stiff back legs. One is for the kidneys....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
The senior cat with kidney disease and an overactive thyroid
Two diagnoses for one small, ageing cat is a surprisingly ordinary place to end up. Perhaps the vet found an overactive thyroid first, started treating it, and a few weeks later the kidney numbers had crept the wrong way. Perhaps it ran the other way round. Either way you may now be holding a tablet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Treatments and supplements for an ageing mind: help vs hype
Search "brain support" for an old dog or cat and you will find chews, "senior cognitive" diets, "neuro" capsules and confident promises, every one of them carrying a happy grey-muzzled pet on the packet. There is no easy way to tell the real thing from the hopeful marketing, and that is usually where an owner...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Living with canine cognitive dysfunction: a day-and-night plan
An old dog who paces a slow circle in the small hours, stares at the hinge side of a door he has walked through ten thousand times, or whimpers at nothing you can see, is showing you one of the hardest parts of growing old. You let him out, you check his water, you sit...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
Incontinence and toileting accidents: dignity and practical help
A wet patch on the bed, a damp corner of the rug, a puddle by the back door where they used to scratch to be let out. It is one of the commonest things owners quietly worry about in an old pet, and it usually arrives with a flush of embarrassment, then a twist of...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 15 min read
Making your home work for an older pet: ramps, grip, warmth, access
The home your pet has lived in for years was, without anyone deciding it, built for a young animal. The leap onto the sofa, the dash down the stairs, the high-sided litter tray in the corner of the bathroom, the kitchen floor polished to a shine: all of it was easy once, and you stopped...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Feline cognitive dysfunction: the old cat who yowls and forgets
It usually starts in the small hours. A long, flat, oddly toneless yowl from the bottom of the stairs at three in the morning, from a cat who has lived with you for fifteen years and never once needed to announce herself like this. You go down. She is standing in a room she has...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
The 3am pet: managing night-waking and sundowning
Of all the things that go wrong with an ageing pet's mind, the broken night is the one owners find hardest. When researchers asked owners of dogs with an ageing mind what wore them down most, the disrupted nights came out at the top of the list, ahead of every other behaviour. Maybe your old...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 16 min read
You are not a bad owner: caring for the carer of a senior pet
You have been up three times in the night: once to help her find her way back from the corner she got stuck in, once because she was pacing and panting, once to change bedding. And somewhere in the dark, a thought arrives that frightens you more than the tiredness does. Just for a second,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Tracking quality of life: good days, bad days and the bigger picture
Most evenings now, a quiet question arrives. Your old dog is asleep by the radiator, or your cat has finally settled after circling the bed for too long, and you find yourself asking: was that a good day? You go to answer it, and you cannot, quite. There was the lovely half-hour in the garden...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Knowing the road ahead: a gentle guide to what comes next
Once you know, deep down, that your dog or your cat is in the last chapter of a long life, a particular kind of fear tends to settle in. It is not the sharp fear of an emergency. It is quieter and more constant: the fear of the unknown road ahead. What is going to...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Making the most of the time you have left together
There comes a point with an old dog or cat when the question is no longer whether they are getting on in years, but how to make the time you still have a good one. It is a different sort of question from the ones the vet usually answers. It has nothing to do with...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Anticipatory grief: mourning a pet who is still here
There is a particular kind of crying that happens with an old dog or an old cat still warm beside you. They are right there, breathing softly against your leg, purring under your hand, and the tears come anyway, because some part of you has already started saying goodbye.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Worming: How Often Does Your Pet Really Need It?
Monthly? Every three months? Twice a year? If you've been given three different answers to how often you should worm your pet, you're not imagining it, and it isn't because anyone is trying to mislead you. It's because...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
The UK Dog and Cat Vaccination Schedule Explained
Let's start with the two honest facts that this whole subject sits on, because most of the confusion comes from people telling you only one of them.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Titre Testing: When It Makes Sense and What It Can't Tell You
If you've been reading around vaccination, you've probably met two loud voices. One says the booster is due every year, forever, no discussion. The other, often from a holistic corner of the internet, says a titre test...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
The Annual Health Check: What Your Vet Actually Looks For
Most people book the yearly appointment and think of it as "the booster". You come in, your pet gets a jab, you pay, you leave, and somewhere in the back of your mind is a quiet suspicion that you have just paid quite a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Microchipping: The Law for Dogs and Cats in the UK
If you've just got a puppy or kitten, or you've heard that cats now legally need chipping and you're not sure whether that includes yours, this is the piece that gives you a plain answer. Microchipping law in the UK is...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Lungworm in the UK: Risk by Region
If you've seen the advert, the one with the emotive music and the red-splattered map of Britain, or a "lungworm killed my dog" post shared through your local dog-walking group, you're probably somewhere between worried...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Flea and Worm Treatments and the Environment
If you've read a headline about flea treatments turning up in rivers, or seen the research about songbird nests, and felt a quiet pang of guilt, you're not alone, and you're not being silly. You love your pet and you'd...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Does My Pet Actually Need Monthly Flea Treatment?
If you have ever stood in front of the flea aisle, or opened yet another reminder telling you a monthly treatment is due, and quietly wondered whether your pet genuinely needs all of this, you are asking a fair and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Do Dogs Really Need a Booster Every Year?
If you're reading this, a booster reminder has probably just landed and a small, cynical voice has asked whether the whole thing is a money-spinner. It's a fair question, and you're not wrong to ask it. So here's the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Choosing Pet Insurance: A How-to-Choose Framework
If you've ever tried to buy pet insurance, you'll know the feeling. Dozens of policies, a wall of jargon, premiums that range wildly for what looks like the same thing, and a nagging worry that you'll either pay over...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Building Your Pet's Prevention Calendar
Preventive care has a quiet flaw: it's not one thing you do, it's a dozen small things you have to remember, spread unevenly across the year. The booster reminder that arrives while you're on holiday. The worming tablet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Why 'Healthy' Pets Still Need a Yearly Check
Let me say the quiet part out loud, because I know a lot of you are thinking it. Your pet is well. It eats, it plays, it sleeps in the sun, it drives you slightly mad in all the usual ways. So why should you pay to be...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Weight and Body Condition: The Prevention That Matters Most
If you could do only one thing to keep your pet healthy for longer, it wouldn't be a supplement, a special diet, or a particular vaccine. It would be keeping them at a lean, healthy weight. That's not a slogan, it's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Are Vet Wellness Plans Worth It? An Honest Breakdown
At some point, usually at the desk after an appointment, someone at your vet practice will offer you a monthly plan. A Healthy Pet Club, a Pet Health Club, a wellness plan, the names vary but the pitch is the same: pay...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Vaccine Reactions and the Over-Vaccination Debate
Your pet had a jab, and by the evening they were a bit quiet, a bit off their food, maybe sore where the needle went in. It's unsettling, and it's easy to end up down a rabbit hole where everything from a stiff leg to a...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Ticks, Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease
Finding a tick on your dog or cat, a small dark lump that turns out to have legs, is one of those moments that makes your skin crawl and your mind jump straight to Lyme disease. So let's take the panic out of it and put...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Suspected Poisoning: What to Do and Who to Call
If you're reading this because you think your pet has just eaten or touched something it shouldn't have, don't spend long here. The single most important thing is to phone your vet or a poisons line now, before you do...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 6 min read
When Once a Year Becomes Twice: Health Checks for Older Pets
There is a moment most owners notice but few act on. The muzzle greys a little. The leap onto the bed becomes a scramble, or stops. The cat sleeps a bit more, plays a bit less, and settles on the lower shelf instead of...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Roundworm and Your Family: Why Some Worming Is Non-Negotiable
Most of this section of Staying Well is about giving you permission to do less: to question the monthly-everything default, to match treatment to your actual pet, to stop dosing a low-risk animal on autopilot. That's...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Registering With a Vet and Getting the Most From Appointments
Registering your pet with a vet is one of those jobs that's easy to leave until you need one, which is exactly the wrong time to do it. A pet that's already registered, with a practice you've chosen thoughtfully, means...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
The First-Year Roadmap for Puppies and Kittens
Bringing home a puppy or a kitten is joyful and, if you are anything like most new owners, quietly overwhelming. Alongside the delight there is a long, jumbled list of things you have been told you must do, jabs and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
POM-V, NFA-VPS, AVM-GSL: Pet Medicine Categories Decoded
If you've ever stood in the waiting room holding a flea treatment your vet handed over, then spotted what looks like the same sort of thing for half the price online, you've probably felt a flash of irritation. Why does...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Flea and Worm Subscription Boxes: Convenient, or Over-Treating?
A treatment turns up through your letterbox every month, already the right size for your pet, and you never have to remember, queue, or think about it again. For a lot of busy owners, a flea and worm subscription box is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Neutering: Timing and the Honest Trade-Offs
Few questions produce more confident, contradictory advice than "should I neuter, and when?" The rescue wanted it done before you collected them. The breeder said wait, whatever you do. One vet said six months, another...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Kennel Cough and Leptospirosis: The Annual Ones
If you've read that the core dog vaccines only need giving every three years, a very reasonable question follows: so why does my vet still want a jab every year? You're not being upsold. The answer is that a couple of...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Indoor-Only Cats: Do They Need Flea and Worm Treatment?
If your cat has never set a paw outside, and you're being told she still needs monthly flea and worm treatment, your scepticism is entirely reasonable. It's one of the most sensible questions a cat owner can ask, and,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Everyday Poisons: A Quick Reference for Dog and Cat Owners
Most pet poisonings don't involve anything exotic. They involve ordinary things, in ordinary homes, that owners simply didn't know were dangerous: a dropped square of chocolate, a sugar-free chewing gum, a bunch of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Preventing Dental Disease at Home
If you lifted your dog's lip or peered into your cat's mouth right now, there's a fair chance you'd find something you'd rather not: a rim of yellow-brown tartar along the back teeth, gums that are a little redder than...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Cat Vaccinations: What Your Cat Actually Needs
Cat vaccination gets far less airtime than dog vaccination, which is a shame, because cat owners are left with two very common and very reasonable questions: does my indoor cat really need anything, and if she does go...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
The At-Home Nose-to-Tail Check Between Vet Visits
Your vet sees your pet for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes once or twice a year. You see them every single day. That simple arithmetic is the whole case for the at-home check: you are the person best placed to notice the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Dental chews, diets and water additives: what works and what's marketing
Stand in the dental aisle of any big pet shop and you're looking at a wall of promises. "Clinically proven." "Reduces tartar by 80%." "Vet recommended." "Cleans as they chew." There are chews shaped like toothbrushes,...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 14 min read
Tooth resorption in cats: the painful problem you can't prevent
The vet turned the screen towards you, pointed at a tooth that looked, to your eye, completely normal, and said a word you'd probably never heard before: resorption. Then came the part that made your stomach drop. She...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Is my senior dog or cat too old for a dental?
"She's fourteen. Surely she's too old to go under anaesthetic?"
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Feline chronic gingivostomatitis (stomatitis): when the whole mouth is inflamed
She's sitting by her bowl again, staring at the food she wants and can't face. Maybe she runs at it, takes one mouthful, then cries out and backs away. Maybe she's pawing at her cheek, or drooling ropes of saliva, or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Does pet insurance cover dental? Accident vs illness, decoded
You've just had the news at the practice desk. The dental went well, a few teeth came out, your dog is groggy but comfortable, and the bill is a few hundred pounds. You hand over your insurance details, quietly relieved...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
How to check your pet's mouth at home
You've decided to look. Maybe the breath has been getting worse, or you read that most dogs and cats have some gum disease by middle age and thought, right, I'll actually check tonight. Then you lifted the lip an inch,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Signs your dog or cat has dental disease, and why cats hide it
You caught a whiff of something when she yawned. Or you noticed she's started chewing on one side, or a single piece of kibble skitters out of the bowl and she leaves it where it lands. Maybe there's a smear of drool on...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Why dental x-rays matter: the disease you can't see
You booked her in for a clean. Then the estimate came back, and there was a line on it for dental x-rays, and it pushed the price up more than you expected. A fair question forms at that point: why does she need x-rays...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Dental disease grades explained: what grade 2, 3 and 4 mean
You were probably standing in the consult room when it happened. The vet had a look in your dog's or cat's mouth, said something like "she's a grade 3", handed you a leaflet about a dental, and moved on to the next...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Is anaesthesia safe for my pet? The real numbers
If you're reading this the night before a dental, or lying awake after your vet first said the word "anaesthetic", I want to say the most important thing first. Being frightened of putting your dog or cat under is not...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Anaesthesia-free teeth cleaning: why UK vets (and the RCVS) say no
Somewhere between the groomer's price list and a Facebook advert, you've probably seen it: "anaesthesia-free dental", "conscious teeth cleaning", "no sedation needed". Your pet stays awake, someone scrapes the visible...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
What actually happens during a dental (it's a lot more than a clean)
It's just a clean, right? That's how most people picture it when they book their dog or cat in for "a dental". A quick scrub, the teeth come out shinier, she's home by teatime. The word "clean" does a lot of quiet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
The extraction phone call: why teeth come out
Your phone rings, and it's the practice. Your heart lifts for a second, because you've been waiting all morning, and then the vet says the sentence you weren't ready for. "She's doing really well under the anaesthetic....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Stomatitis "cures" online (Mutian/Mutoral): what the evidence says
It usually happens late at night. Your cat has stomatitis, you have read everything, the vet has said the word "extraction", and you cannot quite make peace with it. So you find the Facebook group, and there, in the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Do raw bones clean teeth? The honest answer
If you feed raw, you have almost certainly been told that bones are nature's toothbrush. It is one of the most repeated lines in raw feeding, and I understand why it sticks: it makes intuitive sense, it fits the idea of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Pre-anaesthetic bloods: what they check and why
You've booked the dental, steadied yourself for the anaesthetic, and then the receptionist adds a line to the estimate: pre-anaesthetic blood tests, another chunk of money on top of a bill that already made you wince....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Can bad teeth really cause heart or kidney disease? The honest evidence
Somewhere between booking the dental and the night before, a lot of owners end up down the same rabbit hole. You search your pet's mouth, and up comes a headline: "Bad teeth can cause heart disease." Then another: "Gum...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Living with stomatitis: managing pain, food and the SDAI diary
By now you know the word better than you ever wanted to. Stomatitis. Maybe she's a few weeks past her extractions and you're watching every mouthful, willing her to eat. Maybe she's on medication and having a run of...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Sore gums in a young cat: juvenile gingivitis and early FCGS
You lifted your kitten's lip, maybe to check a wobbly baby tooth or because her breath had turned, and the gum line stopped you. A bright, angry red rim running along the teeth, puffy in places, perhaps a smear of blood...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Eating after extractions: better, not worse
She's home. The anaesthetic hasn't fully lifted, so she's a bit wobbly and a bit vacant, and when she yawns you can see the dark line of dissolvable stitches where teeth used to be. The discharge notes say "soft food...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Dental day: dropping her off and picking her up
It's the night before, the food bowl is going up, and she's looking at you as if you've lost your mind. Tomorrow morning you'll hand her over at reception, drive home to a quiet house, and spend the day glancing at your...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
What a dental costs in the UK (and why quotes vary)
You asked for a rough idea of what a dental would cost, and the estimate came back at something like £300 to over £1,000. Maybe you rang round two or three practices and got numbers that didn't seem to describe the same...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 14 min read
Dangerous chews: antlers, bones and the slab fracture
You're standing in the pet shop, holding an antler. It's marketed as the sensible choice: natural, long-lasting, no additives, keeps him busy for hours. The packet practically pats you on the back for buying it....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Crowded mouths: small and flat-faced breeds
If you own a Yorkie, a Pug, a Chihuahua or a Persian, you may already have noticed it: the teeth look packed in. They sit tight against one another, some are turned at an angle, one or two overlap like a slightly...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Brushing a dog's teeth (and actually keeping it up)
You've just picked your dog up from a dental. The mouth that smelled like a drain last week is clean and pink, she's brighter than she's been in months, and the vet has said the thing every vet says at discharge: "the...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Brushing a cat's teeth (yes, really)
Let me guess. Your vet mentioned brushing your cat's teeth, you nodded politely, and the whole way home you were thinking one thing: have they actually met my cat? The mental image is a scene of pure chaos. A toothbrush...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Bad breath: when it's more than "doggy breath"
You leaned in for a cuddle, she yawned in your face, and you recoiled. Or the smell reached you from the other end of the sofa and you found yourself typing "why does my dog's breath smell" into your phone, already...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Bladder Stones in Cats and Dogs: The Two Main Types, and Why the Difference Is Everything
Bladder stones nearly always raise the same first question: does this mean surgery? It's a fair worry, and the honest answer is that it depends almost entirely on one thing, the type of stone. That single fact runs...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
"Is It a UTI?" Why Your Cat Probably Hasn't Got One (and Your Dog Might)
Frequent dashes to the litter tray, a spot of blood, and one word lands in your head straight away: "UTI". It's the obvious guess. It's what we get as humans, it's what the search box suggests, and it's what a lot of...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Is This an Emergency? The Blocked-Cat Signs You Must Not Wait On
A male cat going in and out of the litter tray, straining, crying and passing little or no urine is the one scenario on this page that can't wait. If that's your cat right now, don't read to the end first. Ring your vet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
My Cat Is Straining in the Litter Tray: What's Going On, and What to Do
A cat who goes to the tray, crouches, strains, and walks away with little or nothing to show for it, then heads back ten minutes later to repeat the whole thing, is one of the commonest reasons owners ring us. Sometimes...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
My Spayed Dog Is Leaking Urine: Urethral Sphincter Incontinence Explained
A damp patch on her bed, a faint smell of urine in the mornings even though she's just been out, the odd wet spot on your own duvet: these are the signs that bring a lot of owners in to us. It's natural to wonder...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Water, Diet and Your Cat's Bladder: Increasing Intake and When a Urinary Diet Helps
Cats treat "get more water into them" with the contempt they reserve for most of our ideas. They drink when they feel like it, ignore the lovely new bowl, and leave you wondering whether this "drink more water" business...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Managing FIC with MEMO: The Environment Changes That Actually Work
"Reduce your cat's stress" and "enrich the environment" are the two instructions vets hand out most often for feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC), and they're also the two that make the least sense at home. She's a house...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Feline Idiopathic Cystitis: Why Stress Gives Your Cat a Sore Bladder
A cat that keeps getting "urine infections" the antibiotics never quite fix is one of the odder problems we see, because the usual logic doesn't apply. There is no infection to treat. The vet starts talking about...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Will It Happen Again? Preventing a Re-block After Your Cat Comes Home
You've brought him home. He's a bit subdued, maybe shaved on one front leg from the drip, and you're watching the litter tray like it owes you money. That fear in your chest, the one that says "what if it happens again...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The Blocked Cat: The Emergency Every Owner of a Male Cat Must Recognise
Of all the things that can go wrong with a male cat, one is worth keeping in your head ready, because it's the urinary emergency that actually kills, and it kills fast. The reason it's so dangerous is how easily it's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
The Other Stones: Urate, Cystine and the Breed and Liver Links
Most bladder stones are one of two kinds. Across cats and dogs, struvite and calcium oxalate together make up the great majority of all uroliths, and they're the two we cover in detail elsewhere (see "Bladder stones in...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Diet and Water for a Stone-Forming Pet: The Prevention Plan for Life
Once your pet has formed a bladder stone, your vet will almost certainly have said something that lands with a small thud: this isn't really a one-off. Whether the stone was dissolved away on a diet or lifted out at...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
When a Stone Causes a Blockage: The Bridge to the Emergency
Most bladder stones sit in the bladder and cause grumbling, annoying signs: blood in the urine, frequent squatting, a bit of straining. Uncomfortable, worth treating, but not an emergency. One situation changes that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Calcium Oxalate Stones: Prevention When You Can't Dissolve Them
When the lab report names a bladder stone as calcium oxalate, there's a conversation that catches almost everyone off guard: no special diet will melt this one away. Struvite stones can often be dissolved over a few...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Dissolving Struvite Stones with Diet, and When Surgery Is Needed Instead
Struvite is the one common bladder stone that you can often make disappear without surgery. On the right diet it melts away over a few weeks, with your pet at home eating their dinner the whole time. No anaesthetic, no...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Bladder or Kidneys? When Urinary Signs Point Higher Up
Trips to the tray, wet patches on the floor, a pet that won't leave the tap alone: most urinary worries are a bladder story, and most of this Urinary Health home is about the bladder and the urethra. Cystitis, stones,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Weeing in the House: Telling a Medical Problem from Marking and Behaviour
A wet patch by the back door, a puddle on the bath mat, that unmistakable smell off the side of the sofa. When a previously spotless cat or dog starts going in the house, most owners land on the same question underneath...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Urinary Tract Infections in Dogs: When Antibiotics Are, and Aren't, the Answer
A dog squatting every few minutes, leaving little puddles where she never used to, with maybe a pink tinge in her wee, is the classic picture of a urinary tract infection, and a UTI is a fair first guess. It's often the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Why Getting More Water in Is the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Pet's Bladder
"Get more water into" your cat or dog is one of the first things a vet says after a urinary scare, and it's one of the easiest to dismiss. Cats in particular are famously hopeless drinkers, so it's tempting to file...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
How to Describe Urinary Signs to Your Vet, and How to Collect a Urine Sample
Two things move your pet towards the right treatment faster than almost anything else you can do at home: a clear description of what you've seen, and, if your vet has asked for it, a fresh urine sample to bring along....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Blood in Your Pet's Urine: What It Means and How Worried to Be
A pink puddle on the floor, a red-tinged clump in the litter tray, a drip that's clearly not the right colour: any of these makes your stomach drop. The word "blood" does a lot of frightening work in your head, so let's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Living With a Leaky Dog: Bedding, Skin Care and Night-Time Tips
A leaking dog leaves a tell-tale sign: a damp patch on her bed in the morning, or a cool wet ring on the sofa where she's been dozing. The leaking itself is one problem, and the day-to-day of it is another: the constant...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Is It Incontinence or Something Else? Ruling Out Infection, Stones and Behaviour
A damp patch on the bed, a leaking spayed dog, and a tidy explanation that it's a weak bladder-neck muscle. That fits most cases, and it's reassuring. But before you settle on it, it's worth being sure, because a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Treating Incontinence: The Medicines That Work, and What to Try When They Don't
So the leaking now has a name (urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence, USMI, the weak bladder-neck muscle we explain in my spayed dog is leaking urine), and there's a tablet or a small bottle of syrup waiting on the...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Calming Aids, Pheromones and When Medication Has a Role
By the time most owners go looking for a calming product, they've already done the hard, unglamorous work. The litter trays are spread around the house, there's a water fountain, you've carved out hiding places, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Breaking the Cycle: Stress, Multi-Cat Tension and Preventing the Next Flare
A calm spell with feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) can end without warning. You've had the diagnosis, you've fixed the litter trays, you've got more water into your cat, and for weeks things hold steady. Then a flare...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
The FIC Flare: Pain Relief, the First 48 Hours, and Watching for a Block
A flare tends to look the same each time. Your cat is in and out of the litter tray, squatting and straining, maybe leaving a pink-tinged spot on the floor, maybe weeing just outside the tray, maybe crying. For a cat...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Getting the Diagnosis: Why FIC Is What's Left When Everything Else Is Ruled Out
A lot of FIC stories share the same confusing moment. The vet runs the tests, comes back with "good news, nothing grew, no stones", and then in the same breath calls it idiopathic cystitis. If nothing showed up, how is...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Can Dogs Get Blocked Too? Urethral Obstruction in Male Dogs
Most of this section is about cats, and for good reason: the blocked male cat is the classic urinary emergency, the one owners most often miss. But male dogs can block too, and if you've got one squatting over and over,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
PU Surgery (Perineal Urethrostomy): When It's the Right Call, and Life After
If you're reading this, you're probably exhausted. Your cat has blocked more than once, you've done the late-night dash to the emergency vet more times than feels fair, and somewhere in the last conversation your vet...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
What Happens at the Vet: Unblocking, the Catheter and the Hospital Stay
The call is made, or about to be, and your blocked cat is going in. That's the hardest and most important step done, because a male cat who can't pass urine is in a true emergency, not constipation and not a simple...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Your Pet Has Gone Blind: The First 30 Days
Let me say the most important thing first, because you may be reading this at three in the morning with a frightened animal in the next room. Your pet's life is not over. This feels like a catastrophe right now, and I won't pretend the next few weeks are easy, but blind dogs and cats...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
My Cat Suddenly Went Blind: Check the Blood Pressure
A cat that has, in the space of a day or even overnight, started walking into furniture, missing the sofa, freezing in the middle of the room with both pupils wide and black needs one thing from you before any of the biology. So I'll give you that first.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
My Pet Suddenly Went Blind: What to Do Right Now
Here is the short version, because it matters more than anything else on this page. Sudden loss of sight needs to be seen today, not at the weekend, not "if it's no better in a few days." Ring your vet or the nearest emergency clinic now and tell them your pet has suddenly gone blind....
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Removing a Blind, Painful Eye (Enucleation): Kinder Than It Sounds
The word lands hard across the consulting table. Enucleation. Eye removal. What most owners picture is something brutal being done to a pet who's already suffering. They feel they've failed, they feel they're agreeing to a mutilation, and they're grieving the eye before it's even gone.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Glaucoma in Dogs: The Painful Emergency Owners Miss
One thing here cannot wait two minutes, so it goes first. If your dog has an eye that's suddenly turned red, cloudy or hazy, that looks bigger or more bloodshot than the other one, that they're squinting or rubbing, or that seems to have stopped seeing, ring your vet now and say you think it...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 14 min read
Is Cataract Surgery Right for My Pet? A Decision Guide
Your vet has said the word cataract, and now you're trying to work out whether to operate. The search results don't help much. On one side sit the websites with a stock photo of a bright-eyed dog and a headline promising to restore your pet's sight, with a price quietly bolted on. On the other...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Diabetic Cataracts: Why Most Diabetic Dogs Go Cloudy, and Why Speed Matters
A dog is diagnosed with diabetes, the owner gets the injections and the feeding times right, and a few months on the eyes start to cloud. I've taken that phone call many times, and underneath the worry there's nearly always the same quiet question: did I do this? The honest answer is no. You almost...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
My Pet's Eye Looks Cloudy: Should I Worry?
A cloudy eye usually shows itself in a particular kind of light. Your old dog is dozing in the afternoon sun, or your cat is on the windowsill with the light catching just right, and you see it: a soft bluish-grey haze deep in the eye where there used to be clear black. The word...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Is This an Eye Emergency? A 60-Second Check
An eye has gone cloudy, or red, or your pet is holding it half shut, or they've started bumping into the coffee table they've walked past a thousand times. Underneath whichever sign you're looking at sits one practical question: do I need to act now, or can this wait until morning? I've taken that phone...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Out and About: Walks, Safety and Telling Other People
One of the first questions I'm asked, once the shock of the diagnosis has settled, is some version of "can he still go for walks?" The answer is yes, wholeheartedly. A blind dog can have a full, busy, joyful life outdoors: parks, new places, the smell of next door's barbecue, the lot. The world doesn't...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Halos, Mats and Aids: What Actually Helps (and DIY Options)
Almost every owner I see arrives at the same practical question once the diagnosis has settled, usually with a browser tab or two already open: is one of those halo things worth it, and what actually helps? That deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. The trouble is that the loudest voices here...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Blind Cats: Why They Often Cope Brilliantly
Here's the one sentence I most want a worried cat owner to hear, because it tends to get buried under the panic. A blind cat can live a full, happy, ordinary life, and most do. The UK charities that see thousands of these cats say it plainly: "blind cats can live a full life and...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 13 min read
Will My Blind Pet Be Happy? Quality of Life and What to Expect
The question I'm asked most after a blindness diagnosis isn't about the eyes at all. It usually comes a few weeks in, once the appointments are done and the house has gone quiet. "Will she still be happy?" And underneath it, almost always, the one nobody says out loud: am I keeping them going for...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Talk Before You Touch: Communicating With a Blind Pet
A newly blind pet will often flinch, snap or scramble up in a panic when a familiar hand reaches in to stroke them in their usual spot. Owners describe this to me again and again, and it catches them off guard, because nothing has changed in their kindness. What has changed is that their pet...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Home-Proofing for a Blind or Low-Vision Pet
The diagnosis is settled, your dog or cat is losing its sight, and now you're home with the practical question: what do you actually do here? This is my favourite part to answer, because it's the part you control. The diagnosis was out of your hands. The home isn't. With a weekend of small, sensible...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
Other Inherited and Gradual Eye Conditions
"Inherited eye condition" is a phrase that lands in two ways. Sometimes a vet, a breeder or a forum post has attached a scary-sounding name to your breed, "collie eye", "lens luxation", "the Staffie cataract", and you've come to find out what it actually means. Sometimes you're doing the careful thing of researching a breed...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Preparing for Blindness When You Know It's Coming
A diagnosis like progressive retinal atrophy, or a slowly thickening cataract, lands hard. Someone has told you, in so many words, that your dog or cat is going to lose their sight over the coming year or two, and there's no operation or eye drop that will stop it. A few days on from that...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
PRA and Your Breed: DNA Testing and What It Means
The most common question I get about PRA rarely comes from someone whose dog is already losing its sight. It comes from someone holding a puppy's paperwork, or thinking about a litter, reading the phrase "PRA clear" or "carrier" and quietly panicking. "My breeder says the puppy is clear, does that mean it can't go...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA): Slow, Painless, Inherited
A PRA diagnosis arrives differently from most. There's no accident to point to, no emergency dash to the vet, no painful eye to treat. Just a quiet sentence in the consulting room that says, in effect, your dog is going to lose its sight, slowly, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. I've...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Sudden Versus Slowly-Noticed Blindness: Why It Matters
"It happened overnight, doctor. One day she was fine, the next she was walking into the furniture." It's one of the most common things owners say when an older pet has lost its sight, and it nearly always comes with a flush of guilt. They're braced for me to confirm their worst fear, that they...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
High Blood Pressure and Your Pet's Eyes: The Link Owners Miss
High blood pressure sounds like a human problem, the sort of thing a doctor raises at a midlife check-up. So when I tell an owner that their cat's sudden blindness, or the red haze that appeared in their dog's eye overnight, comes down to blood pressure, the reply is nearly always the same: "pets get...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 12 min read
Retinal Detachment: Causes, Urgency and What Can Be Saved
"Detached retina" is a phrase that lands hard. Say it across the consulting table and most owners picture an eye coming apart, sight gone for good in an instant. The real picture is calmer than that. A detached retina is a layer coming unstuck, not an eye falling apart, and whether anything can be saved...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
SARDS: Sudden Blindness in Dogs With No Warning
A dog who was fine last week is suddenly walking into doorframes. The eyes look completely normal, there's no redness, nothing obviously hurts, and yet the dog plainly cannot see. This is one of the handful of diagnoses I genuinely dread giving. The owner is searching for an accident to explain it and there isn't...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Managing Glaucoma at Home: Drops, Pressure and What to Watch
Three bottles, several times a day, one eye, then a wait, then another drop. By now the diagnosis is probably behind you, and what wears you down is the daily grind of it: the small anxious voice asking whether you got the timing right, or whether today's the day the eye flares up while you're...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 12 min read
Uveitis: When the Inside of the Eye Is Inflamed
What started as "a sore eye" has turned into a conversation about blood tests, and that swerve can feel baffling. Here is why it isn't.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
The Fellow Eye: Protecting the Second Eye in Primary Glaucoma
One eye has gone, or is going: a glaucoma diagnosis, a sudden painful attack, perhaps an operation to remove a blind, sore eye and end the pain it was causing. And now, in among the relief and the grief, a new worry has crept in. The other eye. Is the same thing coming for it?
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Spotting Eye Pain in Pets: The Signs We Overlook
The eye that worries me most on the consult table is often the one that has stopped looking sore. An owner brings a dog in because they have finally noticed a slight squint, and they apologise for wasting my time. They have not wasted my time. More often than not, that quiet, half-shut eye has...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Glaucoma in Cats: Nearly Always Secondary
Glaucoma in a cat is a different animal from glaucoma in a dog, and that difference is the whole point of this page. In dogs it's often a dramatic emergency: a red, bulging, agonising eye that comes on over hours, frequently with no underlying cause we can name. That story belongs to glaucoma in dogs....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Questions to Ask Your Ophthalmologist About Cataract Surgery
A cataract consult is a big appointment, and it costs real money. Over the years I've sent a lot of owners to these consults, and the ones who get the most out of them are the ones who arrive prepared: questions written down, someone alongside to take notes, and no willingness to be rushed. Nobody...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Cataracts in Cats: Less Common, Usually Secondary
The word "cataract" tends to drag a fixed picture along with it: the one you carry from people, or from a dog you once knew. A clouding eye, creeping blindness, an operation. I'd like to take that picture apart, because the feline story is genuinely different, and once you see how, the whole thing becomes...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
If You Don't Operate: Living With a Pet With Cataracts
Many owners reach this decision quietly, and often with a flicker of guilt. The surgery is specialist, it isn't cheap, your pet may be older or not the ideal candidate, and somewhere at the back of your mind sits the worry that by not operating you're "letting them go blind". That worry deserves a straight...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
What Cataract Surgery Involves, and Recovery Week by Week
The hard part is usually behind you by the time you want this page. The agonising over whether to operate, the cost, the "is it the right thing for my dog", that all belongs to the decision, and if you're still weighing it up, the operate-or-not piece is the place for it. What I want...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 11 min read
Cataracts in Dogs and Cats: What They Are and Why They Form
"Cataract" is a heavy word, and owners tend to hear the worst of it first. But there's often relief mixed in too, because they'd been peering into that cloudy eye for weeks fearing something dreadful, and now at least it has a name. So before we get anywhere near decisions, let me do what I'd...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 13 min read
How Sight Works in Dogs and Cats (and How It Differs From Ours)
I've spent more than twenty years looking into the eyes of dogs and cats, and they still amaze me. Not because they see better than we do, because in most of the ways we tend to value sight, they don't. They amaze me because they see the world so differently, and because the eye turns...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Signs Your Dog or Cat Is Losing Their Sight
Owners almost always apologise when they bring me a pet whose sight has been quietly failing. "I feel terrible, I only just noticed." "She's been bumping the corner of the sofa for weeks and I put it down to clumsiness." There's usually a thread of guilt in it, the worry that a good owner would...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Red, Painful or Squinting Eye: What It Might Be and How Urgent
A sore eye, half-shut and weepy and a bit pink, raises one practical question above all others: is this a "ring first thing tomorrow" or a "get in the car now"? Of all the things owners try to judge from the sofa, a red eye is one of the genuinely hard ones. It can look...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Weight and Arthritis: The Single Best Thing You Can Do
A dog who's slowing down, struggling on the stairs or cutting their walk short usually gets the same explanation: it's "just their age" or "just the arthritis". Both might be true. But there's one thing you can do that helps more than any supplement, any joint chew, and very nearly anything else in your control....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Losing Weight Without Trying: When Slimming Is a Warning Sign
This whole space is about helping your pet lose weight. So here's the one piece that runs the other way, and it matters more than any of the rest.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 8 min read
Body Condition Score: How to Score Your Dog or Cat at Home
Feeling the ribs gives you a hunch about where your pet sits. To turn that hunch into the actual number your vet writes in the notes, you score it. That number is the body condition score, and you can do it at home with nothing but your hands and a moment of clear-eyed looking. Once...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Is My Dog Actually Overweight? How to Tell at Home
There's a ten-second check that tells you more about your dog's weight than the scale ever will, and you can do it right now, with your hands, on the dog in front of you. Maybe you've half-noticed they look a bit round, or someone at the vet's said "overweight" and it stung. Either way, you're...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 8 min read
Weight, the heart and breathing: lightening the load
Every extra pound your pet carries is dead weight, and the heart has to push blood all the way around it while the chest has to lift it with each breath. That cost doesn't sit somewhere off in the future as a number on a chart. It is work, right now, on this morning's walk.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Weight and diabetes: how slimming can drive remission
An overweight cat with diabetes can, by getting down to a healthy weight, push the diabetes into remission. That means no more daily injections. The needle goes back in the drawer, the twice-a-day routine stops, and the cat carries on living a normal life. It's a genuinely good piece of news, so it's worth leading...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Weighing your pet at home: scales, tricks and how often
A lot of owners dread the scales, so let's clear that up first. The number isn't a verdict on you, and it isn't a monthly telling-off. It's feedback. Used properly, it's the single most reassuring tool you've got, because it's proof you're feeding enough and permission to hold the line against the begging face.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Could a health problem be behind the weight gain?
This is the mirror of our piece on losing weight without trying. That one makes the case that a pet who slims by itself is showing a symptom, not a success. This piece runs the other way. When a pet is gaining and you're sure you haven't changed a thing, it helps to know what's...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
"He's just a big cat": when round is a real problem
The internet loves a chonky cat. A big, soft, round cat reads as cuddly and content, and the comments fill up with hearts. In the consulting room that same roundness reads differently. It's one of the most common welfare issues we see in cats, and it quietly costs them comfort and movement every day.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Doing it with your vet: weight clinics and weigh-in check-ins
Someone at your practice has mentioned they run a "weight clinic" or a "nurse clinic", and you'd like to know what that actually means before you book. Does it cost anything? Do you have to go? And the question most people are too polite to ask out loud: is it just a way to sell...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
How many calories? The feeding maths, made simple
The word "calories" can sound like it comes with algebra attached. It doesn't. There are really only two steps. First you work out how many calories your pet needs in a day. Then you turn that number into grams of the food you already have in the cupboard. That's the whole thing.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
How much to lose and how fast: safe rates for dogs and cats
A weight-loss plan really comes down to two numbers: how much to lose, and how fast to do it. Here they are, up front, so you can stop worrying and start.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
What should my pet actually weigh? Finding the ideal
So your pet is carrying a bit too much, whether you've worked that out yourself or your vet has told you. The very next question is the obvious one: OK, but what should she actually weigh? Most owners reach for a breed chart at this point, or Google "ideal weight for a Labrador", and get...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Never Crash-Diet a Cat: The Hepatic Lipidosis Rule
"Just feed less" is the standard advice for an overweight cat, and for a cat it comes with one rule attached that matters more than any portion size. Get the rule right and slimming your cat is safe, kind and genuinely worth doing. Get it wrong and you can make her seriously ill. So before...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
The Treat Budget: Keeping Treats Without Blowing the Diet
Let's clear up the worry most owners arrive with: nobody is going to tell you to stop treating your pet. Treats are how you reward a good sit, how you say hello after work, and how you tell your dog or cat you love them. That ritual matters, and you get to keep it.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 7 min read
How Much Should I Actually Feed? Why the Bag Is Lying to You
Feeding by the scoop and the side of the bag is the normal way most people do it, and it doesn't make you a bad owner. The trouble is that you've been handed a guide that was never built to be precise.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Getting the whole family (and the dog-sitter) on board
Picture a household where the food is measured, the treats are counted, everything is done by the book, and the scale still won't move. Before you blame yourself or your pet's metabolism, look at how many people are feeding her. The commonest reason a careful diet quietly stalls is much simpler than willpower or biology....
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Feeding a dieter in a multi-pet home
A diet can be calculated to the gram and still fail in a busy household, and the reason is almost always the same. The portions are weighed, the treats are budgeted, everything the plan asked for is done, and the scale still won't move, because the moment your back is turned the dieter has cleared...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
"He acts starving": handling begging and food obsession
You measured the food. That was the right thing to do. And now there's a pet at your feet who bolts the smaller portion in seconds and spends the rest of the evening staring at you like you've forgotten he exists. The look is real, and it's genuinely persuasive. But it is not proof he's...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 9 min read
Cut back the food you have, or switch to a diet food?
So your pet needs to lose weight, and now you've hit the fork everyone hits. Do you just give less of the food you already buy, or do you go and buy a special weight-loss diet? The bags don't help. "Weight management" is splashed across half the shelf, the marketing implies you must switch, and...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read
Measure, don't scoop: getting portions right in grams
So you've got the number. Maybe the vet gave it to you, maybe you read it off the bag, maybe you ran it through our Feeding Calculator. Either way, you know roughly how many grams (or calories) your pet should be getting each day. Now you have to actually deliver it, every day, with a...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Weight and the cruciate: protecting the knees
A dog with a freshly torn cruciate is usually a dog whose owner has one picture in their head: back on the walk they love, back into the car without a heave, back up the stairs without a thought. Keep that picture. It's closer than it feels right now.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Slow feeding and foraging: making food work harder
A smaller bowl goes down in ten seconds, and then come the staring, the pawing and the sad little sit by the cupboard. It's easy to feel like you've short-changed your pet. You haven't, and the fix isn't more food. It's making the food they already get harder to get.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Slimming when exercise is limited: arthritis, heart or age
There's a particular kind of stuck a lot of owners land in. Your pet needs to lose weight, but they can't really exercise, and every bit of advice you read says "walk them more, play with them more". That's the one thing your dog or cat can't do. Maybe the arthritis means a lap of...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
Getting an indoor cat moving: play that burns calories
"Your cat needs more exercise" is easy advice to give and almost impossible to act on. Cats don't go for walks. They won't run laps on cue. Nobody is putting a cat on a treadmill. So it lands as one of the more defeating things an owner gets told, because it sounds simple and feels...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Exercising an overweight dog safely: start slow
Think of the bit of the day your dog has quietly been getting less of. The walk you turn round early because they flag halfway. The way they used to bounce at the lead, or scrabble into the boot without a second thought, or take the stairs two at a time. That is the prize...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 11 min read
The Scale Won't Budge: How to Bust a Weight-Loss Plateau
The food has been measured, the treats reined in, and for a few good weeks the numbers came down nicely. Then the scale stopped. Three weigh-ins, near enough the same number, and the doubt creeps in: maybe it isn't working, maybe your pet just can't lose weight, maybe you've done something wrong.
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Is it working? Reading the trend, not the daily number
A morning weigh-in is one of the most misleading readings in the whole weight-loss plan. The figure goes up and your heart sinks; it sits stuck for ten days and you start to think the plan has failed. Before you change a thing, it helps to know what that number can and can't tell you,...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Keeping it off: preventing the rebound
The ribs are back, the waist has come in, and the number on the scale finally says what you've been working towards. That's a real win after a lot of hard work, and it's worth a moment to enjoy it.
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
They've hit target: switching safely to maintenance
Your pet has hit their target weight. Take a moment with that, because it is genuinely hard, and most pet diets never get here. You worked out how much to feed, you weighed it, you held the treat budget, you kept the household on side, and the scales finally agree with you. That is a...
Claire Greenway, BVM&S MRCVS · 10 min read
Recalculating as they shrink: why the ration has to change
A weight-loss ration has a shelf life, and almost nobody mentions it. You worked the number out once, maybe through our Feeding Calculator, maybe from a figure the vet wrote down, and since then you've measured that exact amount into the bowl every day. You've done it all correctly. So when the loss slows, or...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 10 min read
Tracking that works: weigh-ins, photos and what to expect
Tracking has a reputation it doesn't deserve. Owners often picture homework, or the dread of a school report they already know is bad. It's neither of those, and it isn't surveillance or a telling-off. It's the thing that proves the plan is working, and it's the thing that gives you permission to hold the line...
Dr. Alastair Greenway, MRCVS · 9 min read