Latest / Paws Between Us - Pet Stories, Welfare and Building A Bond / Short Paws: Cats and a Cancer breakthrough and Sweden's New Pet Guidelines

Transcript

Short Paws: Cats and a Cancer breakthrough and Sweden's New Pet Guidelines · Paws Between Us - Pet Stories, Welfare and Building A Bond

• 0:00
  Hi Nat, happy Friday. Hiya Sash, we made it to the end of the week, well done.
• 0:04
  We did, TGIF. What a week. It's been a bit of a week. It has, it's been a week. It feels like
• 0:11
  it's been a Friday though, it's been a real busy Friday. Fridays are usually my days for catching
• 0:16
  up, getting organised, winding down a little bit. Today's been quite manic. And I'm gutted because
• 0:24
  it was beautiful yesterday. Spring had sprung and then today it's raining and cold and I
• 0:30
  got a hot water bottle on my knee, so I'm feeling chill. Well, I'm feeling chilly compared to
• 0:35
  yesterday. So yeah, it was lovely yesterday here as well. It's really nice. I've had an
• 0:41
  all right morning. My week was horrible at the start, it was just too busy. And then I had an
• 0:46
  all right day yesterday and a lovely morning, but now I've got a bit frantic. It's gone so busy.
• 0:52
  So I kind of need to chill this afternoon if I can. Yeah, I feel your pain. How's you and
• 0:57
  Betty getting along? Yeah, we're doing all right. Betty's sleeping alongside me as always.
• 1:05
  I'll update you on how she's progressing at the vets when we do our lung pause, but she's having
• 1:10
  weekly physio at the moment. So she's got her next appointment booked in for Tuesday. So that's good.
• 1:15
  I haven't seen an immediate improvement, but I think it takes time. Yeah. Is that a second one
• 1:20
  did you say she'd had? Yeah, she's had two. So she now is having a third and is booked in to see a
• 1:26
  neurologist at the end of March. Though that's another thing I need to sort because the appointment
• 1:31
  they gave me didn't quite work with my schedule. So I've got to ring up and change it. So diary
• 1:37
  management's always a challenge in the life of a dog mum who works full time and is juggling all
• 1:43
  these things as you know as well. Yeah, not just working full time, we're doing a hundred of the
• 1:47
  million different volunteering things and business things. This girl's busy. This girl is busy.
• 1:54
  Anyhow, this session is all about sharing positive pet news, isn't it, from across the world. So
• 2:02
  things that are inspiring us or making us smile or just making us feel good because,
• 2:09
  yes, positive news for pets and also for their humans. So what have you found
• 2:16
  this week then that's uplifted you now? Tell us about your news. Yeah, a couple of nice little
• 2:21
  articles. One of them is a little bit complex. Well, it's not complex, but I'm going to read a
• 2:25
  little bit more about this one. So it's about cancer and cats and I have a personal experience
• 2:31
  of my cat and cancer. Roscoe passed away from a cancer a couple of years ago. So this one's quite
• 2:36
  close to my heart a little bit and it's just a bit of good news and it links into something I'm
• 2:40
  doing volunteering-wise, which I'll explain at the end as well. So as some of you are known,
• 2:45
  cats, sorry, cancer commonly occurs in many companion animals such as cats and dogs.
• 2:51
  And in recent years, researchers' understanding of dog tumours on a molecular level has progressed
• 2:56
  quite significantly, but they still didn't know much about tumours in cats. No idea why. I think
• 3:02
  a lot of healthcare has gone quite far with dogs, but not as much as cats. It's like lagging a bit.
• 3:07
  But anyway, by sequencing the genomes of nearly 500 domestic cats with cancer,
• 3:13
  scientists have found that many cat tumours are very similar to human cancer.
• 3:19
  Now, this is good because of these similarities. Therefore, medicines that are treating cancer in
• 3:24
  humans might also help cats, which is fantastic news. And the team have already tested some
• 3:29
  common human chemotherapy drugs on tiny lab-grown cat tumours and found that they've responded very
• 3:34
  well. So that's fantastic. So this news, this research could help more vets choose more
• 3:39
  targeted effective treatments for cats in the future. So that to me is great news,
• 3:45
  a bit of a breakthrough. I'm so excited about that. But in relation to this, I wanted to share
• 3:52
  because I am on the Public Guardian Involvement Engagement Group for a charity called Humanimal
• 3:58
  Trust. And I joined this trust because their work is about driving collaboration between doctors,
• 4:04
  vets and researchers so that all animals and all humans can benefit from medical progress without
• 4:11
  there being any experimental animal testing. It's kind of getting rid of that. If you want
• 4:16
  to know more about them, Google the Humanimal Trust. And especially if you're involved in human
• 4:21
  or animal health, the more who support their work, the further their work can reach and develop.
• 4:30
  So I think it's a really good thing. Something I'm really passionate about and want to do more
• 4:33
  for. I think I explained in one of the earlier episodes about my drive to look into animal health
• 4:39
  care. And obviously I've got my cat. So this article particularly resonated with me. So
• 4:46
  yeah, we'll bring you some more news about Humanimal Trust as we kind of get involved with
• 4:49
  them a bit more. And hopefully we'll get one of them on board to tell you directly a little bit
• 4:54
  about their work and then spread the word a little bit. But yeah, it's all good. It's all positive.
• 4:59
  Yeah, it's great. I mean, it'd be great to learn more about the Trust and their work and your
• 5:03
  involvement in it as well. And hopefully we can speak to someone. That'd be great. But yeah,
• 5:08
  just hearing the news makes me wonder why cancer in cats is under-researched and why there's been
• 5:16
  more of a focus on dogs because it's as common as we think. Yeah, I don't know why, but really
• 5:24
  positive. And it's great that there are learnings from cancers in humans as well and things that
• 5:32
  we can investigate based on sort of the evidence and the understanding that we already have.
• 5:36
  Yeah, I've been learning a lot through my work with Humanimal. I mean, I've only been there
• 5:41
  five months or so, but there are so many similarities in human health and animal
• 5:46
  health. There's just quite a few sort of barriers in terms of compliance and regulation type stuff
• 5:53
  that stops us using the medical advancements in animals. You know, the animals are the ones that
• 6:01
  are sacrificing their or have sacrificed their lives to further human medicine. So why should
• 6:06
  the animals not benefit? And so that's what I think most of Humanimal's kind of ethos values
• 6:11
  are around. So it really resonates with me because it's always been quite a sort of difficult topic
• 6:18
  for me to think about with healthcare for humans and it coming from animal testing. So if we can
• 6:23
  swap that around and have animals at least benefit from it, then, you know, that can only be a
• 6:27
  positive. And if we can get rid of it altogether, which would be the best outcome, obviously,
• 6:32
  it goes without saying, that's what I want. Yeah, I was about to say, do you think we'll ever
• 6:38
  ever see a day when we don't need to do testing on animals? Personally, well, I don't know enough,
• 6:45
  to be honest. I'm not that, I don't know the science enough. So it'd be good to get somebody,
• 6:49
  that'd be a good question to pose to somebody with a bit more of that background, I think,
• 6:53
  Sash. Yeah. Interesting. Okay, well, I can give you my other news. Yes, what else have you got?
• 6:59
  So this is again about cats. It's all cat related today. So news coming in from Sweden quite
• 7:05
  recently. In the UK, in the US, for example, it's not illegal to leave your cat at home.
• 7:10
  But in Sweden, they now have strict new guidelines that could lead to fines if you don't check on
• 7:15
  your cat at least twice a day. Sweden's animal welfare guidelines require cat owners to check
• 7:21
  on their pets at least twice daily, regardless of whether they're indoor, outdoor or a barn cat,
• 7:26
  for example. Leaving a cat alone for more than 12 hours straight can be seen as neglect,
• 7:31
  potentially resulting in fine, orders to improve care or even an animal ban preventing you from
• 7:36
  owning pets. The focus is on providing daily social interaction, mental stimulation, like
• 7:42
  opportunities to climb and scratch and ensuring the cat's comfort to avoid suffering. Now,
• 7:52
  in terms of other countries, in the UK, there's no specific time limit for leaving cats alone and
• 7:56
  owners just must meet general welfare needs under the Animal Welfare Act. And that really just
• 8:02
  covers food, water and a safe environment. Leaving a cat for days without checks could be seen as
• 8:08
  neglect, which is good news, but people aren't fined for not having a cat visited or checked on
• 8:14
  twice a day. It sounds, I don't know, it's a difficult one, this one. I mean, any kind of
• 8:19
  advancement in understanding that pets need more than just food and water is good. But I know quite
• 8:27
  a few people who leave their cats for 24 hours and I have in the past done that. And I don't know,
• 8:35
  I personally don't think it's a big problem for a cat because they are independent. And as long as
• 8:40
  they've got company and they can move around, they're not restricted, they've got food.
• 8:45
  And you're coming, you know, if you're coming home, I don't, I've not personally thought that
• 8:49
  that was a problem. But maybe there may be people out there, behaviourists that think there was
• 8:54
  reasons behind this and I'm willing to learn and listen. And that's an interesting one.
• 8:59
  Yeah. And so am I right in thinking then it applies to all cats in all situations or is it
• 9:05
  just indoor cats? Because like you say, cats are quite independent. They like to go in and out
• 9:09
  all day. So, you know, if you're not at home, your cat is just doing its thing and it might spend some
• 9:16
  time outdoors, come in, have a little feed, have a little sleep and go out again. Is it still applying
• 9:22
  to any cat? Yeah, it says indoor, outdoor and even barn cats. Now, I mean, yeah, if you've got
• 9:30
  a cat flap, your cat can come and go as it pleases. I mean, if you live with a cat and sometimes
• 9:34
  you'll only see the cat a few hours or a few minutes of the day, they'll be in and out all day
• 9:38
  long. I would never leave my cats alone and because I love them so much and they are indoor cats and I
• 9:44
  know they like company. I would not dream of leaving mine for 24 hours on their own. I would
• 9:50
  not. I always get a cat to come in, spend some time with them twice a day, morning and evening
• 9:56
  and then we're back. And if we're going away for a longer time, then I get people to stay. But it
• 10:01
  does just, I know, for example, I know people who have cats and go away for the overnight and they
• 10:05
  leave them in the house and they come and go and they can use the cat flap and they're fine.
• 10:09
  So, I'd like to explore that a little bit more, see what people think about that.
• 10:14
  It's interesting. Yeah, it sounds like as well it's a preventative thing. So, it gets people
• 10:18
  thinking before they get a cat about the level of responsibility required, about the things that
• 10:25
  you need to do to take care of your cat. It's not just let's get a cat and see what happens. It's
• 10:30
  actually, okay, so are there certain measures, certain things I need to put in place? We all
• 10:35
  have busy lives, but there has to be a level of realism as well, doesn't there? About what is
• 10:42
  possible because a lot of people aren't home all day, they're out at work. Yeah, yeah. I mean,
• 10:47
  maybe like you say, maybe it's just, I think it could be pet owners before getting a pet probably
• 10:52
  do need to be more educated on what that means and it isn't just about putting some food and water
• 10:57
  down. The enrichment of a pet is very important and being aware of their needs and boundaries is
• 11:04
  just as important as well. So, yeah, perhaps it's about making sure people think about these things
• 11:10
  first, but it feels like it's going a little far, but let's just see what happens, I suppose.
• 11:15
  Yeah, yeah. Let's see if things like that get introduced or considered for the UK.
• 11:23
  Your news, Sash, what have you come across?
• 11:24
  My news. So, like your news is the cat news, mine is the dog news and it's just a heartwarming story
• 11:32
  that I read the other day and I thought, oh, this is really sweet and it also shows the power of
• 11:38
  companion animals. So, it's a local story from the UK. A woman from Wolverhampton called Sue
• 11:47
  is profoundly deaf and she slipped on black ice while walking her hearing dog Arlo,
• 11:51
  a black Cocker Spaniel, because she couldn't get up and no one was around. Arlo immediately
• 11:57
  switched into protector mode. So, he lay across her to keep her warm and grounded,
• 12:02
  then barked and howled until he managed to get the attention of a passerby.
• 12:06
  That person couldn't lift Sue alone, but another person soon joined and together they helped her
• 12:11
  home. And Sue, who lost her hearing in her early 40s and lives alone, said she felt scared and
• 12:16
  disorientated after the fall, but Arlo knew something was wrong instantly. So, she credits
• 12:23
  him with keeping her safe and says being paired with him through Hearing Dogs for Deaf People,
• 12:28
  it's a charity here in the UK, has transformed her life. She describes him as her comfort blanket
• 12:35
  and her best friend. And that story just jumped out at me because I think
• 12:40
  we hear a lot about guide dogs for blind people, people with visual impairments, but
• 12:48
  less so about hearing dogs and the support that they give. And yeah, it just shows that actually
• 12:56
  dogs for hearing dogs or also dogs that support people with visual impairments or blind people,
• 13:04
  they do an amazing job. They do. And in the office where they train the guide dogs is just down the
• 13:18
  road from where I'm based and you see them out a lot on a morning out for their walks, learning
• 13:23
  how to help their companions cross the road and all that kind of thing and getting used to the
• 13:30
  sights and sounds of the big city. And so, yeah, I see that a lot, but I don't see or hear so much
• 13:35
  about what Hearing Dogs for Deaf People are doing. So, yeah, just thought that was a really,
• 13:42
  really nice story and clearly captured the attention of the news and the BBC, which is
• 13:50
  where I read it. So. Oh, that's good. I get a bit of publicity from that. Then I'm pleased for the
• 13:55
  charity because, yeah, you're right, you do see guide dogs out a lot, well, more commonly than
• 14:00
  any other sort of type of support dog. But the role that dogs play in people's lives is huge.
• 14:07
  Like, yeah, there's obviously the guide dogs, the support dogs, hearing dogs. And, you know,
• 14:13
  there's ones that kind of, I think there's those medical dogs that kind of, we mentioned this
• 14:16
  didn't we, that you can smell out disease and sort of be trained to kind of recognise certain
• 14:23
  things. And then it's like, God, they do so much. So, that's the thing is that dogs have such
• 14:28
  powerful senses and do some incredible work to support people that, yeah, I think they just
• 14:34
  deserve a shout out and a special mention. They do, yeah. They do. I wonder what cats could do
• 14:39
  if we discovered more. Yeah, that's a good point. Could we ever have a hearing cat or a guide cat
• 14:45
  or a support cat? Yeah, maybe. You'd be going everywhere. I've watched a woman this week
• 14:51
  with her dog, sorry, her cat on a leash. And there were cats going under tables, going through like
• 14:57
  little nooks and crannies, over fences. There's no way you'd get a guide cat. You'd be everywhere,
• 15:02
  wouldn't you? Yeah. Thank you for the story. That's good to share with everybody and I hope
• 15:07
  it brings a bit of light to your day. We'll keep continuing doing this and finding good stories for
• 15:12
  you about the wonderful things that pets bring to our lives. Yeah, excuse the pun, but we'll keep
• 15:17
  sniffing them out. All right, Sash, lovely to catch up. All right, Nat, yeah, and you. Until
• 15:23
  next time, take care. You too. Bye. Bye.