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Dog Jay's long-term health conditions meant he was always at the vets. Fortunately owner Catherine Humphreys' Petplan policy made things that bit easierPetplan has helped out my 11-year-old rescue dog Jay on numerous occasions during his life. His problems started when he was only one; his mouth was itchy all the time and, although he never broke the skin, he would scratch it all the time.

Q: Last year, I adopted a young male Border Collie. Though generally friendly, he was aggressive to other dogs and, sometimes, people. Following training classes, he's fine around other dogs and I take him to my local pub to get him used to strangers. Is this an appropriate socialising method for him? A: You sound as if you are doing the right things. In many cases of aggression, the behaviour is fear-based and

Q: Our vet has had to trim and file our rabbit's teeth a couple of times now, and I'm worried that we're not feeding her the right things to keep them healthy. We do give her hay as well as fresh food, but she doesn't seem keen on it. A: I suspect it is the front teeth your vet has filed, as you wouldn't easily notice re-growth of the back teeth (a rabbit's mouth doesn't open wide like a cat or dog's). Overgrown incisors can be a sign of problems with the molars. A balanced diet is key to the correct growth of rabbits' teeth. I use the analogy of a cake to describe

Research suggests humans and their animals share personality traits - but is the perfect match instinctive or the result of learned behaviour? From the PetPeople magazine archiveOf course, we pet owners have always known it. And now scientific research is bearing out the theory that our cats and dogs do indeed have their own personalities. When Dr Sam Gosling, from the University of Texas, researched dogs' characteristics, he found they varied hugely in terms of personality. So much so that he believes dogs should be matched with owners with compatible characteristics. Indeed, more than 150 animal shelters in the US are now

Q: Can you tell me any simple way to worm my cat Maude, whether using a tablet or another method? She’s a cantankerous old thing and I find it almost impossible to get a tablet down her without being badly scratched.

A: Tableting is one of the most common difficulties experienced by cat owners. Best undertaken by two people, a cat can be carefully wrapped in a towel to protect all involved from their sharp claws.

Using a plastic tableting instrument bought cheaply from your local vet clinic, tip your cat’s head back so that their nose points to the ceiling, gently opening the mouth before popping the tablet behind the tongue and quickly stroking the throat to encourage swallowing. If this process is impossible with Maude, some treatments in liquid form will kill all forms of intestinal worm commonly found in cats that live in the UK.

Available from your vet, these treatments are applied to the back of the neck like many flea treatments (some of which, incidentally, also treat gut worms), and get absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream, before killing the worms present in the digestive tract. Used routinely every three months, this spot-on treatment may be the answer to your feline’s internal parasite problems.