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From a thumping rabbit to fighting cats – your pet queries answered
HE is on a mission to help our pets . . . and is here to answer YOUR questions.
Sean, who is the head vet at tailored pet food firm tails.com, has helped with owners’ queries for ten years.
He says: “If your pet is acting funny or is under the weather, or you want to know about nutrition or exercise, just ask. I can help keep pets happy and healthy.”
Q) MY rabbit Ginge bangs his back legs, like Thumper the rabbit from Disney’s Bambi movie.
He does it when he sees me or is happy about something. Is that a normal thing to do or is he a bit of a weirdo?
Emma Bryant, Plymouth
A) Perfectly normal rabbit behaviour. In the wild, it tends to be an alarm signal, alerting others in the warren to danger nearby.
That could be a predator or a strange rabbit that’s unknown to the colony.
It’s a social behaviour that leads to cohesion and safety, so perhaps Ginge is using it in his domestic setting to say: “I’m excited to see you friend”.
Whenever I hear of a single rabbit pet, I feel I must mention that they are a highly social species.
So if Ginge doesn’t currently have another rabbit friend I urge you to get him one. Rabbit rescues can help with the bonding process.
Q) MOOSE, my Beagle Boxer cross, is very flatulent.
He eats a mixture of wet and dry supermarket food.
I admit he has a penchant for a snack of pork pie if I’m eating one. How can I stop him being so windy?
Andrew Woodhouse, Sheffield
A) Haha, what a conundrum!
Beagles are basically a stomach on legs and one of the breeds most prone to obesity.
Just like Labradors, they will eat almost anything.
So flatulence is often par for the course.
I would recommend against pork pies, as they are highly calorific, and unlikely to help Moose’s gut health.
Fibre content of the food can have a bearing on flatulence, as can ingredients he is intolerant or allergic to.
So try him on a hypoallergenic diet, or look to adjust his fibre levels. Pre- and probiotics can help.
There are also diets formulated for sensitive digestion.
Drop us a line on hello@tails.com and we will be able to come up with a suitable tailor-made recipe for Moose that leads to a more pleasant odour at home.
Q) ONE minute my two Burmese cats are wrapped around one another, the next they are having a major fight.
Raffles and Reilly are 12-year-old brothers and were always chilled and loving house cats.
This all started when my husband passed away at the end of last year.
They were also put on a diet by the vet and are now their target weight.
Ever since, they have been constantly demanding food and stealing any they can get to.
The fights are nasty — all hell breaks loose.
I have sprayed them with water and put one in the bathroom to break aggression.
I have Feliway Optimum plug-ins throughout the house, a cat therapist visited and used Bach Flower Remedies but neither has helped.
I am at my wits’ end.
Nancy Rowe, Gosport, Hampshire
A) Firstly, I’m sorry to hear about your husband passing.
Like dogs, cats will react to the loss of an owner with sadness, withdrawal and sometimes even depression-like symptoms.
I’m at a loss to explain why fighting has become an issue here but wading in with further negative action will only add to the conflict.
So don’t spray them, raise your voice or even react to the behaviour.
The reduced access to food can also be a trigger.
Cats, even siblings, will subtly compete for resources like food, shelter and vantage points.
So make sure they have plenty of options to get away from each other to feed, toilet and rest.
It might be time to get a qualified animal behaviourist in to observe them and advise on their triggers.
Star of the week
GREMLIN the Shih Tzu had fur so matted he couldn’t see.
Now his future looks bright in a loving new home after his rescue by UK charity Blue Cross.
Staff had struggled to tell the two-year-old’s gender or breed because his fur was so overgrown.
But after a haircut and some TLC, he is a different dog.
Amanda Rumball at Blue Cross, said: “Poor Gremlin was in such a sorry state.
“We treated him at our animal hospital in central London before transferring him to our rehoming centre in Burford, West Oxfordshire.”
Now Gremlin has adoring owners in accounts manager Nina, 50, and tech adviser Gerry Stock, 54, in Luton, Bedfordshire. See bluecross.org.uk.
WIN: LUXURY DOG BED
THE Baker & Bray Luxury Calming Donut Dog Bed mimics a mother’s warmth to provide the perfect sleep for dogs.
They are handmade using plush, washable, eco-friendly materials and an anti-skid base.
We have three of these award-winning beds to give away.
For a chance to win one, send an email headed Baker & Bray to sundaypets@the-sun.co.uk by February with the colour and size you’d hope to win. See bakerandbray.com for details. T&Cs apply.
Kind cat lovers call for law change
AN ARMY of animal lovers are saving pets 24/7 on Britain’s streets.
Gizmo’s Legacy, set up by Helena Abrahams, has more than 1,500 volunteers searching for strays and collecting and identifying pets who have sadly died.
Helena, 53, from Bury, Greater Manchester, founded the group in 2016.
She says: “People call us the 4th emergency service.
“Animals are being dumped because owners can no longer afford to keep them.”
Gizmo’s Legacy gets hundreds of calls daily.
It is named after Helena’s cat Gizmo, who was hit by a car and disposed of, with no attempt to contact Helena.
Last year it became law that cats must be microchipped.
Helena is campaigning for a change in the law for all cats killed on roads to be checked for microchips so they can be reunited with their owners before they are cremated.
She says: “Gizmo was run over then put to sleep without anybody contacting me.
“So now I campaign for others not to go through the same heartbreak.
“Our charity collects pets killed on the road and takes them to a vet where they are kept for seven days before cremation in case any owners appear.”
See gizmoslegacy.co.uk.
‘Outstanding’ 1930’s Ford Tommy Foster Roadster sells at auction for whopping £177,000
A VINTAGE Ford from the 1930s has been sold at auction for over £175,000.
The 1932 ice-blue Ford Tommy Foster Roadster has all the top-quality features that make the classic car “outstanding.”
This includes the ivory and blue tuck-and-roll Naugahyde interior with the famous satin-finish side-panel.
It sold for a whopping £177,000 at Mercum Auctions on January 17, 2025.
In 2007, Ford selected the vehicle as one of the 75 most significant 1932 Ford hot rods.
It was also part of the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1932 Ford.
As the name suggests, the sleek vintage vehicle was built by Tommy Foster.
It took the hot rodder 15 months to complete the construction which he started in 1949.
A few years later, the car was awarded the winning spot in the 1952 Motor World Fair in Miami.
The auction listing detailed more about Foster’s homemade creation.
Foster, from Detroit, learned his craft through magazines, which saw him create “a smooth, sexy roadster that was resplendent in cool, ice-blue lacquer that he’d sprayed himself in his home garage.”
The only part of the vehicle not personally done by Foster was the upholstery.
He began with a genuine deuce roadster body that Foster bought from a fellow rodder who had altered its Z-ed frame rails.
Foster then took to shaving and smoothing the body, filling the cowl vent and relocating the gas tank.
The listing explained: “Over the ensuing 15 months, doing everything but the upholstery himself, he dropped in a bored-out, relieved ’39 Ford flathead with an Edelbrock dual intake manifold, finned 8:1 high-compression heads and an Iskenderian three-quarter cam.
“Neat, chromed Porter headers ran to steel-pack mufflers under the car and exited in ‘baloney-sliced’ chromed exhaust extensions that were faired into the rolled pan.
“There never was a hood for this car, so all that brightwork was part of its much-admired visual signature.”
His vehicle soon became one of the best, becoming “a frequent show winner virtually from its first appearance.”
The same year it won at the Motor World Fair, it featured in the August issue of Hot Rod which spread the word about Foster’s talents.
“Foster’s ’32 could stand smartly on its own wide whitewalls against any street roadster from the West Coast,” the listing stated.
The hot rodder retired from General Motors in 1978 and sold his iconic roadster.
It was then sold on again to someone who disassembled it and left it for a decade until it was purchased again and carefully restored and refurbished to Foster’s design.
The vehicle has since had numerous owners and has been displayed a number of times at Hot Rod exhibits.
Now the vehicle has a new home; its owner has “a period piece that is unlikely to be duplicated today.”
The Government’s anti-terror scheme Prevent needs urgent reforms after it missed three chances to stop evil Rudakubana
Time for Prevent to really prevent
THE SHOCKING Southport murders provoked wave after wave of misinformation.
So it is vital that the facts are crystal clear in the aftermath of the sentencing of evil Axel Rudakubana.
Sir Keir Starmer warned us on Wednesday of “a new and dangerous threat involving acts of violence by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms”.
But what stands out from the shocking figures we reveal today is that this threat is far from new.
Prevent, the Government’s anti-terror scheme, missed three chances to stop Rudakubana.
Now we know it has seen 1,830 violence-addicted teens recommended to it in the last four YEARS.
So hardly a new phenomenon, Prime Minister.
Chillingly, just 228 of these young people with the potential to become terrorists were brought into its scheme.
That means there are more than 1,500 violence-crazed obsessives like Rudakubana who have been rejected by Prevent and are still on our streets.
That is a ticking timebomb.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says Prevent clearly needs urgent reforms.
They cannot come soon enough to defuse this threat.
Tragically, for the victims of Southport they are already too late.
Healthy benefit move
RACHEL Reeves assures us she will get a move on with vital welfare reforms.
There are few bigger drags on growth than the exploding benefits bill and the Government cannot afford to sit on its hands.
It is welcome to see the new blueprint will now be unveiled before the Chancellor’s Spring statement in March.
Her miraculous conversion to a more positive approach on the economy is also refreshing.
The Government needs to talk up Britain like never before.
But that wouldn’t have been necessary if she and the PM hadn’t piled on the economic gloom when they first came to power.
And if the Chancellor’s own budget had not shattered business confidence by dropping a £40billion tax bomb.
A Hard A.I.’s Night
SIR PAUL McCartney says that if artificial intelligence is unleashed without safeguards, it could stifle creativity and cripple bands.
The warning that there could never be another Beatles for future generations should be an urgent wake up call for the music industry.
AI Jude just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
New boy Omar Marmoush can breathe new life into Man City but Abdukodir Khusanov has debut to forget vs Chelsea
PEP GUARDIOLA took a big gamble by throwing £92.5 million worth of new talent straight in for this top four showdown.
It threatened to back-fire when Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov made a major blunder in the third minute of his Manchester City career to gift Chelsea the lead.
But at least there was a hugely encouraging debut from Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush – who played a big part in helping City back into the game.
The £59 million ace has been one of the stand out stars of the German league this season thanks to his 20 goals – not to mention the assists.
And he has the energy to breathe new life into what has been a spluttering season for the champions.
Marmoush had a couple of great chances and also saw a goal chalked off for offside during his 74 minute run-out.
He also showed promising signs of a link up with Erling Haaland – which almost led to a goal midway through the second half.
The only downside was a habit of running offside – but put that down to over-enthusiasm as he tried to make an impression on his first run out.
Fellow new arrival Khusanov will need more than an arm round his shoulder over the next few days after the way his debut started.
Thankfully for him it didn’t get notably worse after that second minute blunder that gifted the visitors the lead – because for a while it looked like it might do.
He got a yellow card a couple of minutes later and on a couple of occasions he looked in danger of getting another one.
Still there was a crucial block to deny Jadon Sancho a second goal of the night for the visitors and a sliding tackle that brought enthusiastic applause from his manager.
The first Uzbek to play in the Prem lasted until the 54th minute when Guardiola replaced him with John Stones.
City’s crowd are a forgiving bunch and he was given a generous round of applause as he made his way off – so that will have made him feel better.
It always looked like a big gamble from Pep to pitch him straight in – after all he’s only played just over 30 games of top level football.
Jamie Vardy undergoes celeb health treatment at top clinic within days of Rebekah launching vodka range
JAMIE Vardy started a “full body reboot” within days of wife Rebekah launching her own vodka range.
The 38-year-old Leicester City star is undergoing a celebrity health treatment called “Icoone” at a top London clinic.
Becky accidentally revealed his secret when she put a montage of photos on her social media to celebrate his birthday this month.
It showed him in a grey bodysuit, with just a pair of paper pants underneath, preparing for a procedure which can also reduce fat, improve circulation and help detoxify the body.
Loved by stars such as Paris Hilton and Gwyneth Paltrow, it is touted as “perfect for women on the go”.
Becky, who has had treatments from top aesthetician Sadaf Jaffari, suggested ex-England striker Jamie give it a try.
A source said: “Becky goes to see Sadaf for treatments and suggested Jamie should go too.
“Jamie’s having it as a muscle recovery treatment as he has to keep in tip top shape.
“He had to wear a grey bodysuit to have it done.
“He looked a bit daft but thought it was a good idea.
“He had the first one before Christmas and neither he nor Becky put it on their socials at the time.
“But when she did a round up of photos for his birthday this month she included it.
“He got a bit of ribbing from the other players and he just laughed it off.
“Jamie is superfit and takes huge care of his health and fitness these days.
“This treatment is all part of that.
“The days of Jamie Vardy having a party all night are over.”
Becky says her fruity vodka SKTL was inspired by Jamie’s home-made version which had sweets in it.
That tipple fuelled celebrations after Leicester’s Premier League win in 2016, and sparked the terrace chant “Jamie Vardy’s having a party”.
Kirstie Allsopp secretly marries property tycoon after 20 years of dating
KIRSTIE Allsopp has secretly married a property tycoon after 20 years of dating.
The Location Location Location presenter tied the knot to her lover in an “elegant and lowkey” ceremony in Mayfair, London.
Kirstie has been in a relationship with the self-made property tycoon Ben Andersen – who is now her husband – for the past 20 years.
The pair first met in 2004 while attending a party for a prospective Conservative MP.
At the time, Ben and his ex-wife Theresa had only been separated for five months, with Kirstie forced to shut down rumours that she had “stolen” Ben from his ex.
“I did not [steal him]. I met Ben at a party for a prospective Tory MP friend of mine, Orlando Fraser.
“Ben’s wife, whom I knew at school and whom he was already separated from, introduced us,” she told the Evening Standard in 2012.
Kirstie and Ben have two sons, Bay, who was born in 2006, and Oscar, who was born in 2008.
The TV star is also stepmother to her partner’s two sons from his previous marriage, Hal and Orion.
Kirstie spoke about being a stepmother in 2021.
Writing for the Daily Mail, she penned: “I can honestly say I have put more thought and effort into my relationship with my stepsons than anything else in my life.”
Before Kirstie met Ben, she had been described as “not girlfriend material” by someone she had dated.
She previously told Stylist magazine: “No one was interested in me in my twenties.
“I had ‘please marry me’ tattooed on my forehead. It was so vital to me to get married and have children.”
She then, at a later date, told The Mirror: “One chap said, ‘Kirstie, you will make someone a fantastic wife but you are not girlfriend material’.”
Foodies left ‘horrified’ after only just realising how Quavers are REALLY made – and some vow to never eat them again
THERE’S nothing quite as satisfying as digging into a tasty packet of crisps.
But food fans have been left horrified after it was revealed how one popular brand of the tasty snack is really made.
This comes after crisp lovers got a glimpse inside the factory where Quavers are made, as comedian Paddy McGuinness explored took a look as part of the BBC‘s Inside The Factory series.
Things started off as you might expect, that is until is was revealed that Quavers aren’t even technically classic as crips.
This is because Quavers are made from the potato starch powder, which left behind during the crisp-making process – who knew?
So, how are Quavers made?
First starch powder, fine rice and soya flours are mixed together to make a dough.
Then the mixture is passed through a machine where it comes out looking a lot more like lasagne sheets than the cheesy snack we all know and love.
The huge sheets are then quickly cooled and cut by a machine at rate of 7,900 a minute.
The small sections are then added to sunflower to cook, which is when they begin to look a little more familiar.
The hot of the oil transforms any water to steam, which puffs them up into the cheese curls.
Finally, the cheesy coating is added as the Quavers travel through a huge metal drum.
But after watching the process some viewers weren’t so keen on snacking to Quavers anymore.
One person wrote on social media: “Inside the factory is interesting and horrifying in equal measure. Industrialised production of ‘food’ ain’t pretty.”.
And a second said: Inside the factory should be required viewing to realise what Big Food is up to.”
Meanwhile, someone else quipped: “There’s a lot of work goes into making the humble Quaver!”
“I don’t think I’ll be buying any more Quavers after this,” another chimed in.
That said, not everyone was bothered by the revelation.
One food fan wrote: I must start eating less processed food. Also me: I really fancy a bag of Quavers after watching Inside the Factory,” one Twitter use joked.
And another simply wrote: “Do I give a flying fig how they make Quavers?”
The nation’s most peculiar food combinations revealed
Brits reveal unusual food combinations that are so wrong, they feel right
Research by LNER claims that a whopping four in five Brits experiment with unusual flavours, and almost a quarter have a ‘guilty pleasure’ when it comes to unconventional food combinations,
- Crisps and chocolate
- Cheese and chocolate
- Crisps in jam sandwich
- Chips and milkshake
- Cheese and bananas
- Apples with salt and pepper
- Avocado and chocolate
- Popcorn and hot sauce
- Tuna and marmite
- Gherkins and peanut butter
Pamela Anderson, 57, shows off her endless legs in a suit for Elle after Oscars snub
BAYWATCH icon Pamela Anderson looks the business — even after getting snubbed for an Oscar.
The 57-year-old received critical acclaim for her role as an ageing Vegas dancer in The Last Showgirl, and got a Golden Globes nomination.
But she was not among the Academy Award Best Actress contenders announced on Thursday.
Looking on the bright side, she posed for mag Elle’s January digital cover — telling them: “I always say the win is in the work.”
A proud Pamela has revealed what it would mean to win the gong, 33 years after she burst on to our TV screens in her tiny red swimsuit as lifeguard CJ Parker.
Pamela is playing the lead role in The Last Showgirl, which is directed by a member of the prominent filmmaking Coppola family – Gia, the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, and niece of Sofia.
She said: “Gia was insistent that we were all going to see it together, and we’re going to see it on the big screen with an audience.
“And so all of us were in tears. She traumatised us.”
In the film, Pamela plays the lead role of Shelly, and she was so desperate to prove herself as a serious actress that she knew she had nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving the part her all.
She added: “My whole life has been like that — ‘What do I have to lose?'”
