Sometimes, as a vet, you will have a day or a run of days where you seem to see lots of the same condition, and it is hard to know if this is a coincidence or “something going around”. In the last week I have seen lots of cats with temperatures – this could either be unusual luck or there could be an infection doing the rounds in the cat population. These cats have all responded to medicine that brings their temperature down, something to treat any underlying infection and plenty of TLC at home.

Luckily, we can vaccinate against many of the major viruses that affect cats but there are still infections out there that we cannot vaccinate against. When I first graduated (in the late 1990s) we were still regularly seeing cats infected with Feline Leukaemia Virus (FeLV), this was a horrible disease to see; it generally affected young cats and they would present with nasty internal cancers and sickness that we could not cure. It was a huge relief to see a strong uptake of the FeLV vaccine amongst cat owners and now I am pleased to say that we only rarely see cases of FeLV.

As a nation we have become acutely aware recently that vaccination really can be the difference between life and death; as most cat and dog vaccines require annual boosters some of you may be worried if your vets have delayed an annual booster because of lockdown – do not worry, your pet will be covered for three months after the vaccine is due and if your pet is nearing that time then let your vet know and they will see you for vaccination.

Alice Moore is a vet at Castle Veterinary Clinic, Dorchester and Weymouth. Tel 01305 267083