I’m not a vet, and I don’t play one on TV. But I do work with cats, live with dogs and cats, and read and write a lot about animals.

One question that comes up over and over is this: “Is my pet overweight?” I get asked that at least once a week at the cats-only boarding facility.

Are onions and garlic safe for cats and dogs? Is garlic a good flea remedy for pets? The answer to both of these questions is no.

We have recently seen a number of cases of iron deficiencyanaemia, both in cats and dogs. In iron deficiency, red cells donot develop the normal complement of iron’containing haemoglobinand the cells that form in the bone marrow are smallmicrocytic, low MCV and hypochromic low MCH and MCHC. Theprocess of red cell maturation becomes prolonged so young redcells no longer contain large amounts of RNA and therefore donot appear polychromatic. As a result the anaemia is non-regenerative, with inappropropriately low reticulocyte counts.There is often a marked increase in variation in red cell shapepoikilocytosis and red cell fragments schistocytes are oftenseen, as above. In cats, the red cells are often so small thatplatelets appear larger than red cells and this overlap insizing can contribute to apparently very high platelet counts assome automated counters include some small red cells in theplatelet count. Iron deficiency anaemia reflects chronicexternal blood lo…