I am starting to worry that when I write something in this column I am tempting fate – last week I wrote about the risk of dogs eating chewing gum that contains Xylitol (an artificial sweetener that is poisonous to dogs) - and then on Tuesday I had a little Cockerpoo in that had done exactly that. Luckily the owner was very quick to bring her down, she received treatment straight away and has fully recovered.

I am yet to see my first “Christmas related” toxicity – but we are definitely nearing the season of stolen mince pies and chocolates (often it is when people are organised about buying stocking fillers – keep them safely stored in a bag somewhere and a greedy canine gets there first.)

Now that the shooting season is upon us we are seeing our fair share of cuts, mainly thanks to barbed wire. What always surprises people is that dogs with cuts will often continue to rush around on a walk without slowing down at all and the cut will not become apparent until they are home and being cleaned off afterwards. Sometimes, particularly in long coated breeds, wounds are not found until the next day when they are spotted because the dog is licking them. We do have a certain window of opportunity with wounds when we can just quickly staple them back together and they will heal well but if a wound is older we need to “debride” it. Debriding involves cutting away old, dead and damaged tissue to get back to healthy flesh which can then be sutured together (this process has to be done under sedation or anaesthetic).