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Hi there, I have a lovely ginger elderly cat called Harry who is about 20 years old. He's obviously been slowing down in his retirement, but over the past 2 months, he's developed really bad breathing difficulties, but only when he starts to purr. He has to breath through his mouth and he rasps. It is such a shame as he is a real lap cat and loves cuddles, but he can't do that any more. He'll jump up to sit on my lap, start to purr but then has too move away to a quiet place and it takes about 5-10 minutes for him to get back to normal. He's eating and drinking well. I have obviously taken him to the vet. He's had an x-ray which was fine and blood tests - all within the normal range for an old cat with dodgey kidneys. He does have an enlarged thyroid, but his thyroid tablets now seem to have improved that. He's also on diuretics and has had a 2 week course of antibiotics. Poor chap he's positively rattling! I was just wondering if anyone else has had this with their cat? I know we are drawing closer to making a decision, but at the moment he doesn't seem in much pain - only when he starts to purr. Thanks for your help.

It rained far more than normal here over the winter, and the spring was cooler and wetter than normal as well apparently. We've had about 6 weeks of warm to hot sun in total this year, less than last year, but the temps are forecast up in the mid 30s from this weekend. I was just wondering if the unusual winter/spring weather has affected UK gardens? I've noticed that the plum trees are groaning and bent double with fruit, whereas last year the plums were scarce. The apple trees were well laden last year, and this, we've just had the June drop and as we are watering the trees (which we didn't last year) I am hoping for even better crop this year. The peach tree probably has 3 times as much fruit on it this year - so thats about 30 rock-hard peaches instead of 10 The lemon tree has far fewer fruit than last year - but the lemons are enormous My lettuce have done brilliantly and we are struggling to eat them all before the temperatures rocket and they bolt/turn bitter, the mint is also growing like crazy. I planted out some growing herbs in pots (from Lidl) and these have taken and spread so now I am looking for recipes involving lemon basil and chocolate mint (why did I buy these ) I've been succession sowing sweetcorn and so far it is doing well, one of the plants is already throwing a tassel On the negative side I have one green tomato and 3 mini courgettes showing - but the 30 or so tomato/pepper/courgette plants all look feeble. I think ( ) they will perk up with the heat. My broad beans were a disaster - choc spot and blackfly - and I pulled them up and threw them away without eating a single bean. I have got some beetroot in but last year everything I bought tasted soapy so I don't know if they will be nice or not.

My rabbit has been in the Eglu hutch and run for a month and has now figured out she can dig up the ground underneath the run, through the wires. Has anyone else had this problem and does anyone have any suggestions about how to prevent it? Thank you 😊

Hi 6 out of 8 of my chickens have decided that they prefer to roost in the trees at night rather than in their . They are safe because the trees are within their pen, so I am not too worried about foxy loxy, however what worries me is whether they will get cold and wet and whether this will be detrimental to their health. I haven't worried about it over the summer, but now autumn/winter is on its way, I am not sure if I should be trying to get them to sleep inside. Any thoughts?

They might lay in the coop, or they may find spots they like in the enclosure, but only time will tell? It's important eggs don't get wet. If they do the 'bloom' will wash off and the storage time reduces from a couple of weeks at room temperature, to just a few days if you keep them in the fridge.

My hens roost in tge tree within their electric fened pen.they don't go in the coop. Should I provide a separate nesting box for them to lay in?

Ok thank you. We bought the Omlet run with the wire on the bottom integrated in to the run as it was advised by Omlet to prevent digging and to prevent foxes digging underneath and get to the rabbit. Or so they say!!

The rabbit rescue I volunteer at, really advices against wire of any sort. It can really damage their feet. They advice a run on paving slabs without wire and supervised grazing. Alternatively you can dig in slabs and put grass back over it.

Thanks for your reply. The wires are fairly well imbedded in to the grass/ground, so I think her feet are safe enough. Surely the rabbit would be sitting on wire if the run was on paving slabs? Also, she enjoys grazing on the grass so I wouldn't want to take that pleasure (and health benefit) away from her. I was thinking of laying chicken wire underneath the eagle run wires as the gaps between this are smaller?

Best way to prevent any of this is to place the hutch and run on paving slabs. It prevents digging and is also kinder on their feet. Sitting on wire isn’t ideal and counterintuitively concrete or stone is better than earth+wire.

Hi all, Just to close off our own post about our cat Mikey. Unfortunately the problem of breathing when purring did not go away, and when we took him to the vet, once under general anesthetic so they could look down his throat, they found a tumour growing on his trachea. This tumour was closing off his air supply, and would have required major surgery, or if cancerous, would have required chemo. This took us all by surprise as he was 100% active, 100% greedy guts and 100% healthy. We even had the call in the morning that his ultrasound and blood tests were fine and that he was able to come home. A subsequent call after this outlined a major issue we faced was that as he was under anesthetic, he would have most likely been unable to wake up with the ability to breathe normally as the muscles may not have "woken" up at the same time as he did, so when they pulled out the breathing tube, he would more than likely have trouble breathing. Even if he had woken up without issue, we still needed to consider the 3 options to remove the tumour, all of which did not mean a great quality of life for the poor guy. Ultimately to reduce the suffering and not buy time for our own comfort, we had to make the decision that morning to put him to sleep. Very difficult time for all as the vet informed us that it is not a common occurrence in cats, but in the last 3 cases he had over his years of being a vet, none of them had great outcomes. Hope this helps others in their information gathering.

Hi Ccleven, Hi Catmom18, Alvin and Manuela here. We are also experiencing the same breathing issues when purring as seen in the video. We also have a very appointment for an x ray, and oral inspection under sedation this coming Monday. Is there anything that you both could share based on any updated information? Would really appreciate any insights we can pass onto the vet. Thanks in advance guys Alvin and Manuela zipztarz@gmail.com

Ccleven2 - did you ever find out what was going on with your kitty? My 18 yr old has been doing the same thing and it seems to be getting worse. We have a vet appt in the AM but am trying to do a bit of research beforehand. Thanks!

My car has something similar. Sort of dry coughing. Vet thinks it is a allergic reaction on something. She takes a daily dose of prednoral, which really helps her.

@Surfnirvana did you ever find out what was wrong with you cat. I have a 20 year old cat that's been with me since she was just a baby. She means so much to me and now she developed a weird breathing issue only when she purrs. She starts to purr with her mouth open and starts to sound like shes gasping for air then she'll make a noise as is she is clearing her throat or a cough then continues back to gasping for air. Only when shes purring. Almost as if shes suffocating. Now when shes by me in bed and starts to purr and the breathing issue starts, she removes herself from the thing that makes her purr (me) and goes to litter box and stands there to calm herself down and then returns to me and then if it starts again she gets up goes to the litter box, calms herself down and then returns to me. In the last year shes gone deaf, and in the last 4 months gone almost completely blind. It breaks my heart to watch her go through it and now this I cant pet her cause she'll start to purr and then it starts. Any insight would help . You can email me personally at chadcleven@gmail.com . Also here is a youtube video of her breathing.

Slugs and snails have been a bit of a pain but things beginning to look OK now except for the carrots and I think I might be lucky to have 2 after sowing several rows, same for the chard - all chomped at seedling stage. Broad beans OK but not as good as last year - will try a different variety next year. Other beans are beginning to kick off now. Tomatoes doing well and peppers in flower. Early onions ready to harvest and the main crop is coming on nicely this year. Only have 2 redcurrant bushes and they went bonkers this year so OH made a lot of redcurrant jelly. Blackcurrants not so hot and apples look a bit sp"Ooops, word censored!" this year - but then both those were well laden last year so probably having a rest. Blueberries looking good. Strawberries have been fantastic! Hoping for a good crop of parsnips - they look fab above ground! Naughty mouse chomped a lot of my sweetcorn plants in the greenhouse - I gave it an alternative food which stopped it coming for night raids (with a tinge of regret), although it made no attempt to chomp any beans this year. Raspberries were forming on old stems - waiting for the new stems to produce now and they are covered in flowers (autumn variety they are). So as usual it's swings and roundabouts. Oooh forgot spuds in pots. Don't know how they are doing but we won't be bothering next year even though we had a lot of success last year, but they are on our patio and we want it replaced soon and don't want the pots to make marks on the new stones. Fussy aren't we!!!

I was thinking that too, I planted out some sweet corn, swedes and squashes yesterday, gave them a good soaking but they could do with some rein to settle them in. We picked raspberries, spinach, broad beans and new potatoes for our tea last night

Getting better I think. We had early problems with slugs but had settled a bit now the weather is drier. Harvested first new potatoes last week, 3 weeks earlier than last year. Fickle gardener that I am I'd now like some rain for a day or two!

For the first time, ever, after liberal application of nematodes and really heavy mulching, there is not a single sawfly caterpillar on my gooseberries My asparagus is looking like a forest...will be able to pick next year :) Three applications of Encarsia and there is no whitefly in the greenhouses !!

Yes some bees make holes in the base of broad bean flowers and take the nectar but don't pollinate the flower. It is bumble type bees because they are too chubby to get inside the flowers. I love the smell of broad bean flowers on a summer evening we have. Huge number of them this year, just hoping for some actual beans this year, they got totally annihilated by black fly last year.

When you say drilling I assume thro the flower? We have a lot of bees not sure if English or foreign ones. First raspberries today - 1/2 cupful eveything else is coming on slowly. Another fighting the deadly slime balls aka slugs and snails

We are doing pretty well with a lot of things, already had some new potatoes, carrots are zooming along, courgettes have flowers, huge strawberries, but we are fighting the birds and slugs for them despite netting, beans are getting slugged here too. We have huge broad bean plants but the bees are drilling holes in the flowers and they are not setting. Tomatoes are growing like mad and full of flowers, have a few small ones set on the Tumblers in the hanging baskets too. The warm weather has boosted my cucumbers which are finally growing well. We also have some lovely roses, seems like a good year for those too.

I have one lonely pear growing, even though there was lots of blossom! However the apple tree is laden with little apples starting. My hazelnut tree is a beauty this year - gorgeous red / burgundy leaves. My runner beans are growing like mad. I can almost see them growing by the hour. All plants - veg & flowers are doing fab. My strawberries have gone mad just growing in the open field / veg patch & netted over. There will be lots, just waiting for them to start ripening. Mmm mm. I'm not going to have to buy any tomatoes this year, after a friend brought me 8 tomato plants of mixed varieties. They have flowered since she brought them on Thursday. Cucumber plants are strong, as are the sweet peas. Courgette plant has a beautiful courgette on it & has bloomed another 5- 6 flowers. I'm pleased with how stuff is going this year. Emma.x

Wow! That sounds like it's going to be a good harvest! My one pear tree is quite full (even though I had the gardener have a go at it this winter, trying to get a better shape to it). My grape is absolutely full with flowers and the bumblebees are doing their job at ensuring I'll have lots of grapes. My black berry is going well and has lots of green berries so far. Tomatoes only have flowers yet. I have planted two variaties and one grows to be gigantic! Beans are being demolished by slugs....

Well said Surfnirvana. Our first boy lived till he was 20 as well - a Henry

Thank you Daphne & Lydia for your comments. They are really helpful and I think that we will have to monitor how he is over the coming days / weeks, but also knowing that the inevitable decision could soon be upon us. He has been such a character and great friend to us over all these years - this is the harsh reality of loving our pets so much, in that we know at some point they will be leaving us. So we will savour and appreciate every moment we have left with him.

My mother's cat had a similar thing in her later years. It started when she was about 17 and happened when she purred - she would cough like she had something stuck in her throat. She was fine otherwise, it was only a problem if you stroked her and she started purring. The vet could not find anything untoward so everyone just stopped stroking her to minimise the problem. It was hard to do but it seemed to help. She lived about another year and passed away peacefully. I hope you get to the bottom of it. Good luck.

We had something similar with one of ours earlier this year, although not only when she purred. It wasn't good news for us I'm afraid. I can't accurately remember the sequence of events but she did have difficulties breathing which eventually got so bad that she couldn't get her breath even to eat, and so we had her PTS. She was given steroids which helped, but only for the period of treatment. The hope was that it might give her a enough of a boost to overcome the problem, but in hindsight I realise that actually the vet was giving me a final 'good' week with her. I think it took about 6-8 weeks from first noticing her difficulties until the end. The vets thought she either had a tumour/growth, or fluid on/around the lungs or heart- it wasn't worth investigating further by opening her up as the prognosis was never going to be good and I didn't want to put her under the stress. It may not be the same thing at all, and I wish you a better outcome.

Thanks both, that reassuring.

a couple of mine always roost outside in the WIR rather than in the cube and they are going strong

It is what they would be doing in the wild. I had a friend whose hens always roosted in trees, no matter what the weather and they seemed perfectly happy.

May I ask you to give some detail about their little enclosure please. Did you mean the Eglu run as I thought thois was pretty Fox safe! Glad girls were ok... very scarey!!!

Screaming like a Banshee does help on 2 counts:- 1. It makes you feel as though you are doing something positive and 2. scares the bejesus out of the the fox. which hopefully will achieve the release of much loved chicken. So glad Hilda escaped unhurt. My Veronica, who also escaped unhurt, now lays the biggest eggs on a daily basis.

Phew, sounds like they had a lucky escape. So glad they weren't hurt, your screaming obviously did the trick.

Had a fox attack yesterday morning - luckily Hilda escaped unhurt, after much screaming and crying (from me!) They were just in their little enclosure outside the eglu! Poo!!

One of my chickens was taken while they were have a supervised free range. My dog, Oliver, was lying on the lawn with them (as in the photo below) but as soon as he went into the house the fox attacked. I think he/she must have been watching from the bushes and waited till Oliver went inside. This was during May at about 7.30pm but still very light. The fox was not at all bothered by my presence. My dog gave chase and the fox dropped the chicken. Luckily she was unhurt. Chickens are now in a 50m electric fence enclosure and have been like that since June with no incidences. They now free range all day unsupervised. There is still plenty of evidence of foxes both during the day and night and I have even seen them eyeing up the girls from a distance but taking no action.

Before we got the eglu cube and chickens we saw a fox in the garden, it backs onto a wood. The fox could jump a 6 foot fence easily. Now when free ranging the chooks have Jackson the BC who keeps an eye on them. He has left a wee trail all around the garden but we would not leave the chooks too long with no supervision but luckily we now have an extension on the cube so have plenty of room when they have to be locked away in the day.

hens taken: day or night? 0630 in the morning in Summer eglu, cube or wooden house Wooden house freeranging (supervised, unsupervised) or in their run (what type - eglu/cube or homemade) freerange semi-supervised if in a run, what defences were there (type of wire, height of walls, roof?) n/a if freeranging what sort of fences do you have, do you have a Foxwatch, had you employed other deterrents (male urine etc) 6 foot high wooden fences, now with a single thick wire running around about 3 inches above the fence to deter foxes ....seems to be working

Oh!!!! I've just realised that I can add Similies........ Violet Lavender All three are ex Batts who arrived here in August Bluebell Their house.

We live in a semi rural area, near a wood and I have lost three sets of chickens to foxes. I used to let my chickens free range all day and lost one set when I came home a little later than usual. Next set I lost when I forgot to shut up the eglu door at night and the final set I lost when I had opened the egg port to let some fresh air in and forgot to close it. I was so upset that I didn't have chickens again for a year. Now my ex batts live in Eglu Colditz and only free range when I am in the garden. A shame, but I have a Cube with an extension. There are only three of them and they seem very happy. I am sure that there are more foxes around than there used to be. I saw one in my drive at 10 am yesterday. I haven't seen one in the garden during the day yet but I have two dogs who seem to be good deterrents. Mind you, I do have a neighbour who feeds foxes!!!! Next summer I might fence off part of the garden with electric fencing to give the girls a bigger run.

Our garden is open at the back to a river and a hill and foxes live in a woodpile two house down. I have seen a fox in the day right up by the back door. We regularly find fox pooh around the area of the garden where the Eglu Cube is. We have seen no signs of the foxes trying to dig under the run or scratch into the Cube. We take no risks and have free ranging every day but ONLY under supervision. the hens are too precious to risk. We have a Cube extension so that they have plenty of room and try and let them stay out for a good length of time every day. I also try and shut them into the coop as soon as possible after they have chosen to pop on up - just so that they are completely out of sight and less tempting for any prowlers.