Arielle Griffiths MRCVS
Vet and pet owner

I am passionate about helping owners with their pets. I am a practising GP vet and I fully understand the strength of the human-animal bond.

I am so passionate about helping and about sharing with you everything I have learnt from listening to pet owners and clients as just like all of you who love their dogs more than you can say, we all want them to live for as long as possible and have the happy, healthy pain-free lives that they deserve.

Feeding ourselves and our children is difficult enough, but with the array of information out there, feeding our dogs is a minefield and we offer sensible and unbiased help and guidance to you the pet owner.

Clare Knottenbelt BVSc MSc DSAM MRCVS
Veterinary Oncologist and pet owner
Hawk and Dove Oncology Referrals

I am committed to trying to ensure that pets are as healthy and long lived as they can be. As an RCVS specialist in Small Animal Medicine and a Veterinary Oncologist, I spend much of my time supporting owners whose pets have cancer. As one in every three dogs and cats will develop cancer it’s a problem that sadly affects so many owners.

I lost my last dog Huntly to cancer at only 9 years old and this gave me a new perspective on the emotional burden that having a pet with cancer places on your family. Huntly was sadly plagued with medical problems throughout his life and these resulted in massive weight gain followed by massive weight loss. In the end he developed a thyroid tumour in his neck which meant that it become increasingly difficult for him to breathe.

Unfortunately, our current dog Jumble has already had a mast cell tumour removed, and at 8 years old is starting to experience middle-aged spread. At this point in his life, the risk of him developing many diseases including cancer increases and if his weight isn’t kept under control, he is at greater risk of mobility issues too.

For many years I worked at the University of Glasgow and during this time became more aware of the similarities between humans and our much-loved pets when it comes to causes and prevention of disease. I was often asked what causes cancer in pets and just like in humans there is no straight answer; we know there are things we can do to try to prevent cancer such as not smoking, eating healthily and taking lots of exercise. These factors can help humans achieve a healthy life expectancy and that’s what we all want for our pets.

As a family we are determined to ensure that Jumble has the longest and healthiest life that he can. Jumble has grown up with my daughters and he provides the whole family with emotional support and gets us all up and out to take him for walks. We all want Jumble to live a long life and to remain healthy, but despite this, it has only been recently that we started to review exactly what he was being fed. It came as a shock to realise that Jumble eats so much junk food – I don’t let my kids do that, but I now understand why he has started to gain weight!

This realisation has meant that I want to support his health through his food. I know that I am not the only pet owner that feels this way and as a vet I can help support others to ensure that their furry family members can also live long and stay as healthy as possible!