In June, we were joined by a dozen Japanese vets, for a three-day veterinary homeopathy course in the lovely Jurassic Coast region of Dorset. We held the event at Moonfleet Manor, which rightly prides itself on its food, its comfort and its family-friendly atmosphere and facilities. This lovely hotel sits right on the edge of the majestic Fleet, that enigmatic 'lagoon' on the Dorset coast. Chesil Beach is just there, too.

The Group Photograph

I was joined for the teaching by Peter Gregory and Jane Keogh. We had lectures and live case teaching, some of which was held in the open, under the Dorset sun.

The teaching was rightly interspersed with walking the Coast Path, with visiting traditional Dorset pubs and with sampling Dorset beers. This all appeared to go down immensely well with our resilient Japanese colleagues, who appeared to enjoy themselves mightily. However, we had to arrange our excursions around the fabled Moonfleet dinners, which just could not be missed!

Apart from cementing friendships across continents, we all had a wonderful time and enjoyed each other's company throughout. I must especially thank our intrepid interpreter, who really made the event and my Japanese friends and colleagues for some lovely presents.

I wish also to thank the three dogs and their human companions, for their invaluable contribution.

Windy Evening above Lulworth Cove

Serious Study

Live Case Teaching Outdoors

Pub

Another Pub

And Another Pub

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In May, I had the enormous pleasure of being invited to teach in Italy, in a monastery in Pescia, Tuscany. The hospitality and food in Tuscany are famous and our friends and colleagues in the Dulcamara School, based in Genova (Genoa), outdid even that. It was a truly memorable experience with warm memories.

I can only thank my Italian friends for a wonderful and really congenial time. Friendships and Homeopathy spread.

Convento di Colleviti, Pescia

Relaxing at Dinner

Lawn Dancing at a Birthday Party, on the last night

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I have been very lax in sharing our experience with dolphins, off Africa, last Autumn. Better late than never!

Cheeky Leap

We went out in a small whale-watching boat, run by FIRMM (Foundation for Information and Research on Marine Mammals), based in the port of Tarifa (Spain).

This very worthy foundation pointed out to us how Japanese factory ships vacuum spawning blue-finned tuna BEFORE they enter the Mediterranean to spawn. The Orca does it the other way around - it catches them on their way out, allowing them to reproduce. Why is man so counter to nature in so many of his activities? This unwise practice threatens not only the tuna but everything that feeds on them (including man). FIRMM does its best to educate on this issue, to modify whale-unfriendly and ecologically-unfriendly practices.

All in all, it was a wonderful and stimulating day out. We were too late for the bigger whales and Orcas but we did see three species of dolphin. They are the most delightful creatures.

Ill-equipped with a pretty basic pocket digital camera, complete with broken zoom, we have a very grainy record of the dolphin sightings, not helped by a slightly choppy sea but the photographs are nonetheless treasured and serve to remind us well of our exhilarating experiences. I can only apologise to those who would have liked to see top-class pictures. We've definitely chalked this up for another visit, one day, though next time with a long lens.

Mother and Calf

Fluke Display

Formation Swimming

Possibly Mother and Older Calf

Freedom of the Waves!

And it's the nearest I've ever been to Africa (Morocco), so far.

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In case anyone says we didn't have a summer this year, what was this? This should cheer us up for September.

Gliding gull

Oom-pah-pah [the wonderful Lyme Regis Band]

Begonias?

Did someone mention chips?

Real Estate

The many colours of Lyme Regis

Thatch by the sea

The wind beneath my wings

Ammonites

Master of all he surveys

Buddleia

Garden Tiger Moth

Flawless sunset

Close of play

There must be worse views from restaurant windows . . .

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This is 'old news' but makes a worthwhile point nonetheless.

While mucking out some 'archives', I came across the following newspaper cutting, written by Roger Highfield, Science Editor of The Daily Telegraph, on 7th August 2001.

"An experimental pet food may make cats and dogs live longer by reducing the damage to genetic material linked with the diseases of ageing.

Preliminary evidence of the effects of the "functional food" was presented yesterday to the Waltham International Symposium in Vancouver, Canada, a gathering of academics and vets.

A DNA damage test to validate the antioxidant blend for cats and dogs has been developed by the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, in Leicestershire, funded by Mars Pet Foods, the manufacturer of Pedigree Chum and Whiskas.

Patents are pending on the food, which mixes antioxidants, notably Vitamins C and E, which mop up damaging chemical intermediates, called radicals.

In a controlled trial of 40 dogs fed the blend of vitamins and amino acids for only two months, DNA damage was reduced by 26 per cent compared with animals on a conventional diet. Cats fed the blend displayed 17 per cent less DNA damage."

I don't suppose that those involved would be too eager to make a direct link between manufactured foods and the 'diseases of ageing'.

I believe that these 'improvements' have now been incorporated in the latest versions of these and other pet diets.

I would be very interested if anyone has copies of literature advertising the above-named foods as 'ideal' or 'balanced' or other claim etc., before these changes were made. This piece just seems to corroborate what the advocates of natural feeding have been asserting for years, that the claims of manufacturers should not be heeded too blindly. If the food was so good before, why did it need improving? We await the next 'improvements' with interest and the next . . . .

Meanwhile, we'll go on feeding our dogs on wholesome natural (full of natural antioxidants) food, that has escaped the processors' and manufacturers' attention.

After I typed all this in, a little jiggling on Google revealed that Roger Highfield's article is still on the internet, at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1336668/New-food-may-add-years-to-pets-lives.html

As an even more 'dated' but poignant reminder of the fact that manufacturers can get it wrong, here's another example, from the Canadian Veterinary Journal (about Thiamine/Vitamin B1):

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1695079

As the Romans so wittily remarked, caveat emptor!

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