With online pet sales on the increase, Cats Protection would like to warn of the potential risk of buying an ill or diseased kitten.
This year the charity has heard of many kittens that were taken from their mothers at too young an age and sold online for the sake of a quick profit. Kittens should be at least eight weeks old so that they are fully weaned and developing normally from a health and behavioural perspective.
Unsuspecting buyers did not realise that they bought a potentially sick kitten until after purchase which meant they were sometimes left with high veterinary bills, or in some cases, a kitten which tragically died.
Action Fraud also reports that there has been a six-fold increase in instances of kitten and cat fraud (1,146 in 2020/21 compared to just 190 in 2019/20), underlining the need for buyers to be vigilant.
Please visit www.cats.org.uk/eight-weeks for advice on how to purchase a happy and healthy kitten or give a donation to help Cats Protection care for unwanted kittens.
The charm of the presents under our Christmas tree lies partly in their very different shapes and sizes. Perhaps the same could be said of our own families. None of them look the same.
Take 12-year-old Hawa – she lives with her granny, an aunt and four cousins in Liberia. Often there is not enough food for her family to eat.
Mary’s Meals serves nutritious food at school to children living in some of the world’s poorest countries, attracting them into the classroom where they receive an education that can, in the future, be their ladder out of poverty.
More than two million children receive our life-changing meals every school day – including Hawa.
I am pleased to tell you that, until 31 January 2022, donations made to our Double The Love campaign will be matched, up to £1.6 million, by a generous group of supporters.
Those children receiving Mary’s Meals might not have a pile of presents to unwrap on Christmas morning, but their dreams are alive and well, thanks to those who share our belief that every child should have enough to eat and go to school.
Around 776,579 people adults in Scotland have been diagnosed with high blood pressure in Scotland, with many more remaining undiagnosed and unaware.
That’s extremely worrying to our charity as high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of stroke.
One of the ways to reduce blood pressure is to reduce your sodium intake. Most of this sodium is in the salt we eat and that’s why we’re proud to support Season with Sense, a public health campaign which aims to drive down consumer sodium intake.
The good news is that by making small changes to our diet – such as cutting the amount or type of salt – we can greatly reduce our risk of serious health issues.
If you find it hard to cut out salt completely, there are alternatives to regular table, sea and rock salts such as LoSalt® which has two thirds less sodium without any taste compromise.
When you’re out shopping, watch out for the special tubs of LoSalt® on sale in supermarkets. For every tub sold a 20p donation will be made to help fund the vital work we do to support stroke survivors and carers.
The tubs will also have information attached to help shoppers understand the FAST test. Face, Arms, Speech, are the most common signs that someone is having a stroke. Time tells you that Stroke is a medical emergency and you must phone 999 straight away. We are thrilled that this vital information will be getting into the hands of 150,000 people.
Please do note that if you take some types of medication that affect potassium levels, LoSalt® and other reduced sodium salt alternatives may not be suitable for you. This includes people receiving medication for diabetes, heart or kidney disorders. Check with your GP for advice.
John Watson
Associate Director Scotland, The Stroke Association
Ahead of World Pancreatic Cancer Day on November 18th I’m writing to highlight the importance of learning the symptoms of this devastating disease.
Worryingly, our new survey tells us that nearly a third of people in the UK would wait three months or more to seek help from their GP if they had potential symptoms of pancreatic cancer. That’s at least three times longer than recommended.
The findings also show that the pandemic is actively deterring people from contacting their doctor, with 31% saying they would delay seeking help for longer than usual. Pancreatic cancer symptoms – which can include tummy and back pain, indigestion. unexplained weight loss and oily floating poo – are common to less serious health conditions and, tragically many people are diagnosed too late for lifesaving treatment.
In Scotland nearly 1,000 people are diagnosed with the disease each year.
I would urge anyone who experiences some, or all, of these symptoms persistently for more than four weeks to contact their GP. Early diagnosis is vital to give people the very best chance of survival.
Pancreatic Cancer UK have made a short video explaining the symptoms we all need to look out for. Please watch and share it with your loved ones.
It could help someone be diagnosed in time for lifesaving treatment.
Our Specialist nurses are here to provide support and information to anyone affected by pancreatic cancer on our confidential support line on (Freecall: 0808 801 0707).
Yesterday’s government figures showed that job vacancies have hit a record high of 1.2 million, an increase of 20% in the past three months. It’s seems like a no-brainer that our young people should be able to train to fill these roles.
Many of the sectors continuing to battle with skills shortages, such as construction, manufacturing, and hospitality, are reliant on Level 2 vocational qualifications as a direct route into jobs in these industries.
Yet, the Government has failed to prioritise these lower level, work-ready qualifications, instead focusing their post-16 policy and funding at qualifications of A Level standard and above.
The Government have a chance to close the skills gap and the disadvantage gap that is so significant among 16-19-year-olds, boost the economy and give young people the future they deserve. But to do this, they must ensure a wide range of high-quality, employer-endorsed options are available at all levels.
With the festive season nearly upon us, Santa and his elves are already busy getting everything prepared to make sure every child has a magical Christmas.
As always, Santa is expecting to receive millions of letters from children all over the world with asks of what they’d like to receive in their stockings on Christmas Day.
To make sure that every child can read his reply, Santa has teamed up with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to make his letters available in accessible formats, including braille, audio and large print, for children who have a vision impairment.
Last year, the elves sent 1,465 letters from Santa to blind and partially sighted children across the UK, helping them experience the same magic of Christmas as sighted children.
If you know a child who has a vision impairment and who would love to receive a letter from Santa, please send their Christmas letter to: Santa Claus, RNIB, Northminster House, Northminster, Peterborough, PE1 1YN.
Santa has also gone digital! Email santa@rnib.org.uk by Wednesday 22 December for an email response with a large print attachment.
Financial organisations are operating heavily in ore mining, oil extraction, shale drilling, coal mining and – worst of all – they are active in the destruction of the world’s forests.
The rapid destruction has now reached 70% of our forests. Behind these ghastly figures stand the faceless multinational financial organisations.
The felling of the world’s trees reduces the ability of the forests to produce the oxygen that we humans need to breathe. The rate of oxygen decrease is destructive to humans, animals and sea stocks.
We have the knowledge of this terrible destruction being carried out by these exploiters. The oxygen cannot be replaced because the forest has been chopped down – it has gone!
We know who is doing this and they know who they are – causing catastrophe!
Our government – all governments – must immediately stop this destruction of the rain forests, the soil erosion and the terrifying population dispalcement.
A. Delahoy
Silverknowes Gardens
NOTE: Tony may be heartened by announcements expected from the COP26 conference later today – ED.
People aged 60 to 69 and adults aged 16 and over with underlying health conditions have begun to receive invitations for their flu and COVID-19 booster vaccinations through the post.
Appointments for this group will take place at a local community clinic and will run from late October and throughout November.
Currently, as per JCVI advice, we are vaccinating people in the highest risk groups for both flu and COVID-19 including those who are aged 70 years and over, people in older adult care homes, those who are on the Highest Risk List and frontline health and social care workers.
In addition we are delivering flu vaccinations to children under 2 years old who have underlying health conditions, preschool children aged 2-5, all school pupils, pregnant women and all NHS healthcare workers.
The winter flu and COVID-19 vaccination programme is working together to reduce the risks for both types of illness. Wherever possible, those eligible for the booster jab will receive both the flu vaccine and COVID-19 boosters on the same day. This is safe and effective to do.
More than 1.5 million COVID-19 and flu vaccinations have been administered since September 6.
For those in the underlying health conditions group, the type of health condition will guide whether they will be given a flu jab, the COVID-19 booster, or both vaccines.
Details on who is eligible for these vaccinations and when they can expect an invitation are available on NHS Inform.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “For those eligible for the COVID-19 boosters, appointments can only take place six months (24 weeks) after your second dose. As such, it may take several weeks before you receive your invitation letter. We remain on track with Scotland’s booster programme prioritising those at the highest risk for both COVID-19 and flu.
“We started this as soon as possible following the JCVI advice – that the booster dose should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course. It is important to note that many people in the original early priority cohorts of the initial vaccination programme had already had a 6 month gap prior to this JCVI advice.
“In addition to delivering the COVID-19 vaccine boosters, this year we are offering a record number of free flu vaccines to help protect the people of Scotland. It is the biggest ever flu vaccination programme in Scotland reaching over 4 million people.
“Appointments for both vaccines are being scheduled based on clinical need and age and it will take until the middle of January for everyone to be offered their vaccines. Boosters will be offered to many of the groups who routinely have the flu vaccine to protect people from both illnesses. To support this, we are ensuring those most vulnerable are vaccinated first.
“But I would like to stress: everyone who is eligible will be offered a vaccination. If you haven’t received your appointment letter yet, please be patient. You do not have to do anything now – you will be contacted, notifying you of your appointment.
“The flu virus changes every year, so you need to get the vaccine every year to stay protected. The vaccine cannot give you flu, but it can help stop you catching it, or suffering severe symptoms. The COVID-19 vaccine does not offer any protection from flu, you need to get the separate flu vaccine.
“Flu can be extremely serious and is very infectious. With COVID-19 still circulating in the community we can best protect those most at risk as well as ease pressure on our National Health Service and social care services by encouraging everyone eligible to get vaccinated against flu.”
Scottish Labour said: “This is more proof that the SNP are failing to protect the most vulnerable this winter: They’ve shifted goalposts for booster jabs.
“Many will now have to wait at least another month for a third jag. Cases are spiralling and we need faster action from the Government.”
To find out more about vaccine eligibility and when you will be invited visit:
nhsinform.scot/fluandcovid19vaccsguide
For more information about the flu vaccine, visit:
nhsinform.scot/fluvaccine
For more information about the COVID-19 booster visit:
At Bliss we know this winter is likely to be a difficult one for parents in Scotland due to the risks caused by Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections.
RSV is a common virus that causes cold like symptoms but can cause critical illnesses such as bronchiolitis in babies born premature or sick.
Like other seasonal coughs, colds and flu, RSV is usually most prevalent in Scotland between October and March each year. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions in social contact meant that cases of RSV were reduced. However, since people began mixing again, there has steadily been an increase in cases ahead of the usual winter seasonal trend, mainly in children aged under five.
Already hospitals across the UK are dealing with a highly unusual surge in illness among pre-school children, with thousands more under-fives than normal presenting with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections at A&E departments each week.
As part of a major new campaign Bliss will be working to provide information and support about RSV and respiratory infections directly to families of premature and sick babies at neonatal units across Scotland.
Through our new campaign we also want to make sure, especially, that we reach Black, Asian, Eastern European and other ethnic minority communities, as well as those who are socio-economically disadvantaged.
This is because they may be less likely to have access to accessible healthcare information, or to go to healthcare professionals for support. Information will be translated into a range of different languages including Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati and Polish. Parents will also be able to translate our online information into their language of choice.
If your baby was born prematurely, is prone to lung infections or was born with a congenital heart problem, they could be at greater risk of becoming seriously ill if infected with RSV.
We are urging all parents to know the warning signs of respiratory conditions and to contact their health care professional when they need to.
Are you a parent or guardian of a 2-5 year old in Edinburgh, East Lothian or Midlothian? Check out this important update regarding flu vaccine appointments
More information on the children’s flu vaccine is available here:
