My budgie has a sore eye. It is blackened and is leaking some type of fluid. He does not seem overly bothered by it but it looks a mess. What could this be? Can I use eye drops from the pet shop?

F Quick, Cowley

This sounds like an emergency situation. “Black eyes” usually are usually the result of trauma, and if it is bad enough to bruise the tissue around the eye, the eye socket and/or inner structures of the eye could be damaged.

It is a short journey from the back of the eye to the brain and that could lead to terrible problems and of course there is likely to be pain and blindness. The fluid that is leaking could be tears, sinus fluid, saliva, or inner eye fluid.

Please do not use pet shop remedies or home remedies unless you have veterinary advice to do so after an examination.

My ancient cat has started yowling in the night. I get up and give her food but she just eats and starts it all over again. Her sister died two months ago and she has been weird since. Could this be the problem?

A Andrews, Barton

Your cat may be disorientated by the loss of her sister and this could explain her altered behaviour.

However, the fact that you get up and feed her could also be reinforcing this behaviour, if she is attention-seeking you are giving her what she craves.

She may also be going deaf; cats, like humans, will often speak louder if they cannot hear so well. It is also possible that she is showing early signs of dementia. Well worth having her checked over by your vet. In the meantime try to stop getting up in the night when she yowls.

My seven-month-old bearded dragon does not seem well. He’s in a glass aquarium and I feed him crickets, carrots and kale, no supplements. He has a light bulb which heats his area to 76 degrees. He also has an UVB coil light. S McCormack, Oxfordshire

For a dragon of this age the tank temperatures are too low; the basking area should be 110-115F and the cool area around 90F. The UVB light should be a tube which should run the length of the tank and be no more than 12 inches above the dragon, the coil type can cause eye problems.

Remember, this light should be replaced every six months or so as it will lose potency.

Lights should be on 12 hours daily. You need to change his diet too. Carrots can cause eye problems and kale binds calcium in the gut and so less is absorbed.

Feed broccoli, cabbage, red cabbage, turnip greens, dandelion leaves, butternut squash, sweet potato. Younger dragons will eat veg better if it is chopped. Also apricots, strawberries, raspberries, apples as occasional treats.

Young dragons should be fed up to 80 per cent of their daily ration as live prey like crickets, cockroaches, silkworms. Older dragons need less live prey. All veg and live prey should be dusted with calcium supplements five days a week and with multivitamins the other two days.

Have clean drinking water. Clean the living quarters every 10 days or so. If these changes do not improve the health of your dragon, please take him to your vet.