Q Two of my chickens are getting swollen knuckles in their feet. One bird seems so painful he is reluctant to walk. What is this? R. Roberts, Witney, Oxford A This could be ‘bumble foot’ which is a bacterial infection which causes abscesses in the feet and can invade the joints and bones.

This is a serious condition and difficult to treat and as with all bacterial infections the sooner the better.

It usually results from minor breaks in the skin of the foot.

Avoid sharp, uneven underfoot conditions in the run and in the chicken coop pay particular attention to the perches, keep them clean and smooth: no sharp edges which can damage the feet.

Avoid having perches too far from the ground as birds can damage their feet as they jump down.

Sometimes the infection can follow frostbite or scaly leg (a mite infection).

Treatment involves antiseptic bathing of affected feet, draining abscesses, dressings when necessary and antibiotics.

Q My two-year-old terrier has a heart condition which was diagnosed when she was a puppy. She is unlikely to live past three. She is on two tablets of Vetmedin and Benazepril every day. This treatment is very expensive and she needs scans, ECGs and X-rays twice a year. Can we stop these medicines as we really cannot afford it? W. Taylor, Kidlington A This condition must be serious given the prognosis and the regularity of the checks she is having.

When a heart is faulty it has to work harder to pump the blood round the body and as a result it gets bigger, the muscle thickens.

When the heart muscle is thick it has less time to relax between beats.

Vetmedin and Benazepril work together to decrease the amount of work the thickened heart muscle has to do partly by opening the blood vessels in the body and so making the hearts job easier.

Inevitably taking your dog off these drugs will allow her heart condition to progress and surely her life will be shortened as a result.

It is possible that cheaper alternative drugs will do a similar job, just not quite so effectively.

Speak to your vet about this – they may be able to prescribe alternatives.

Q My cat is having treatment after she had blood in her eyes. This happened as a result of high blood pressure and her right retina detached. She is having steroid drops in the eyes three times daily. Yesterday the left eye seemed painful and she holds it closed and it is cloudy. What should I do? A. May, Woodstock A First stop the drops until you can have the cat re-examined urgently.

The eye is full of fluid and is constantly pressurised. The pressure is controlled by a constant production of fluid within the eye and a constant drainage of the fluid out of the eye.

When there is bleeding in the eye this can cause the retina to detach; blood leaking into the eye fluid can cause an inflammation and a build-up of abnormal fluid which block the normal eye drainage system.

This could explain what you are seeing – cloudiness is often a feature of this condition. Alternatively it is possible the cornea of the eye has been damaged/ infected. This also could produce the signs you describe.