Pets
The insane craze for dog ice-cream
During the few hot days we had in June, I came across my first tub of dog ice-cream nestled among…
A purring cat is not always contented
In his vast survey of felines wild and domestic, Jonathan Losos reveals, among much else, that a cat’s purr can convey hunger or panic as well as pleasure
Pie in the sky
Frieda Hughes adopts an unfledged orphan bird, regarding him as ‘a magical creature’ – but few others find him so engaging
Good luck enjoying eating salmon ever again
‘I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by cat videos,’ begins Henry Mance’s How to Love Animals, winningly.…
How not to walk a dog
Watching a woman driving a dog past my house like a carthorse is just another ‘new normal’ of lockdown. This…
All these lockdown puppies come at a price
The hidden costs of the lockdown puppy boom
Spare me the ‘furbabies’ – the humanisation of pets has gone too far
Let animals be animals
The middle-class cats that are ditching meat
As I write, my cats and a visitor from the next street are hammering into their food, at nearly £5…
Adventures of a hell-cat in heaven
Over the weekend I officiated at a funeral. Earlier in the morning there had been lowering rain clouds, but by…
The Spectator, 1916: To win the war, lose the dogs
From ‘Food dictatorship’, The Spectator, 27 May 1916: Nobody would like to see the whole race of dogs exterminated, but…
Meet Leo... my soppy, dopey, affectionate, deadly predator
Leo, the Hungarian Vizsla my wife brought home unexpectedly last year, is approaching his first birthday and not getting any…
Beautiful, wilful, never dull: in praise of Clumber spaniels
For the first time in more than 30 years we have no Clumber spaniel. We have had five: Henry, Judith,…
Why compulsory microchipping is bad for caring dog-owners
Compulsory microchipping of dogs will hurt caring pet owners – but help busybodies
Dear Mary: Must I have name badges for guests at my wedding?
Q. My husband-to-be and I both work full time. We are getting married from his family HQ and his kind…
Dreaming of bringing your favourite pet back to life? Soon it could be reality
The super-rich are already bringing beloved dogs and horses back to life. Soon the rest of us will be able to do it too
The Tooting poisoner and the relentless rise of the urban fox
In my London neighbourhood, an argument about urban foxes is turning very nasty indeed
Dear Mary: How will Joan Collins introduce herself now she’s a dame?
Q. We enjoyed the Christmas University Challenge series featuring mature graduates, some of whom were more in the public eye than…
Spectator letters: Bereaved parents against press regulation, and a defence of Tony Benn
Why we need a free press Sir: As bereaved parents and (to borrow from some signatories of last week’s advertisement)…
The battle against the dog police
Feral bureaucrats are banning dogs from places they’ve been walked for generations. But now owners are fighting back
What nannies know
Soon after moving to London at the age of 20, Nina Stibbe wrote to her sister Vic saying, ‘Being a…
What a tortoise can teach us
Five lessons from my new pet