HE is on a mission to help our pets  . . . and is here to answer YOUR questions.

Sean, who is the head vet at tailored pet food firm tails.com, has helped with owners’ queries for ten years.

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He says: “If your pet is acting funny or is under the weather, or you want to know about nutrition or exercise, just ask. I can help keep pets happy and healthy.”

Q) I AM thinking of getting some fish for my ten-year-old son Toby to get him interested in wildlife.

What size do you think is a good starter tank and what fish do you recommend?

Mark Castle, Birmingham

A) Buy as big as you can afford, with an appropriate size filter.

Your local aquatics store can advise, and it’s worth finding one dedicated to fish only as they will be able to give you time and expertise.

I always say that you are not keeping fish, you are keeping water.

Water quality is key, and it’s a fine balance between the amount of water, the number of fish and the capacity of the filtration.

Food in means poop out, and if there is too much food there will be too much of the end product polluting the water and causing issues.

A small freshwater tropical aquarium will cost a fair initial outlay, with weekly maintenance needed.

So it’s not a small commitment, but will provide hours of fascination and wonder. I’m still mesmerised by mine.

Q) MY chihuahua Sally hates me cleaning her teeth.

She just won’t have it and runs away. It’s such a struggle.

I have tried all kinds of different flavoured toothpaste, but her breath is a bit stinky.

Are those chews that are designed to clean teeth the real deal? And can I just use them instead of brushing?

Dominic McGrath, Glasgow

A) Firstly, well done for trying.

This is something many pet owners never get around to and, without cleaning, it’s inevitable your dog will need dental work sooner or later.

Some dogs tolerate brushing very well, others hate it and never come around.

The trick is to start slow and for short periods, gradually building up the time you ask them to tolerate it.

It’s also important to say some breeds are more prone to dental disease, mainly our toy breeds, ­chihuahuas and Yorkshire terriers in particular.

Taking Sally to the vet for an annual check-up is important.

And it’s likely, even with brushing, that she will need a proper dental cleaning under anaesthetic every few years.

Q) AS a pup, my eight-year-old German shepherd had a good hip score.

But for the last six months, Bear’s back legs have become weak.

He is not in any pain and still runs around full of enthusiasm, but he’s a farm dog who has never been in a car and I don’t want to stress him out by taking him to a vet.

Is this just an age thing that is typical of the breed?

Is there anything I can do to help this matter?

Sally Hansard, Gainsborough, Lincs

A) I can’t really help you here. Not taking him to the vet for a potential issue that could have lifelong complications isn’t really in Bear’s best interests.

Any stress involved will be outweighed by the knowledge and advice gained by finding out what is actually wrong with him and how best to manage it going forward.

Q) I WANT to have a wildlife pond in my garden, but is it right you shouldn’t put koi or goldfish in it?

Ideally, I’d like both. What do you think?

Bruce Taylor, Cardiff

A) You definitely need to choose one or the other.

Goldfish and koi are not compatible with wildlife.

They will eat most creatures in the pond that provide important food for other native wildlife.

Star of the week

RESCUE cat Marley has been crowned the UK’s most loving moggy for comforting trafficked women.

He beat thousands to the Cat of the Year title at the Cats Protection awards, where he met TV presenter and writer Dawn O’Porter.

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The seven-year-old soothes guests at the London safe house, giving out cuddles and posing during art therapy sessions.

Karen Anstiss, 59, head of Caritas Bakhita House, currently home to 11 women from 11 countries, said: “Marley is a wonderful example of the power of love.

“Often, him placing a paw on our guests’ legs is the first kindness they’ve experienced in years.

“Before he went into rescue, he’d had a hard time, so he recognises our guests’ trauma.”

WIN: Dog training

WOULD you love a calmer and more relaxed life with your dog?

Win one year of Pup Talk The Pack online dog training membership worth £360.

It includes easy training videos and support from Niki French, author of best-selling book STOP! Walking Your Dog.

To enter, send an email marked PUPTALK to sundaypets@the-sun.co.uk by Nov 3.

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See puptalk.co.uk.

T&Cs apply.

Learn what makes your pooch tick

DOG owners should carry out personality tests on their pets so they can mix with like-minded mutts.

Pet psychology expert Heather Stevens says your best friend can find their own BFF if you follow her tips.

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The trainer and author of Beyond The Breed: The New Way To Know And Understand Your Dog believes that pinpointing a canine’s character makes for a happy pet and owner.

Heather, who also runs doggy day care, began studying canine characteristics to ensure her clients got along smoothly.

She says: “Identifying the character of your dog helps with training and understanding how they see the world.

“Owners feel more empowered when they know a little more about what’s really going on with their dogs.”

Heather, 68, from Richmond, North Yorks, adds: “It explains why two dogs from the same litter can be so different and why they may be best friends with one black labrador, but terrified of another that looks exactly the same.

“I wrote the book to help people develop a deeper emotional understanding of their dogs so they can really grasp what’s happening when it comes to their behaviour.”

Learn more about Heather’s work and training tips, and buy her book, at beyondthebreed.co.uk.

HEARTBROKEN punters have lamented a town’s bar as the “best place to boogie” after it announced it is closing down “forever”.

Revolution Bath is shutting next month the venue announced on Facebook amid a string of closures for troubled owners Revolution Bars Group.

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In a post it said: “Our team is absolutely heartbroken and we want to thank you so much for partying with us!

“We would love for you to visit us again before we close and you can up until the 2nd of November!

“If you have a booking after the 2nd November a member of our team will be in contact ASAP. Love team Revs Bath.”

The bar is set to host Halloween Till Revs Do Us Par Revolution Finalè Closing Halloween Party.

The event runs until 3am.

Writing in the comments, one person said “best club in Bath” and another added “end of an era”.

A third person said: “Only place I liked to end up in! Very happy memories of going in there for one drink after work then ending up out all night!”

One reveller admitted the bar has a very special place in his heart for an important reason.

He said: “Met my amazing wife here and nearly 15 years later still going strong.”

STRUGGLING

The company’s plans to close 25 locations across the UK is part of a restructuring plan granted approval in the High Court.

It will mean the popular chain can avoid insolvency after struggling since the pandemic.

After the overhaul is completed, the company said it will operate 65 venues.

This will consist of 27 Revolution Bars, 15 Revolucion de Cuba bars, 22 Peach Pubs and one Founders & Co site.

A full list of locations affected have not yet been revealed, but it will affect loss-making bars.

The company has fallen on hard times in recent years, as the cost of living crisis and young Brits drinking less has damaged sales.

The boozer needed the court to sanction its overhaul which it hopes will restore its finances after a difficult few years following the pandemic.

It is hoped that the High Court ruling will draw a line under a difficult few months for the business.

Commenting in August, executive Rob Pitcher said: “The group is now well diversified across the key brands, providing a more secure financial base and we look forward to the future with improved optimism.

“We know this has been a very difficult period for all of our teams both in our sites and in our support office and I’d like to thank them for their support and resilience.”

This is not the first time the brand has shuttered pubs.

In 2020, the bar chain announced plans to shutter six sites as it struggled to keep afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

More recently in July, Revolution Bars Group revealed to The Sun it would shutter 11 locations on August 11 as part of a major overhaul.

A WINNING Postcode Lottery player didn’t even know he had entered the competition before a £200,000 cheque knocked at his door.

Alison and Tim Browne, from Breaston, Derbyshire, were gobsmacked when they discovered the lucrative jackpot.

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The couple were one of three households who scooped the windfall in the Postcode Lottery Millionaire Street draw today.

But, Tim admitted he wasn’t even aware wife Alison have even entered the competition.

He said: “I can’t believe it. I’m just glad she didn’t phone to tell me the amount when I was driving!

“I didn’t even know she was doing People’s Postcode Lottery, to be honest.”

An overjoyed Alison added: “It’s a fantastic feeling and I can’t stop smiling. But we’re going to have a big, big party on the street.

“It’s wonderful. We’ve known George and Paul for over 30 years and we get on really, really well.

“It’s a lovely street, lovely neighbours, and a lovely place to live.

“I don’t know what to think. This is life-changing, it really is.”

The pair are plan to splurge the cash on a lavish holiday to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

And, they will finally be able to tick riding on the iconic Orient Express off their bucket-list.

Tim said: “It means everything. We always wanted to do the train trip across the Rockies in Canada and also the Orient Express.

“There’s lots of trips that we’ve never done and have never been able to do. And now we’ll be able to do them and that’s fantastic.”

Alison, a freelance school music exam coordinator, said: “We’ve been married 43 years now, but our 40-year anniversary fell during lockdown so we weren’t able to celebrate properly. Now we can do that.”

The mum-of-two said their jackpot has seen her drop half a stone within a week due to lack of sleep.

“But it’s good! You have dreams that you have won lots of money, but then you wake up and think, ‘Damn, it’s a dream’,” she added.

“This is how I felt every night this week when I managed to get to sleep at 3am. Then I woke up and thought, ‘No, it’s not a dream!’

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would win this much.”

The couple share a son Matthew, who is autistic, and hailed the win for “the security this will bring him”.

Meanwhile, older son James, joked: “I’ll be happy with a pint in Spoons. It’s £6 a pint!”

Tim revealed he also dreams of welcoming a new puppy into the family to keep Pointer Finlay company.

The musician told how a new Gore-Tex waterproof jacket wouldn’t go a miss either.

Alison laughed: “If we get another dog we’ll need a house with a bigger garden.

“My son and daughter-in-law don’t want us to get another dog because they have to look after them if we go away.

“We’re all going away to Wales on holiday together next week so we can celebrate there.”

How to play the People’s Postcode Lottery?

For just £12 a month, players can sign up through the official website to have a chance of winning millions of pounds.

Once signed up, players are automatically entered into every draw and prizes are announced every day of each month.

Tickets play for the Daily Prize, worth £1000 and revealed every single day.

Tickets could also win a jackpot of £30,000 for Saturday and Sunday’s Street Prize draws.

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People’s Postcode Lottery also offers a £3million Postcode Millions draw each month – where your ticket plays for a share of the cash prize fund.

Winners are notified by email, text, post, or phone call, depending on the prize they win.

Jackpot winners are visited by the lottery team in person.

It comes as another lucky player who scooped a life-changing Postcode Lottery prize refused to believe she had won – until a key sign revealed it was fate.

Meanwhile, another punter doubled their £200,000 Postcode Lottery win by using a clever trick – make sure you don’t miss out.

Jo Deighton from Shoreham, West Sussex, was gobsmacked when she scooped nearly an eye-watering quarter of a million pounds.

Elsewhere, one Brit who bagged a £410,000 jackpot told how no one believed her – not even her husband.

Leyla Eaton’s jaw dropped after discovering she’d scooped the eye-watering prize.

The mum-of-two entered when she was struck by a “strong feeling” a huge windfall was coming her way.

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A MILLIONAIRE’s paradise is home to A-list celebs and lined with Rolls-Royces and Bentleys – but it’s kept top secret.

Houses on one of Stockwell’s more affluent roads cost a whopping £1.18 million on average.

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Some pads in the south London neighbourhood even come equipped with a gym, pool or home cinema. 

Local architect Louis, 47, once designed a glass house for a diamond vendor who wanted a room for his enormous collection of cacti.

The project cost the homeowner over £15,000 – just a drop in the ocean for a man who owns a Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

His house is also adorned with 12 columns to represent the tribes of Israel, Louis added..

Showbiz stars Joanna Lumley and Toby Jones also live in the leafy neighbourhood.

Theatre director Zoe, 33, said her whole road is filled with people from the industry.

Zoe has lived in her godparents’ house ‘for mates rates’ for seven years.

She said: “Things have definitely changed. The post office closed down because of gentrification. Everyone protested.”

Just a few minutes away in a multiple story house lives artist Richard Rees, the President of the Pastel Society.

He said: “Large houses are easily worth £2.5 million plus and are very hard to get hold of.”

Stockwell is just a stone’s throw away from the Oval cricket ground and a short tube ride from the city centre.

Finance tech worker Sam Hanfield said this makes the area particularly appealing for rich Londoners.

Sam, 37, added: “Brixton Market 10 years ago was very different to what it is now.

“It’s much more gentrified. You can see that in the types of people wandering around.”

Sam bought one of the area’s beautiful Georgian houses for a whopping £1.2million – and reckons it has nearly doubled in value.

He said: “The street I’m on isn’t just lawyers and investment bankers, there are a lot of creators. My neighbour’s house used to be a squat.”

Writer Paul, 67, has lived in the area for 25 years and keeps his Tesla on the street outside his house. 

Like Sam, he’s also bagged himself a gorgeous Georgian villa, which he reckons is worth about £2 million now.

He said: “When we moved here the houses weren’t expensive but now they’re a lot of money.”

Despite keeping his EV on the street, Paul said he’s never been the victim of any crime.

But he said his niece did have her handbag stolen when she was walking one night.

Other longtime residents say they are adjusting to the area’s new-found glam.  

Andrew, 70, said: “There are some seriously affluent people around here.”

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“Those two houses are now a million and a half were squatted in when we moved in.”

He added: “There are lots of bankers who have moved in the last five years.

“There are people who are putting a gym and theatre in the basement. It’s the sort of thing you would find in Kensington.”

Inigo Woodham-Smith, 27, lives at home with his mother – a masseuse and spiritual healer – just down the road.

Pizza chef and occasional photographer Inigo attended Emmanuel School in Battersea, which costs almost £25,000 a year. 

He said: “Stockwell is fantastic, we’ve got a Pret and we’ve got the Swan – it doesn’t get better.”

One café in Stockwell sells coffee beans – with notes of champagne – for a whopping £29.

For something a little stronger, residents can head over to their local off-license and pick up a bottle of champagne for £150.

The corner shop has a whole shelf dedicated to pricey booze – from quality whisky to Grey Goose vodka.

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A SIMPLE tool could help to reveal if state pension households are being underpaid – and it’s totally free and takes just a few minutes.

A series of government blunders mean that hundreds of thousands of people have been paid less state pension than they should have.

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The mistakes disproportionately impact women, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only group affected.

Depending on why your pension was underpaid, you might get the backdated payments automatically, or you might have to apply.

It’s possible that you fall into more than one category, as there is some overlap, so you may need to follow a couple of different processes to get what you’re owed.

We’ve put together a full list of reasons you could be owed backdated state pension payments worth £10,000s.

LCP has developed an online tool to help people understand what state pension they are entitled to inherit on top of their own state pension here.

A tool previously launched by the company to help married women check for underpayments had over one million visits.

You will need to be prepared to answer some questions about your age and marital status, as well as how much money you currently receive in state pension.

If you’re using the married woman’s calculator, you will also need to have information about your husband’s pension to hand.

If it turns out that your state pension is being underpaid because of an error, it’s worth contacting either the DWP or the Pensions Service.

Steve Webb, partner at LCP and former Pensions Minister, said: “The department needs to launch an urgent investigation into the scale of this problem.”

The DWP also has a tool to help those receiving the new state pension assess their eligibility for inherited state pension amounts on the government website.

There is also a guide on inheriting or increasing a state pension on the gov’s site.

Calculate your state pension payments

To qualify for the new state pension, you need to have paid enough National Insurance (NI) contributions or credits.

You need at least ten years on your record to get any payments at all. To get the full amount, you usually need 35 years’ worth of contributions.

If you have gaps on your record, you can choose to buy the missing years to boost your state pension payments.

To find out whether you’re on track to get the full state pension, you can check your forecast on gov.uk.

You’ll need to sign in through the government gateway. If you’ve already got an account, use those details, otherwise you might need to set one up.

Everyone reaching retirement age now can only qualify for the new state pension, which follows the rules outlined above.

But if you are either a man who was born before 6 April 1951 or a woman who was born before 6 April 1953, you’ll get something called the basic state pension, and you might also get additional state pension.

You can read more about the basic state pension on the government’s website.

SPOTTING a rare coin in your change could be a big money-spinner – especially if you spot a 50p featuring a specific animal.

If you discover a sought-after coin in your change, you can make money on it by selling it on.

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You could do this through an auction, either online, in person, or through a dealer.

There are some coins which are known to fetch large sums of cash, such as the Kew Gardens 50p and the commemorative 50p coins minted to mark the London 2012 games.

But there are also lesser-known designs that are worth keeping an eye out for – like the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) 50p coin.

This special coin was released in 2011, and features the famous WWF panda logo in the middle.

There’s 50 other animals surrounding it including elephants, birds, polar bears and butterflies.

Around 3,400,000 of these coins were released into circulation in 2011, making it the tenth rarest 50p there is, according to Change Checker.

If a coin is rare, there are not many of them about – and the WWF 50p is one of the least likely coins you’ll come across in your spare change.

But a coin not only needs to be rare to increase its value – it needs to be scarce too.

That means a lot of people want them.

According to Change Checker, WWF coins are not the most highly sought after coins.

They are ranked 15th on the index – with 100 being the most in demand coin there is – King Charles III Atlantic Salmon 50p.

But collectors will stay pay up for a WWF coin to add to their collection.

The Sun spotted one of these coins that was flogged for £3 on October 18.

Meanwhile, another sold for £5.50 on October 13 with nine bids.

While this may not seem like a significant amount of money, it’s still 11 times more than the coin’s face value.

How to check if a coin is rare

In most cases, a coin is rare if it has a low mintage figure – which is set by The Royal Mint.

The mintage figure relates to how many of the coins were made, so the fewer there are of them, the rarer they are.

You can find out what coins are rare and how they look on The Royal Mint’s website.

Your next step after this is seeing if the same coin is still available to buy in superior Brilliant Uncirculated quality from an official Royal Mint distributor, according to Change Checker.

These coins have been specially made to a superior quality which differentiates them from other coins you might find in your pocket.

How to sell a rare coin

If, after checking, you realise you’ve come across a rare coin, there’s a number of ways you can sell it.

You can sell it on eBay, through Facebook, or in an auction.

But be wary of the risks.

For example, there are a number of scams targeting sellers on Facebook.

Crooks will say they’re planning to buy the item, and ask for money upfront for a courier they’ll be sending around.

But it’s all a ruse to get you to send free cash to them – and they never have any intention of picking your item up.

It’s always best to meet in person when buying or selling on Facebook Marketplace.

Ensure it’s a public meeting spot that’s in a well-lit area.

Avoid payment links and log in directly through the payment method’s website.

Most sellers prefer to deal with cash directly when meeting to ensure it’s legitimate.

The safest way to sell a rare coin is more than likely at auction. You can organise this with The Royal Mint’s Collectors Service.

It has a team of experts who can help you authenticate and value your coin.

You can get in touch via email and a member of the valuation team will contact get back to you.

You will be charged for the service though – the cost varies depending on the size of your collection.

Meanwhile, you can sell rare coins on eBay.

But take into account that if you manage to sell your item then eBay will charge you 10% of the money you made – this includes postage and packaging.

Always keep proof of postage to protect yourself from dodgy buyers who may claim they never received their item.

Send the parcel by tracked delivery if you can.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories