Dr Claire Guest, co-founder and CEO of UK charity Medical Detection Dogs, gave the keynote speech at European Pet Night 2015 in Brussels. The event, organised by the European Federation for Animal Health, brought attention to alert assistance dogs, which are trained to assist people who manage severe cases of diabetes.

Medical Detection Dogs train specialist dogs to detect diseases through breath and scent samples. Dr Guest explained: "Dogs play a key role in developing new approaches for the detection of life-threatening diseases. Thanks to them, we are currently working on a number of pioneering research projects involving canine olfaction, including the training of dogs to detect cancer, blood sugar changes, Addison's disease and narcolepsy."

A staggering 23,151 dogs in high rabies risk countries have received rabies vaccinations since the start of 2015, Mission Rabies has revealed.

The figure brings the grand total of Mission Rabies vaccines to an incredible 158,536 since the project began in September 2013.

Several mass vaccine drives were launched by the charity last month in Sri Lanka, Nagpur and Ooty. The team have also been busy with their ongoing commitment to vaccinate dogs and educate locals in Ranchi, Goa and Malawi. Image (C) Mission Rabies.

Hundreds of dogs are being enlisted at Yale University to find out if they morally evaluate in the same way as humans, according to a report by CBS

To figure out what the dogs are thinking, the University have been putting the dogs through a series of tests. In one test, dogs are captivated by a performance much like a puppet show. In one scene a rat puppet helps a hedgehog up a hill, in another, the rat knocks the hedgehog down.

Speaking to CBS, Professor of Psychology Laurie Santos said: "Similar studies have been done with human infants, and what you find is that human infants - they don't like the guy who was mean. And so we're doing the same thing with dogs to try to see - do dogs morally evaluate as humans do?"

Over 300 dogs have been tested and there is still more to be done, but so far the university have discovered that the dog mind is much more complex than originally thought.

The African Small Companion Animal Network (AFSCAN) unveiled the next phase of its educational programme for African vets at the North American Veterinary Community Conference 2015.

The next phase will see African vets start to benefit from the availability of point-of-care, clinical reference resources, Canis (dogs) and Felis (cats) from Vetstream, and all of the educational resource available on the NAVC's online VetFolio platform.

Later phases will include offering grant funding for specific veterinary projects and increasing support for rabies control initiatives.

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association has announced a number of volunteering opportunities in Asia this year.

Opportunities include caring for the many turtles which are released in temples in Bangkok, working at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang Province, providing care to stray dogs and cats that live in Thailand's temples and helping to neuter strays on Samed Island.

Another project is looking for volunteers to help support communities around Tacloban City in the Philippines, many of which are still in recovery from Hurricane Haiyan. For more information visit www.wsava.org

Cat's Protection has reported a 36 per cent rise in rehoming figures at one of its centres. Last year, the Newbury Adoption Centre managed to rehome 570 cats and kittens.

Centre manager Karen Clarke, said: "We are preparing to mark our 50th anniversary this year so we really hope to help as many cats as we can and celebrate another bumper year."