A Christmas Wish!

I just couldn’t help myself!!

Today I received a card from someone with the most adorable picture of a little pug with a candy cane Christmas hat on! He’s got the most wonderful face (albeit a little grumpy looking as is the way of the pug)! I was all overcome by this little chap’s face that I fled to my computer browser almost instantly and was greeted by some of the most adorable faces ever! Soon, I was cooing away at the monitor wishing for another puppy and wondering if there was room for one more in this little pack.

So, I guess this isn’t really a post. Not a real one anyway. It’s a way for me to show you all the gorgeous faces out there! - If only to alleviate the boredom of the people in the near vicinity to whom I keep squealing “look at him, he’s so CUTE!”

Here they are, some of the cutest faces I’ve ever seen:

A little black labrador!! I think I'd call him Charcoal - Charlie for short.


This little fella is a gorgeous little beagle and he'd have to be 'Biscuit'!

I love Border Collies and this little'n I'd have to call Sampson - Sammy to those who pass us by in the park!

This Chow Chow puppy is just too sweet to resist - what do you reckon? I think she's a Lilly.

This little lady's a heart breaker. A beautiful Dachshund who would just have to be a Daisy!

If anyone has any photos of their little cuties that they want to share then feel free to send them to us!! Right now I’m a huge bundle of admiration and motherly warmth, so I’d just love to see them!

The holly and the ivy

Christmas is almost here again and no doubt as you rip open the 9th door in your advent calendar you’re thinking that it’s almost time to break out the Christmas decorations and start thinking about getting that gorgeous real Christmas tree!

Decorating the house with seasonal and traditional plants and decorating a real Christmas tree, with the smell of fresh sap and pine in the air is by far one of my favourite of Christmas traditions. In two days I will be donning my favourite winter ware and trudging out into the countryside with my family and our two dogs (I’m guessing that the cats are probably out there already waiting for us!) and going to get a little holly and ivy for the mantle piece in our house.

But as you probably know by now, things that are good for us humans aren’t always good for our pets. So here’s a quick guide to the plants that could potentially be dangerous to your animals.

Poinsettia
The bright red leaves are very Christmassy and just perfect as a centrepiece on that gorgeous Christmas table. There’s controversy over just how poisonous this plant is but suffice to say that if the sap is ingested by pets it can cause skin and mouth irritation. In these cases it’s best to wash the affected area with cool water.

Mistletoe
Well, this one was probably very obvious. The mistletoe plant has extremely poisonous berries. If you’re using this plant as decoration it’s recommended that you remove the berries first – especially if it’s in easy reach of children or pets. If you intend to hang is as a ‘kissing post’ and don’t want to remove the berries keep a good eye out for any that fall or are knocked off. Contact a doctor if any of the berries have been ingested by a pet or child.

Holly
It seems that berries in the case of holly will cause the most trouble too. They’re not as bad a mistletoe berries (after all some birds do live off them) but holly berries but still come with lots of their symptoms like intestinal distress, vomiting and.. hmm, well you can guess. As with mistletoe, contact a vet if you think your pet has ingested any of the berries.

Pine trees
Real Christmas trees are the best but if you get one that drops its needles then make sure you keep the droppage to a minimum. If your pet ingests the pine needles there is a danger that their internal organs can be pierced. So try and get a non-drop tree of plump for an artificial tree if you’ve got particularly crunch happy kitties!

Whatever you do – DO decorate your house with natural deckies, DO get that real Christmas tree if you want it and DO make your home a Christmassy paradise. But also – DO take the necessary precautions to make sure Buster and Socks don’t accidentally gobble up something that doesn’t agree with them!

Christmas presents for your pets!

Well, Christmas is coming and I have to admit that I am miles behind this year! I haven’t even started shopping or even thinking about it – so in an effort to get on top of it all I logged on to the world-wide-wonder-web and started to have a look.

How exactly I progressed from presents for mum to presents for my pets I’ll never know, but I found some things that I just love! Turns out that the only darlings in my life to have Christmas presents thus far this year are my pets!

Some people may well think that buying presents for your pets is crazy – and I’ll admit that I hadn’t intended to (and for that matter, I was quite surprised by the selection available!) but in amongst all the holly shaped things, snowflakes at every turn and buying charity Christmas cards (Go on – Do it! You know it’s right ^_^ ) I just got caught up in it all!

I love the little penguin igloo house and I’m guessing the cats will probably fight over it! As for the snowflake scratching post – that’s justified the other one has met its maker......and the dog hamper will be a lovely present for my Gran’s dog.

'Tis the season to be jolly folks! So, what are you getting your little angels this year?