If you love animals and are thinking of taking some time off from work to have an adventure and to ‘find yourself’ then why not consider a month long excursion to Africa to stay at a nature reserve and work with wild animals. A couple of years ago my friend had just done a degree in Psychology but did not know what it was she wanted to do as her career. Because of this she worked in a hotel to save up some money that would allow her the opportunity to find her calling. She had always wanted to experience something different, so after much research she decided to go on a package deal called ‘Noah’s Ark’ which was in Africa. This break involved working on the nature reserve and looking after the wild animals that they had there. She looked after wild dogs, wild horses, cheetahs, lions, meerkats and baboons. She fed them, cleaned their enclosures, went on bush walks, took the lions for their exercise and helped to build an enclosure that would eventually help the meerkats be released into the wild. She had an amazing time and after her return to the UK she started training to be a vet nurse. There are various ways to find your calling, but the advice from my friend was to research it and get all the information from the agent who is arranging the excursion and then to see if you can book it direct or cheaper through another company. This apparently saves hundreds of pounds and is something she will be doing when she returns next year.
I don’t know about you, but on firework night my dog goes completely mad. It is incredibly funny watching him run around the house barking, however considering he is doing it because he is frightened makes it less so! We’ve tried everything and every year it is the same. We have left the television on, put the radio on, had parties with really loud music and even given him completely focused attention by playing with him and his favourite toys whilst the fireworks are going on, but he still knows what’s happening and despite our best efforts to distract him he goes mad. He must be able to smell them or sense them or something! This year I am trying a different approach. I have purchased some special dog earplugs and we will be using these as well as putting earmuffs on him and a hat to drown out the sound and we will be using some calming pills from the vet. We will be putting all the lights on in the house, shutting the curtains and watching television very loud. Hopefully this will help and he will not be scared this year. I’ve heard this is a very common problem!
When you think about going on holiday there are many things you need to consider depending on your situation at home. Most families have a pet, but what do you do with them when you’re jetting off around the world for a few weeks? It is always an option to holiday somewhere within driving distance, meaning that you can take your pet with you and there are some beautiful holiday destinations in the UK, Ireland, France and anywhere else that a ferry will take you! However if you do book a trip somewhere that requires you to part from your pet, and there’s no willing friend or relative to provide pet care, you may consider a kennel. I have a friend who has a dog that is her pride and joy, and she always seemed horrified to hear that other people put their dogs in kennels when they holiday. So you can guess how surprised I was to find out that she had booked her dog into a kennel. On further investigation it turned out that she had booked him into a luxury posh kennel, whereby the people looking after him would walk, train, feed, spend time with and even cuddle the dog. You could also spend more and purchase extra cuddles. These ‘dog hotels’ cost quite a bit, as you are essentially booking your dog the equivalent of your holiday to save on the guilt of leaving them at home! There are even double beds and massages available at some of the posh kennels!
I’m very into my bargains. If there’s a charity shop to look in, a car boot sale to go to or a buy one get one free of my favourite pasta sauce or even shampoo at the supermarket, I will stock up. So why have I been buying cat food at supermarket prices for the past few years I ask myself? My cat has very expensive taste and she likes a few different types (all the most expensive obviously) and i’ve been spending my show fund for a long time on food for the cat. Silly. This weekend I went on a mission to find somewhere to buy cheap cat food from. It’s amazing how much you can save, try it this weekend. Visit your local pound shop, cheap supermarket, village saver shop and local market for the branded pet food at excellent prices. If you buy it in bulk you can save pounds also. On my travels I did notice that this is the case for dog and bird food too, and everything you could need to keep a hamster, gerbil and other similar creatures! There are also many online sites from who you can purchase whatever you need at a fraction of the supermarket prices. They may be cheap for some things but your branded cat food is not one of them!
A Koi pond is the perfect garden accessory to add a bit of colour, water, tranquillity and peace to your garden. Of course, you will need to be able to afford a Koi pond as they are very expensive. There are many companies out there who will come and fit out your garden with a Koi pond, including steps, fountains and different features if you want. The possibilities are endless for your pond; include a waterfall with cascades, get two ponds and have a stream joining them, and if you’ve got the money include still pools, bridges, stepping stones and an abundance of plants to make your pond and your garden the very best. Once you have done this, and depending on the size of your pond it’ll be the next step to get the Koi Carp to go into your pond. There are various varieties of Koi in many different colours. Koi Carp are symbols of friendship and love in Japan. A bit of trivia for you, but Koi can live for over 200 years, however if the pond you keep them in is too shallow, uncovered and the Koi are brightly covered, they are likely to get eaten by predators such as herons and cats. Check out a few different suppliers of Koi on the internet for the best deals.
In the days when you have to pay for everything and nothing is safe, it was only natural that with huge prices at the vets, insurance for your pets was going to be big business. These policies are in their own ways very clever and seem to give you back a great return on your investment if something happens. The amount of money you get for your pet dying or being stolen is incredible! It’s not like with human life insurance where one parent dies. You can understand insuring them as they are contributors to the household and it costs money to sort out their funeral and their estates, if they have any. If you think about it, your pet just costs you money to have around, so apart from the emotional loss and physical presence of them not being in your home, to lose your pet would surely benefit you by saving you money?! It’s a strange thing to think about actually, most people I know with pets would not get another straight away if they died, so I guess a payout for the death of your pet would ensure you could get the kitchen done or go on holiday! It’s worth thinking about!
I’ve got plenty of friends who have cats, and in turn who have cat toys, scratching posts and those cat stand climbers that are like little exercise climbing gyms! These have always been around as long as I can remember, i’ve seen a few different ones and i’ve assumed they cost about £20-£40. I was wrong. I’ve been looking at the range of pet products online and quite frankly I am amazed by the range and prices. On some of the larger pet product sites out there, there are these stands that cost up to £200! Now i’m sorry but I just do not believe people should spend that much on something for their cat to sit on and scratch! For a more natural and kooky cat product, why not go out to the woods and collect a couple of large logs, clean them, stand them up in your living room and attach a plank of wood between the two for your cat to sit on! Perfect! This is perhaps not advised if you have small children though. After suggesting this to my friend who has cats it seems that my suggestion using wood will definitely not be appropriate and that she would happily pay up to £200 for a brilliant cat scratcher gym. It just shows, until you have a cat you cannot understand the need for these. Although I still believe that even if I got a cat, I’d put it outside where it could explore nature rather than keeping it in and spending my shoe fund on a cat gym.
We love our animals but we do not love the way they make the house smell. Have you ever noticed the way the house smells when the dog has been out on a wet day, comes home and walks past your sofa, past your coats hanging in the hall and into his corner in the kitchen? It stinks! There’s a well known saying for things that really smell bad – “it smells like wet dog in here”! It’s very true. And the amount of money you spend on lavender air freshener, new covers for the sofa and new bedding for the dog is unbelievable. Imagine if there was a product especially designed to target this pet smell. Well you don’t have to anymore! You can buy specialised air fresheners by which you can program specific fragrances to be released at specific times as they have got 24 hour clocks in them and programmable settings. You need between 6-12 refill canisters a year for this and it takes two C type batteries that last for up to 3 years. A bargain and no mistake. You can pick these up for about £35, and by doing so you can have happy pets and a happy home!
In the past we used to use a normal lead when walking the dog. You know the kind, a loop at the top, 5 feet of lead and a clip on the end which you attach to your dog’s collar. After a couple of years it started to get a bit tatty, however it did last for longer than expected so we got our money’s worth. Imagine my surprise when my mother arrived at home with a new lead. Not just a copy of the old one but a new, extendable lead! It has a thinner lead made of stronger material, but it winds down and extends to about twenty five feet which means you can let your pooch run off and explore, safe in the knowledge that you have control of them if you need them to return to you! The times we let our dog off the lead in the field close to our house were few, mainly due to the fact that he would speed off and would not come back when you call! Not anymore! These extendable leads are readily available in any pet shops and are a god send. Your dog gets to feel free and enjoy his walks, and you get the gift of time as you don’t have to spend two hours each time you let him free by chasing the dog to get him to return to the house!