Wordless Wednesday: I LOVE scrunching through autumn leaves

It's Cat-urday on Winnie's Dog Blog

Got a few pieces of cat-related news so I thought I'd put them all together.

The first one is, I wanted to share this  lovely picture of a cat called Ernie, drawn by the Lady Of The House's talented friend Jane West.

Ernie was a much loved cat all the way over in California, but after he passed away his owners found the page on the LOTH's pet bereavement website where Jane offers to do drawings and they commissioned a sketch. They said it was a really good likeness and they will always treasure it. I'm so pleased it's helped them.

Staying with news from America, The Zoolatry Girls have made me aware that next Saturday it's Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for May 5) which is marked across the United States as a day to celebrate  Mexican heritage. Everyone is invited to celebrate on their blogs and cats AND dogs can connect up  and add their blogs to the Cat Blogosphere (very kind of them I think).

Thank you also, Zoolatry Girls, for sharing this lovely badge (left). Any ideas for how I can celebrate here in Burton-on-Trent will be welcomed from my friends overseas.

Do you remember my cousin Mickey cat? He's 21 now and feeling a bit fragile so I wondered if you could all send him your good wishes? He sleeps a lot now (like this picture shows) but he means the world to the LOTH's mum and although I am not allowed to be in the same room as him (because of my natural inclinations towards cats) I do love him really.

Finally, good wishes also go to MoMo - who I hear is also feeling under the weather. Although she doesn't get chance to blog very often these days, you can visit her blog called Mieow here.

Today I am again joining the Saturday Pet Blog Hop hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

If you'd like to join in and make new pet blogger friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste this week's new Linky code into the html editor of your own blog. The list will automatically update on everyone's blogs as new sites add themselves over this weekend and we can all hop from blog to blog and find out everybody's news.

Thanks again to our three hosts for putting on the hop!

If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.

I scream for ice cream for dogs

I was a bit jealous when I read on some of my favourite American pet blogs that 'ice cream parties' for dogs take place Across The Pond.

When I SAY 'ice cream', of course,we all know that the real stuff the humans eat is not brilliantly healthy for hounds (A lot of that stuff the humans eat isn't healthy actually. I'm not sure how they keep going sometimes).

Anyway, I was excited to hear when the LOTH came back from Crufts that there is a NEW iced treat being released over HERE for dogs.

Now, before I go any further, this isn't a sponsored blog post, in fact we haven't actually tried this product, I just thought it was a nice story and would make an interesting Tasty Tuesday blog post. We certainly WILL try it once it's on sale in the UK next month.

Billy+Margot™ is the name of the company and it's named after the boss's two dogs. Sadly Billy is no longer with us - but he inspired Marie Sawle to come up with some healthy iced dessert recipes for dogs because of how excited he used to get when he heard the tinkly chimes of the ice cream van.

This is Marie with her own little ice cream delivery bike and a couple of hungry customers.

Billy+Margot™ contains no milk, which can be harmful to dogs. It's mostly made of fruit and vegetable purees. The only sugars are the natural fructose naturally found in the fruit.  Aloe Vera and flax oil have been added to boost the healthy qualities of the product. Flax oil is very good for dog's joints. Many human ice creams are made with palm oil and there’s real concern about the impact of its production on sensitive habitats. Billy+Margot™ is made with coconut oil, which is easy to source but more expensive.

Once it hits the shops in April there will be two flavours - strawberry and apple and apple, banana and carrot.

Once it's on sale we'll give it a try and report back. It's only intended as an occasional treat and it will sell for £2.99 a tub.

Hats of Hope

Today is a special day when many pet bloggers are focusing all their paws-itive thoughts on a very special lady called Judi.

Judi writes the SASS blog featuring her four rescued cats - Sammy, Andy, Shelly and Sierra.

I can't pretend that I know her very well, but I know from those who DO know her that she is one in a million - generous, kind, loving, supportive, talented, and a friend of all furry and non-furry friends.

I have also seen the beautiful websites she has designed for my blogging friends like Mr Pip and also the fabulous "hatted" pictures she has created of pets in hats.

Miss Judi is facing some pretty serious health challenges right know, so we want her to know that she is surrounded by love, support and MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL - HOPE.


So, Hats of Hope it is.

I am honoured to do my bit by wearing a hat for Miss Judi.

The Man Of The House decided to be my personal stylist and dresser while the Lady Of The House took the pictures. Allegations that I was a bit of a diva about the whole thing are a complete exaggeration.

Me: "NOT THAT ONE!!! I'm not a trucker - and no-one can see my face!"

Me: "Les Miserables?!? Very funny. Take it off - NOW!"

Me: "Cream chiffon and flowers - with just a hint of the adventurous explorer. I love it. This is the one. In fact, I may wear it on my next archaeology dig in the back garden."

Dear Miss Judi, although I don't know you personally I hope the Hats of Hope blog surprise has made you smile and feel the love that's beaming all around the world for you today.

Thank you to Ann at Zoolatry for creating the Hats of Hope badge I am proud to wear on my blog and the other pet bloggers who made this possible and got the word out. You know who you are. Please visit the bloggers below on the blog hop who are all sharing their love for Miss Judi today.

I have turned off comments for today and would like you to leave messages of support for Miss Judi  here instead please

Tasty Tuesday - fish and chips of love

Forget romantic candlelit restaurants - the Lady Of The House tells me that when you're young and in love (though how she can remember that far back I DON'T KNOW) the good old British 'chippy' is the place where love often blossoms over the fish and chips.

So this Valentine's Day she got up early to try out a recipe for dog-friendly fish and chips on me!

You may recognise that the 'chips' are carrot batons drizzled with cod liver oil and baked in the oven.

The 'fish' is a pattie made from mixing together the following ingredients:

• Cooked fish
• Cooked quinoa
• 1 beaten egg
• About a couple of tablespoons of plain flour.

The recipe we were following came from the More Than pet insurance website where they are currently promoting dog AND cat-friendly version of takeaway favourites. Apart from fish and chips they also have recipes for healthy chicken burgers, chicken tikka masala, pizza, a fry-up and a Sunday roast conjured up by animal nutritionist Stephanie Mehanna.

Their fish and chip version also included blackstrap molasses - but we didn't include that because we couldn't find it and it didn't seem to matter.

We also didn't follow their quantities. We didn't want to use tinned fish (not even in spring water) so the LOTH bought some lovely, boneless (VERY important) white fish which she cooked and then she just added one egg and enough cooked quinoa and flour to make firm patties that she could mould into fish shapes.

Here is the fishy mixture as she was stirring it up. Notice there is still a LOT of cooked quinoa in the saucepan behind.... not sure what she's going to do with all that......

Here are the 'fish' and 'chips' waiting to go in the oven.

Now, while this was going on I was pacing the kitchen and in and out of the utility room (where I take my meals) and 'roo-ing' a bit.

"Do you want your breakfast, Win?" asks the LOTH.

"NO!! I answered. "I want some of that fishy stuff that smells LOVELY."

She didn't understand. She said: "Well the fish and chips has to be cooked and cooled, so you have your breakfast and you can have this for tea."

WHAT!??!

So she dishes out my usual breakfast and then wonders why I am standing there staring at her and saying (quite clearly, I thought) "You ARE kidding me?"

I went and lay on my bed in disgust.

I did go and nibble a bit.... but when the 'fish' and 'chips' started to cook the smell was even nicer and I took up position next to the oven to make it clear exactly what I was waiting for.

The 'chips' cooked first, so they started cooling while we waited for the 'fish'. They looked all golden and lovely when they came out of the oven.

So once they were cooled I got the smallest 'fish' (the one on the left that looks as if he's got a little eye) and some 'chips' chopped up and mixed in with my breakfast.

THAT was better.

Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day. I hope another little 'fishy' is lined up to go with my tea later.

I am joining the Tasty Tuesday blog hop celebrating good food and hosted by Kol's Notes & Sugar the Golden Retriever.

If you would like to join in, just write a food-related blog post, follow your two hosts, grab this Tasty Tuesday badge and add the linky code and link in your post too.

Have fun in the kitchen.

Ducks dancing on ice - and the LOTH gets all a-Twitter over Donny

It's January, it's cold, what did you expect in England at this time of year? A heatwave? I don't understand all this fuss the people make. I still LOVE going out on my walks (but to be honest I'm less keen on going out in the garden between times and I'm tending to cross my legs until I REALLY have to go).

But put my dog coat on, dress yourself up like an eskimo and I'll happily walk along the frozen canal towpaths with you for as long as you want.

Yesterday morning we were a bit worried about the ducks so the Lady Of The House raided the bread bin, put on goodness knows HOW many layers of clothes, and we set out to see what was happening out on the local canal.

I'd never seen it completely frozen before and we walked quite a long way before we found a little groups of ducks and moor hens who'd were hovering in a small patch of water under some trees near the canal bank.

The LOTH started tossing some crumbs to them and a couple of the bravest (probably most desperate) ducks came hopping out of the water and scuttling across the ice towards us. The LOTH tried to tell them to slow down a bit as she worrying about them hurting themselves as they slid around. But they seemed very keen to eat so we were glad we'd gone down.

The we heard a mighty honking and the LOTH and I looked up to see a pair of swans swooping gracefully through the air just above the frozen surface of the water. We held our breath as they lowered their legs to land and then crashed right through the ice sending large frozen chunks and slices hurtling through the air!! Yes, pictures would have been nice but we had our mouths open watching them in amazement so photography wasn't an option!

We thought they might boss the ducks and bully them out of the way, or march across the rest of the ice and mug us for our remaining crumbs, but they didn't. They sat very patiently in the little pool of water they had created (possibly slightly shocked by their dramatic landing) and let us throw some bread to them while the ducks carrying on skating for their breakfast.

On this picture below, we thought the swans were making quite a nice heart shape with their elegant necks. We love how a pair of swans stay together through thick and thin (including ice). A lesson to us all as Valentine's Day approaches.

Speaking of matters of the heart - there was a HUGE rumpus from the upstairs office last night while I was catching some zzz's downstairs in the living room. I thought the swans had flown in through a window, and the Boy Of The House ran up because he thought the LOTH was crying.

It turned out she was on Twitter and had seen Donny Osmond (the object of her affections since she was 10, apparently) tweeting about the Superbowl and how he was supporting the Giants because they had knocked his 49ers out, so the LOTH replied that she was a 49ers fan too, and DONNY REPLIED TO HER.

I write this in capital letters because apparently it is a big deal judging by the fuss that followed. The LOTH was taking screenshots and 'favouriting' the Tweet and generally behaving as if she'd won the lottery or something. She says I have to show you the evidence in case any of your mums and people are excited for her too.

So there you go. If you want a slice of the exciting life the LOTH leads, she says you are welcome to follow her @EllaJP

I think I need some more sensible pet friends, to get me away from this madness, so I'm taking part in the Saturday Pet Blog Hop hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

If you'd like to join in and make new pet blogger friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste this week's new Linky code into the html editor of your own blog. The list will automatically update on everyone's blogs as new sites add themselves over this weekend and we can all hop from blog to blog and find out everybody's news.

Thanks again to our three hosts for putting on the hop!

If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.

Making a sock toy with Alyson and Frankie

Our friend Alyson was very surprised that people and pups liked her sock toy that I wrote about yesterday.

Alyson says she just makes them up as she goes along and no two of her sock toys are quite the same.

So here, in response to your requests, are Alyson's instructions of how she thinks she made my sock toy.

1. Take one short sock and two knee-length ones.
2. Scrunch one short sock up to make a ball (If you wanted to make a bigger toy scrunch two socks up together it doesn't matter if they have holes in, or are odd colours or anything).
3. Stuff this balled-up sock into the toe end of a knee-length sock.
4. Stand on the (ball) end and pull it really tight, twisting it at the same time (better to do on when you're on your own as it looks a bit strange!)
5. Do the same twisting thing with 2nd empty knee-length sock.
6. Then 'plait' the two knee-length socks together tightly and knot them at both ends.

You could also put a tennis ball into a sock instead of making a 'sock ball' but you'd have to take it out to wash it.

Alyson is quite shy, so here is a picture of her lovely girl Frankie (being unusually quiet).

Hope you can persuade your folks to make you a sock toy out of odd socks. If you do, PLEASE post some pictures for us to see. Pictures of your people making them might be REALLY fun.

Santa's Little Elf-er

Here is my friend Bo, wishing you all a very merry Christmas.

Bo is certainly going to have a very happy Christmas thanks to Emma from Impawtant Pups. You may remember that we blogged about Bo during Mayzie's Rescue Me Week.

He was rescued by Emma from a dog pound where he was on death row because of his incredibly bad skin condition and the fact that no-one wanted him.

Emma brought him back to Burton-on-Trent and has done a great job of nursing him back to health in a couple of months. He's also  been welcomed into the family by her own dogs Chanel, the boxer, and Cesar, the Bull Mastiff (Gosh! He's big and he has a really DEEP bark).

When Bo is a little bit better he'll be looking for his own forever home with other dogs. He loves the company of other dogs and wouldn't want to be on his own.

His skin is SO much better than it was. Here he is a few weeks ago cuddling up to Chanel.

Most of his coat has grown back now, but because he used to wear pyjamas to cover the special cream he needed, he's quite happy to still wear clothes, like his new elf outfit for Christmas.

Looks like he wasn't too sure about the hat at first though.

I love Bo VERY MUCH! And I hope he finds the family that's just the perfect fit for him in 2012. He is such a loving boy. I just thought you might like to hear how he's doing these days. If I wasn't so committed to being an only dog we would love to give him a home. But I'm afraid I am set in my ways now and it's not to be.

Today I am again joining the Saturday Pet Blog Hop hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

If you'd like to join in and make new pet blogger friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste this week's new Linky code into the html editor of your own blog. The list will automatically update on everyone's blogs as new sites add themselves over this weekend and we can all hop from blog to blog and find out everybody's news.

Thanks again to our three hosts for putting on the hop!

If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop

It's beginning to taste a lot like Christmas

It's Tasty Tuesday time again - and I have to share with you these pictures of me investigating something very very tasty that the People Of The House brought back from a Christmas Food and Craft Fair at the weekend.

It was held at the beautiful Kedleston Hall in Derby and our friends Emma - from Impawtant Pups Rescue - and Vicki and Sarah from The Bespoke Dog Bakery were there along with lots more stall holders and craftspeople and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Christmas shoppers. I am very pleased the POTH left me at home as I'd have hated being hemmed in by all the crowds. The Lady Of The House said they had to queue to get into some rooms and when you finally got in you sometimes couldn't move because everyone was wedged so tightly!!

Anyway, they brought back one bag of goodies that smelled PARTICULARLY lovely. I wanted to investigate, but the LOTH whisked it away to photograph first.

I knew it was around here somewhere....... but where??

Ah-ha!!! There it is!!

These were delicious Christmas Tarts for dogs. I can tell you that they are made of: gram flour, minced turkey, organic rapeseed oil, dried cranberries, oats, rosemary and egg.

Will you stop messing about now, LOTH, and open the box and let me try one???

So close.....

Well, after all this waiting I wasn't going to be delicate....and before the LOTH could get another picture of me tasting it.... it was just crumbs.

Although they are tiny I am only allowed to have one now and then. The label says they will keep for four weeks in an airtight tin.

Somehow I don't think they will get a chance!

This is my entry to Kol's Tasty Tuesday Blog Hop

To add the Blog Hop code to your own post - click here.