Tag Archives: pets

Pup Life – A Month with Finn

Its now been a whole month since we brought Finn home and our lives were turned a little upside down. Having a puppy in our lives has brought SO much joy, but its also a lot of responsibility and a total lifestyle change.

Because I work from home, I spend pretty much all day every day with this little fuzzball, and we’ve got ourselves a pretty good rhythm, and as he gets older and more used to life by the day, we’re starting to see some improvements in his typical puppy behaviour.

Sleeping

Finn was already sleeping through the night pretty well when we got him, so the only big change for him really was sleeping alone, as he still had a brother and both of his parents with him at the breeder’s. We tried to start him off with tough love, giving him a Pluto soft toy and making him sleep in the utility room by himself, but this was all a little too much too soon, and that night did not go exactly to plan.. We decided that as he would ultimately be sleeping in our bedroom with us anyway, that we would move him upstairs for his second night, and this resulted in his bed being right next to my side of the bed, and I spent the first week sleeping with one arm dangling off the side of the bed so that he knew I was there! He does now, however, sleep in his bed on the other side of the room from us with no problems, and he’s gone from waking up at 6/6.30am to sleeping until at least 7am – yippee!

House training

Despite having no issues with using puppy pads before he came home with us, once in the house, he completely disregarded the ones we put down and did his business wherever he was caught short, although he would also take himself to the back door when he needed to go BUTTT in the last week he has become amazing, and has only had accidents when we didn’t get to the back door to let him out quick enough – he sneaks off there sometimes while I’m working!

Eating

No surprises here, Finn is a dachshund who loves his food! He’s on Tails.com food, and has advanced from needing 3 small meals a day to 2 bigger meals. He loves treats, especially denta-stick type chews, and although at least 90% of the time he’s strictly on dog treats, he does enjoy a little bit of sausage as an extra special treat.

Life at home

Honestly, he naps A LOT. Most of the day when I’m working, he’s either curled up asleep under my desk or playing with his toys in my office, most of which have been thoroughly chewed now.. He has what I call ‘psycho hour’, normally between 5-6pm where he runs around like crazy for no reason, which can drive me a bit mad when I’m trying to finish up my work for the day, but is mainly just funny to watch. He spends his evenings curled up with us on the sofa, and then I normally go up to bed and he stays downstairs with Matthew until he comes up. He’s even got pretty good at when Matthew comes in from work in the early hours of the morning.

Out and about

Because of his vaccinations, we couldn’t walk Finn for the first 10 days he was with us, but now he’s getting the hang of it. Most days its just a trip to the post office and back while I’m posting orders, but last weekend during our visit to Bournemouth he spent some time at the park and at the beach and he sat nicely in two different dog friendly cafes while we had breakfast!

He is super friendly and gets so excited meeting people, but he’s still getting the hang of meeting other dogs. He barks a lot when he sees other dogs from a distance, or hears dogs barking, but up close he does calm down – he just needs to get a bit more social!

I just can’t believe how lucky we are to have such a beautiful puppy, and I now can’t imagine life without him.

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Meet the Puppy

I know things have been a little quiet on here lately, but they’re about to get a whole lot louder as Matthew and I adopted our first puppy on Monday! Everybody, meet Finn..

Finn is a miniature long-haired dachshund puppy, he’s 15 weeks old today and we are already so in love with him.

Truthfully, this all happened rather suddenly. Matthew and I have talked about getting a puppy since we first got together, but of course we always knew that it wouldn’t be possible until we got our own place, and then when we first moved into our house there were still a lot of reasons that we didn’t get one straight away. Finally, we settled on waiting until after we came back from our holiday in January, but last weekend I decided to torture myself by looking at puppies online, and that was when we found Finn.

I grew up with two dachshunds, both miniature long-haired, so part of me always wanted another sausage, and it didn’t take much to convince Matthew of the same! Most of the dachshund puppies for sale whenever I’ve looked have been short-haired or wirey, so as soon as I saw a listing for long-haired pups I had to show him, and I in no way was expecting him to respond with ‘ok, I think we’re ready’! So we went to meet him the following day, and were back the next day to pick him up! He was one of a little of five, with just him and one other brother left, and to make things even more perfect, his mum’s name was actually Lottie! I mean, that’s just meant to be, right?

Its safe to say that the last 5 days have been a total learning experience. I suddenly feel like a first time parent, and flit from relaxed and calm to super worried and googling every problem in a split second, but I have to keep reminding myself that I won’t have it all down instantly. We’ve already got toilet training almost down, and sometimes sleep through the night, and most of the time he’s a perfect little angel who loves naps, cuddles, and running/bouncing around the garden. As of Monday he’ll be able to go out for walks, so that’ll be the next big step for him.

Expect to see a lot more puppy content, and for more frequent Finn photos, be sure to follow my Instagram, linked below!

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Six Month Fluff Update

Today marks exactly 6 months since our two little rescue kitties, Ozzy and Ronnie, came home to live with us. Back then, Ozzy looked like this:

Now, he looks like this:

A lot has happened since the last kitten update that I posted, with the biggest development being that they are now also outdoor explorers!

Due to their size, and being black cats in dark winter days, we were maybe a little over cautious in waiting as long as we did to let them outside, starting off with a few short, supervised excursions to the garden, and then once we finally got round to getting their pet insurance sorted and getting the cat flap fitted, Boxing Day was when we let them have free reign over the garden.

It was fairly terrifying at first – more for me than the kittens! – but eventually they learned their way around not only our garden but some of the neighbouring ones, and more importantly, how to get back again. The cat flap, on the other hand, was a slightly more difficult thing to teach.. It took a lot of pushing them through, leaving it propped open so they could actually get back in again, and handfuls of treats, but they finally got the hang out not only going out (which they worked out first) but also getting back in again! We have been locking the cat flap at night to stop them going out in the dark, but they’ve actually got so used to their evening routine of dinner followed by sofa time that they don’t actually seem to have any interest in the outside world past sunset!

Obviously they’ve grown a lot. Ozzy is now the size of most normal cats, but that’s helped by all his fluff, while Ronnie remains the smaller of the two, as he always has been. Personality wise, there’s also been a lot of change; Ozzy has become very confident in terms of exploring outside (including being seen following the local fox around the garden), while Ronnie often sits at the back door and meows for people to come outside and play with him, especially if Ozzy has gone off without him! Ronnie is super needy and loves being around humans, and while Ozzy is still the more timid of the two when it comes to interaction with people, he’s come such a long way, and I pick him up for cuddles every day.

I don’t think any of us could imagine them not being in our lives anymore. They snuggle with us on the sofa, Ronnie sometimes sleeps on the bed and Ozzy frequently naps underneath our bed. Even though they love it outside they do still spend a lot of their days asleep inside, probably because its been quite chilly, but also due to the fact that they just seem to like being with us, and we just love that.

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Things I’ve Learnt Since Becoming a Cat Owner

Its been almost 4 months since our furry companions came home with us, and quite frankly life hasn’t been the same since.

Now our kitten experience hasn’t been an entirely normal one given the circumstances. Ozzy and Ronnie are rescue kittens that were found, along with their 2 siblings, at 4 weeks old in an abandoned shed, and we don’t know if their mother was ever around in the first few weeks of their lives, but Cats Protection did a great job in looking after them until they could come home to us at 8 weeks. They were tiny and very timid, once upon a time, that is..

Now we have two fledgling little cats, and as the first cats that this household has seen, its safe to say we’ve learnt a lot in these last 4 months. Wanna know what?

No level is safe

Within the first few weeks of being home, these two little monsters had learned to shimmy up the curtains, and while they couldn’t really do much damage up there, they’re now perfectly capable, should they wish, to get up onto the kitchen worktop, dining table, banisters, and even now they’re trying to find out how to get on top of the fridge!

Cats can be needy as hell

I think this is just a kitten thing that they’ll grow out of, but Ronnie especially has to be wherever you are, even if this means squeezing his way onto the same chair that you’re sitting on..

They also want their space

It takes a cat about half a second to change their mind from wanting your attention to not wanting it. You’ll know.

You cannot eat anything in their presence

That is, unless you want company; open a packet of crisps and its like turning on a cat magnet. Even Ozzy, who is still timid at the best of times, will practically be on your lap if you have food out.

They sleep in the craziest positions

Stretched out like a sausage, belly in the air, spooning each other, sitting on each other’s heads..

Cats really do love boxes

It must just be in their DNA. The first box we ever left out for the boys they were in instantly. They simultaneously loved sitting in it but also destroying it. Cos, y’know, cats..

They also love keyboards

I get no peace if I’m sat with my laptop on the sofa, but they’ll even climb up onto a desk to walk across the keys if it takes their fancy. Spoiler alert, it always does.

You start to ignore bumps, bangs and crashes

At first, every little noise will have you running to see what’s been knocked over this time, but eventually it just becomes so common that you know you’ll find it inevitably. In any case if the cat comes running from the sound, you know they’re not hurt.

You’ll call them by a lot more than just their name

Ozzy, Oz, Oswald, Oz Monster, Dolphin Boy, Fluff, Little Fluff, Squish. Ronnie, Ron, Ronald, Baby Ron, Baby Ronald, Trouble, Silly Cat, Furry One, the list goes on..

Off-limits means nothing to a cat

Even if you shut a door to a cat, it doesn’t mean they’re not gonna find some way to get in there. Ozzy and Ronnie’s particular favourite is waiting until you have a basket of laundry in your hands and using that opportunity to sneak into the garage when you open the door..

And that’s just the start of it! Who knows what I’ll learn next..

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A Kitty Update

Its now been six weeks since our little rescue kittens came home, and its been six weeks of craziness and fluffiness! Read my first post here!

So what’s been going on?

Well the biggest change in our kitties is definitely in their size – they’re practically double the size they were when they came home! They’ll eat practically anything you put in front of them, and we’re giving them more than double the amount of food they used to eat. We give them both wet and dry food, and we’ve been using as many different brands of cat food so they don’t get too picky!

The other main change is that while previously we kept them in just one room, they now have total freedom within the house, which just means more space to cause trouble – they’ve already learnt to climb onto as many surfaces as possible, and very much enjoy knocking things off my dad’s desk, plus Ronnie can scale the curtains.. They’re still too small to go outside, and they also haven’t had all their vet visits yet so they’re just indoor cats for the time being!

Both kittens have learned their names, and will generally come when called, although not when they’re busy playing, and as well as being referred to by their actual names, they can also be Oz and Ron for short or Oswald and Ronald if we’re feeling fancy.

Ozzy is still very shy but he is coming out of his shell. He never used to let us even stroke him, but now he’s happy to curl up on the sofa with us, and he loves tickles under his chin, plus if he’s nice and relaxed he will let us pick him for a cuddle. Rather than a proper meow, he tends to squeak and make noises a bit like a dolphin, and when he can’t find Ronnie he makes a little crying sound and Ron will come running for his brother! He absolutely loves sitting in the window sill and watching the world outside, but I think when the time comes he’ll be too nervous to venture outside without the protection of his brother.

Ronnie on the other hand is very comfortable with everything. He’s definitely taken on the role of big brother, despite once being the smallest of the litter, and at their last vet visit he actually weighed in heavier than Oz, despite Oz’s fluff giving the impression that he’s bigger – this is due to his ability to eat a lot faster than Ozzy! Ron can be picked up and carried around with no issues at all, although if he’s in stalking mode he’s much more interested in chasing his own tale. Ronnie is desperate to go outside, and makes every attempt to sneak out of the front door if given the chance..

They both still suckle on anything fluffy due to their lack of a mother – including my sister’s rabbits – and this is something that they will probably never grow out of, but other than that they seem to have adapted to normal life really well, even if Ozzy is still getting there..

We’ve well and truly become cat people!

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Introducing Ozzy and Ronnie

Hey gang, I thought I’d brighten up everyone’s Mondays by introducing you to our family’s fuzziest new additions.


Meet Ozzy and Ronnie! They are 8 weeks old and we brought them home on Friday, so they’re just starting to adapt to our mad house and find their tiny ways around.

They came from a litter of four which were found abandoned in a shed and were rescued by the Cats Protection League, and their mother was nowhere to be found – they were only 4 weeks old when they were rescued.

Ozzy is the fluffy one in the back of the photo, and he was the largest of the litter, but also the most shy, and he’s taking a little bit of time adapting to home life, spending most of his time hiding under the sideboard in our living room, but he’s slowly finding his paws.

Ronnie was the smallest of the bunch, but makes up for such with his big personality aka he’s a total nutter. He goes from sweet and snuggly to moving at 100mph with only a seconds notice.

Like I mentioned earlier, they have only been with us since Friday and they’ve still got a lot of acclimatising to do, but we’re already very much in love with them both. We’ve also never had our own cats so this is quite the learning experience for us too! 

As for the names, any classic rock fans might recognise them as two members of Black Sabbath, and you can thank my dad for that. He had one job..

Keep an eye out on here and my social media for kitty updates!

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