Pet Friendly Gardening*

As the owner of a cat who treats the garden as her own personal all you can eat buffet [seriously, she’ll take a bite from anything] it’s always on my mind that some of the plants we have might do her more harm than good. You’d like to think an animal would instinctively know which greenery to avoid but as where Mae is concerned she seems to take an “eat first, think later” kind of approach so it’s good to know there are guides out there which can help alleviate the risk. Growbag and compost retailer Compost Direct has done some research and put together an infographic to give pet owners a helping hand.

A recent survey found that 8% of dogs and cats have eaten poisonous plants or flowers, with 43% needing urgent care and 15% actually passing away. The graphic includes a run-down of some of the potentially harmful plants and poisonous substances in your garden and the impact they can have on your pets.

It also features advice on how to create a pet-friendly outdoor space, considering everything from fencing to dog- and cat-friendly plants. For more information view the infographic in full below. We’ve been lucky so and looking at this we have nothing risky in the garden but it’s really reassuring to be able to check up on these things.

If you’re struggling with garden pests it might be time to call in the experts to deal with them in a way that won’t harm your pets. You could try https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/exterminator/louisiana/ for help.

Let me know if you found this useful- do any of you have pets that eat what they shouldn’t? It’s not just the garden with us- cut flowers in vases have to be very strategically placed if they have any hope of lasting beyond an hour or so in the house, she either has a stomach of steel or is fast using up her 9 lives!

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[Insta]life lately

Well, I’m kind of getting there with making these posts a regular thing again, not that I live an especially exciting life or anything that would explain my desire to share. I can only put it down to being a nosy person myself and some of my favourite posts to read are people’s instagram round-ups. For the full idea of what I get up to you can give me a follow and if you want to know more about any of these pictures just leave a comment below [click on the images to see full size and hover over them for a caption].
Leave your instagram usernames below and I’ll be sure to give you a follow.

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Life on Instagram

Woo yeah, I’m on a roll with my instagram round-ups now it would seem (because I am sure everyone is just soooo excited by this news!) Here are some of the most recent happenings in my life lately as told through my iPhone- for the bigger picture of my daily doings you can give me a follow over on instagram. I’m always on the look out for new folks to follow so let either leave me a comment below with your username and I’ll get stalking…
As you can see I’m still living an extremely wild life whilst off from work. Most days it is just Mae and I for hours on end whilst everyone else is busy living their normal lives and it does get pretty lonely. I’m currently working my backside off to enable myself to get back to work ASAP. I’m cross with myself for not putting a real shift in sooner and that frustration is what’s powering me through the tough days, of which there are plenty right now.

As always click on an image to see it full sized or hover over it to see my (rarely interesting) caption. Want more details on a snap- a recipe or shop link perhaps? Just leave me a comment!

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The Purrfect Treat for your pet (with a discount!)

Regular readers will know that Mae and I have received quite a few Purrfectboxes* over the last year or so and have very much enjoyed exploring them and reviewing them as a little team.

Today I thought I would go back to basics a bit so that anyone new around here or anyone who is interested but not entirely sure how Purrfectbox works can find out exactly what’s what!

Purrfectbox (and it’s canine equivalent Pawsomebox) is a monthly subscription box for your pet. Designed and developed by a dedicated team of pet lovers each box contains 5-6 items from top brands and typically includes toys, treats and food. Each box costs £14.50 inclusive of p&p which represents excellent value as if you were to buy each product individually you’d be spending far more, it also gives you a great chance to try out new things and discover new favourite toys and treats.
There are various sign up options available- 1 month, 3 months or a 6 month subscription and when you sign up you’ll be asked a few questions about your furry friend to ensure they get a box that is curated to their needs. For every two boxes that get delivered a £1 donation is made to dedicated animal charities so you’re helping to give something back too!
This month Mae was especially taken with the toys although the catnip monkey lost an arm almost straight away as she got a little bit over-excited! The little pet blanket was probably the greatest success- you’ll now often find Mae draped possessively over it, or under it during one of her frequent nap times.
The food inclusions in the boxes are often things we’ve never tried before- this month for example there was a bag of roast chicken cubes which Mae devoured eagerly as well as some sachets of wet food which included chicken and papaya which was wolfed down so fast my feline friend gave herself hiccups!

If you’ve been considering a pet subscription box or I’ve swayed you with one of our many reviews then now is a pretty good time to sign up- use the discount code ukb10oii at the checkout and get a £5 discount off of your first box making it even more of a bargain at £9.50.

Be sure to let me know if you do sign up, I’d love to know what your pet makes of it.

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Posted in cats, Mae, review

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My Purrfect Gift Box- the October edition

Last month I had the super exciting opportunity to review My Purrfect Giftbox (see my post here) and was beyond impressed with both the concept and the execution. When I heard that the next box was going to be baking themed in honour of GBBO I was a little bit gutted as money is so tight for me at the moment I couldn’t justify treating myself to the box no matter how much I wanted to. Someone was clearly smiling down on me though as the wonderful Kim got in touch just before the boxes were sent out asking if I would like one- it took me all of half a second to fire off my excited response!
If you read my last post then you’ll already know this but before I get in to my review I just want to recap what My Purrfect Gift Box is all about:

Firstly you select which size box you would like, there are four sizes available (standard, lite, lite + gifts for kitty and standard + gifts for kitty) and it was the latter box that I was sent. Price wise the standard box + gifts for kitty costs £29.95 on a month to month basis, £86.95 for a three month subscription and £167.95 for a six month subscription. The standard and lite boxes are obviously lower priced with the same kind of discounts for longer term subscriptions. Now, on paper this might seem like quite a pricey option but I think when you see what is actually inside you’ll see that actually you’re getting a bloomin’ bargain!

My hopes were high for the October box based purely on the quality of the last one. As soon as I opened up the October box I knew those expectations had been well and truly smashed…

Firstly (because Mae is impatient and won’t wait for me) I’ll touch upon the gifts for cats- the first item out of the box was some luxury venison slices from The Innocent Cat Company (www.theinnocentcat.co.uk). Mae wasn’t sure about these at first, they have quite a pungent aroma which I think scared her a little, wimp that she is. Once she got past that issue she wolfed some down happily. At £14.95 for 3 x 100g packs these wouldn’t be an every day treat and we’re rationing these carefully but it’s lovely to be able to treat her to something so luxurious and wholesome! Equally popular with my feline friend was the tin of cat food from Applaws, these tins barely get a chance to touch her bowl when we give her one! Last up was a lovely cat nip filled mouse from KraftyKatsUK (find them on Etsy!) complete with baking themed fabric. This is Mae’s new BFF and at £3 each and a whole range of seasonal designs available she might find one or two in her Christmas stocking this year- if she behaves enough to deserve one, looking unlikely!

On to the human goodies and the first thing I opened up was this amazing oven mitt and tea towel from TextilesHomeDecor (on Etsy) which retails at £19.99 inc shipping from Germany. I absolutely love this and have stashed it safely away for when I move out of my parents place sometime next year- I’m 100% going with a cat themed kitchen this time!

Next up were these adorable cookie cutters. I already had some mini sized cat cutters which were good for well, mini treats but these are a really good size and perfect for making cookies and biscuits that you can then have amazing fun decorating, I can’t wait to get baking! If you fancy these for yourself then you can buy them for £10.00 from the My Purrfect Gift Box shop. Also pictured is the sweetest little set of cat themed cupcake cases from TheRandomBaker (on Etsy or available from the My Purrfect Gift Box site) as well as 12 rice paper cat toppers from LabelAmour. These only cost £1.50 and I’ll be using the recipe included in this months box to create some cat themed pumpkin cupcakes in the VERY near future.

And now, saving the best for last, my day was made when I saw these amazing ceramic cat shaped measuring spoons nestled in the box. These have been on my wish list for SO LONG along with measuring cups and are just the cutest kitchen accessory in the world. At the moment this set can be found at www.worldmarket.com and costs £9.99 with shipping from the USA. I’m still not over the joy of receiving these and I’ve been showing them off to anyone and everyone (I am that annoying cat person, sorry!).

As you can probably tell by now I was genuinely blown away by the October My Purrfect Gift Box and although I was sent one free of charge I 100% plan to treat myself and Mae to the occasional box once I’m back at work with a steady income coming in!

Still think My Purrfect Gift Box is expensive? Once you add up the value of all of the gifts included, not to metnion the time and care involved I think you’ll agree it’s a real bargain. A one off box would make an incredible gift for any cat lady- I can’t wait to see future themes.

If you’ve seen anything that’s really caught your eye there is the added bonus of the My Purrfect Gift Box online shop where you can purchase items from past boxes so there is no FOMO.

Let me know if you treat yourself to a box or any of the goodies from the shop- it’s the purrfect pick me up and treat for both yourself and your favourite feline companion.

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