Something A Bit More Personal - Our Fur & Feathered Family

Today I am having a day off from being a human mum due to having huge amounts of studying to do (yeah, I'll get to it later!) so my husband's mum has the little man today to give me some free time.

Walking around our house which is now childless made me think about how even when I am alone in the house, I'm never truly alone due to all of our fur babies wandering around. Unfortunately due to bub coming along the fur kids haven't been getting the amount of attention they used to get when they were our only kids but I do my best to make them still feel special all in their own way.

Anyway, I have decided to show everyone our fur and feathered family and share with you their stories.

First up is the one I still consider my first born even after bub came along. Her name is Evie and she is a 6 1/2 year old tri-colour Beagle. She is my baby :-)

Evie is the only good thing I got out of wasting 8 years of my life with my ex. He bought her for me as a present one day when I was at work and so she could be company for our other male staffy. When we split I kept her and he kept our other dog. It felt horrible splitting them up but neither of us wanted to be left without a dog so that's how it ended up.
I still remember the first time I saw her. My ex had hidden her in our bedroom when I got home and she gave herself away by giving a little yap from behind the door and when I opened it, there she was in all her puppy cuteness sitting on top of the pillows on our bed looking so excited and happy. I fell instantly in love and she has been my best little buddy in the world ever since. I would swear on my life that she knows what I am thinking most of the time without me having to say a word. She was my rock in what I call the 'bad time' between my ex and I breaking up and before meeting my now husband.

Next to join the clan was Cleopatra. She is a 4 1/2 year old tortoiseshell who has a bit of a Jeckyll and Hyde personality which I just love. You never know what you're going to get with Cleo and it's always so fun:

Cleo came into my life when I was doing a bit of part time vet nursing. She was one of a litter from the Cat Protection Society that the vet I was working at was trying to get homes for and no-one wanted her because she had a horrible scar on her nose where she'd been in a fight with one of her litter mates. She ended being the last one left for about a week that still hadn't gotten a home and I just couldn't resist her cheeky face. I'd never had a cat as a pet before as my family were always dog people so I was very nervous taking her home and wondered what on earth I was going to do with her. My husband also was not a big fan of cats and pretty much told me I wasn't allowed to get her. Well, I knew my husband would come around as soon as he saw her and I knew Evie had a good temperament so after my shift one day I took her home with me. Evie fell in love with her straight away and even though my husband wasn't too impressed when he walked in to see this little kitten on my lap, he is now officially a cat person and loves her. I knew he'd come around :-)

The third instalment in our household was Peking the muscovy duck. Peking was left at the same vet where I got Cleo as she was bought for some kids by their grandmother and their mother didn't want them to keep her. She was the tiniest little yellow bundle of fluff when she was dumped and my husband had always had a bit of a love for ducks and geese so one day I thought 'how hard could a duck be to look after anyway?'. Well, after my shift finished one day I took this bundle of yellow fluff home and the look on my husbands face was priceless. He was like a kid who'd just gotten the best present he'll ever get in his life and they have been best friends ever since. Peking is now about 4 1/2 years old and is the ruler of our backyard. She also thinks she's a dog after being brought up alongside Evie and sometimes sits at the back door trying to get in:

The next fur kid to come into our life was Caesar. Caesar is a 3 year old domestic long hair who we think has traces of Ragdoll due to his tendency to be like a big boneless fluff monster sometimes. Caesar was the tiniest kitten who just grew and grew and grew to be now over 7kgs of pure cat! He was a surprise xmas present for me in December 2008 from my husband (the newly reformed cat hater) and was part of a litter I was helping to mind at another vet who were dumped with Cat Care. I helped desex the litter one day and went home raving about how gorgeous these kittens were (something I did quite regularly) and there was one in particular that I really loved and kept taking about. Well, the next day as a surprise my husband went and picked up the kitten he thought was the one I fell in love with and when I came home from work there was this tiny bundle of silver and white fur sitting in out lounge room. Unfortunately I had to inform my husband nicely that he wasn't actually the kitten I was raving about so he offerred to take him back and swap him. Hell no! Once an animal is in our house it's part of the family so there was no way this little fluff ball was going anywhere now. Anyway, I think Caesar's story is one of fate as he's the most gorgeous cat known to man and just loves to play with our dogs and our other cat Cleo and we couldn't imagine life without him. He also has a purr that you can hear three rooms away which to me is just the best sound on earth:

Lastly, the final addition (sa far) to our clan is Barney. Barney is a 3 year old tan and white Beagle who we adopted when he was 16 months old from Beagle Rescue. Poor Barney was dumped at Wagga pound for reasons unknown and when we saw photos of him on the Beagle Rescue site we fell in love and couldn't help but go and see if we could adopt him:

Barney, we very quickly realised, has a big discipline problem. He tends to ignore any form of training and just does his own thing. After almost two years of being ignored, we have now given up and just let Barney be Barney. He's got the most loving personality I've ever known in a dog and is best friends with out little bub. He's also got a bit of a man-crush on Caesar and we sometimes catch them grooming each other when no-one is looking. So cute! Unfortunately in January this year Barney was diagnosed with canine epilepsy which means he is on a miriad of tablets twice a day now for the rest of his life. Even though we have the epilepsy managed to a certain degree, he still has a cluster of seizures now and then throughout the month but this is just something that we all have to get used to living with. Other than the seizures, Barney can live a completely normal doggy life so long as we keep up his medication.

So there you have it. I apologise that this post ended up becoming a bit longer than I anticipated at first but as you can probably tell I am very passionate about our fur babies and just couldn't imagine our household being without any one of them. One day I will achieve the impossible and get them to all be in the one photo. I don't know how I will do it, but I'm determined to!

Does anyone else have favourite fur babies (or feathered) that are an integral part of their family??

Neem Oil Products

One of our pet Beagles, Barney, has had skin problems ever since we adopted him when he was 16 months old. He is now 3 years old and no matter what I have tried, his itching has never been able to be controlled. From the expensive sensitive skin diets, anti-histamine medication, medicated shampoos, you name it, I tried it. Well, one day my husband was having lunch with an old friend and the topic of poor Barney's skin issue somehow came up and his friend recommended we try this product he'd magically found for his dog who has a similar product. The product was Neem Oil.
As I couldn't see the harm in trying yet another product that could possibly finally be the one that works, I hopped onto the internet and searched for Neem Oil and eventually found Neeming Australia, a small company that makes every product imaginable using this oil, including a range for pets. Their website claims that Neem in "Ayuverda has relieved so many different pains, fevers, infections and other complaints such as Eczema, Psoriasis, even Leprosy that it has been referred to as the Village Pharmacy. In India it is believed that the Neem Tree has miraculous powers and now scientists all around the world are beginning to understand its huge potential."

So, I got a little bit carried away when I made my order and ended up purchasing the following items:
1) Herbal Dog Spray 750ml

2) Herbal Pet Powder 140gm
3) Neem Rich Pet Soap 100gm

4) 5 Special Soaps - including a Lavender Bar, Mango Bar, Ultra Sensitive Beauty Bar, Natural Beauty Bar and Crystal & Olive Oil Bar (I couldn't resist getting something for myself as well :-))

Well, after a couple of months of using a combination of the Herbal Dog Spray and the Herbal Pet Powder on our Barney Boy I must say that his itching has definitely decreased. Most noticeably at night when he would wake us up with such vigorous scratching my husband and I have realised that this doesn't seem to happen anymore. The smell can be a bit overpowering, especially since our dogs are allowed inside the house when we are home, but it tends to fade pretty quickly once the products are absorbed into the coat.
Therefore, I would have to also give my recommendation to anyone who may have a pet with skin problems or know of anyone who has. These products seem to have done what we thought was the impossible. I haven't used the Neem Rich Pet Soap as yet as I only wash our puppies once a month or so during winter but will definitely be using it for their next bath to compound the effect we are seeing already.

As far as the 5 soaps I bought for myself, I've so far used the Ultra Sensitive Beauty Bar and the Mango Bar. I have a tendency to suffer from eczema during winter and I found the first soap to be quite nice to use. I always noticed after using it that I had a kind of oily coating on my skin which the water just beaded off of and this made me feel moisturised for ages after my shower. I amazingly didn't get any eczema this winter either which I almost can't believe.
I am halfway through using the Mango Bar and even though it isn't as nice as using the Ultra Sensitive Bar, it's still a nice moisturising soap to use.

Anyway, that's my Neem Oil story. I wonder how many other unknown natural products there are out there that can benefit common ailments that next to no-one knows about like this little beauty???

Bloom 'Clean with Envy - Green Clay Mask'

Now, I would almost call myself an expert on face masks. Having oily skin with huge pores that can be seen a mile away has made me try almost every mask around in an attempt to improve my complexion. I can now say that I think I have found a winner!
This clay mask is easy to apply, doesn't smell too strong and I just love that while it dries you don't feel as if you have cement setting on your face. You can actually still move your eyes and mouth without feeling like your face will crack, now that's got to be a BIG bonus!
I usually use this mask in the bath once a week so I can just sit back and relax while it works and I usually remove it using a damp face washer so no residue is left on the skin. Afterwards my face feels soooooo smooth and not one bit dry which is also another problem I've found with other masks.
Another plus is that a little seems to go a long way. I've used this product for a couple of months now on a regular weekly basis and I still seem to have over half of the pot left. Talk about value for money!
Anyway, I highly recommend this product to anyone with oily skin who may be sick of other harsh face masks that seem to do more harm than good.

On another note, I'm lucky to be awake right now after one of the most stressful nights I've had in a long time. One of our cats, Caesar, a huge fluffy mega-cat (all 7 kgs of him!) went missing last night and I swear I was as distraught as if he'd been a child of ours. We noticed he wasn't inside after having dinner and after checking the whole house and then calling outside for hours and driving around the streets behind our house the panic started to set in as neither of our cats are outdoor cats and I was terrified he'd get lost, eaten by a dog, hit by a car or all of the above!
Anyway, after a panic stricken night with NO sleep at all (and loads of tears, especially once it started to rain and I kept picturing him laying in a ditch somewhere all soaking wet) we heard a small meowing coming from somewhere near the kitchen this morning. Well, low and behold, we open the pantry doors and out strides one sleepy-eyed cat, stretching and purring as if nothing had happened. If only he knew the distress his little game of hide and seek caused!!

Anyway, talk soon.
Michelle

Not a Good Day

Well, today was very disappointing......
On Friday's I usually have a personal training session which I started up almost two months ago to try and shift all the unwanted pregnancy weight that seems to have taken hold and won't let go no matter how hard I try. Well, I couldn't go today because I woke up feeling so nauseated and had a migraine from hell! Very unhappy.
Funnily enough it's one of the simple things I look forward to the most every week and now I feel extremely deflated because I couldn't go this week. Oh well, I'll have to try and work twice as hard next week now :-)
I actually haven't been to the gym once this whole week which makes me feel even more guilty. At least I can hope that I'll get more use out of my time starting from next week as I have discussed with my boss that I want to drop back down to working only two days a week like I originally planned when I went back from maternity leave. I somehow got sucked into working an extra day from home but with a small baby it was taking me up to three days just to get one day worth of work done!! This in turn meant no study time was being put aside and don't even mention time for housework!
So, as of next week hopefully life will be a little less stressful and I can enjoy our bub a little more by giving up that extra work day. Financially it won't be so good but I guess you always manage somehow......
At least I got some good cuddle time in with bub today while I was feeling sick. He seems to know to behave when I'm not well which I'm so thankful for. The rest of the fur-kids were happy too judging by the fact there were two dogs and two cats sharing the bed all day with me and bub because they wanted the warmth. Needless to say it was very cosy!