Winter has most certainly taken hold now and it’s not just us suffering with the cold frosty weather many of our wild animals & birds could do with a little helping hand just now. We are getting a lot of reports of Red Squirrels around the area at the moment so make sure they are not forgotten about if you see them. Red squirrels love hazelnuts, groundnuts, walnuts and many of the seeds you would also feed the wild birds (particularly black sunflower seeds). As a treat  slices of apples & pears also are very much appreciated. They really are a pleasure to see and we should do what we can to help them.

We are lucky in Cumbria to have a great array of wild birds that will visit you for a bite to eat and in January & February they will be there in abundance as a lot of the birds natural haunts are quite often frozen over. It is important during these short days to have some good fatty treats alongside the seeds such as Sunflower hearts and fat balls as the birds will need to build up their fat reserves daily for them to survive the cold winter nights. Make sure there is a supply of fresh water for them too especially during heavy frosts.

A great energy boost that Robins particularly love is live mealworms or waxworms which are both good and fatty and will keep them coming back for more.

1. Avoid giving dogs leftovers has this can cause vomiting & Diarrhoea
2. Human Chocolate is toxic for dogs so make sure you buy special dog chocolate for them
3. Holly, Mistletoe & Poinsettias are all toxic if a dog eats them so make sure they are kept out of reach
4. Tinsel can seem a great play thing for pets but if swallowed can be a big problem
5. You may get a lot of extra guests over the holidays this can be stressful for your dog, try to have a safe room/cupboard where he can retreat to when he wants some peace & quiet
6. Fireworks are being let off much more at Christmas and the New Year these days, your local pet shop or vets have products to help your pet cope better with these stresses.
7. As it gets colder outside you’ll often find antifreeze that’s dripped from cars into puddles, if your pet drinks this it can be lethal
8. Make sure your dog has a up to date id tag as they often get out with all the extra visitors coming through your door
9. Keep your pet from drinking water from under the tree as it may contain pine needles which aren’t pleasant if swallowed
10. Make sure your dog still gets a good walk otherwise you’ll have a bundle of excited energy that won’t calm down all over Christmas
11. Remember there are a lot of pets less fortunate than yours this Christmas so it’s not a bad time to donate to an animal charity
12. Involve your pets in your family Christmas as they are your family too.

Pet Christmas Tips

The Christmas holidays can be a fun time for dogs with extended walks, new toys and treats, but it also brings some problems with it too, using a few tips you can make sure it a good Christmas & New Year  for all the family.

Food – Although it can be tempting to give your dog some scraps off your plate it is often not a good idea as the food can be too rich for their stomach resulting in Diarrhoea & vomiting. Keeping chocolate away from your dog is also vital as it can be lethal to dogs, if you want to give them chocolate treats buy special dog chocolate that does not contain the toxic compounds found in human chocolate.

Household Hazards – Dogs have a habit of eating anything they find on the floor this can include parts of Christmas Decorations, wrapping paper & holly. There is the danger of eating something sharp that could cause damage but there are also certain plants that are popular this time of year that bring their own problems  for example holly, mistletoe & poinsettias are toxic to dogs so make sure they are out of reach.

Guests & Parties – Dogs can get stressed out when their routine is changed and having a lot of extra people visiting your house can get a bit much for them. You can buy various products to help them feel calm (also handy with the amount of fireworks that now go off this time of year). If it’s at all possible try to make a safe zone where your dog can go to get away from the busyness, this could be a spare room or cupboard but make sure they have free access to it. Also make sure that your dog has a tag on just in case he manages to run outside with all these extra people coming in and out.

Taking these things into consideration now will help both you and your dog enjoy the holidays.

Well James Wellbeloved have shown us that they can still come up with some cracking new products with the launch recently of their first food aimed at small dogs. The food is for adult dogs weighing less than 10kg and comes with a host of ingredients to bring out the best in your little friend.

For starters it is a much more energy rich food as the smaller dog has  proportionately higher energy needs than the larger dogs.


Then they have added Cranberry extract to the formula has Urinary problems are common place in the smaller dog.


To cover the dental problems small dogs experience due to there life expectancy being longer and their small mouths with crowded teeth, a smaller kibble size has been developed specially shaped to help keep plaque levels down. Green tea is also added to the formula as this is known to help with dental health as well.


Naturally the food is also very palatable to the smaller dog and has all the usual benefits of the James Wellbeloved Range of hypo-allergenic dog foods.


To help us launch this brilliant product we have many special offers available in store now.

“In a retrospective study on spinal pain, injury or
changes in dogs conducted in Sweden, Hallgreen
(1992) found that 91% of dogs with cervical
anomalies experienced harsh jerks on lead or had a
long history of pulling on the lead. Uses of chokers was
also overrepresented in this group. This strongly suggests
that such corrections are potentially injurious.
Karen Overall MA, VMD, PhD, DACVB
Clinical Behavioural Medicine for Small
Animals.
Source APDT Choke Chain Leaflet

We have joined forces with Solway Dog Training Centre in Hensingham to launch our dog choke chain amnesty. For every choke chain you deposit in store we will give you 10% Off a dog harness. We will also give you the contact details for Solway Dog Training  who can offer you effective training solutions.


Choke Chains have been directly linked to:
- Injured Ocular blood vessels
- Severely sprained necks
- Cases of fainting
- Transient foreleg paralysis
- Laryngeal nerve paralysis
- Hind leg ataxia


Lets stop the use of choke chains for good!

Here is another blog I wrote earlier this year

Here is a blog I wrote a few month ago.

Dog Chocolate

Last Easter (2010) we put the “Dog Bakery” into the shop which basically means we’ve got birthday cakes, donuts, cupcakes and truffles for sale. I was well informed that the cakes were all human grade so needless to say I have had a sample of the cupcakes and they where lovely, as nice if not nicer than anything you would get on the high street. So with my new found confidence I decided to try one of the cookies along with one of my regular customers (as I’d told him how tasty it all was), ah… bit of a mistake here it seems the cookies are more dog biscuit like than the cupcakes, still the dogs do love them. Anyways the introduction of the bakery has caused a lot of conversations about the difference between dog chocolate and human chocolate. We are always told that you can’t give your dog human chocolate as it could seriously harm them, so is this true? Unfortunately the answer is YES!

The cocoa that human chocolate is made of has in it a compound called Theo Bromine, this is the element that is toxic to a dog, it belongs to the same family of drugs as caffeine and has a similar effect. For your dog this is not the effect of helping him wake up in the morning, but more the effect of making his heart work much harder than it should, and if he eats too much he can suffer from cardiac arrest. What is too much is highly disputed and not a simple matter as the Theo Bromine has a half life in your dogs system of 17.5 hours, this means that every 17.5 hours the toxin will reduce by an half so there will always be some toxin left in his body (bit of a science lesson I know). So every little chocolate he has will be adding to this amount. The telltale signs that your dog has had more than his tolerance is vomiting & diarrhoea, rapid breathing, passing urine excessively and crying as the body tries to get rid of the toxin. A larger dog will have a greater tolerance to human chocolate than a smaller breed but to be safe please don’t feed human chocolate to your dog as you may be killing him with love.

In dog chocolate Carob is used instead of cocoa so the toxin is not present and therefore it is perfectly safe for your four legged friend.

With regards to my regular customer who joined me testing the dog cookies, I think I’ve been forgiven as his dog has now sampled the full collection of cakes & cookies.

Well I’ve decided it’s time for Wayne’s World of Pets to have a active blog at last. I’ve no idea the direction it’s going to go in but I will try and make it interesting as well as educational regarding your pets. If you would like any topics covered please let me know here on pop in the shop. To make the blog successful please sign up and get as many of your friends to sign up using the email box & links on the right hand side. Hope you enjoy the blogs!