Halloween with the Hiltons!

Happy Halloween everyone! We love this time of year and our 5 girls are a huge part of the fun :) We said we'd share our celebrations with you, so here it is...

First off everyone knows you need a pumpkin for Halloween! With 5 Chihuahuas running around it was obvious what we had to do, so here's our Chihuahua pumpkin...

That's not a Chihuahua pumpkin Lola, this is a Chihuahua pumpkin!

Isn't it a cool idea? To try making your own simply print out the stencil and give it a go!

We didn't let all that pumpkin go to waste either, the girls made short work of it in these yummy pumpkin and cinnamon 'furrycakes'...

We whipped them up by modifying a basic vanilla sponge recipe, simply pick a recipe, add around a cup of pumpkin and reduce the amount of milk/water in the recipe accordingly :) For the 'frosting' you just combine some light cream cheese, a drizzle of honey and a dash of cinnamon, then spread it on. We'll do a detailed recipe post with some step by step pictures soon!

We hope you guys have a super spooky and very happy Halloween,

'Treats & tricks',
Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

p.s feel free to check out our last post all about keeping your pet safe over the upcoming holidays.

Keeping your pet safe from things that go bump in the night...

With Halloween and Bonfire Night just around the corner, we thought it'd be a good idea to share some tips and ideas on how to make sure your dog has as much fun as you do! This time of year can be incredibly stressful for a lot of pets, with loud noises, strangers calling and a general senses overload. We've lined up a list of things you can do to take the pressure off your pet...

1. Keep your pet indoors. If all is quiet your dog may go out to pee, but be prepared with newspaper or puppy pads on hand just in case. Cats should be kept in overnight.

2. Make a den for your pup to go hide in. It might be a good idea to make the hide out close to you, so your presence can reassure them but they'll still have their own space. A crate or carrier with the sides covered will work, as will a bed with a roof or anything similar.

3. Resist the urge to baby your pet. The more you worry, the more they'll pick up on it. Be calm and in control and they'll follow your lead.

4. If you dog is prone to anxiety then using a thundershirt is a great option, alternatively a close fitting t shirt is a good option.

5. Keeping some low level noise going through the worst of the bangs can help mask the noise, but watch your dogs reaction closely.

6. Keep to your routine, walks aside you should try and keep things as normal as possible.

7. If you're likely to get 'trick or treaters' and you know your dog isn't 100% okay with knocks on the door, it might be worth moving to your back room or even a bedroom.

8. If your dog starts to howl at the noises then correct them using a gentle positive reinforcement technique, shouting will add to their stress and letting them continue doesn't help anybody.

9. If you want to let off fireworks at your home, or go to a show, ask a family member to dog-sit for the night away from all the action.

10. There's always a lot more treats and sweets around at this time of year, so be sure to keep them out of the reach of little paws, chocolate is especially dangerous.

And finally,

11. If your pup is really not coping then don't let them suffer, a bad experience will only make next year harder. Know when to call in the professionals and contact your vet - some cases will need a sedative. Don't see it as a failure, just that extra steps need to be taken ready for next year, such as exposure therapy via a CD.

To read more from some people who are definitely in the doggy know, check out the Kennel Clubs press release!

The 'Holiday Season' should be a fun and festive time for every member of your family, including those with 4 legs. It can be easy to over look the little things, but they can make the biggest of differences. We hope you and your pet stay safe this Halloween and Bonfire Night and we'll be back soon to share what we did to celebrate :)

Love & licks,

Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

A word on dealing with a Pet Emergency (Guest Post)

10 Signs you’re Dealing with a Pet Emergency 

Most pet owners are aware that their beloved furry companions don’t always get sick or injured during the vet’s regular office hours. Accidents or illness can sometimes occur at an inconvenient time, which leaves owners with the tough decision of whether the situation requires emergency veterinary care or not.

To be best prepared for emergency situations, it’s a good idea to have a well-equipped pet first-aid kit in your home. The kit should include bandages, hydrogen peroxide, a thermometer and possibly some OTC pet meds like aspirin for dogs (do not give your pet human medications). 

Some minor injuries or illnesses may be able to be cared for and monitored at home until your regular vet’s office is open, but the following symptoms warrant a trip to an emergency veterinary clinic:

1. Your pet is experiencing severe pain
2. Your pet is having difficulty breathing
3. Your pet is profusely vomiting- This is of particular concern if the vomit contains blood, water can’t be kept down or the animal is severely depressed or obviously in a great deal of pain.
4. Your pet has had repeated unsuccessful attempts at vomiting- This is especially alarming if accompanied be an enlarged abdomen, which can be a sign of “bloat” (gastric dilatation and volvulus). This is a life-threatening condition common in large breed dogs. 
5. There is a large amount of blood present in the stool
6. Your pet is experiencing profuse, watery diarrhoea- This is of particular concerns in puppies.
7. Your pet is experiencing a seizure for the first time- If seizures are a regular episode for your pet, veterinary advice is still necessary if the seizure seems especially severe.
8. Your pet is severely depressed or there is a lack of response when you try to touch or talk to your pet
9. Your pet is experiencing extreme weakness or is unsteady when standing or walking
10. Your pet is bleeding severely  enough that there is a trail of drops when the animal is moving or a pool of blood when the animal is resting

It’s better to play it safe if you’re unsure about your pet’s condition. Always contact a veterinarian when in doubt.

Thanks to the people at vetdepot.com for the great tips!

October absences... (news and updates)

We're back! We're sorry for our absence, it's been a difficult few weeks with family matters/illness, but life does have to go on and we'll slowly but surely get back into the swing of things around here. We have a mountain of pictures to share, as well as updates and we have some exciting things in the pipeline that we can't wait to share!

A brief update for now though...

We're all doing well at the Hilton household, Monroe went for her booster jab a few days ago and Lola is due to be micro chipped next week, although we'll post about that properly when the time comes :) All the girls are well and looking forwards to the up coming occasions, "howl-o-ween", bonfire night and of course, Christmas!

We'll be doing some special posts for each, so be sure to keep an eye out for those! We'll be doing everything from a 'how to guide' on keeping your pet safe and happy this time of year, to sharing our own holiday experiences.

And as far as holiday experiences go, we're hoping this Christmas will be as fun filled as last years, with our extra special gift! It might be a touch early, but our main present to the girls arrived this week and we can't wait for them to 'unwrap it'! (Thank you so much to Amanda of The Pawhaus Pet Boutique for all her help and our amazing friend Rissy for getting it to us!) We'll be sure to do a huge post about it soon, for now we're keeping it a surprise ;)

In other news, the Hilton clan will be moving, yet again! We'll be waiting until all the festivities are over, but yes we'll be uprooting and finding another house early 2012. We're hoping to get something a touch bigger, with a nicer garden for the girls, so we can expand their 'outdoors-y' toy collection (pool anyone?) and have their 'ani-pals' over for play dates.

Seeing as we've been gone so long we'll  share a few pictures and hurry back soon to post some more!

Love & licks,

Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

Animology

If you've read any of our past shopping posts you'll know that we're constantly looking for new/exciting/better products for the girls. A few weeks ago I became aware of an interesting brand called 'Animology'. Animology are pretty new, they only established themselves last year (2010) but they are quickly proving themselves to be at the top amongst the pet hygiene product retailers.

After checking out their website, they immediately ticked 2 boxes for me. Good branding with plenty of clear, concise information and nice packaging. Not as important as the actual product of course but as I've said in the past, there's nothing like a good first impression, right?

After a little research I found the prices were pretty good too, especially when compared to other quality shampoos. 3 boxes checked, looking good so far!  
(Retail prices that is, they do also do Groomers bulk amount products, which can be found here)

Animology do a total of 8 different products, some specifically for puppies and some for adults; they do normal shampoos, a specialised whitening shampoo, a flea/tick treatment, deodorising sprays and also dry spray on shampoos.

Flea&Tick PuppyLove DogsBody DirtyDawg WhiteWash StinkBomb PuppyFresh MuckyPup

(Click product names above for more info on each individual type & click pictures above/below to enlarge)

We purchased the full line a few weeks ago so we could give them a good try before sharing our views on Animology :) We decided to test out all 8 products and I have to say so far I'm really loving them!

Our set.

As soon as we got them we were surprised by the bottle sizes, they're very generous considering the price and the packaging is great, it has a really high end designer feel to it. Loved that.

The 3 puppy products 'PuppyLove', 'PuppyFresh' and 'MuckyPup' all smell absolutely gorgeous, they smell of baby powder and there's something seriously cute about a fluffy puppy snuggling you smelling of baby powder :) After a little while a seriously yummy cinnamon scent comes through as well and it's really hard to pull your nose away from your pups fur!

The adult products 'DogsBody', 'DirtyDawg', 'WhiteWash' and 'StinkBomb' have their 'signature' scent, it's hard to describe but it's a light, sweet fruity smell, very very nice indeed. I find myself constantly rubbing my face on the girls' fur when they've been sprayed, just to get a sniff!

The 'Flea&Tick' shampoo smells simply of a nice soap, kind of like a nice hand soap? A pleasant surprise as a lot of flea shampoos tend to smell horrible, so we were very happy with this!

None of the shampoos/sprays were overpowering with their scents, in fact they're all very light but do last between 5 and 7 days, perfect really because when we do our weekly brush we can top up with our deodorising spray!
The shampoos rinsed out easily and left the girls' fur very soft and shiny and their fur actually felt thicker too.

The deodorising sprays 'Stink Bomb' and 'Puppy Fresh' are actually incredible and really stand out as a unique product, we've tried similar things and they just mask any odours with a heavy smell, where as these really seemed to lift any nasty smells out of the fur and left only a very subtle fragrance. Very impressed by those.

The spray in dry shampoos/no rinse shampoos were easy to use, they didn't leave any sticky residue in the fur and didn't make the girls feel damp. If you had unexpected company on their way these would be fabulous to freshen up your pup.

The overall quality of the range was excellent, I'm so pleased that I honestly will be continuing to use Animology and saving space for it in our grooming bag for a while yet! The price for what you get from the product is amazing. I'd recommend them to anyone with dogs, they're well worth trying and if you can only get 1 or 2 items I'd say go for the shampoo and a deodorising spray (which ever set is appropriate for your dogs' age).

I'm clearly not the only one who has rated the Animology line so highly either, in their first year they won 'Best Product 2010' as voted by the UK's Pet Product Retail Association. Impressive!

Plus with lots of Crufts award winners having used Animology this year, their popularity seems sure to sky rocket and we think Animology is going to be the brand to watch. We would certainly keep a very close eye on them and their available stock. ;)

Well we hope you enjoyed our look at the Animology line and we hope someone found it useful! If you would like to try out Animology for yourself, it's available in store/online at your local Pets at Home or at any other good pet store :)

Love & licks,

Rio, Jonny, Buffy, Rafferty, Monroe, Lily and Lola.
xo

P.S See what the folks at Animology had to say when they featured our review on their blog! :)

Red is a Champion!

Red has always been our champion, but now it's official as he just won his third CC, making him Ch. Sengepabu Saint Valentine!



Congratulations to my mum and to the Champion of the world, Red! ♥

http://www.sengepabukennels.co.uk/