Copper and the Kittens

Should we neuter our cat(s)?

I say the above as if I haven’t already made the decision with my boys – I have, & I made the decision a while back – probably one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.

I’ve written this post more to explain the advantages of neutering your cats & to detail my experience (having two kittens neutered at the same time).

Obviously, there’s two sides to every story, I get that. And there are probably people who disagree with my decision to have mine ‘snipped’ so to speak, but I’ve done LOTS of research into this (as well as having previous experience with a different cat AND doing work experience in a few different veterinary surgeries). So I’m going to speak for myself here & say I’m right in my decision – and also that I appreciate other people’s views’. Now that’s been said…

Ben & Jerry are now 5 months old, and they went through the surgery the Monday just gone at our local clinic. The day prior we had to take their food away at about 8pm, and then they went in at 8am on Monday morning, and the vet called me at about 11am to let me know that everything went well & they were both up, about & eating/drinking. I picked them up straight from work at 5:30pm ish – and since then they’ve been absolutely fine.

They’ve been walking around with the ‘cone of shame’ on since monday as both tried to lick the area *surprise* (which could cause infection) – so vet suggested keeping the collar on until the post-op check. It is pretty comical to watch (as awful as that is to say), as they walk in to walls a bit too frequently! But both are eating like horses; I was worried they’d both stop eating again in protest.

I’ve also found that Copper (our spaniel) has been really good with both of them; I’ve watched how he tears a plastic toys to shreds so thought he’d definitely see the cones on their heads as a ‘challenge’, but he’s left them both alone to rest, which really surprises me!

So why should you neuter your cats?

Well firstly, if you plan on having your cats venture outdoors, have you considered the repercussions of not spaying/castrating? If you have a female, who’s to say that ‘Mr. Tom Cat’ down the road has been neutered, and if he fancies a bit of fun-time, you’ll know 2 months later! There are so many unwanted kitties in shelters, we really don’t need to be adding to this problem
Imagine this, you live in a rented accomodation & you own the most beautiful *unneutered* male tabby – but what is that smell – it kind of smells like stale urine – wow that’s strong! Yes my friend, you’re “precious” kitten has now started marking his territory, and getting that smell out is a b*tch of a task – trust me! Once neutered, testosterone is no longer produced, so this kind of behaviour will stop
And on the topic of testosterone, without it, cats become less dominant & aggressive (something vital in my household as I have two males)
Taking the spotlight off the males, female cats who are spayed will no longer come into heat, again reducing aggressive behaviour & leaving a cat that doesn’t want to kill you (in theory)

Pretty much a no-brainer!

And I’ve started to notice the kittens, over the past couple of days, have craved more human contact than before (especially Jerry who was a bit anti-social!)

So win-win for me!

How much play fighting is ‘normal’ ?

I think I’m writing this post as more of a reassurance post to myself – as daft as that sounds. Because I’ve done the research, and I observe the kittens on a daily basis with each other in regard to how they interact.

Jerry, my little ginger kitten looks to have taken most of the beating to be honest – Ben has absolutely no marks/scars/cuts/etc. Maybe that’s because his fur is black so it’s not as noticeable – but from the looks of it, he’s probably the stronger of the kittens (or the most vicious, however you see it). Ben is the heaviest at the minute – last time we weighed them at the vets he was 2.8kg – whereas Jerry was 2.4kg. Ben is also the most confident out of the two of them – he pretty much doesn’t give a sh*t – he will openly come on to your knee & stretch out until he’s comfortable (and you are unable to move); Jerry on the other hand prefers to lie next to you in a ball, or in his cat bed…

It’s quite nice to see how different both of their personalities are (& I secretly love Jerry’s independence because he doesn’t wake me up crying at 4am for a stroke, like some kittens *cough* Ben). I am also glad that I’ve raised both of the kittens to enjoy human company & not fear coming close to us – especially since we have children in the house.

But back to my main point – the scars/cuts all over Jerry’s face.

So the kittens like to play fight – and I know this is play fighting as opposed to fighting for real for a couple of reasons:

Neither of them make any hissing or growling sounds whilst they’re fighting – it’s pretty much silent
Their ears aren’t pointing downwards whilst they’re doing it

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an expert – but they are both very calm during/after play fighting & start to groom one another, so I’m going with the theory that they don’t hate one another.

I also think that this play fighting is very important, as they’re both learning their limits, and what they can/can’t do – which is vital in my household as we have a 4 year old child around the house, and I don’t want the kittens to hurt him! And, for the sake of my furniture, whilst the kittens are focused on pouncing on one another, they’re not pouncing on my sofa/curtains – so win-win!

But at what point do we intervene to save Jerry’s face? Over the past couple of weeks they both seem to have calmed down a bit, and bless little Ben is always grooming Jerry’s face – as if he’s trying to make it better, but it still looks quite painful!

We spoke to the vet a couple of weeks ago, who said it was very normal in brother kittens for one to be slightly more dominant than the other, and they calm down as they learn their limits with each other – which is reassuring. She also examined Jerry’s face to make sure there were no signs of infection; which there wasn’t.

So I guess I have to leave them both to it, and let them chase each other around the house like cat & mouse! It is quite comical watching one stalk the other with no camouflage & in plain sight!

The heat has arrived … (in winter)!

Got to be honest, I’ve really appreciated the summer weather we’ve been having over the past week or so (forgetting the horrifying realisation that this is ultimately due to Global Warming); It’s been lovely to walk outside in a t-shirt without freezing half-to-death, & leaving my coat in the car at work – the little life pleasures I guess. And the old woman in me has appreciated drying my clothes on the line outside (because let’s face it, the clothes dry smelling so much nicer!)

As a first time dog owner though, I’d never really given much thought to how my four-legged friend copes in the heat; I’ve obviously heard the horror stories about people leaving their dogs in the car on a hot day – but I’m not that stupid! But how is this glorious weather (that will hopefully stay a while) affecting my Copper – and how can I help him out a little bit more than I am doing. And I say this because the weekend scared me a little – I’ll start with a tad bit of background about the day…

So, Saturday we obviously had glorious sunshine – I even managed a cocktail in the sunshine *oops*.

Copper got his morning walk as normal at about 7am – so it was nice and cool at this point; he got to run around the park as usual off his lead (there aren’t many dogs awake at this time so it’s a great time to walk him & give him some freedom).

Then I did an afternoon walk with him at around 1pm ish – and at this point it’s pretty hot outside, but Copper is acting pretty normal; running around like a big goofball, jumping up at strangers, trying to steal ice cream from passing children – you know, the usual! I did notice him panting a bit, but I just thought it was because of how energetic he was being. But the worrying part for me was that he was still heavily panting an hour after we got back whilst he was lying on the sofa (in a cool room) – and I mean heavily panting!

He could have been panting for many different reasons. As I initially thought was the case, dogs pant after/during exercise because they can’t physically sweat like we can; they pant to circulate the air needed to cool themselves down – so since Copper is incredibly energetic, he often pants a lot after running around the park, but he stops after about 10 minutes being at home. So with him still panting an hour later on Saturday, I got concerned & phoned the vets. They advised me that he could be suffering from overheating, and gave me a few things to try out with Copper.

What did work quite well was covering him in a damp (cool) towel, opening the window to let air in the house & obviously giving him access to water as per usual. He seemed to cool down a bit after about 15 minutes & then he was pretty much back to normal – but I’m obviously now terrified of taking him outside in the sun (oh the life of a dog owner). So I’ve started looking into things to prevent heat stroke moving forwards…

I’ve bought a portable water bowl for Copper now for when we go on walks in the middle of the afternoon. It was only a cheap thing from Pets at Home, and it folds away so I can carry it pretty easily in my pocket. I’m also going to try and take him on more frequent shorter walks when it’s hot outside (as opposed to one long walk).

He’s also getting properly groomed on Sunday this week, because at the minute he’s starting to look like a miniature lion!

I’m definitely not getting his fur shaved because that could (very ironically) lead to more problems in regard to overheating – as Copper’s fur is acting as invaluable insulation for him from both heat & cold – but I am looking at getting his fur stripped (after much advice from my beloved Cocker Spaniel facebook group). That way, all the dead fur on Copper’s coat will be fully removed to help with air-flow for him to regulate his temperature more efficiently. I found this blog post https://thecotswoldspaniels.com/2017/09/18/how-to-groom-a-spaniel/ incredibly useful when looking at grooming my Cocker Spaniel, as it goes into great detail about why you should/shouldn’t do certain things. Thanks to this blog post, I’ll definitely be purchasing the Mars Coat King for Copper!

Hopefully now, moving forward, I’ll be much more prepared for the sun!

Grand Designs – Tortoise Style!

Ok, so my little Sheldon is in need of a serious tortoise table upgrade, & with us moving house in the next 8 weeks, I’m thinking it’s the perfect time to brainstorm some ideas!

I’ve never really liked the idea of keeping him confined to a tortoise table, so historically he’s been free to roam a set room (with his table having one of the walls removed so he can move between the table & room freely) – but what I’ve noticed over the past couple of years is that whilst allowing him this freedom, he’s been less interested in his food & more interested in finding the best dark spots to hide (tortoises love to burrow).

Whilst roaming, he climbs pretty much anything! They’re pretty impressive climbers for their shape

I also now realise that it was pretty irresponsible of me, as at certain points he’d be roaming around on carpets where he could be picking up dust/hairs/dirt/etc. and trying to digest them – not the healthiest!

So his fascination with exploring the room could have halted his growth a tad – and I’m now solely focused on getting his belly back!

As of this week, he’s weighing in at 242g (at 4 years old) – I’m planning on monitoring this weekly for the next couple of months whilst he’s in his old tortoise table, just to make sure his appetite is fully up to scratch after hibernation before moving him into a new enclosure – as it’ll probably stress him out & I don’t want his eating to be affected too much.

So…new enclosure!

I’m thinking one indoor & one outdoor – luckily my partner is good at building things as I have many imaginative ideas for him (that’s he’s currently unaware of *cough*). Pinterest has been a God-send for my imagination – not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, because Sheldon could end up living in a wooden palace!

At the minute – I want the new enclosure to have a couple of levels – so some kind of stairway in there. Sheldon loves to climb (as you can see above), so I’m thinking it’ll give him a bit of a challenge. I’m loving this idea at the minute found on pinterest – but I’d have an L-shaped table to save on a bit of space in the room…

I’ll definitely be doing some research into which plants are suitable for Sheldon, and making a garden like the above for him to walk around

And then for the outdoor enclosure, this should be quite easy to sort out as we have quite a large garden at the new house. I just need to make sure it’s secure (obviously wouldn’t want any predators making their way into there), & I also want to make sure there’s lots of enrichment in there for him (burrowing area/ logs to climb on/ variety of plants/ small water feature/ etc.). I really like this set-up, as I think it looks quite secure so I wouldn’t panic too much leaving him outside alone (during the day), it’d just require some mesh across the front…

I guess now I’ve just got to focus on getting his appetite stable, & seeing the layout of the new house properly so I can start properly planning!

Any ideas are more than welcome!

See you later…

Will my new kitten(s) get on with my dog (or puppy in my case)?

As much as it’d be nice to say this is a really simple question to answer – it’s unfortunately not. I learnt the stupid way, by buying…not just one, but two 8-week old kittens…at the same time as bringing up a 5-month old puppy (clever huh?). And then, being the sensible person that I clearly am, I researched once all 3 of them were chasing each other around the living room.

…So, lesson number 1 – always research prior to buying a new pet (something I still need to grasp!)

I’m going on the assumption, that if you’re reading this blog post you’re either:

a.) considering getting a kitten and are wondering if it’ll get on with your dog/puppy, or

b.) you did what I did above – in which case, good luck!

I joke; sometimes it’s actually better to throw yourself in the deep-end and “learn on the job” – but it’s daunting to start with. I’ve had days where having 3 naughty babies has driven me to the Ben & Jerry’s – but it’s definitely improving!

First things first, invest in a play pen. It should be an essential item on your shopping list for the kitten. It gave my Copper (the spaniel) the opportunity to smell the kittens without throwing himself on them in excitement & probably crushing them at the size they were! I kept the kittens in a separate room from Copper for the first month or so, and only had them in the same room when the kittens were in the playpen for about 15 minutes at a time (about 3 or 4 times per day).

I had their food & water in there (and a few toys that weren’t in shot) to keep them focused on that instead of the scary dog looking down on them

I also switched blankets frequently for that first month – I alternated Copper’s blanket with the kittens blanket on daily rotation – that way both parties could get used to each other’s’ smell.

After about a month (ish), Copper started to lose interest in the kittens being in the playpen, as he was probably pretty used to seeing them – so now the fun part – removing the playpen!

At this point – have plenty of dog toys prepared – I can’t stress that enough! I went to a local charity shop & purchased about 20 different things to keep Copper occupied (I wish I knew about the Kong toy sooner because it entertains him for hours). If he’s concentrating on his toys, he’s not paying as much attention to the little kittens who are at this point probably half way up your curtains.

And the rest is history……

I think it probably worked quite well for me because my Copper was so young when we introduced him to the kittens. I don’t know how an older dog would react – it may in fact be easier with an older dog as they aren’t as hyper.

Good luck!

Why I love Applaws!

So, as the title suggests – I went with the Applaws cat food. It wasn’t a difficult choice, as they didn’t have AATU kitten food in store, so it was a choice that Pets at Home almost made for me. But I’m so glad!

I went with the 2kg bag of Applaws chicken dry food (I could have gone for the smaller bag, but I just thought “if the kittens don’t love this then it’s tough”, because this is the best they’ll get). And it wasn’t badly priced at £19.99 – I worked out at the age the kittens are at, and with there being 2 of them, it should last them about 2 ½ weeks – which I’m fine with.

I was going to pick them up a few tins of Applaws kitten wet food to feed them alongside the dry food, but they’re both so good on dry food, and drink plenty of water, that I didn’t really see the point. It’s also a lot better for their teeth to feed them on dry food, so for now I’ll stick with it.

So, the first time trying them with a bit of the new food mixed in with their old food – I usually drag this bit out over a period of about 10 days, so increase new food by 10%/decrease old food by 10% day 1, and so on… – and they wolfed their food down! I’ve never honestly seen them eat so fast. We’re now on a 50/50 split of food, and they’re at the point of running to their food bowl when they hear a slight package movement. Compare this with last week, when the only thing they were interested in was what we were feeding the dog.

…

Now the tricky bit is keeping Copper (our Spaniel) away from their food bowl, as he will literally eat anything – but a few times shouting him away whilst feeding them, and I think he’s getting the picture (although he tries it on with the puppy-dog eyes!).

It’s too early to tell how it’s affecting their fur/weight/etc. but based on the ingredients list, I’m pretty sure it’s going to have a positive impact – I guess I’ll find out on my next visit to the vets (which unfortunately for the kittens is their pre-op for their neutering – unlucky!) They’re both weighing in at between 2.4 – 2.8kg at nearly 5 months, so I’ll keep an eye on their weights.

I’ve also noticed that their stools are a lot firmer (and a lot less smelly!) – and thank god they’re both farting less as they could evacuate a room with their stomachs!

So, I think their disinterest in food was down to the food I was feeding them *oops*

I’m going to keep them both on Applaws, and then once they’re 12 months old, they can switch to the adult version, where (luckily for them), there are lots of different flavour varieties to choose from – so I can mix & match!

So far, so good with Applaws!

How I’m dealing with fussy kittens

My worst nightmare is happening – both of my kittens are refusing to eat their food. It’s like one has taken a disliking, and the other is copying in solitude, reasons unknown.

It is (somewhat luckily) pretty common for many kitty parents – and the only reason I say that is because I helped calm many disgruntled owners when I worked at a pet shop.

…But now this is happening to me, and it’s not fun!

Many things are going through my head about what I could be doing wrong; I’m currently thinking it’s the food I have them on. I don’t think it’s the lack of flavour variety, more perhaps food quality? I now feel a bit bad for doing it, but I have them both on Whiskers cat food, and knowing what I know about the ingredients – I don’t think it’s exactly ‘the best’ option. It’s essentially just a junk food equivalent for cats. In the wild, a cat wouldn’t feed on all the things you’ll find in Whiskers (and many other commercial brands to be honest) – so that eliminates the grains, gluten, colours, preservatives, flavourings, etc… So in hindsight, I’ve been feeding the kitties on food that is providing them with no real nutritional value *hangs head in shame*.

And I’m not exactly sure it helps that my dog is on extremely good quality food – jealousy perhaps? Am I a terrible owner for preferentially (even though it was unknowingly) treating the dog over the kittens?

Or maybe I’m just reading wayyyyy too far into this!

After researching a little, a lot of people mentioned about heating the food up a little; colder food doesn’t smell as attractive, so heating (slightly) sends out more aromas that can attract your feline. But this didn’t have much of an impact on my two terrors.

I also read an article around Anorexia in Cats (for anyone that is having similar problems to me & is curious to potential causes, I’d recommend giving it a read https://www.catster.com/cat-food/what-to-do-when-your-cat-wont-eat), but I don’t think mine are suffering from this as they both happily sit there trying to steal the dogs meals …

(yes I understand the implications of cats living off dog food) – so I’m worried! So this has led me to the conclusion – because the dogs food is very high in meat protein, and theirs is not – that they are crying out for a better brand of food?

They’ve also been known to stalk our food on many occasions

So I’m now on the hunt for a high protein, grain/gluten-free alternative – and knowing my luck – they will turn their noses up at this too & I’ll have to start from the beginning with my investigation (or be normal & speak to the vets).

I’m going to get it in dry form:

1.) because my boys drink plenty of water

2.) dry food is much better for their teeth.

I’ve narrowed down my search to 2 food brands: Applaws & AATU.

Both attracted me primarily because of the ingredients list – I’m forgetting about the costs (even though it’ll cost more than my weekly shop) because I think in the long run a better food will reduce any health implications in the future.

AATU is 85% freshly prepared, preservative-free meat, 15% fruit/veg/herbs/spices/botanicals, & of course 0% grain/gluten/preservative/flavours
Applaws is 80% animal protein & 20% vegetables and natural extracts – and is also grain/cereal free

Both come in a range of flavours – so the kitties won’t get bored!

Both have very good reviews on all the sites I’ve visited.

Both also come in dry & wet versions, incase I ever want to mix it up and treat them to a tin of wet food.

….how am I supposed to choose?

I guess it’s going to come down to what is available in the store when I get there later – fate will decide!

I will keep you updated on my choice – for now, here’s a cute picture of the boys…

Product review – Kong toy

Being a Cocker Spaniel, Copper can go through toys (and general household objects that are in his radar) in minutes. It’s been a bit of an issue previously as he’s been chewing up mail that’s come through the door whilst we’ve been at work – I’ve had a few pleasant conversations with the council after I’ve missed bill payments after Copper had kindly chewed up my reminders! We’ve obviously now bought a mail guard, and it’s something I highly recommend any new dog owner buying for the sake of their sanity!

I’m not a big fan of leaving Copper in the house on his own anyway; thankfully him and the cats are quite close, and we have a dog walker who pops round late morning to take him out for an hour. But I imagine he was chewing up my house out of boredom.

Introducing the miracle product…

The Kong!

I can’t recommend this toy enough. I bought Copper’s from Pets at Home, and he has the medium sized regular version (they come in an extreme version, but I didn’t really see the need for it at the time). I’d definitely recommend the medium size for Cocker Spaniels – I think Copper would struggle picking up the larger sizes with his mouth – and I’m pretty sure he’d try swallowing the smaller ones.

What’s so great about this product (other than the fact it provides Copper with hours of entertainment – or frustration, however you see it), is that it seems pretty indestructible. It’s made out of rubber material, so I’m not sure exactly how that would square-up with larger dogs with a more powerful bite (I imagine in that case you’d look at the Extreme version of the product), but for my Cocker, he’s had this Kong for about ⅔ months, and there are no holes/scratches/bits missing/etc.

Obviously one of the selling points of the Kong is the fact that it’s hollow – and of course, they provide their own ‘Easy treat’ that you can use to fill-up the toy, and from what I’ve seen they come in a few different flavours. But I’ve not used any of these so far. I make up my own different recipes to put in for Copper (based on variations I’ve read on the internet), to provide a bit of variation in his diet, and to try and keep it as healthy as possible. In case you’re interested, I’ve listed a few of these below – and what I do is prepare these the night before, and freeze overnight so they last longer the next day whilst he’s waiting for his dog walker:

I found a recipe for Cheese & Bacon treats that were relatively easy to make (I use this recipe https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/pets/a20707734/cheddar-bacon-dog-treats-recipe/), and then I use peanut butter on the inside of the Kong toy to be able to stick these treats to the inside of the Kong (and then freeze)
I also found this recipe online https://www.carriesexperimentalkitchen.com/chicken-wild-rice-dog-biscuits/ which Copper seems to love! I also find the rice is really good for his poo (disgusting, but it’s firmer when he’s eating rice) – and again, peanut butter sticks the treats to the inside.

Then I basically use different variations on the above recipes – so instead of bacon in the first recipe, I sometimes substitute for different vegetables, or little piece of sausage or chicken. There’s so many options to keep him interested!

He’s finally woken up!

So this is probably the first time I’ve properly mentioned anything about my little Horsfield tortoise, Sheldon. And that’s for a couple of reasons:

He’s been in hibernation since around October
He’s not as dramatic as my other furry friends – and so a lot more independent

That obviously doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about him – I could never forget about my little shelled friend!

Probably best to give you a bit of background about Sheldon. I purchased him in September 2015 from a pet shop in Manchester – I’m not going to name and shame the shop, but let’s just say he wouldn’t have survived much longer if we’d have left him in there. At the time we were told he was around 1 year old, and myself being a complete novice, had no idea otherwise. Turns out he was much too young to be sold – but again, we had no idea unfortunately – and from what I’ve heard previously, this is a common problem with some (not all) pet shops.

Then about 2 months after we purchased him, we realised he wasn’t eating at all – for any new tortoise owners, it is normal for tortoises to not eat for a couple of weeks due to the stress of moving to a new home, but after a month +, I’d recommend a quick check-up at the vets personally. It’s a good job I went anyway, because it turned out Sheldon had quite a few internal issues – long story short (& a few hundred pounds later) Sheldon had a feeding tube for a few months to make sure he was getting all the required nutrition to increase his weight & activity.

Moral of the story, make sure you have pet insurance!

…..and he is absolutely fine now by the way! And I’ve got to say, I’ve learnt a hell of a lot about tortoises on the journey.

So for the 1st time last October, we let him go into hibernation – the previous 2 winters he’s tried his best to hibernate, but I’ve been too wary about his weight to allow him to, so we had to wake him up daily to make sure he was getting to his light/food/water/etc. And ‘hey-presto’, he woke up a couple of days ago. We checked his table daily to see if he’d made any signs of movement (so we could start putting food down again for him), and I checked on Tuesday morning, and there he was under his basking light waiting for it to turn on.

So, as it’s the first time he’s woken up from a period of hibernation, I wanted to make sure I did everything properly so he could get back into his normal routine:

I gave him a soak in warm water – left him in there for about 10 minutes & you could definitely see he was drinking a bit of the water which was reassuring. They do take in the water through their skin/shell also, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see them physically drinking the water – they will still be getting hydrated by just being in their bath.

I thought then that it’d take a few days for Sheldon to eat again, so I bought some tomatoes and strawberries, as I read that red coloured foods are very attractive to tortoises – so naturally he’d be drawn to these foods to start eating again. And luckily for me, my little reptile ate straight away, straight after the bath (I’d be the same if I hadn’t eaten in 3 months!). So I put him down his usual kale & dandelion leaves (with a couple of blueberries as a treat as he adores them)

I haven’t noticed any signs of ill-health in him so far this week; there’s no discharge or swelling, etc. I guess if I did notice anything unusual, he’d be straight to the vet for a check-up given his past history – but we seem to be doing great with him now!

Now for another 8 months of garden exploration for my little guy before he sleeps again – I’ll keep you all posted, and if anyone has any queries or worries about their little guys, please feel free to drop me a comment & I’ll try and help as best as I can (bear in mind I’m not a trained professional though!)

Copper has a new harness!

Something I’ve been meaning to buy for a couple of weeks, but could never find the time to pop down to Pets at Home with Copper to make sure we got him fitted properly. I could have just picked him one up myself, but Copper seems to have an odd body shape (in my opinion anyway) – so the medium fits perfectly around his chunky belly but the neck is too large, and conversely the small is perfect for his little neck (but his chunky belly won’t squeeze into it). Not sure if this is a common Cocker Spaniel problem?

How convenient!

Anyway, I started doing some research around different dog harnesses on the market…

I knew I didn’t want the lead to be attached to a collar. I personally don’t like the idea of pulling Copper by the neck with him being quite a hyper breed, he does have a tendency to pull a bit, and I read a few horror stories (of course).

I really wanted to try Copper on the Julius K9 harness, as I’ve read a lot around how easy to fit they are & how they help reduce pulling due to the support they provide. I also read about how durable they are, and with a Cocker Spaniel who jumps into every body of water/mud accessible to him – this is kind of essential for me.

As luck would have it … it wasn’t available in Copper’s size when I went to look, so I was left looking through the available ranges to find a replacement for his current harness (as it was way too small to keep using).

A few of the other harnesses available looked a little flimsy, and I’ve read online that a lot of the pets at home ranges aren’t very durable – but they are the most local shop to me, and I needed something for his afternoon walk.

I did notice the Pets at Home 3 peaks mesh harness (in bright fluorescent green/blue)…

Have to say, it’s incredibly easy to get on Copper (even with his hyper temperament), and very supportive around his chest/stomach. It fits him very well, and is easily adjustable. And most importantly for me, it seems comfortable for him as it’s quite soft material. We’ve done a couple of walks in it now, and it doesn’t halt his activity in any way – so it’s pretty much perfect for the minute.

And added bonus is that it’s fluorescent – very helpful for the 5am/6pm walks in the dark!

I will be buying a Julius K9 online to try out, as I think they look great, and it would mean I’d have 2 harnesses for him in case of emergency. But no issues from the 3 peaks harness so far!

I’ll keep you updated! 🙂