everything pets + a tiny human
September is probably one of my favourite months of the year simply because the days get warmer and flowers are blooming everywhere. Our family loves the warmer months and after our really cold winter, we are welcoming this spring with open arms 🙂
September is also Ollie’s Gotcha month so of course we will celebrate our little nosey cat!
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Today is Zara’s birthday. Six whole years of loving our sassy Zara! And there’s been a whole lot of love in those six years, a kind of love I never imagined but a kind of love that I am so grateful for.
I often get asked how we ‘trained’ Zara to be so gentle and kind towards her baby sister Gia, how she tolerates her brother Ollie the cat and how caring she is towards our bunny girls Misty and Clover. And my answer is always the same… we never ‘trained’ Zara to do anything. We simply showered Zara with a whole lot of love and respect and taught her our ways.
My husband and I had a conversation the other day and I asked him if he thinks Zara would be as gentle, loving, kind and loyal in someone else’s home or is she as amazing as she is because of us and the love we have for our family and each other. His answer to me was that every dog is brought up in a different home and different environment and so their level of love and respect is different. Zara found her way to us for a reason and that reason is so we could show her what our love is and for her to be the best version of herself with us. I was pretty satisfied with that answer…
And so today we celebrate Zara in all her glory…
Zara’s Pup Cakes
It’s a tradition in our home to make something special for Zara to enjoy on her own so this year baby sis Gia helped make some yummy blueberry birthday pupcakes for our pup 😉
Ingredients- cake
1/4 cup blueberries (we used fresh but frozen would work too)
1 egg
1/3 cup plain yoghurt (we used plain double thick)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Ingredients- icing
3 tbs plain double thick yoghurt
3 tbs plain cream cheese
*Fresh blueberries to decorate if you want
Directons- cake
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare a cupcake/muffin pan with paper cupcake holders. In a mixing bowl using a whisk or electric beater, mix well the yoghurt, coconut oil and vanilla extract. Then add the flour and baking powder and beat for 2 minutes. Then gently fold in the blueberries using a spoon. Add some blueberry bater to each cupcake holder and bake in the over for +-12 minutes or until cooked through and golden in colour. Once cooked leave the pupcakes to cool down completely before icing and decorating them.
Directions- Icing
To make the icing beat together the yoghurt and cream cheese until light and fluffy. The spoon onto your pupcakes or pipe the icing. Decorate with blueberries.
Zara’s Presents
Zara also gets some new toys and special things on her birthday and this year baby sis Gia helped me choose some goodies she thought Zara would love. Some of them can be found in our amazon storefront so click here if you would like to shop any and some of them are local South African brands who we love 🙂
We will be sharing all of Zara’s birthday fun on Instagram so be sure to follow along @stylish_paws
Thank you for enjoying Zara’s 6th birthday with us!
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by Welcome to July. We are pretty cold down here in the Southern Hemisphere but luckily we have plenty snuggles going on which help keep us all warm and toasty 😉
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by Happy May everyone, the month my tiny human and best friend was born! This year we celebrate my baby sis Gia’s 3rd birthday. Time really does fly when you’re having fun.
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by I feel like I blinked and here we are in April! this month the Easter bunny will be making his appearance and of course we cannot wait 😉
Happy April everyone.
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by It’s the month of love! Happy February everyone
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by We love Santa in our home. He’s the big fat guy who brings presents and looks after reindeers and our new family member Coco Puff the elf. As Gia gets older, Christmas becomes more fun because she understands a little more and we can just enjoy the make believe world that Santa is. Life is too short not to have FUN and not to eat Christmas treats!
Zara loves Santa Paws too and she picks up on all the excitement and knows when his delivery has been made. She knows exactly which gifts are for her and loves to sniff them out.
So Santa Paws is almost here and what better way to celebrate his arrival than with some yummy homemade Christmas treats for the whole family.
Candy Cane Dog Treats
Ingredients for the red dough
1 cup beetroot puree
1 egg
2 cups flour
Directions
Mix together the beetroot puree and egg. Then add the flour and mix until a dough forms. Set aside.
Ingredients for the white dough
1 cup apple puree
1 egg
2 cups flour
Directions
Mix together the apple puree and egg. Then add the flour and mix until a dough forms. Set aside.
Take little portions of each dough and roll them into long thin strips then on a greased baking tray gently plait them into a candy cane shape. Repeat until all your dough is finished. Bake at 180 degrees for +-25 minutes or until cooked through. Once cooked allow them to cool before your pup enjoys them.
Gia helped make the Christmas cookies for Santa. She loved being involved!
Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 cup butter – room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the egg and vanilla together then add it to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat well. Then add the flour one cup at a time and mix well. Eventually the dough will form. Put it in the fridge for about an hour to chill. Once chilled roll out and using Christmas shaped cookie cutters make your Christmas cookies. Place on an un-greased baking tray and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for +-15minutes or until golden. Allow biscuits to cool completely before decorating.
You can bet we will be leaving a candy cane out for Rudolf and a Christmas cookie for Santa!
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2022.
Thank you for following us on our journey that was 2021!
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by The Hansgrohe DogShower is the latest dog grooming product to hit the South African market and we couldn’t be more excited to share our experience with you.
When Hansgrohe reached out to us I’ll be honest, I had not heard of the DogShower but since doing my own research and connecting with the brand I am seeing the DogShower more and more internationally on social media. But fear not my fellow South Africans because the DogShower is coming to YOU!
The Hansgrohe DogShower is pretty awesome and can be used for both indoor and outdoor grooming. As you know Zara loves nothing more than to be hosed down and groomed and the DogShower makes the experience a little more luxurious for her. It has three different wash settings, one for the bulk of her fur, which is the full flow of the shower head. One for the more sensitive parts like her legs, under-carriage, bum and tail areas, which is only the top section of the shower head. And the last setting is for her paws, which is a single jet of water flow. It also has a button to increase the pressure if you want which I actually quite liked especially for around Zara’s leg area where the shampoo usually sits.
The long silicone nozzles offer a pleasant massage experience for your pup which Zara loved. I was able to massage from the top of her neck right to the tip of her tail without the nuzzles getting stuck in her fur all whilst making sure no shampoo foam is left behind.
The single flow paw cleaner is also great because I often forget about Zara’s paws when bathing her however the paw cleaning setting on the DogShower makes sure any bits and pieces that are wedged in between her toes gets cleaned away especially when you use the booster pressure button.
We connected our Hansgrohe DogShower to our standard outdoor garden hosepipe and it works perfectly. Because it is currently so hot where we live, giving Zara an outdoor shower suits her perfectly. I mean who doesn’t love outdoor showers anyway 😉 At first Zara thought it was a new sprinkler water toy to play with so she tried jumping up and playing with the water sprays but she soon realised what a relaxing experience it is to be bathed with the DogShower.
Don’t worry, if you don’t enjoy bathing your pup outside the Hansgrohe DogShower works indoors too. All you need is a shower hose connected to your bath or shower which you screw the DogShower head to and use it in the bath or shower. Zara loves an indoor bath too so we keep these to the winter time so we can make the water a little warmer for her.
Basically everyone can use the Hansgrohe DogShower and we highly recommend this product. No more random buckets or jugs needed to bath your pets. Simply screw it to your bath hose or outdoor hosepipe and you’re good to go!
Thank you Hansgrohe for such an awesome product which we will use all the time!
Follow Hansgrohe Africa on Instagram and Facebook for actual product launch dates 🙂
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by Summer is in full swing for us and while we as a family absolutely love the summer months, the intense heat of our summer days can leave you feeling drained and Zara is not immune to this and neither is Ollie or the bunny girls.
Most dogs and pets in general can suffer from heat stroke really quickly and most pet owners know that heat stroke is no joke! I am very aware of how hot it gets for us and I am constantly making sure Zara, Ollie, the bunny girls and us stay cool and comfortable so we can enjoy our beautiful hot sunny days to the fullest.
So here are some tips and things I do to make sure we all stay cool during our hot summers.
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Water toys in summer are an absolute must have! We have a few gems we found on Amazon and in the shops. Zara is a water goddess and loves nothing more than a water toy or shell pool to splash around in. She loves sprinkler toys and there are some fabulous ones available! Our latest water toy is her sprinkler pad which is great for Gia too. The two of them can sit for hours playing in the water together.
Cold water and Ice treats are a must for all of us. You can make them interesting by adding fruits and veggies. The bunnies particularly love a fruity ice treat. I usually pop a blueberry, chopped strawberries or chopped carrots in each ice mould before filling it with water and freezing. Zara loves eating ice and it definitely helps in keeping her body temperature down. I also make sure she has a big ice block in her water bowl all afternoon so she has lovely cold water to drink. Ollie drinks Zara’s water too and I have noticed he quite enjoys it when its really cold. Of course you can make yummy frozen yoghurt treats and doggy ice cream too but on a hot day I find those can make Zara extra thirsty so I prefer fruit and water to be honest.
When I know it’s going to get really hot I freeze a few full water bottles. Once frozen I wrap a small towel around them (to prevent ice-burn) and I give it to Ollie to lie next to for his afternoon nap. When the bunnies are really hot I give them one too.
As you know Zara loves nothing more than swimming in the big pool. She’s a fish in a rottweiler body! This is the most effective way to cool her body temperature down fast, but not all dogs love to swim and that’s ok! Water toys are just as much fun and absolutely help in cooling down. Gia is learning to swim too so the two of them have great fun in the pool together.
We have both fans and air-conditioning in all areas of the house, our summer is too hot not to have these things. Zara quite enjoys both! On extreme days I put the AC on and she takes up position right under it and enjoys her afternoon snooze. Ollie also enjoys the AC on a hot afternoon. Otherwise I put the fans on to circulate the air and this works well too.
I never let Zara sunbathe on extremely hot days. Our sun is too powerful and she gets really hot really quickly and ends up coming inside panting like she’s just been on a 5km walk! We also never walk Zara past 10am, even at that time our temperatures are getting high. We usually do early morning or late afternoon past 4pm or even later. We try not to run around and play too much during the hottest times of the days either and that’s why we have so many water toys- so we can still have plenty of fun while keeping cool even tho it’s roasting hot!
Thank you for reading, we’re off to enjoy some summer fun 🙂
by Hello October. As some of you welcome fall and all the cosiness that comes with it, we welcome summer and one of our hottest months of the year.
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