YEP!  EXACTLY the same with my daughter..   she's a student...   how can they get experience if no one will give them a piggin job!    

We managed to talk my girl out of the driving thing..   partly cos of the expense (even after the lessons there's no way we could afford to get her on the insurance for either of our cars)..   but mainly cos the thought of her being out there on the road.. at her age (love her to bits..   but she does think she is immortal) scares the shit out of me.

& yeah..  hoping it won't come to that with the dog..   but if it does it does..    What can I say?  I love him as much as I love the rest of my rabble 

I tried to talk my daughter out of it too, would she listen though! She knows best! Apparently...

She managed to get her first lesson free though, a tryout shall we say, was supposed to be tody but the guy cancelled. She was not a happy bunny, I was And I told her even if she passes, how is she going to afford a car. She has her eye on mini Coopers no less...sigh!

I love my Simba like there's no tomorrow, so I know where you're coming from. Good luck with him.

Ta 'Cakey' 

& oooh..  I quite like the Mini Coopers too..    she's got good taste 

Its really lovely to see you here...   make sure you come back soon

 I am off to bed now, so nanite xxxx  

Will do, take care and huggles to your pets.

Night xxxx

Simba at 2 months, sleeping

Cute kitty. Is that the pic your husband took? I love kittens. Can't get another one just now though. I only have one cat left and she's 15 so wouldn't take well to having a kitten around. 

awwwwww love the picture of little one with her smurf, she is so cute, look at those kissable little pink feet!!!!
SOrry to hear about your dog, i hope everything gets better soon   Who did you go with for your pet insurance? We went with petplan because id heard a few stories of other companies trying to wriggle out of paying for stuff and the general feeling was petplan was the best bet, but its bloody expensive

And chocolate cake..... *feels squidgy inside* that little baby!!! I want to stick my face in his tummy and blow a teeny raspberry. I bed you wouldn't be without him now hes adorable. Beleive it or not I was totally against animals and swore after my last cats (6 or so years ago) that id NEVER have any again. Now i seem to have 2 rabbits and 3 cats so beware!!

Loving this thread... I check in everyday for my bengal fix

Please can we have some more vids of Egypt mixing with Atlas and Zeus.... so cute!!! 

We haven't actually insured Faythe yet..    but we are going to.     I keep saying I will do the research on it.

I have heard some of the cheaper ones are a bit crap too..   and, unless I find something better will be inclined to go with Petplan. 

I know what we want..   for us, pet insurance is about the big things, like with the dog, or an ongoing condition or (heaven forbid) an accident.    its to ensure we never have to make a horrible decision based on cost.   Consequently I will be looking for cover that has an excess of approx £70 - £100 (I don't expect it to cover the average trip to the vet resulting in a course of antibiotics), but that will continue to pay for a condition once diagnosed (& doesn't have a ridiculous £2000 max capped cost like some I have heard of)..   or stupid exclusions (like diabetes, or investigative procedures).

I know it costs loads, (I should imagine it costs more for a Bengal than your average moggy.. I know pedigree dogs cost more than cross breeds)..    The price of insurance was what made my dad tell us not to get the dog insured but pay into a family slush fund instead...    we did for a while...  he did for a while, & then we kinda lapsed (redundancy etc)...    that has now come & bitten us right on the backside and a few weeks ago caused one hell of a screaming row between my father & I (all resolved now thankfully)... 

When the dog is through all this current malarky hubby & I are probably going to bite the bullet & get him insured too..    even though his current problems will be exempt.    I've learned this lesson the hard way,  its been a bit of a wake up call for us. 

If this enforced rest doesn't work then the next costs we are facing will be:

Approx £100 consultation with the specialist to discuss next steps, then £700 for more xrays, then possibly £1000 for mylography, then possibly £2000 - £3000 for MRIs..    and that will just be to find out whats wrong.       In addition to that we are currently paying £25 a fortnight for specialist food for him, £40 for follow up & repeat prescriptions every 6 weeks... PLUS the cheeky buggers at our vets charged us £30 for referring us to the specialist!!  (first time I have ever been seriously pissed off with my vet).

The monthly cost of insurance goes up as the animal gets older as well! 

(all this hasn't stopped me looking at orthopaedic memory foam dog beds though..  I have found the perfect one... but its £160!!!    So.. I have been sourcing cut to measure memory foams & supporting foams..   I am gonna make him one..    Blue Peter styley )

No no No! you could seriously stress out the wee hammy,they have excellent sense of smell and would smell the cat a mile off.I've got Jake the Hammy and Jinks the budgie,also Rio rabbit in a room where the cat is never allowed in.Bloody doesn't stop him trying though! He got in when I didn't lock the door behind me,I was in the room at the time and big boy Rio spotted him,big old floor thumps with his back feet!I don't think he'd hurt Rio ,.but Rio is now a geriatric bun and probably couldn't be arsed with a lively young cat.

I still do my rota ,Hugo gets locked in his room, the others get the run of the house for a few hours then all change.

I was only joking Katty 

We've got a similar 'run of the house' rota going on here too!

well..  when I say rota..      daughter takes the dog out for his medically restricted walk (as soon as he poo's they have to turn back and come back home ) & we let the kitten run around.    She also gets a run around last thing at night or first thing in a morning if the dog is still upstairs in our room with one of us.

We've got stairgates around the house again (thought my stairgate days were behind me!)

A cute cat video for all you cat fans.  Oh yeah and there's some lovely dolphins too.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Unbelievably cute!

That's a seriously cute video. Dolphins are fabulous!

After seeing that video I spent ages watching dolphin vids on youtube.  This was one of my favourites.

That cat looks just like Kenji! (well, except Kenji is polydactyl...but the coloring is the same)

The cat and the dolphins were SO cute together! And Cinds, the dolphin video was brilliant. They were so funny, the way they hammed it up in front of the mirror.

hope you get the insurance sorted ditty, Furry babies are blooming expensive

Loving the vids cinds,,,,, there is a mad cat laydee in you im sure of it...

*puts kitten on xmas list for cinds*

I know, they looked like there laughing at themselves, I just loved it.

Gyps no kitty!!!

Atlas and Egypt bobbing for apples!!

Any success?

Looks like Egypt is waiting for Atlas to figure it out.

Na, though Zeus likes chasing the apples round with his paws in the water!!!

Kinda like patting a dolphin?

O/T..... sorry Zazz.... But Lori..... could you tell me what's up with the Iphone app..... it hasn't worked all evening??

Are you stalking me, Baz?  

I've got a "Connection Error" right now--is that what's happening for you? Brian's working on it right now...I'll report back in a sec.

 Sorry....Yes... Sweet and I have been getting that all evening.... although it was fine earlier today....

Should be fixed now!

If you'd have spoken up earlier, we'd have fixed it earlier....but we didn't know it was a problem!

Sorry! 

Mine still doesn't seem to be working Every time I try to sign it it won't let me... and I am still getting connection error....

I take it back.... I have just got in... thanks Lori... thanks Brian

Yay!!

erm, Have you had the cheek to come in here and talk about something that doesnt even have fur??

excellent answer Baz, I have no comeback

You'd have to be a MAD CAT LAYDEE to want one of those!

Zeus and Atlas have been going through it over the last couple of weeks, poor little Atlas got an infection from his op, and had balls double the size they were before the op, where they were full of puss...he must have been in agony, poor little boy....anyway, after a couple of trips to the V.E.T, some antibiotics and the abscess being lanced,  he is on the mend**touch wood** and poor zeus has had an upset tummy since his op, and being sick...he is on special foods and has had some antibiotics too.....we have to send a sample of his poo off for testing in the week....Little Egypt is keeping us on her toes with her total madness.....Gyps was ready to kick her out the other night she has taken to climbing the bedroom curtains (Gyps pride and joy) so at about 5 in the morning when little Egypt was mid running up the curtains, Gyps stormed out of bed saying"right, that is it you are going!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"....there was a pause while she picked Egypt off the curtains, realised how cute she was then followed up with "out the bedroom"

hope all your pets are well!!

Awwwww.....I'm sorry to hear the boys have been unwell. Sounds like Egypt is making up for them.

Hope they are all feeling better soon!!

Thanks, they are both on the mend now, we hope....gotta go back to the V.E.T next week for follow ups...Atlas is certainly on the mend now!!

Are dogs welcome?

I wonder if anyone has seen a dog with eye lashes like these?

They really are his eye lashes, because of the breed he is they grow them to keep the fur out of his eyes, but he came back from the groomer and she hadn't clipped them this time.  

Would it be wrong to put mascara on him?

(I know it would but.........they need mascara)