M.T. Sanders's Blog

The sharp-eyed football fans reading this may have noticed that the picture below is that of footballer Eric Lichaj reading a bedtime story to his girls. Even non-followers of the beautiful game may remember a story that went viral after Eric scored two goals that helped Nottingham Forest knock Arsenal out of the FA cup third round last season. Eric had been trying unsuccessfully, to persuade wife Kathryn that the family needed a dog when she finally relented, but only if he scored a hat-trick. Her thinking was that in the position he played he'd only usually maybe score one a season so she was pretty safe.That all changed in the game against Arsenal when he not only scored his brace, but his second goal was so spectacular that it was voted by BBC viewers as the goal of the tournament.The publicity surrounding his fantastic performance enabled him to slip into an interview his desire for a dog. All of a sudden social media went crazy supporting his wish for a family pet. There was ultimately very little Kathryn could do and of course the outcome was a new addition to the family and 'Gunner' duly arrived....of course that's what he was going to be called.After following the story on social media you could just tell what a lovely family they were and I contacted Kathryn to say I'd like to send them a copy of 'I'm not a Pandacow' for the girls as they were obviously huge dog lovers. After all this, is a book about a huge dog so I was sure it would be a massive hit (that's it, puns over I promise).Well the girls loved the book and we stayed connected with Kathryn and Eric via social media. Eric moved from Nottingham Forest to Hull City where he has been instrumental in their excellent season which has seen their steady rise up the championship.Though a professional international footballer Eric comes across as a very grounded and decent guy, and both he and Kathryn obviously have great taste as they have all of the books, and as you can see the girls love hearing dad reading all of Monty's exploits to them.We obviously wish Eric success for the rest of the season and look forward to seeing what the girls think of Monty and the Ocean Rescue....coming soon.

Christmas was a bit hectic to say the least. On top of the normal family festivities Cookie ruptured her cruciate ligament, and we had an operation looming between Christmas and the New Year. Added into the mix of mirth and mayhem I had promised myself to write book 5 and get it finished in time to give it to Zoe in January. I knew what the book was going to be about because it's been going around in my head for a good 9 months but all of the worry with Cookie wasn't making a great environment for being creative. Eventually one Sunday I sat down and started. Apart form getting stuck on a very small part, once I'd got going the story flowed really well and by Sunday evening I had something that was pretty much finished.Obviously I don't want to give too much away but the title is to be Monty and the Ocean Rescue and I'm sure you can guess that it includes the usual suspects. Now it's finished and Zoe has begun to produce the line drawings I'm very excited to see how this one looks. I think it will be really popular as visually it will be beautiful, I can tell that already. The pictures will compliment a story that sees Monty and the gang embark on their biggest adventure so far.We will be doing a cover reveal over the next couple of weeks. We will also begin to take orders for the initial 300 numbered copies and next weekend we'll share something very very exciting. Sorry but you'll have to wait and see.....Hopefully Monty and Cookie will be better behaved than this in the book...

This year Molly turns 13 and with Poppy and Bailey no spring chickens we thought it was time to get them a new bed. Despite spending a lot of time on the sofas in the conservatory they do love cuddling up together in their bed.Looking at the Scruffs range of beds we had plenty of choice, and we really wanted something nice and comfortable for them so went with the Chateau Orthopaedic bed. This particular bed uses memory foam for dogs needing extra support for their joints so this looked like a perfect fit. It also has memory foam side walls for extra support and to protect from drafts.We decided on the X large size which measures 90x70x16 cm and should be perfect for three Cocker Spaniels who love to stay close to each other. There was also a choice of colour which wasn't too much of an issue for me but Dawn was delighted the Latte would fit in with the décor. I'm sure Molly, Poppy and Bailey would have gone for that colour too so everybody was happy.No matter what colour or design the test was always going to be the reaction of the dogs when the bed arrived. We left their other bed down as we genuinely wanted them to vote with their paws and if they could have managed a claws up this bed would have definetly achieved that. The instantly loved it and have been together in there from the instant we put it down for them.Molly has taken herself off to the old bed a few times for a break from Bailey's snoring but she's soon back and it is certainly a hit. I think as you can see from the picture that the three amigo's love their new Scruffs bed and I'm sure they will be very comfortable for a long time to come.....Now do they do a Monty sized one?For more information and to see the Scruffs range of beds goto https://www.petslovescruffs.com/

This year Molly turns 13 and with Poppy and Bailey no spring chickens we thought it was time to get them a new bed. Despite spending a lot of time on the sofas in the conservatory they do love cuddling up together in their bed.Looking at the Scruffs range of beds we had plenty of choice, and we really wanted something nice and comfortable for them so went with the Chateau Orthopaedic bed. This particular bed uses memory foam for dogs needing extra support for their joints so this looked like a perfect fit. It also has memory foam side walls for extra support and to protect from drafts.We decided on the X large size which measures 90x70x16 cm and should be perfect for three Cocker Spaniels who love to stay close to each other. There was also a choice of colour which wasn't too much of an issue for me but Dawn was delighted the Latte would fit in with the décor. I'm sure Molly, Poppy and Bailey would have gone for that colour too so everybody was happy.No matter what colour or design the test was always going to be the reaction of the dogs when the bed arrived. We left their other bed down as we genuinely wanted them to vote with their paws and if they could have managed a claws up this bed would have definetly achieved that. The instantly loved it and have been together in there from the instant we put it down for them.Molly has taken herself off to the old bed a few times for a break from Bailey's snoring but she's soon back and it is certainly a hit. I think as you can see from the picture that the three amigo's love their new Scruffs bed and I'm sure they will be very comfortable for a long time to come.....Now do they do a Monty sized one?For more information and to see the Scruffs range of beds goto https://www.petslovescruffs.com/

Today we took Cookie back to have her infected wound checked and see that she was progressing ok. I'm really pleased to say it was good news. Her wound is almost totally fully closed up and healed and she is moving really well.Tom had a look at how she was walking and remains really pleased with her progress in just under four weeks post op. She went up to dermatology for a belly rub and to check her leg where she had managed to burst the staples. All clear from there with about a centimetre of healing still to do but hopefully only 7 more nights with the cone of shame and then she can start spending a bit of time with the other dogs....beware Monty.She will be back in four weeks for x-rays before moving onto the next stage of her recovery but for now it's pretty much all good news.

After our walk today we stopped at saneyburys and me and dad waited outside. I was getting lots of cuddles from the hoomans and then this one man said....'How much space does he take up in the house?' Dad looked at me, pointed and said....'er about that much'.....The hooman man seemed really impressed that I only took up as much room at home as what I was taking up outside the shop. Maybe he fort I was a shapeshifter or omnipresent and took up loads of space all at the same time....I find it hard working your odd licckle species out sometimes....

Today was a strange walk....yep even stranger than the strange walks I've had on national strange walking day. Fust of all we was walking up the road, I was deep in nostrilation of the local lampposts.Dad and poobag were talking hooman rubbish when we seen a labbyrador on the uvver side of the road. It was just heading into a side street wiv it's hoomans when all of a sudden a hooman wiv a phone rushed towards them saying 'ooh can I have a picture please?' Well the hoomans and doglet seemed delighted and stood posing for their moment of fame. She walked straight past them though and said 'Sorry not you, I want that dog over the road'....Well it was a licckle embarryarsing I have to say cos they didn't look best pleased when she crossed the road and starting taking me piccie. Well what can I say? I can't help being this handsome can I?Later in the walk a hooman was walking towards us wiv three doglets....they was in the distance and dad said to poobag 'Look at those three staffies' Well poobag looked and said they aren't staffies they're tiny....they're chiwawawawawa's. As they got closer though she looked again and said 'ooh they're getting bigger, I think they are staffies'.......Now peoples I know I'm not the same species as the people who supposedly run this planet but even I know that fings look smaller in the distance and get bigger as they get closer......Can you see what I have to put up wiv on a daily basis? She don't even have the excuse of being blonde anymore.....

When I started doing the blog about Cookies cruciate ligament rupture the idea was to cover every aspect of our experience in the hope that it may be a useful source of information in the future for people. I wanted to look at everything related to this major surgery from diagnosis and treatment to recovery and her long term quality of life. Now three weeks post op she is progressing well albeit a few hiccups along the way.One of our biggest concerns when the injury first happened was a financial one because we knew straight away that this type of surgery is not cheap. Cookie is insured but that old adage of 'You never know how good an insurance company is until you make a claim' was at the forefront of my mind when I downloaded the claim form and handed it over to Liverpool University small animal hospital on our first visit. In October we had got our renewal notice through from our then insurers More Than. Despite never claiming with them our premium had doubled. I really dislike chopping and changing with pet insurance but in this case I had also been considering a better policy for a while so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We had a £4000 a year annual policy for both Monty and Cookie but I really wanted to look at lifetime cover and also to see if we could get a more realistic accident or illness amount.After trawling though numerous companies I came across the Insurance Emporium. After putting in Monty and Cookie's details it came back with a premium of £28 per month each for a lifetime cover of £8000 per condition. This was about the same as we'd been paying for the previous annual cover before the price hike so I was very interested. I must admit I put the details in twice just to make sure, but it came back the same again. As good as it was I have to be honest and say that this was a name new to me so I really wanted to double check. I put in a search for reviews and they came out very well and so I decided to go ahead.On the 2nd of November our new policy started and on the 12th of December Cookie spun round in the garden to go the toilet and the rest is history. After years of never claiming within six weeks of taking out a policy with a new company we had no experience of we were facing a major injury and an equally major expense. The claim form was handed over and the operation went ahead because of that we had no hesitation. We honestly believe this is the best option to get Cookie a good quality of life and if the insurance was a problem then we'd have to find a way of raising the money.We couldn't see where the problem would be but we'd had a previous bad experience and I guess we were taking nothing for granted. Last week I had an email from the Insurance emporium saying that due to previous conditions they wouldn't cover anything in the future for eyes or eyelids. The were obviously looking at previous medical history which is fair enough and totally expected. I actually quite liked being told upfront where we stood for future claims s there is a sense of transparency which is often lacking within this industry. Two later we got an email to say the payment was being sent to Liverpool hospital minus the excess and our agreed 5% contribution and that was that.The speed that the claim was dealt with was certainly a weight off our mind and it was one very big thing less to worry about. We have a few more parts of the claim to come but I have to say so far the whole experience with the Insurance Emporium has been really positive, straightforward and uncomplicated.Obviously I can't say that every claim will be dealt with the same, but going on our experience it would be hard not to recommend them as pretty decent option if you're in the process of shopping for pet insurance......we'll keep you updated of course.

After the recent scare when Cookie managed to pop a few staples things had calmed down nicely. Last Thursday was the scheduled appointment with our own vet to check the wound and remove the remaining staples. The wound was looking nice and clean albeit a little open but it looked nicely healed. The staples which seemed to pop out quite easily when put under the force of a heffalump all of sudden decided they were comfortable where they were when faced with a vet bearing a staple removing tool. It took four people - one holding, one moving important newfy bits out of the way, a torch holder and a vet impersonating a car mechanic performing an under car inspection to finally rid her of her metalwork.All of this prodding and poking though had left the wound a little red and sore so Cookie was given a burst of laser treatment and some silver cream for the wound and we booked an appointment for a week later.Saturday saw her taking her first walk since the operation and although it was only ten minutes you could see her spirits visibly raise, released from her 'prison'. She was down for a maximum of three 10 minute walks a day but we stuck with two as you could see she was tired and as the day went on she got stiffer. We have continued that and she has improved daily and looked more sure on her leg as time went on.The wound was looking good and everything looked on schedule when yesterday evening all of a sudden Cookie was sick. She was still on the Metacam once a day so it's something we've been keeping an eye out for. Last night, overnight she was very restless and Dawn watched her most of the night as this was something different and bloat is always that worry at the back of your mind. This morning when checking the wound it had a small area that was inflamed and weepy. I rang Liverpool first thing and managed to speak to Tom the vet who asked if we could get her back over this afternoon.After swabbing the area it looks like it's only a surface infection and we got cream and a follow up appointment for next week. She was sick again after we got home but thankfully so far today she has been ok. Hopefully she just had a bit of an upset stomach and that it's a coincidence. Obviously the other explanation is a reaction the Metacam but either way we're keeping a close eye on her.