A Paws from Christmas

Are your kids fed up with traipsing around busy shops, battling the crowds, getting trampled on by other shoppers and having you constantly yelling, 'Would you please stop running off, it's too busy, you'll get lost!' after them? Actually, you are most likely fed up with it all too. Fear not, there is a solution (if your child is an animal lover).

How about booking the kids on to one of the free workshops run by Pets At Home? They are only half an hour long, so if you do need to run the gauntlet of the High Street at Christmas time, you could use the workshop as a break in proceedings, or a treat at the end of the trip.


I spend quite a lot of time in Pets At Home, buying food for the pets and keeping Max supplied with plush burgers. Miss. L loves looking at all of the pets when we're stocking up, so when I learnt of the workshops, I decided to book her a place (and one for her equally animal crazy best friend).

The girls were booked on the Small Furries workshop. It's really easy to do, you just need to follow this link, search your local store and then click on 'Find Out More' to book your places. Our workshop started at 12pm and bonus, the two girls were the only ones who turned up.

They started off having a little cuddle with Greg, the Guinea Pig. As you can see, he is a bit of a cutie and seemed fairly happy to be hugged. Greg is actually one of the pets in the adoption centre. If you're looking for a pet, it's definitely worth having a quick look at the ones who need a forever home first, although some of them need experienced small animal pet owners.

Then we moved on to the hamsters, which are also cute; what is it about small fluffy animals that just makes you melt inside?

This little Russian Dwarf Hamster, was very docile and was more than happy to just sit in the girls hands. Actually, he was probably a bit dopey given it was the middle of the day and he should have been sleeping. They live between two to two and a half years, but I must confess to not having a good track record with hamsters, so have not encouraged Miss. L to have one. Well that and the fact that we have a cat and dog, so I can't guarantee a hamsters safety.

Now this little chap is a Degu and he was a real little live wire, as were his three Degu companions. They were scampering around in their enclosure, climbing up and down and were fascinating to watch. I could happily have spent the day watching them. We learnt some interesting things about these little critters; they are very clever escape artists, so if you do get a pair, you'd better make sure your cage is Degu proof. They are also Diabetic and cannot have any sugar in their diet, even a carrot is apparently too sweet. Oh and you must never pick a Degu up by the tail, they have break points in them...ouch!

Because they are so lively, the girls couldn't hold one, but we watched them playing and climbing out of the cage to be lifted by our Work Shop Leader (I'm not sure if that is the official title, I just made it up) to a higher vantage point in the cage.

They also got to make a fuss of a rat, but I didn't manage to get a photo of it as it was otherwise occupied peeing and pooing on the Work Shop Leader.

I think I probably enjoyed the whole experience more than the girls, who seemed to be having a lot of fun playing with the Christmas dog toys, but it was a nice break from the home and from the busy shops.

Disclaimer: We were not asked to do this review, nor have we received any incentive, I'm just a tired Mummy who wanted to get my gamer girl away from a screen (which in itself is an incentive).