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Is there certain pets, obviously pending that person being a pet fan, that just once in your life you have to have either owned or pet-minded.

Pardon the pun but I reckon most pet loving children have minded their schools stick insect and the class ginea pig.

Rabbits are there for families with young children, although not to young, as I have heard that my brothers little boy dropped a stone on the head of his rabbit that was recently purchased.

As you grow up you become a cat fan or a dog man and every pet loving family should have 1 or the other, sometimes both whilst when you get older parrots and budgies enter the fray as there low maintenance in your older years.

After years of trying and months of searching I have suddenly found a healthy form of therapeutic relaxation in the form of bird and duck feeding.

Having tried wine, which still works by the way, and a disappointing craving for nicotine I have actually found bird feeding or duck feeding to be equally as relaxing.

Upon recent trips to Manor Park and the Lake District I have thoroughly enjoyed the sight of a flock of birds, seagulls and ducks hovering around my feet and the boat we hired provided just as much pleasure when we stopped and found them circling our personal space.

It is equally as satisfying seeing the array of birds descend on my back lawn when leftovers and stale bread is put out, sat out there with a glass of wine is made all the more relaxing due to our feathered friends.

Animal talk – just how does it work, does it work or is it just a coincidence.

Personally I feel, looking at the Zoo growing in my mother’s back garden, animal communication is alive and well and living in Essex.

Yes I am an animal lover, not insanely, just an appreciation for certain and I mean certain furry friends, spiders do still freak me out.

Birds, Cats, Badgers and Foxes are, during the day, all spotted in the back garden of my Mum’s and they feel so much at home they do not particularly care if other adults, or children to that matter, happen to be sharing their personal space.

Yes she puts out food fit for humans and yes she is up from 4am but I think the very first animal into the garden gave a sign and the rest just followed.

I was thinking recently where to go with Animal blogs and it took me to films with animals helping out in the lead role.  Some familiar, some old, some random and one is just my ole favourite.

Babe the “Pig that thinks it’s a sheep dog” quality, Black Beauty legendary, Lassie everyone’s got a place in their hearts for Lassie.

King Kong iconic, Willy out of Free Willy pulls at the heart strings but not to the same effect as Tarka the Otter, Elsa the Lioness (Born Free) and Hazel, probably the most famous Rabbit from Watership Down.

My favourite however, maybe slightly biased from the fact I love the films, admire the actor and just fully rate the plot is Buktus from Rocky, whatta dog, whatta hero and whatta character.

Those people that keep on driving …. I have no words for you people! But karma will come back to get you!

However, first things first, stop the car and check on the animal – is it badly hurt, has it run off, etc. If it runs off, try and see where too – a lot of animals get away only to die from injuries later, so don’t assume it’s ok just because it hobbled off.

Try to find a tag, and ID where the animal comes from – then you can notify the owner. If not, grab a blanket or something to wrap the animal in, and get it to the nearest vets (if you can’t spot a local house that has someone in who knows who the cat belongs to).

Leave your contact details with the person/vets/etc you leave the animal with; I know it might be hard to have a person blame you for hurting their pet, but more often than not, they’ll want to say thanks for stopping and helping – especially if the pet lives.

All in all – be responsible. It might be “just a cat” to you, but to the owners, it’s a part of the family.

I’ve never really considered that cats have different breeds – with dogs it is easy to see the difference, and they are much more commonly talked about too. But apparently, cats do have different breeds, with over 73 recognized by the IPCBA (International Progressive Cat Breeders Alliance).

As with other animals, certain breeds are predominantly based in certain areas, climates, continents, etc, and cats are no exceptions. Predominantly thought to have been domesticated in Egypt around 4,000BC, cats have played an increasing part in human lives since then. Used to control the vermin in grain houses, cats were considered one of the family and were treated with respect and love by all in Egypt – it even became punishable by death to harm a cat in any way! As domestication spread, and more nations took cats into their embrace, the love of cats spread.

Well, this is one of those “holy grail” tips of the animal world – keeping the pets off the sofa. No one really likes to come home to a furry seat (unless your sofa is furry!), so keeping the furry friends off the sofa is key.

and in all honesty – I still haven’t found a totally full proof method to do this!

We cover the sofa with a throw, but the cat tends to burrow his way down the back and under the cushions anyway! We’ve then tried making his bed super comfy and welcoming, and this does tend to work, especially when combined with new toys of the slightly noisy variety.

So all in all, to keep the pets off the sofa – keep them entertained elsewhere!

Well, our little kitten grew up really fast – but he loved playing with anything and everything, not just the toys we bought. And at one point, he much preferred chasing a kitchen roll tube around the living room than any of the little things we bought for him!

But over the last 6 months (he is now 7 months old, and massive!), he has taken a shine to string (preferably pink), a chewed up mouse (again, pink…), a lobster (blue cuddly toy) and plastic ball (bigger than his head!). He has literally 10 times more toys than this, but this is all he plays with and he is incredibly entertained.

The only other toy he really loves is the laser pen – chasing the little red dot around keeps him highly entertained!

Lesson in this one – don’t spend a fortune buying toys for a kitten – use some common sense, and turn some every day household things into little things for him or her to play with.

Having rescued a lovely little ginger kitten in August, we immediately names her “Polly” – she loved to sit on your shoulder, just like a parrot! We took her to the vets, and started her on her treatments, all went well – until the second vets visit (about 2 weeks after having found her) – Polly turned out to be a boy!

Well, weren’t we surprised! Well, so was the vet – they hadn’t noticed “she” was a “he” either! But apparently this sort of mistake is not uncommon, and so we weren’t too worried.

But now we had to rethink the kittens name! I ended up naming him a strong sounding Scottish name (purely because he was ginger and very feisty – reminded me of a traditional Scot!), but every time I look at him, I still see a little Polly…

Latest Hollywood craze that is slowly infiltrating into the UK from the USA is the micro pig. These are very cute but very strange mini pigs, known as a micro pig which people are using as the new must-have accessory. The mini pink pet measures only 8 inches from nose to tail, which is about the same size as a normal sized guinea pig. Like their full size versions, the micro pigs are also very clean, highly intelligent and very loving pets. Although they are not the most conventional looking pet, they make an ideal addition to a family with anyone who suffers from allergies as they have hair and skin similar to ours, not fur. There is only one major downside to these mini pigs and that is that they cost from £650.