‘Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms’ George Eliot
As you may have seen, Sunday 11th April was National Pet Day. This was founded in 2006 by Colleen Paige, an animal welfare advocate and pet expert, and pet lovers now mark the day in the U.K., Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Israel , Spain and Guam to name a few.
A recent survey asked owners to state their reasons for owning a pet and all correlated their ownership to either improving their happiness and/or providing companionship. Happiness was the most common response, with nearly half saying ‘because they make me happy’, and almost as many stating their pets provided ‘love and affection’. In addition, it turns out that pets contribute to overall cardiovascular health by lowering cortisol, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. A recent study showed that owning a dog decreases your risk of death by heart disease by up to 36%.
It’s estimated that 12 million UK households have pets, accounting for around 51 million pets in total. UK retail sales of pet food, treats and litter reached £2.9 billion in 2019, out of a total industry valued at a staggering £6.3 billion. Hands up all those who only ever seem to get Amazon and Ebay packages for their animal overlords nowadays?
This lawn has been scorched by the concentrated Nitrogen in canine urine. Don’t despair, you can combat this!
With so many of our clients being committed pet owners, we are often asked about how they (the pets) may be affected by the treatments which we apply to their lawns. All of the products we use are certified for amenity use and our advice is to keep off the lawn until the liquid treatments (Weed or Moss control) have dried. On a dry, warm day this is usually within minutes. If fertiliser has been applied, this will be in granular form so will present no problems.
Grazing animals, such as Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, & Chickens should be kept off treated areas until any treated weeds become unpalatable for the animal, which is usually around 3 – 4 weeks . Many owners of grazing pets work out a system whereby they mark out the area on which they will graze their pets for the next month or so, ahead of our visit. This ensures we leave that area untreated on that occasion and the pets can safely graze there.
Many dog owners are also concerned about the effects of canine urine on their lawns, and we have a section in our Lawn Care Guide dedicated to ways tackling the problem. Please click on the link to be taken directly to the ‘Pets and Your Lawn’ page:
https://www.lawn-tech.co.uk/lawn-care-guide/pets-your-lawn/
If you’re worried that your lawn may have been seriously damaged by your pets, here’s a link to our Lawn Renovation page. It may put your mind at rest!
https://www.lawn-tech.co.uk/lawn-care-services/lawn-repair-renovation/
April is also National Pet Month
Although the 11th is National Pet Day, the whole month is National Pet Month. This event celebrates and raises awareness of responsible pet ownership every year via various media outlets. During April fundraisers and events in support of the UK’s many pet welfare organisations/charities are being planned. To find out how to get involved check out www.nationalpetmonth.org.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/NationalPetMonth
Twitter: twitter.com/NatPetMonthUK
Instagram: @nationalpetmonth
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/nationalpetmonth
