The next morning, I asked OH to remove the spider (sorry, I just can't do it), which he duly did, finding a new home for it in the wood shed. I was now free to reach past where it was to get to my linens.
When I did, however, I instantly realised that something wasn't quite right. There were lots of little poops in a dish that sat on top of them and I realised that we had an uninvited guest. I put on some plastic gloves and pulled out all of the linen. Much of it had dirty mouse urine stained patches on it and one item had even been nibbled. The little guy had really made himself at home.
(Many of the items were pretty vintage linen that I really liked, so I was disappointed to see what had happened to it. I put the dirty linen into the washing machine and thankfully the dirty marks did come out, and it has all now been ironed and a new home found, away from pesky rodents.)
I proceeded to take out everything remaining on the shelf and wash it down. I washed and disinfected any items that had been contaminated and then returned everything to the cupboard. I couldn't see any signs of the mouse anywhere else in the cupboard, so assumed he'd moved on or maybe even been caught at some point, which is just as well, as I keep my lockdown stash of chocolate here. I made sure to put it in a tin to prevent mouse access, in case he did decide to return and got on with the rest of my day.
The remainder of the day was about other furry friends. I needed to cook up some offal for the dog. Although I no longer eat meat, our dog has eaten meat from being a puppy, so I can't expect her to suddenly stop. I regularly buy offal, which I combine with vegetables and cook for her. She loves it. Chicken livers, lamb hearts and beef liver to be exact. Things that often people don't actually eat much anymore, but the dog devours like there's no tomorrow. They are super flavoursome to her and I feel that if an animal has to die to be eaten, then the least we can do is make use of every little part.
It's a task that takes a little while, as all the meat has to be cut up into small chunks, along with the vegetables, which on this occasion were carrots, courgettes and frozen peas. Then they all get cooked up in batches and bagged up, before being put in the freezer. I usually make up 4 or 5 batches and she gets a bag a week, which usually lasts a couple of days and then she reverts to tinned and dry dog food for the rest of the week.
It's a very messy task too and I have to thoroughly clean up afterwards and make sure the surfaces are disinfected properly, but it's worth it because she's so happy when she receives it.
Here's the resulting food:
Dog stew. It looks quite tasty, but I wouldn't personally want to try it.
Do you cook anything special for your pets?
I give our old cat ice cream as a special treat. But cook her special food is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I love that you cook specially for your dog - the only time I cooked for our cat was when he fell ill and the vet suggested chicken, lamb and some other meat which I can't remember. Being vegetarian it was difficult - I managed the chicken but not the lamb I found the smell too much. Thankfully he wasn't ill for long.
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