Keep Easter eggs away from pets warns animal charity

Easter eggs - yummy for humans but not good for pets, according to one animal charity.

The PDSA are warning owners to keep chocolate away from their furry friends this Easter.

They say the sweet stuff can be dangerous for them because some of the ingredients aren't safe for animals like dogs to eat.

Poppy, a puppy from Cardiff, had to be treated by vets after eating a whole Easter Egg.

Dark chocolate is the biggest risk for dogs as it contains the most theobromine, a safe ingredient for humans, which can be harmful for animals.

Elaine Pendlebury, who works for the PDSA, said: "Many pet owners love giving their pet a treat but are unaware of the dangers of chocolate.

"If you can't resist giving them a little Easter treat, make sure it is something pet-friendly, suitable and safe. A new toy or a nice long walk is a good alternative."

From CBBC

Chilly lambs given woolly jumpers for Easter

Farmers in Birmingham (UK) have come up with a stylish way to keep their animals warm this Easter. Look at them, so cute!

The lambs on Beckett's Farm have been given some chunky knitwear to keep them warm.

The tiny jumpers were made for babies but are a perfect fit for the little creatures.

Holly Beckett, who works for the farm, said; "Now they look even cuter".

The recent freezing weather has hit in the middle of the lambing season.

Lots of farmers are worried about the health of the newborns, who might not survive outside in the cold.

From CBBC News

Easter Traditions in Britain

The Traditional Egg Gift

These eggs were painted in bright colours to give them further meaning as a gift.

As chocolate became more wide spread in the 20th Century, a chocolate version of the traditional painted egg was developed. The size of the chocolate egg has grown over the years and is now more likely to be the size of an ostrich egg rather than a small birds egg.

Easter cards

Easter cards arrived in Victorian England, when a stationer added a greeting to a drawing of a rabbit. The cards proved popular.

Easter Egg Hunt

Small chocolate eggs are hidden for the children to find on the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. In recent years this game has been linked to the Easter Bunny, which only arrived in England relatively recently.

Click on the link to know more about Easter traditions

http://projectbritain.com/easter/easterday.htm

Micro Lamb's snow survival story told on Twitter

Meet Micro Lamb - the tiny Hebridean lamb who's got her own Twitter account!

Micro Lamb was born a few days ago weighing just 1kg - about the same as a bag of sugar - and was an unexpected arrival to her farmer, Gareth Barlow.

She was born on a farm in North Yorkshire, but was only a third of the usual size for a newborn lamb.

This meant that she wouldn't be able to survive outdoors in the current cold weather so will be living in Gareth's house for the next few weeks.

But to keep her busy she's got her own Twitter account with hundreds of followers from all around the world!

In a recent tweet on Wednesday afternoon she said: "I'm busy playing in the lovely warm kitchen, saying hello to the dog, chasing the farmer, sleeping under the chairs. This is such fun! Baa."

From CBBC News

Plastic found in Kit Kat bars in UK

Nestle has withdrawn thousands of chocolate bars and Easter eggs after plastic was found in some of their products.

The 48 gram bars of peanut butter, chocolate fudge, caramel and hazelnut are affected.

Plastic has also been discovered in their giant Easter eggs as well.

If you've already bought one, return it to the shop, unopened, to get your money back.

Nestle has apologised to customers and urged those who have purchased the bars to not eat them and return them unopened to receive a full refund.

A spokesman for the company said: ‘The safety and quality of our products are non-negotiable priorities for the company.

‘We sincerely apologise to our consumers for any inconvenience caused by this voluntary recall.’

The affected Nestle bars include:
Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter (48g) with a best before date range of September 2013 to February 2014.
Kit Kat Chunky Hazelnut (48g) with a best before date range of September to October 2013.
Kit Kat Chunky Choc Fudge (48g) with a best before date range of September to October 2013.
Kit Kat Chunky Caramel (48g) with a best before date range of June to July 2013.
Kit Kat Chunky Hazelnut Multipack with a best before date range September to December 2013.
Kit Kat Chunky Collection Giant Egg with a best before date of July 2013.

From CBBC and Metro

Could a folding car solve parking problems?

Have you ever driven through a city centre and spent ages looking for somewhere to park?

In many urban areas, there simply isn't enough space for all the cars that people want to use.

And it doesn't just create parking problems - it also means inevitable traffic jams.

Watch this video and find out how these problems can be solved. This car is really amazing technologically speaking, because it not only is electric but, as its name suggests, it folds!

The Hiriko is an evolution of MIT's CityCar project, in collaboration with Denokinn (the Basque Center for Innovation) and a consortium of Spanish businesses. The word Hiriko itself derives from the Basque words hiri (town or city) and kotxe (car) - so the name is in essence merely an English to Basque translation.

Electric Car News put the price of the Hiriko at £11,000 (US$17,430), which broadly agrees with other figures that have been suggested, though it may be that the car is more popular with city authorities hoping (perhaps clamoring) to introduce fleets of Hirikos for inner-city hire schemes. In any case the electric cars are expected to take to the streets in 2013. The car was unveiled at the end of January by president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.
From BBC and Gizmag

UK's 'oldest cat' turns 27-years-old

A cat from Bedford in England has just celebrated his 27th birthday, amazing his owners.

On March 6, a British cat called Wadsworth celebrated his 27th birthday, possibly making him the world's oldest feline.

Waddy, as he is more commonly known, is named after the British beer. He has lived with owner Ann Munday in Bedfordshire, England, since 1986. She adopted the cat when he was just 4 weeks old and had apparently been thrown out by his previous owners for being too small.

"When I got him I think he must have been the runt of the litter, he’s got no claws on his back feet,” Munday told Bedford Today.

"He was very poorly and sick when we got him," she told BBC. "He was back and forth to the vets in the first few weeks, he was full of infection."

Gill Monsell, Waddy's vet, says that the cat is largely healthy with only a few old-age ailments like hyperthyroidism. "Mrs. Munday does a fantastic job of treating him and he is very stable on the medication."

‘I’ve always had cats, but he is an absolute dream," Munday told Metro. "He has been a fantastic companion since my husband died 13 years ago."

At 125 cat years, it's no surprise that Waddy has slowed his pace a little. Munday describes him as a "little old man" who mainly eats and sleeps.

Record-breaking cats

It's unusual for cats to live into their 20s.

In 2007, a cat in Shropshire called Pussywillow, aged 26, was claimed to be the oldest in Britain, but the world record for the oldest cat ever, was set by Creme Puff who lived with her owner in Texas, USA, until her death in 2005 at the age of 38.

From CBBC

Happy International Women's Day!

International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.

Every woman should be proud of being one because women are the most important support of families. They give everything they have to see their children grow healthy and strong, they endure every single adversity and keep fighting for what they think is right.

Women of the world, don't give up your dreams and rights!
 Keep fighting to make a difference and change the world into a better place!

Dog 'saved life' of missing Polish girl

Firefighters in Poland say a small dog probably saved the life of a three-year-old who went missing from her home overnight in freezing temperatures.

"All's well that ends well"

Firefighters said the animal stayed with the child throughout the night

Well done,loyal friend!

The child, Julia, vanished on Friday and was found lying in marshes several kilometres from her house on Saturday morning, with the dog by her side.

She is now in hospital in western Poland, suffering from frostbite after temperatures fell to -5C (23F).

Firefighter Grzegorz Szymanski said the dog kept the child warm enough to live.

"For the whole night the animal was with the girl, it never left her. Remember, it was 5 degrees below zero and the child was wet," he said, adding that the animal was the most important factor in the girl's survival.

Julia was found lying in marshland

More than 200 people had searched for the child overnight. It is thought she spent hours wandering through the forest near her home in the village of Pierzwin.

Her parents had last seen the three-year-old playing in the backyard with the small black mongrel.

She was eventually discovered by firefighters after she was heard crying for her mother.

From BBC News

Does skipping breakfast make you put on weight?

It’s a plausible theory, until you look through the evidence. Then things become a little messy.

We’re often told that breakfast is an essential part of a healthy diet, especially if you are watching your weight. Some schools run breakfast to ensure that as many pupils as possible eat this all-important first meal of the day. But not everyone can stomach an early morning meal. In Europe and US between 10% and 30% of people skip breakfast, with teenage girls most likely to give it a miss, saying they’ve not got time, don’t feel hungry or that they’re on a diet.

Missing breakfast for dietary reasons runs counter to a great deal of advice. The logic goes that missing an early morning meal will leave you hungry for the rest of the day, tempting you to snack on high-calorie foods, and resulting in weight gain. 

It’s a plausible theory, until you look for evidence that people who skip breakfast consume any more calories than anyone else. The impact skipping breakfast has on weight is harder to study systematically than you might expect. The first problem is how to define that first meal of the day. How much food counts as a real breakfast? Do you have to eat it seven days a week to be defined as a breakfast-eater? And how early in the day does it need to be eaten? For example, when the US Department of Agriculture conducted a systematic review on the topic they found that most studies defined breakfast as food eaten before ten in the morning. Anyone who ate at 10.05 was considered to have skipped breakfast, which could skew the results.

Another difficulty is that what is eaten for breakfast varies from country to country. In Scandinavia it might include smoked fish, in Germany cold meats, and in the UK boxed cereals, which can often contain more sugar and salt than people realise (the Consensus Action on Salt and Health group says some cereals are saltier than seawater). This makes the impact of eating breakfast more difficult to study on a global level because the nutritional benefits will depend on what you include in the meal.

From BBC News - Health

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