Feline poorly?
Here's a bizarre story from the Guardian. Apparently, our pet cats' health is at risk from credit crunch munch.
More than 50% of cat owners are replacing cat food with human meals such as takeaways, roast dinners and fried foods (eg bacon and sausages).
And a quarter of those polled believe they are saving hundreds of pounds a year by giving the cat their meals.
But vets have warned Brits are endangering the lives of their pets – who can suffer from malnourishment, obesity, diarrhoea and severe vomiting.
And pet owners are wasting £110million each year on unnecessary vet fees caused by poor diet.
The poll of 175 UK vets and 1,000 cat owners was conducted by Iams Pro-Active Nutrition.
Vicky Halls, leading cat behaviour counsellor, said: "Owners need to think twice before cutting corners on pet food, as in the long run this will only lead to more outgoings with expensive vet bills when cats get sick from a poor diet."
Currently the biggest health threat to UK cats is obesity, followed by dental problems, worms and malnourishment.
Top 10 foods owners feed their cats
1. Bacon
2. Sausages
3. Sunday roast
4. Cereal
5. Toast
6. Biscuits
7. Eggs
8. Roast potatoes
9. Crisps
10. Chinese / Indian takeaway
Lambs to the slaughter
Sickest credit crunch story I've seen for a while.
Animal rescue centres have seen a rise in people offering to "take livestock off their hands" with a view to slaughtering them for a free meal.
Lady Leslie Cooper, who nurses sick farm animals back to health at a sanctuary near Llanelli, Carmarthen, gets about a dozen enquiries a day.
"They tell me they've been hit badly by the recession and need cheap food," she says.
"It's resourceful but there is a limit. They are not having free credit crackling from me."
Code red
A cautionary note from those awfully sensible people at Which? magazine.
Websites offering discount vouchers for online shopping may not be as cheap as they appear.
Which.co.uk discovered that price comparison websites often found lower prices for items than voucher providers, even after discounts were applied.
Jean Ross, editor of which.co.uk, said: "Make sure you shop around and also look at price comparison sites. Those extra few minutes searching could save you significant pounds."
The consumer website used discount codes from voucher providers such as myvouchercodes.co.uk, vouchercodes.co.uk, everydaysale.co.uk, hotukdeals.com and vouchercodes.com to shop online.
They then searched for the same items on price comparison sites such as kelkoo.co.uk, pricerunner.co.uk and whichcompare.co.uk to see if the products were available cheaper.
A Panasonic LCD TV priced at £781 - minus 10% with a voucher - was available for just £530 from some price comparison sites.
Easter vouchers
The famous Threshers voucher is back! Go to lovefoodlovedrink.co.uk to claim your 40% off voucher. I refer you back to my rant about Threshers pre-Christmas. Nothing's changed, their wine is still over-priced so when is a discount a discount?
Other vouchers worth looking out for if you're planning to eat out include:
2 for 1 @ Strada - Expires 31 March
http://www.stradaoffers.co.uk/gmtv
2 for 1 @ Pizza Express - Expires 29 March
http://www.pizzaexpressoffers.co.uk
2 for 1 @ Las Iguanas - Expires 14 April
http://s3.static.vouchercodes.co.uk/pdf/lasiguanas_mar09.pdf
2 mains for 1 @ Ask Pizza – Expires 9 April
http://www.askrestaurantoffers.co.uk
2 for 1 @ The Real Greek – Expires 9 April
http://www.therealgreek.com/download/pdf/TRG-241-Voucher-Feb-Apr.pdf
2 for 1 @ Wagamama - Expires 5 April
http://www.menshealth.co.uk/Down-time/2-for-1-at-wagamama/v2
2 for 1 @ Cafe Rouge - Expires 2 April
http://www.caferougeoffers.co.uk/offers
2 for 1 @ Cafe Pasta (www.cafepasta.co.uk) - Expires 31 March
http://www.cafepasta.co.uk/images/CP-Spring241.pdf
2 for 1 @ Cafe Uno - Expires 31 March
http://www.caffeuno.co.uk/offers.asp
Shabby chic
Many of us are turning into dab hands at stretching out money during the credit crunch.
According to research by Abbey Credit Cards, people in the UK are saving an average of £1,746 per year, meaning that the average salary of £25,100 will go 7% further.
On average, people have managed to cut their weekly food bills by £17.10, reduce their travel expenses by £17.27 and their weekly entertainment budget by £19.47.
Furthermore, Brits will make spend around £229 less on their holidays this year than they did last year.
Bargain search
The credit crunch is also changing the way we think about shopping and the sort of items we buy. "Shabby chic" is now in vogue amongst UK shoppers, with 31% of us saying we are prepared to hike round car boot sales at weekends in search of bargains.
More a third of shoppers said they now check the price of an item in at least five shops before buying it and two-fifths of those surveyed claimed they now visit charity shops.
Frugal shopping behaviour uncovered by Abbey included the following:
- 37% of people check the price of an item in at least five shops before making a purchase
- 68% say they wait for the sales to buy
- 31% scour car boot sales for bargains
- 40% visit their local charity shop
- Four in 10 will haggle over the price of an item
Of course, none of this is news to me or any of us for that matter - but it's fascinating all the same and it's good to know that we're not alone!
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