About

My name is Fiona Tankard and I'd like to thank you for looking at the UKpetbreeders.com website. As a writer, animal lover and life-long pet owner, I want to make this the internet's friendliest website for owners of all sorts of pets.

My husband, and I moved with our pets to Italy in 1994 and since then we have welcomed and said goodbye to several cats, dogs and geese. Each one has a story to tell, that I will share with you on the site over the coming months.

Currently we have two dogs and three cats. The dogs are a Labrador, ZsaZsa, who is four and a three-month old mongrel called Maia. We think she is going to turn out to be some kind of hound, judging by the length and shape of her legs - she reminds us of a daddy-long-legs at the moment! We got her by answering a 'free to good home' ad in the local paper. Although we paid for ZsaZsa (I had always wanted a purebred Labrador - and haven't been disappointed), we wanted to give a home to a pup that needed one. We got her as a companion to ZsaZsa and to help us get over the loss of our 11-year-old mongrel, Mikey, who was killed in an incident with a porcupine.

Mikey was a stray we found in a  cardboard box in the road and he died as he lived - a brave, free spirit who loved nothing better than escaping from the garden and going into the nearby fields and woods. Despite endless attempts to shore up any holes in the fence (he bit his way through or tunnelled underneath - typical terrier) he got out late one night and chased the porcupine. I found his little body the next day pierced by three quills, one through the heart. No-one in the area had ever heard of anything like it. Dogs are not supposed to die from a porcupine attack. The vet said it was just very unlucky. I feel it was his time to go, and he did it in style. He is buried in the garden with our other dogs and cats and I take him a flower every day that I pick on the walk he loved so much.

We have three cats who are all getting old now. Birkana the half Siamese named after a rune (don't ask!) is 20 and although she is a little unsteady on her feet she still likes to come for a walk in the garden and has a very healthy appetite and stronger character. Any owner of a Siamese or Siamese cross will know the willpower and unique personality of these cats and Birkana is no exception. She is the queen of our household.

Then there is Widget, 15 years old and a far cry from the small scrap we saw sitting on her own in the back of a pet shop in Bournemouth. 'She just won't eat,' said the owner is desperation. I took her home and she did eat ( and eat) - but only Felix chicken adult catfood.

Finally, we have Jingles who is 13, a long haired ginger tom, named after the Christmas song Jingle Bells as we got him from a neighbour on Christmas Eve.

Whether mongrels, strays or pure breeds, pets can bring us love and devotion and enhance our lives. This site is dedicated to all of them.