Buy this book online online Books of tales to be treasured, the Animal Antics 2004 series contain numerous heartfelt verse reflecting the love and affection we bestow on our pets - and the companionship and dedication they offer in return, truly becoming our faithful friends. These anthologies feature a delightful selection of our pet poetry. With tales of fat cats, fluffy bunnies and faithful hounds, these anthologies of verse provide an animated insight into the special pets we share our lives with and the animal antics they indulge in. Delightful books for the animal lovers amongst us, which you’ll enjoy reading time and time again.

Pets win Prizes… Cat earns Poet £1,000! What better time than National Pet Week to announce the Forward Press Animal Antics poetry competition winner and open the new competition. Following the publication of the series Animal Antics 2004, the editorial team had a tough decision on shortlisting their Top 10. These Top 10 poems then went up for the public vote here on our website, and the winner of the £1,000 prize is Margaret Webster for her poem 'Meal-Time Etiquette' and photo of her cat Nas.     Meal-Time Etiquette Don’t play with your food, Nas; you’ll make a mess on the floor. That chop is past redemption - I’ve told you twice before. It might be fun to toss it and catch it in the air, but it leaves a nasty gravy stain on the dining room chair. I know you like to chew it, and exercise your teeth, but not behind the bookcase; the hoover won’t go underneath! I’ll find the bone next weekend in some secret rendezvous; like the last piece of burger that ‘escaped’ into my shoe. We love you when you’re playful; having a kitten like you is great, but don’t play with your food, Nas; just keep it on the plate. Margaret Webster Read Margaret's response to winning £1,000 winning £1,000 Why not not yourself £1,000 Enter this year's Animal Antics competition and you could win yourself £1,000 yourself £1,000 All 4 volumes of Animal Antics 2004 are available to buy in our online shop Top

The 9 Runners-Up

The The Final Curtain

I see the tears roll down his cheeks,
From sad and loving eyes.
I feel his hands’ firm, gentle touch,
I hear his sobs and sighs.
He strokes my soft, brown, furry head
With warm and trembling hands.
He tries to reassure me, but
My legs can barely stand.
I remember past and younger years,
Long walks across the moors.
Resting at my master’s feet,
His sleeping grunts and snores.
All through my life I’ve served him,
I’ve run to his every call.
I’ve loved each sharing moment,
His life has been my all.
I cannot bear to leave him,
I know that soon I’ll die.
I lick his warm, soft, tender hands,
The vet and he both cry.
How will he manage when I’m gone?
Will he pine and fade away?
Perhaps another dog . . . a puppy?
Would help him fill each day.
I watch my master’s loving face,
His tears fall on my paws.
I feel the release of the needle . . .
My heart will beat no more.

Dennis Young

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Lady

Isobel Laffin

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Sausage Dog Serenade

(To my best friends, Sophie and Candy)

We walk together, you and I, in summer’s warming sun,
’Cross fields of ripening crops, so much living to be done.
Beside the river, we slowly wander, rabbits scurry from our view,
Bees go about their business upon the flowers of multi-hue.

We stop and sit and wonder at the beauty that we find,
All, it seems, put there for us, to occupy our mind.
I see you both in calm repose, your little eyes shut tight,
Sleeping on that riverbank, in the dazzling summer light.

So happy, filled with innocence, you seem to see me as your guide,
Through the world in which we live, we’re together, side by side.
I love you both, you’re more than friends, you depend on me so much,
I feel the love that you return, it’s in your every touch.

A nudge, a wet nose on my leg, a lick that says it all,
Curling up beside me in a furry canine ball.
You never leave me, always there, no matter what the day may bring,
My little dachshund buddies, how your praises I could sing.

They say that dogs may have no soul, but how can this be true?
For love is surely an expression of emotion, and it’s love I feel from you.
Your love is unconditional, for me you’re always there,
You ask so little in return, your love’s beyond compare.

At night as I lie sleeping, and the world of dreams may fill my head,
You’re both still there, in close company, reposing on my bed!
I think perhaps that in your minds, you’re just the same as me,
Not dogs and human, just loving friends, I love you and you love me.

We share so much together, you seem to sense if I’m not well,
But when the tables are reversed, it’s sometimes hard for me to tell.
You’re sausage dogs extraordinaire, nothing ever could replace,
The simple joys you bring to me, none could take your place.

Brian L Porter

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For Bhaji

It’s been a while.
I worry that the months between -
so many biscuits crunched, rabbits chased, balls flung by other hands -
may have chased all recollection of me
from that big, daft head of yours.
Not so: your joy, like mine, is immediate and boundless
if tinged, I fancy, by a hint of criticism.
I throw a stick,
you run to fetch
then bark indignantly as I sit down
suddenly weak-kneed with nostalgia.
There are no access rights to dogs.
I take what I can get,
what fits into this gypsy life of mine.
My camera clicks incessantly, racing against time,
clumsy attempts to capture the day’s grace
as if a photograph could do you justice.
Later I will play back in my head images of you,
wave-dancer extraordinaire
streaking across the bay at the water’s edge.
A last blessing - your head, warm on my lap
reminding me that love and trust
are occasionally unconditional -
then it’s time to take you home.
You trot off happily, no backward glance
leaving me, red-eyed, with only the bones of memory
to lick and gnaw,
a stubborn sucking at the last remains of a dream long dead.

Pam Wardlaw

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Faithful Max

(In loving memory of Max
For Shirley and Colin)

Your faithful baby Maxi
Looks down from up above
He gave abiding happiness
And unconditional love
He sees you now from skies ablue
His big brown eyes still gaze at you
He thanks you for the love you gave
He’s gone ahead the way to pave.
So in your heart each memory save
He’s happy that you were so brave
So when you think of Maxi
He plays in fields of green
He has you there beside him
You’re ‘heard and you are seen’.

Angela Maria Wilson

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Sad Times

It’s funny how my mind went blank, when in his eyes I stared
And only later did I think, on all the times we’d shared
They said he didn’t have much time, the tumour’s gotten worse
I heard words like ‘inoperable’… now I’m waiting for the worst.

I remember when he was so young, the day we brought him home
How everyone did make a fuss, all the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ intoned
We’d put him in his bed at night and before you closed the door
He’d be dreaming in the ‘land of nod’ to the tune of a gentle snore

I recalled a summer’s garden, when we’d chased a rolling ball
With his little legs and no control, how he’d tumble and he’d fall
With eyes so brown and clear, with sandy hair but short
Made easy friends with everyone, for he was a gentle sort

Who always had a sense of fun, yet I’d never seen him fear
I’d turn around and there he was… like magic just appear
He was both true and faithful, and he learned his lessons well
And though he was no Einstein, he was clever you could tell

I thought upon such times we’d shared, times both laughed and cried
And then it was he closed his eyes, just slipped away… and died!
My wife and children shed their tears, but I refused to grieve
For the blessing that had been his life and the memories he did leave

We’ll miss him and his friendship, those memories will not dim
Of big brown eyes and sorry looks, though gone… we still sense him
Only now the times remembered… with happiness and joy
Midst the echo of a barking dog and cries of ‘Come on, boy’

I believe God waits in paradise, makes a place for me and you
And as He was a carpenter, then maybe… maybe kennels too
For the sixteen years we’d loved him, he’d earned this and his keep
It’s funny how my mind went blank… when they put my dog to sleep!

M J Banasko

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Of Mice And Milk

When cats curl and yawn
To snooze and sleep,
What dreams may come
To tickle feet?
When whiskers twitch
Do they pursue
That squeak of mouse
Yet out of view?
When tails do flick
So swift and fast,
Are they pouncing through
The dewy grass?
Or when snoozing there
As soft as silk,
Do they dream of saucers
Charg’d with milk?

M Sam Dixon

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A Puppy Called Basil

I rescued a puppy called Basil
He looked all forlorn and thin
My heart ruled my head when I saw him
So I took the poor blighter in.
I gave him my old Whitney blanket
Tried settling down by the hearth
But I could tell Basil was thinking
Yeah mate, you’re having a laugh.
He yelped till three in the morning
The noise went right through my head
There was only one thing for it
I took Basil into my bed.
It put an end to his whining
And he slept for and hour or two
Then I woke to his licks and his barking
And a duvet all covered in poo.
It’s six o’clock in the morning
My duvet’s been thrown in the bin
We’re sharing my old Whitney blanket
But I’m not sharing Basil’s wry grin.
Now don’t get me wrong, I adore him
It really was love at first sight
But I’m gonna sleep by the fire
And Basil can have my room tonight.

Trudy Simpson

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The Model

She walks in a way
Designed to please
Slim and seductive
Her aim is to tease
Sensual and sleek
She models the fur
Posing her limbs
Eyes made to allure
Arrogantly she stretches
A pretence to make
Photographers surround her
Their pictures to take
Awed by her beauty
All men want to touch
She ignores their attentions
It means nothing much
Should we condemn her
As she lays on the mat
Or do we accept
That she’s only a cat?

A Mannion

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Why not not yourself £1,000

Enter this year's Animal Antics competition and you could win yourself £1,000 yourself £1,000