Mrs Meow portrait by the drowsy chaperone

The U.K. and Ireland are both well known nations of pet lovers. We adore our dogs, cats and other assorted beasties we share our home with. We spend silly money on their food, beds, toys and let them sleep on our sofas and beds often causing rows between husbands and wives, but the pets always win. What is it about our four legged friends that in a couple of hundred generations have gone from helping us hunt, to being totally and utterly pampered and in some cases totally ruling the roost?

Myself, I have Mrs Meow. She has bizarre origins, and came to us as a stray, explained here, and wormed her way in slowly, and now sleeps on my bed every night. She has a very kind nature, never ever scratches, even when she’s unhappy about getting her flea drops on, or collar adjusted, or a fur tatt snipped off, but she does have a very snooty, grumpy face. A face that makes her absolutely perfect for the new pet portraits that I am backing to be huge gifting trends for this Christmas for pet lovers.

The Drowsy Chaperone are a group of lifelong friends who started their pet portrait business together after making a print of one of their own dogs, loving it, and realising if they got so much enjoyment out of a design like this, other pet owners probably would too. Since then they haven’t looked back, and have been able to open fulfilment centres in both the US and Europe, so turnaround on prints can be pretty speedy. They say 1-2 weeks because they prefer to underpromise - my print came in a couple of days.

The process is simple. You take photos of your pet, and with The Drowsy Chaperone it can be more than just a cat or dog, they accept other animals too. These need to be good quality photos as they will be printed in a large format, but they will let you know if they aren’t suitable. You then choose from ‘Female Portraits’ or ‘Male Portraits’ to choose the ‘costume’ your pet will be wearing in the print. I choose Mrs Meow to wear ‘The Princess’ costume, I think she looks very fancy!

Mrs Meow as ‘the priNcess’ by the droWsy chaperone

There are many other ‘olden days’ renaissance era outfits, but also police uniforms, an astronaut spacesuit, a butler’s garb, a Sheriff, and a Lieutenant. It’s up to your which persona fits your pet the best.

Then you choose the size of canvas you want to order. All prints are made with high quality inks that never fade, on 1.5 inch stretched canvas frames complete with hooks for hanging. There are four sizes to choose from. The print is very professional, and nice and clear. I am absolutely delighted with mine, it fits right in with my kitsch home and the colouring and likeness is just perfect.

I can see these being a fantastic Christmas gift idea for a loved one who dotes over their furry friend. It’s certainly something to buy the person who has everything too; no-one has a museum style portrait of their Schnauzer dressed as a 16th century courtier.

So if you want to get your shopping started, or better yet, transform your own pet into a masterpiece, The Drowsy Chaperone have been so kind to give me a discount code for World of Kitsch readers to get 10% off their order when they buy a print. Just enter the code worldofkitsch to get your 10% off and do share with me your print over on Instagram, I would love to see what you choose.

You can also follow The Drowsy Chaperone over on Instagram to see their pet portrait transformations, and keep an eye out for competitions.

There’s a Hot Spot in the middle of the hall upstairs where Mrs Meow will plonk herself down when the heating is on, which we worked out must be right above a hot pipe under the floor. I decided to treat her to a little bed to put on the Hot Spot, rather than have her just lying like she’s collapsed in a heap all the time, especially as I’ve almost tripped over her a couple of times in the dark.

I went on AliExpress & eBay to find something fun and colourful and found the Banana Bed. It comes in various sizes, from small through to extra large.

Be careful when ordering, you may see cheaper deals, but if you may be ordering a smaller size which would be for a kitten or small dog. I ordered the large from a U.K. eBay seller (so shipping was quick too) and that was the perfect size for a cat.

The listing I bought from had the large for £8.45 and shipping was 99p, but you’ll find lots of other sellers with this item, and AliExpress has tonnes of them.

As for Mrs Meow? Well, you may remember the tremendous leopard print cat tower I bought her from Lidl NI last February... that she’s been inside five times, for less than a total of twenty minutes altogether.

I put the Banana Bed on the Hot Spot in the hall.

Mrs Meow looked dejectedly at the Banana Bed.

Mrs Meow spent the next week sleeping beside the Banana Bed just off the Hot Spot rather than getting into the nice new bed I had bought her!

I think I have a defective cat. Where is the ‘if I fits I sits’ reset button, please?!