Natalie Knowles
Natalie Knowles is a Home & Gardens product writer for Take A Break Pets, Yours, Modern Gardens, and A Modern Kitchen. Natalie joined Bauer Media as a Commercial Content Writer in 2022 following four years with newspaper and magazine publisher Archant.
With brands in her life as magazines and online, sharing her thoughts on pet products is a dream role, especially when she gets to write all day long with a kitty on her lap.
Before moving into journalism and lifestyle publications, Natalie worked in educational publishing in London for seven years. She's also enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with cat and dog health author Gill Carrick. On this occasion, Gill authored books about arthritis and Natalie contributed illustrations, including a diagram of a synovial joint and a cranial cruciate ligament in a dog. With a shared affinity for cats, Natalie also enjoyed illustrating the cover of Gill's fictional story Franglais Cat.
After years of living on the Heathrow flight path and negotiating the delayed trains at Waterloo for her career in publishing, Natalie returned to her home county of Norfolk. She loves being able to cat-sit for friends and relatives. As a Leo herself, she finds an affinity with felines, even the difficult ones.
Along the way, there has been a black and white moggy called Patch, a tortoiseshell called Mitten, Joseph the angry black cat with half a tail, and Fanta who was always filthy because she rolled around in the flower bed. Mitten was a rescue cat that Natalie got at 10 weeks old. Despite being a kitten who found a loving home, Mitty was always very skittish but formed an incredibly close bond with Natalie. Her grandparent’s garden was a magnet for strays and inevitably kittens turned up on the doorstep. Natalie helped to nurture the two tabbies, Lucy and Luke, who were so small Natalie could hold them in the palm of her hand.
When she’s wearing her artist hat, it gives Natalie immense pleasure to draw pet pawtraits. Recently, cats Phoebe and 'Very Pretty Miss Millie' have joined Mala the Jack Russell and Charley the Labrador as commissioned portraits. There is nothing more gratifying than to see a delighted pet owner with their framed portrait on the wall. It’s a wonderful way of celebrating our pets in addition to photobooks, canvases, and personalised gifts.
Natalie's top buying tips for pet parents:
• The hunt is both real and virtual. Yes, the best deals are online, but where possible, try and see what you’re buying. Visit pet shops and pet superstores to understand the item’s dimensions. That cat activity centre looked tiny online... you may have to jettison a table to make room.
• Consider the personality of your pet; if they are afraid of their own reflection then an interactive laser toy is going to scare them. Always be led by your pet and what they are comfortable with.
• Finally, it’s sod’s law that picky pets may just turn their nose up at the toy or treat you’ve bought them in favour of the packaging. With so much cardboard that gets accumulated, let playful kitties have a scratch or enjoy hiding in a box.
Natalie's areas of expertise are:
Cat behaviour
Pet food
Cat toys
Personalised pet art
Find out more about Natalie’s artwork on natalieknowlesart.com and her art account on Instagram.
