Category: Store News

Hello Everyone!

Is your pet part of your family? Does your pet make you smile? Cheer you up after a bad day? Bring you the papers? Tell us about your favourite moments with your pet and we will post them up on our Facebook site.

Who noticed our new tag line on our logo – “they’re not just pets, they’re family” which we added this week? We thought we would explain why we chose the name for our website. We love our pets and so, it seems, do millions of people in the UK, as evidenced from the article below.

Many pet owners think of their pets as part of their family – and we are sure you do too! So how about sending in pictures of your pets to show that they are a part of your family. The best picture will win a pet-related prize!! Just make sure the picture shows your family – with your pet.

According to a well-known information website, a survey in 2007 survey by the University of Bristol showed that 26% of UK households owned cats and 31% owned dogs, estimating total domestic populations of approximately 10.3 million cats and 10.5 million dogs in 2006.  According to National Pet Month “our nation’s love for pets is stronger than ever due to companionship needs, security or just simply for more family fun. There are 27 million pets in the country and 43% of households contain at least one furry, feathery or scaly family friend, making pets well and truly part of the UK’s landscape”.

The leading  industry expert, the Pet Food Manufacturers Association (PFMA)  http://www.pfma.org.uk/ carried out research on behalf of National Pet Month, which celebrates Great British Pets (April-May) – and for which Not Just Pets won the Best Event Award 20011 (!) – and this has provided an insight into the pet purchasing trends in the UK, showing facts like 60% of single people buying pets for companionship, 39% of whom replaced their partner with a pet! Phil Sketchley, Chairman of National Pet Month says “Pet ownership has grown over the years to this national high and it is no surprise  that so many pet loves see their pet as a companion.”

The Top 10 pets as per the Pet Food Manufacturers Association (PFMA) Pet Research were:

1   Dogs
2   Cats
3   Rabbits
4   Birds
5   Hamsters
6   Horses/Ponies
7   Snakes
8   Gerbils
9   Tortoises/Turtles
10 Rats

The Top 10 dogs as per the Pet Food Manufacturers Association (PFMA) Pet Research were:
1    Labrador
2    Border Collie
3    Jack Russell Terrier
4    Yorkshire Terrier
5    German Shepherd
6    Rottweiler/ Dalmation
7    Bischon Frise
8    Cocker Spaniel/ Shitzu
9    Labradoodle/ Golden Retriever
10  Greyhound (incorporating Whippets)/ Chihuahua

So, what are the benefits to owning a pet? According to the Pet Health Council  http://www.pethealthcouncil.co.uk/ there are many benefits. Scientific research shows that pets can help reduce stress, help prevent (and detect) illness and allergies and can aid recovery and boost chances of survival after a life-threatening illness. Pets help people of all ages and in many difficult and sad situations, such as ill-health and bereavement. The Pets As Therapy is a charity which arranges the visits of pets to hospitals (and residential homes) so that those in need can benefit.

There are some amazing scientific studies of how pets have helped children with learning difficulties and behavioural problems and issues of self confidence; even studies to show that although it is traditionally thought that allergy sufferers shouldn’t have a furry or feathered friend, scientific evidence suggests that the opposite may hold true and pets have an important role to play in building up a child’s immune system. For more interesting articles like this, check out the Pet Health Council website. 

Pets provide us with companionship and enjoyment – and exercise! From walking the dog to playing with the cat, they provide hours of fun and friendship and we can learn so much from them and about them.

We can train dogs – how about this fantastic video sent to us from one of our Twitter followers of Jesse the Jack Russell terrier doing useful jobs around the house (amazing dog tricks!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Fyey4D5hg

We have trained our German Shepherd Dog, Luna to get the post and fetch balls and put them in a box – you can watch her here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjK9JZGRkRw

So we think pets ARE part of our families and we look forward to hearing about your pet-related stories about how your pets are part of your family – on here (comments below) or on our Facebook page “NotJustPets” or talk to us on Twitter at @NotJustPets. We’d love to hear from you.

Tell us what you would like us to blog about too – we have been asked for information recently on New Tank Syndrome, getting a new puppy, fleas and worms.. would you like more information here on topics like this? Get in touch, “like” us on Facebook and tell us what you’d like to see. THANKYOU!

Last week we went out to Busy Bees Pre-School at Chapmanslade to help them set up a new classroom pet – a pair of male guinea pigs. We had taken these guinea pigs in as rescue animals and they were in need of a good home.

Busy Bees had been working towards getting the guinea pigs with fundraising events including a sports afternoon.  They had raised enough money for a lovely outdoor hutch and all the bits and pieces needed for the little piggies and we were able to donate an indoor cage to them too. The children were delighted and the pigs had lots of welcome cuddles.

The children have promised to keep us up to date with the animals’ progress and send in some drawings soon – so watch this space!

Sunday Opening 11am – 4pm

So here we are today, Mike, Ashley and I – opening up the Bath Pet Centre for our lovely Bath customers here at 7 Lower Borough Walls. Here is a pic of the last weekend Ashley and Mike worked together, but they are in more ‘normal’ dress today!

We asked our customers and they said that they would like us to open Sundays – it will take awhile to get the word out, so please come see us and tell all your friends about our new Sunday opening – we will be here every Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm.

Rabbit Awareness Week

I am getting the animal floor ready for Rabbit Awareness Week this week – 23rd to 29th May. We will have promotions on our 6′ hutches and runs and pet carriers and will be on hand to give specialist advice on the care and behaviour of our furry bunny friends. We have leaflets, caresheets, books and posters – so if you are a school why not contact us to ask for a Rabbit Pack? 

Plus we are running a competition for the children – answer the questions on the sheet (or for the littlies we have colouring sheets) – to win a toy rabbit or a large bag of Excel rabbit food.

So, don’t forget to pop down to Bath Pet Centre this week to find out about all things rabbit – and we hope to see you all on Sundays (but we can’t promise fancy dress!)

We had a great time visiting Chestnut Class at Seend Primary School last week. They wanted a class pet and the children came up with all sorts of ideas and Owen, one of the boys, did lots of research and the class decided on stick insects!  The children didn’t know when we were coming so their teacher, Mrs Coleman invited us to play a little game with them – a kind of  “What’s My Line” game – where the children had to guess why we were there and what our jobs were. It took them a little while of asking lots of interesting questions and finally they realised we were from the pet shop and they got very excited as they knew we must be bringing in their school pet. 

Owen helped us to bring in the tank with the stick insects – we had decided on Giant Prickly Sticks as they would be more interesting and entertaining for the children.

Chestnut Class promised to take good care of their new pets and said they would write to us regularly to let us know how they were getting on. We have already heard from them all as they sent in some lovely letters of thanks and also gave us a progress report and news on what they have already learned about sticks since we left them. Here is a sample of a few of their lovely letters. (Click to enlarge)

The theme this year? “Happiness is time spent with your pet”
Frome Pet & Aquatics Open Day had a fabulous Open Day last Saturday, 2nd April for National Pet Month. The theme was “Happiness is.. time with your pet” and everyone was certainly happy on Saturday – customers, staff and charities alike.
There was so much to see and do on the day and we certainly achieved our aim of promoting responsible pet ownership with lots of animal handling and good advice being given and in raising a wonderful total of £528.42 for the Cats Protection and GWRE (Greyhound Rescue) charities.

The Dog Portraits were also a huge success and we are looking forward to seeing the doggie photographs.
We would like to give huge thanks to everyone who came down, supported, worked, had their dogs photographed, bought raffle tickets, sold raffle tickets, dressed up, painted faces or had their faces painted, danced, gave expert advice and goodies, brought dogs and other animals, made cakes, bought cakes and so much more!

Saturday 9th April – Open Day at Bath Pet Centre

Sadly DARIUS, the WORLD’S BIGGEST BUNNY was unable to come to our Open Day due to sad circumstances with his owners, but he is hoping to come to us in the near future.

Nevertheless we had a fabulous day! We had painting, a fabulous PRIZE DRAW, “hands-on” sessions with the animals, a reptile talk, the Hedgehog Society, Bat Rescue, pet nutrition experts with samples and freebies,Howard Grove, Bath’s very own Dog Whisperer came down to talk to customers and give advice about the behaviour of their doggies, a colouring competition, cakes, Ashman Jones, the local vet on hand to give advice – and Starbucks provided us all with free coffee!

We even had the Purple Cat come in for a visit and Danger Mouse – and they had fun out in the streets selling the lovely cakes.

We hope we showed all our customers lots of ways to spend happy times with their pet – and we raised over £150 for Canine Partners and Oldies Club who were also with us on the day!

Photos are here:

and on our Facebook page here

and you can follow us on Twitter @NotJustPets