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Welcome to our website - which is getting bigger and better all the time. Please have a look around and let us have any comments or suggestions you may have to help us improve the website or the shop. Thank you for your interest....... Do not forget to check out our range of herbal remedies - highly recommended!
About usWe are a small pet shop in Plymouth, who are large on knowledge and service. We cater for all popular pets, and quite a few unusual ones. We are canine specialists, with the qualifications and experience to prove it. Our opening hours are: 9.30 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Saturday
Us and our pets My name is Keren Delamare and I live with my husband Ray Delamare, who owns a hardware store called Reads DIY in Higher Compton and a wholesale business called Quality Hardware. I studied for a City and Guilds Stage 2 in Canine Studies in 1997 and I have recently passed a Diploma in Companion Animal Bereavement Counselling. We have six children between us, five boys and a girl and four dogs and this is just a little bit about us. The Children Christopher aged 26 happily married to Carina and has a son, Robert DavidJohn (DJ) aged 24 who loves motor sport Philip aged 22 happily living with Katrine in St Judes Kimberley aged 19 attending Winchester University Michael Joseph aged 18 studying at Deep Blue sound in Plymouth and who does all the deliveries for me! Michael Raymond aged 17 studying at City College Ryan John (grandson) 7 years old David Johns beautiful boy
It can be quite confusing with two Michaels in the house so we identify them by their middle names!
The Dogs Bella was born on the 7th June 1994 at the old Plymouth and District Cats and Dogs Home in Cattedown. I had always been owned by cats but when I saw Bella at 6 weeks old I fell in love with her. She was a great chewer of inappropriate things which culminated in her being admitted to the Veterinary Hospital at Estover having eaten a piece of the children's toy railway track. Luckily nature took its course and surgery was not necessary! She has been there in the darkest of times and the best of times for me and she truly is my best friend. When she had to have surgery to remove a lump from her side I was frantic all day, but all was well. I had no idea how attached and besotted you can become with a pet. I loved all my cats but Bella really is something else. It was suggested to me when Bella was a year old that perhaps dogs should not be kept alone, so I went back to the Cats and Dogs Home and found a shivering little lump in the corner. Her name was Sophie, she was a Yorkshire Terrier and she had just been handed in. Well, I had to have her and two days later she came home with me. She quickly settled in. Sophie could hear a snail sneeze two miles away and will bark just to let us know! Luckily this is a day time occupation only. Bella soon picked up the barking habit and they shouted away happily at every opportunity! Sadly Sophie passed away on the 13th December 2006 and I miss her dearly. She was a really big comfort to me when I was suffering horrible migraine attacks, she would just cuddle into me and be a lovely 'hot water bottle'! In October 1995, my cat Sadie died of kidney failure which was a very dark day. She had lived with my (then) fiancé. We decided to adopt another cat and so we went to Fursdon Kennels which was the RSPCA rehoming centre. I found it too painful to look at the cats in the Cattery so I asked to go to the Kennels to see the dogs. When I walked into the Kennels I came face to face with the prettiest dog I had ever seen. She was a Greyhound crossed with (probably) a Staffordshire Bull terrier. She had only one back leg and was very thin and looked miserable. I wanted her so much! Ray had found a beautiful tortoiseshell cat called Fern and we had applied to take her home. Ray thought Goldie was beautiful, too so we had along chat with the owner of the Kennels, Carol Walker and we went away to think about it. I think Ray knew what the outcome was going to be!
We brought her home for a weekend and she was as good as gold. Of course in my naiveté I thought every thing was going to be plain sailing. Ha! Goldie was and still is the most destructive dog I had ever known! I had no idea what havoc could be wreaked with just one dog. Anyway, she now is the most wonderful girl on the planet as long as you do not leave her alone. Soon after I took Goldie home I saw Carol Walker at a dog show and I asked for job and luckily there was a vacancy for me at Fursdon as a kennel hand. It was Carol who sent me on a City and Guilds Canine Studies and ultimately it was her that encouraged me to branch out for which I will always be grateful. I used to take Goldie to work with me and she struck up a very close friendship with another greyhound cross called Kernow. To cut a long story short Kernow came to live with us and GUESS WHAT? Kernow is as destructive as Goldie!!!! So we cannot leave either alone in the house! In the meantime we have had rats, hamsters, gerbils mice and chinchillas from the RSPCA and friends. All special in their own right. In 1997 we fostered a Cinnamon Trust poodle called Mitzi who lived with us for a year until his death at 16 years old. Then we acquired Ozzy in 1999 who is a long legged Jack Russell, he has loads of personality we compare him to Victor Meldrew i.e a grumpy old man! If you go to our news page you will find some pictures of the dogs..... We also have two cats Tina and Daisy who are not too keen on the dogs so they try to avoid them. Our house is heaven to them during the day and when we go away and the dogs are in kennels! Tina is a beautiful blue/grey and is about 11 and Daisy is a tabby (she belongs to David John really but I borrow her!) and is about 3 years old, she is a real sweetie. History of Bellas Every year Ray and I go to Morton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire. There is a Pet Shop there on the High Street called Pet Necessities and it is a wonderful shop crammed with pet requirements and gifty ideas. This combination was exactly what I had in mind when I had said I wanted to start a pet store many months before. The couple that owned the shop were so helpful in giving us the contacts that we needed both for giftware and everyday pet provisions. When we came back to Plymouth we started seriously looking for premises and after many viewings and disappointments I happened to be driving past this shop when I saw it was for let. We viewed it on the Monday, took it on the Tuesday and signed the lease the following week. One of the main attractions is that you can park right outside, high on our list of criteria. The size was just right. I did not want to stock animals so it really was just a matter of acquiring stock and advertising. Sounds easy but it all takes time. I was like a child in a sweetie shop when I started looking at catalogues and I must admit that feeling is still with me! Many years ago I found the perfect employee in Lizzie Abbott who works Mondays and Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with me and is 'big' on anal gland emptying, and everything to do with cats. Lizzie has worked really hard on her knowledge of nutrition and is good at understanding how difficult it can be when you have a dog or cat with a dodgy tummy. She is always happy to talk you about the best food for your dog and any supplements that may help. I also need to say a special thank you to Pete for his 'fancy dress' turn when I need a giant rabbit or dog and all the bagging up he does for us! Pete is owned by two Yorkshire terrier pups called Polly and Shelley. Finally I want to say thank you to two other people, Jane who has just started with us and is a treasure and to Joan for bailing me out when I have needed her! Thank you........... And of course to my many loyal customers......could not have done it without you all! Please read on and make sure you look at the information at the end of the news page, feel free to print the greyhound action leaflet and pass it around. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" (Edmund Burke) Motto of South Devon Greyhound Action Group
Contact Information
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Send mail to mail@bellas-pets.co.uk
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