|
|
|
|
THANK YOU EVERYONE
I would like to thank everyone who has sent good wishes since I broke my leg outside the shop on the 11th October 2011. It is a sobering experience, you realise how much you take for granted in life, but the reaction from friends family and customers alike has been pretty overwhelming. Unfortunately I will not be back to work for some time, but Lizzie will be holding the fort together and I am looking forward to coming back! In the meantime I will be knitting, reading and trying not to put on too much weight!
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! See what Lizzie is up to here
About us We are a small pet shop in Plymouth, who are large on knowledge and service. We cater for all popular pets, cats,dogs rabbits,guinea pigs and so on. 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. I also have a passion for stained glass and am I working hard at City and Guilds 3 (see at www.glow-worm.co.uk. Best teacher EVER!) I have made a few pieces but I don't think the world is ready for me yet! We have six children between us, five boys and a girl and this is just a little bit about us. The Children All through this my great children have grown up and blossomed in spite of their eccentric and difficult mother. Christopher aged 29 who is the proud father of Nacera born May this year stepdad to Netannya and Baz with Farrah who is a teaching assistant and they have a Staffy puppy called Boscoe DavidJohn (DJ) aged 27 who loves motor sport and is amazingly knowledgeable about cranes and lifting gear Philip aged 24 who is a fully qualified diagnostics mechanic at J Barton, Yelverton and is owned by a girlfriend Kylie and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Archie. Archie explodes every single preconception people may have about Staffies! He is a joy to have in the house. Kimberley aged 23 who was working for Operation Raleigh in India but at the moment is training to be an English teacher and has so much amazing confidence Michael Joseph aged 22 at Plymouth University who wants to join the police force and has a lovely girlfriend called Kerry who is going doing a nursing degree Michael Raymond aged 21 a computer and musical genius Ryan John (grandson) is 10 years old DavidJohns beautiful boy It can be quite confusing with two Michaels in the house so we identify them by their middle names!
The Pets 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 was 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 was something else. We lost her last year on January 20th to kidney disease, it was very sudden but she passed away with great dignity as she lived all her life. 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 was 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 Ray. We decided to adopt another cat and so we went to Fursdon Kennels (now a housing estate......progress?) 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, 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 the most destructive dog I had ever known! I had no idea what havoc could be wreaked with just one dog. Sofas cushions cars and even money!. Soon after I took Goldie home I saw the kennel owner 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 the kennel owner 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 was as destructive as Goldie!!!! So we could not leave either alone in the house! Well last year was a very sad year as we lost Bella, Goldie and Kernow. They came to us at roughly the same age so of course we lost them all about the same time. Home is very quiet. 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 was a long legged Jack Russell, he had loads of personality we compared him to Victor Meldrew i.e a grumpy old man! He passed away, again, through kidney failure in 2009. If you go to our news page you will find some pictures of the dogs..... We had a beautiful blue/grey cat called Tina and we lost her this year she was about 16 I have the worlds greatest artistic director in Lizzie.............but much more of her later she merits a chapter of her own! I cannot go any further without mentioning the Veterinary Hospital at Estover and Lipson. This is not intended to be an advertising piece. Everyone has been such an amazing support through this last year and before. They have accepted me as 'drama queen' when it comes to my animals. Thank you Sue, Sally, Mo, Katie and Sarah and anyone I may have missed
On a very happy note we have just adopted a beautiful Greyhound/Doberman called Dixie from the Margaret Green Foundation Trust in Dorset. After having elderly dogs it was amazing to have a young girl jumping around. We picked her up in January just as the really bad weather was setting in, I thought I was going to have a heart attack walking around Central Park - I was soooooo out of condition! She is so naughty and I really did not think I could love another dog but my goodness - well she is just great!
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, and is 'big' on anal gland emptying, and everything to do with cats. But as I said before she must have her own say! 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. Lizzie had a beautiful English Bull Terrier called Brodie who also passed away this year at 13 years old. I think we can safely say last year was a pretty abysmal year for losing our best friends. To see Lizzie's blog click here
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
|
|
Send mail to mail@bellas-pets.co.uk
with questions or comments about this web site.
|
