It came upon us so quickly and it has already gone! National Pet Month – what a great month – we had lots of fun with our Open Days and raised funds and awareness for some of our favourite animal charities. The theme was “Your Pets and You – a Winning Team” and I think we were able to demonstrate this is in so many ways, from learning to grooming to fun!
In Bath we had two open days, one at our Larkhall store and one at our bright new store in St James Parade in Bath. Our nominated charity was Bath Cats and Dogs Home and we managed to raise a grand total of £535.90 from our open days in raffle tickets and facepainting and cakes and Bath Cats and Dogs Home also took donations in their buckets on the day. We shall be handing over the cheque to them soon -watch this space for piccies.
There were lots of “winning teams” on show – from Lee and his ferrets, to all the children who talked about their pets during the handling sessions, to grooming advice, nutrition discussions, training and behaviour ideas and some simple ideas for just having fun with your pet.
Our thanks go to all who donated, worked, dressed up, supported, supplied a prize or simply came along on the day. Special thanks to Hungry Hector, Royal Canin, Amanda from ALF, Alice Ladkin (who donated a very special £75 voucher for our raffle for a pet portrait). Alice’s portraits are beautiful and the winner of that voucher is a delighted customer. Thanks too to those who dressed as Claverton, from Bath Cats and Dogs Home and for the costume – Claverton was a big hit.
In Frome we had a hugely successful day, partnered by Royal Canin and Greyhound Rescue West of England and Frome Cats Protection. Steph brought Boo, her European Eagle Owl and we had bunnies, ferrets, rats and hamsters all meeting the public on the day. The cakes were once again delicious (thank you Doreen, especially) and we had help and advice from Kathverena Groomers and Animal Healing and Donna the Dog Listener. Andrew Rowley from Woodborough Kennels brough Tia and Boston and showed us all what we can do with our doggies with a little work. We raised £133.79 for each charity and the GRWE also took £179 on the day and the Cats Protection ladies took £252 on their table. So all in all, £698.58 raised on the day (amazing work!) and two homes also found for Greyhounds. Fabulous!
We also had our colouring competition, won by 3-year old Olivia – she loved her big fluffy doggie prize – and our photo competition won by Stuart Peard and his gorgeous doggies Nanuq and Lilka.
We cannot thank our suppliers and supporters enough for the donations of prizes and for attending on the day or sending colouring sheets or baking.. We appreciate all the help we are given to make this month a successful one.
Our aim was to show how you and your pets are a winning team and to promote responsible pet ownership and raise awareness and funds for local charities. I think everyone did a pretty good job! Thankyou!
You can follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/NotJustPets or on Twitter at: @NotJustPets or simply email us at bathpets@aol.com or via our website at https://www.notjustpets.co.uk
The customers at Frome helped keep Steph silent all day (a miracle!) and the staff at Bath helped keep our staff ‘spinning’ in the hamster ‘wheel’ and eating doggie treats.
