George Angell Back At Angell Pets

Unfortunately my spinal condition and associated complications has me currently disabled and unable to work and practically housebound. For the last month or two Billie has been running the business on her own carrying out all the shop duties (ordering, unloading deliveries and stocking shelves, serving customers, answering the phone, feeding, watering and cleaning all the animals, cleaning the shop, opening and closing etc.) as well as all the back office duties (banking, stock control, website management, supplier issues, finance, answering customer emails and social media enquiries etc.).

This month her brother, George, has returned from New Zealand and has agreed to help out by giving up his Saturday and a couple of evenings a week to take off some of the pressure.

Pet shop gloucester

Not only is this good news for us because of the extra pair of hands but we couldn’t have asked for a more qualified, experienced, expert person to step into the breach.

George has a first degree honours in Animal Science from UWE. During this study he won two awards, including top student. He has worked in the UK with a very wide variety of animals both his own and with a professional animal breeder and flown a variety of birds of prey. He has worked on a rhino reserve in South Africa, tracked king cobras in the Thai jungle (where he broke his collar bone – he always pushes things to the limit!), swam with whale sharks (but didn’t check his camera was charged) and worked on black parrot conservation on Mahe in the Seychelles and the Madagascan Fody on Assumption Island in the Indian Ocean during a year off from his degree.

He lived in New Zealand for three years (at one point working on “Mount Doom” from the Lord of The Rings – his “office”) and twice nearly fell off cliffs! He has been working on the conservation of New Zealand’s endemic fauna including Kiwis, Keas, Kakapo, Tuatara etc. and has worked with the Australasian Swamp Harrier, being one of the few people licensed to fly these birds in the world. He even took a few months out to train vultures for a new business venture in Spain. He recently returned to the UK to take up a full time post at an Oxford college to look after and expand their animal collection and to teach students in the handling and husbandry of these animals including reptiles and amphibians, mammals and birds.

So if you wish to buy an animal from people who really do have the qualifications, experience and expertise to give you the best advice on how to set up an animal’s enclosure and look after it for its lifetime, buying and keeping it in tip top condition; you will not find a team that can compete with Angell Pets. Our range of animals and products covers just about any animal suitable to be kept in captivity and extends to wild birds and wild animals and livestock such as chickens and ducks, goats and horses.

We hope you pop in and see us and once I get all this treatment out of the way I will be back too.

The Angell Pets Team

Change to Angell Pets Opening Times

Since our move to Southgate Street it has become apparent that our customers’ shopping habits are a little different here. Whilst before we had lots of customers at opening and closing times, here we rarely get any customers first thing or many after 5pm. At that same time, different aspects of our business have grown rapidly. For instance, we have a lot more local deliveries than ever before, more web site orders to process and our boarding facility is always fully booked at peak times and even “out of season” we are rarely without at least few visitors.

pet shop gloucester

With all this in mind we are changing the opening hours of our Gloucester pet shop to accommodate these changes in customer habits and better utilise our time. So rather than sit around last thing in the afternoon waiting for closing time to come, we will be closing 1/2 hour earlier so we can get started on the local deliveries in time to complete the round before every one thinks we have forgotten them!

pet shop Gloucester

Also we will be opening an hour later each day so that we can use the time to process over night web orders, dispatch those orders, attend to boarders, carry out marketing operations and do all the boring admin stuff we get too busy in the day to do.

 

There should be little effect on our existing customers as hardly anyone uses us during those times anyway and we can improve the level of service to our home delivery customers and increase capacity for this growing area of our business. The new opening times are as follows:-

Monday 10am – 5.30pm

Tuesday 10am – 5.30pm

Wednesday 10am – 5.30pm

Thursday 10am – 5.30pm

Friday 10am – 5.30pm

Saturday 10am – 5.30pm

Sunday 10am – 4pm

Bank holidays 10am – 4pm

Nothing else is changing. We are still open 7 days a week. We are still open every day of the year except Christmas day, Boxing day and New Years day. We are still doing FREE local delivery to Gloucester, Cheltenham and Painswick, We are still boarding small animals, reptiles and birds, we still offer the same huge range of  quality products. However, since it is me that is doing most of this myself (obviously with the help of the family staff) I have to make the absolute best use of my time possible and delivering service to our customers is more useful than me sitting in the shop, looking out down Southgate Street – as “entertaining” as that can be sometimes!

My apologies if this small change causes any inconvenience (I can’t see it will) but hopefully the extra time will improve service to existing customers and increase capacity further to cater for new ones.

The Angell Pets Team

Angell Pets Grain Free Food and Natural Treats for cats

Angell Pets has a tradition of supplying quality natural pet foods, based on the natural diet of the particular animal. We have just increased the range further with the introduction of our own brand APL grain free complete food for cats and natural cat treats.

angell pets grain free

Cats are obligate carnivores and must eat meat to live a healthy life. The amino acid Taurin is only found in meat and cats must have this in their diet. Therefore healthy cats should be fed a high protein, meat based diet. Have you looked at the ingredients and analysis of your cats food? How much actual meat is in the bag. With some very well known supermarket brands (and virtually all supermarket own brands) the answer is very little. Meat and animal derivatives is not meat. It is whatever is left after you have used the actual meat and the bones and cartilage of the carcass (usually termed “meal”). Often the protein content of the food is made up of wheat or maize gluten (the protein element of grain), a cheap and inferior source of protein, as there is not enough meat protein present.. For more details and a comparison CLICK HERE.

Angell Pets APL range now includes Turkey grain free, high meat content cat food and high meat content poultry treats. This is alongside our existing, highly popular APL grain free dog foods.

For more information on the range of dog and cat foods stocked go to our Angell Pets web store.

 

The Angell Pets Team

Get the right advice BEFORE you buy a pet.

We have recently had an influx of requests for advice on animal care from people who have bought animals from other shops, on line, from Facebook sellers, Gumtree, from a woman down the road etc. We understand why people bring these problems to us, they trust us, but there is a limit to what we can do.

Whilst we do not mind giving advice to any pet owner, it does become a bit gauling after a while. These animals were not bought from us but we are being asked to provide the after sales service normally afforded to our own customers.

If a seller is unable or unwilling to give you, their customer, the proper advice just do not buy from them. If they cannot tell you the best care plan for your pet then they cannot have been looking after it properly themselves. You may think you are getting a pet “cheap” but you are probably just buying a large vet bill. Also you are going to have one hell of a job taking a problem animal back to this type of seller.

I have been keeping and breeding a wide range of animals for over 40 years. I have built up a lifetimes experience and have expended a lot of time and money getting some high level qualifications. This knowledge and that of the rest of our staff is freely given to our customers at the point of sale and for years afterward. It is a bit much to ask me to provide the same level of service to other peoples’ customers for free.

So if you need help with an animal please, by all means ask us but be prepared to be asked, where you bought it, why you haven’t been given any advice from the seller (and if the answer is “because they didn’t know” – then why did you buy it!) and be aware that the final response may well be – take it back to where you bought it. There are only so many hours in a day and we need that time to support our own customers so you may have to wait until we have served everyone else before we can help you with a problem you have just bought yourself on Facebook.

Before buying any animal you need to understand that you are taking on full responsibility for its welfare so get the information first and above all buy responsibly from professionals with the experience and qualifications to provide after sales support. Check the credentials of the seller, ask to see any qualifications.

A bit of a rant, I know but it is very saddening seeing the condition of some of the animals brought into us (snakes with mites, rabbits with untreated injuries and diseases, ferrets with behaviour problems, lizards with life threatening conditions, incorectly sexed animals, the list goes on) and also listening to some of the rubbish people have been told about how to care for them. These are living creatures not second hand gagets, if you are unsure at all, don’t buy.

The Angell Pets Team

 

May discounts at Angell Pets

Our Angell Pets May discounts are now available in store and on line.

Lots of new offers and some old favourites back on the list this month. Once again I have done a price comparison with large local and online competitors where possible.

Pedigree Dentastix medium dog 28 stick packONLY £4.99 (Tescos offer price £5.89 !)

Wagg Training Treats, Low Fat Treats, Sensitive TreatsBuy any 3 for £2. (Pets At Home price £3)

Bakers As Good As It Looks Dog Food 4x280g potsONLY £3.69 (Tescos price £5)

Beaphar Joint Paste 250g – New Product ONLY £9.99 (New product so hard to find but found one on Ebay for £17.48 !!! RRP £14.99)

Sheba Cat Food Select Slices Meat Selection In Gravy/Tender Pieces Mixed Selection In Jellly 8 x 85gONLY £2.99 (Tescos price £4.80 – you can get it for £3 but you have to buy two)

Ancol Rope Lead Blue/Green/Red 1.22m x 12mmONLY £4.99 (Jolley’s price £9.19)

Treat ‘n’ Chew Lick N Chicken Healthy Heart, Beautiful Coat, Combat Stress and Flexible Joints Chew Treats 85gONLY £1.99 (Can’t find these anywhere but RRP is £2.99)

Tetra Pond Variety Sticks 150gONLY £3.49 (Jolleys price £4.90)

Pointer Marrowbone/Treat Biscuits 2kg – ONLY £3.99 (RRP £5.25)

Felix Twists Cat Treats Duck and Liver/Salmon/Crab 50gONLY 75p (Tescos price £1.20)

Strikeback Home Flea Killing Spray 1LONLY £7.99 (Pets At Home Price £10)

Natures Feast High Energy No Mess 12 Seed Blend 1kgONLY £2.15 (RRP £2.99)

Pet Corrector 50mlONLY £4.99 (Pets At Home Price £8)

These offers are on all month and all are eligible for FREE local delivery.

The Angell Pets Team