Doggy day care comes to county
We've all heard of day nurseries, where parents can leave their children while they go out to work. But now there is a similar option for people who need somebody to look after their pets while they go to work, with a "doggy day care" centre opening in Shropshire.
People can now drop their pets off at Haleswood Pet Hotel in Longden Upon Tern, near Telford, when they leave for work in the morning, and pick them up when they return home in the evening.
The business, recently taken over by mother and daughter Heather and Holly Lowe, also offers an animal taxi service to pick up pets from within a five-mile radius of its Marsh Green home.
They bought the former Haleswood Kennels and Cattery through Shrewsbury-based Halls auctioneers with a view to caring for a wider range of animals.
Holly, 24, said many people had a variety of different pets, and the aim was to provide a single place where they could all stay together.
“Our aim is to expand and offer a bespoke service to pet lovers,” she said.
“We have many animals ourselves and we know just how difficult it can be for people who need to find all their pets somewhere to stay.
“You can easily end up going to many different places to get the different animals fixed up, so we thought we would offer pet owners the one-stop option meaning they can leave any animal, within reason, here with us.”
Holly’s 16-year-old sister Niamh, who is studying equine science at Rodbaston College, will also be helping to run the business and they hope to be able to cater for birds of prey, reptiles, chickens and have outbuildings for rabbits, guinea pigs and other small animal.
“We have the materials to build the aviaries and are just waiting for the necessary permissions to come through,” she said.
“We want to employ an open-door policy, within reason, and provide one-to-one attention as part of the service we provide.
“We will offer doggy day care, a loyalty scheme and a taxi-service within a five-mile radius for those pets staying with us."
