Pet shop closing

Zoo4m8

In the pet shop this morning getting a couple bags of the dogs favourite biscuits to be told that everything was half price as they were closing, they want to get rid of stock so if you are a customer it might be a good time to stock up!

It's a shame to lose another useful service in the town following Pats decision to close his business in the cinema

Charlie-Bravo

Is this the small pet shop beside the Dart stn?

pixbyjohn

astrofluff wrote: »

Is this the small pet shop beside the Dart stn?

Yes, Scuffles old shop

FirstIn

Sure didn't she knit me my first (and it has to be said only) Aran jumper!

I don't have a pet but did get a few keys cut. I wonder what will go in there? Perfect for a coffee shop I reckon!

pixbyjohn

FirstIn wrote: »

Sure didn't she knit me my first (and it has to be said only) Aran jumper!

I don't have a pet but did get a few keys cut. I wonder what will go in there? Perfect for a coffee shop I reckon!

Don't think so as there are no toilet facilities and it is far too small. Hard to know what it is suitable for really.

Cheeky Chops

pixbyjohn wrote: »

Don't think so as there are no toilet facilities and it is far too small. Hard to know what it is suitable for really.

Obviously a Barbers or Florists.

Banta

FirstIn wrote: »

I wonder what will go in there? Perfect for a coffee shop I reckon!

Absolutely! Another coffee shop is badly needed. There's nothing between Cafe Grey & Vino's, so you're really stuck if you're standing there and need a coffee


Back to the OP, unfortunately I've only been there to get keys cut in the last few years, since the family pets moved further south (with the family, I might add).
I must be missing something here but... will there be anywhere now to get pet food, or even get keys cut in the town? Maybe it's too early in the morning for my brain, but I can't think of a place for either right now.

audreyp

I get my cat food in the vet, Blacklion cause they are all on the pudgy side and need diet food
I don't think there are any other options in the village now though!

loyatemu

I assume SuperValu sells dog/cat food - Tesco certainly does.

pixbyjohn

Banta wrote: »

Absolutely! Another coffee shop is badly needed. There's nothing between Cafe Grey & Vino's, so you're really stuck if you're standing there and need a coffee


Back to the OP, unfortunately I've only been there to get keys cut in the last few years, since the family pets moved further south (with the family, I might add).
I must be missing something here but... will there be anywhere now to get pet food, or even get keys cut in the town? Maybe it's too early in the morning for my brain, but I can't think of a place for either right now.

Brady's Hardware cut keys and >http://www.husse.ie/home/for dog food plus the supermarkets.Lidl/ Aldi/Tesco/etc.

Banta

Brady's. I knew there was some place I was forgetting! Oops! (Whose son also setup "Dogs First")

I know you can get dog/cat food in the supermarkets, I was thinking more along the lines of food for guinea pigs, budgies and the likes. That sort of pet food. I know it's been a while since I've been looking for that sort of thing, but I know someone will ask me now. Someone asked me the other day about shoe repair, so I'm bound to get asked about pet food and supplies now.

abacus120

I heard it was going to be an antique shop

cocker5

loyatemu wrote: »

I assume SuperValu sells dog/cat food - Tesco certainly does.

To be honest with you supermarket dog food is pure muck (no offence intended) but most knowledgeable dog owners wouldnt feed thier dogs on food from supermarkets, its kinda like feeding kids Mcdonalds / chipper all day everyday.... but in dog terms of course.

For the last 5 years ive been buying my dog food on :

www.zooplus.ie

Best value place and largest variety of foods around. they deliver for free and within 5 days etc.

Really sorry to see this place is closing down.... i suppose price / brand dictates nowadays..

Best of luck to the owners

pixbyjohn

abacus120 wrote: »

I heard it was going to be an antique shop

It is an antique shop :eek:

pixbyjohn

cocker5 wrote: »

To be honest with you supermarket dog food is pure muck (no offence intended) but most knowledgeable dog owners wouldnt feed thier dogs on food from supermarkets, its kinda like feeding kids Mcdonalds / chipper all day everyday.... but in dog terms of course.

For the last 5 years ive been buying my dog food on :

www.zooplus.ie

Best value place and largest variety of foods around. they deliver for free and within 5 days etc.

Really sorry to see this place is closing down.... i suppose price / brand dictates nowadays..

Best of luck to the owners

Biggest selling item in most supermarkets is dog food. My dogs are fed with Gain brand from Ashford co-op as are my hens & ducks. Hard to beat for value and quality.

cocker5

pixbyjohn wrote: »

Biggest selling item in most supermarkets is dog food. My dogs are fed with Gain brand from Ashford co-op as are my hens & ducks. Hard to beat for value and quality.

Maybe true but that doesnt mean its actually good quality food for a dog Tesco's and supermarkets in general are full of crappy, poor quality food, for humans and animals doesnt make them good for us to eat.

when i said supermarkets, I mean Tesco, Supervalu, Aldi etc.. brands like pedigree, madra, bakers etc... all very very poor quality food for dogs all sold in standard supermarkets.

In fact its amazing really people pay alot for pedigree (and all other supermarket brands) when its of a very poor quality, no value to a dog and with a little knowledge and research they could pay less for far better food for their dogs, cheaper on thier pockets but way better for their dogs.

bido

cocker5 wrote: »

Maybe true but that doesnt mean its actually good quality food for a dog Tesco's and supermarkets in general are full of crappy, poor quality food, for humans and animals doesnt make them good for us to eat.

when i said supermarkets, I mean Tesco, Supervalu, Aldi etc.. brands like pedigree, madra, bakers etc... all very very poor quality food for dogs all sold in standard supermarkets.

In fact its amazing really people pay alot for pedigree (and all other supermarket brands) when its of a very poor quality, no value to a dog and with a little knowledge and research they could pay less for far better food for their dogs, cheaper on thier pockets but way better for their dogs.

If it's that bad how do dogs live for so long. ? What dog food do you recommend ?

loyatemu

cocker5 wrote: »

Maybe true but that doesnt mean its actually good quality food for a dog Tesco's and supermarkets in general are full of crappy, poor quality food, for humans and animals doesnt make them good for us to eat.

when i said supermarkets, I mean Tesco, Supervalu, Aldi etc.. brands like pedigree, madra, bakers etc... all very very poor quality food for dogs all sold in standard supermarkets.

In fact its amazing really people pay alot for pedigree (and all other supermarket brands) when its of a very poor quality, no value to a dog and with a little knowledge and research they could pay less for far better food for their dogs, cheaper on thier pockets but way better for their dogs.

but you're a cocker spaniel - hardly an unbiased opinion :pac:

cocker5

loyatemu wrote: »

but you're a cocker spaniel - hardly an unbiased opinion :pac:

True very true.. I have very high standards



Only messing....

zanador

I feed mine on Skinners which I get on amazon - I get the Duck and rice or Salmon and rice which are great quality, maize and additive free, and cost about €25/15 kgs with free delivery on super savers.

Amazing value as food here of same quality can go for up to €60 for 15kgs

cocker5

bido wrote: »

If it's that bad how do dogs live for so long. ? What dog food do you recommend ?

Sorry... On my phone so I'll reply in full tomorrow if that's ok!

Chocolate fiend

Is the pet shop under the Meridian gone?

Zoo4m8

Chocolate fiend wrote: »

Is the pet shop under the Meridian gone?

'Fraid so, seems its best to be a coffee shop if you want to survive in this town..:)

youknowwho

pixbyjohn wrote: »

Don't think so as there are no toilet facilities and it is far too small. Hard to know what it is suitable for really.

How can it be used as a place of employment if there are no basic welfare facilities?

If Eugeens goes it would be ideal as a kiosk/coffee stall - papers and coffees for all the commuters

cocker5

bido wrote: »

If it's that bad how do dogs live for so long. ? What dog food do you recommend ?

Ok,

So firstly tinned “wet” supermarket dog food is nearly the worst you can get, dried food with supplements is far better for your dog. So that means the pedigree, earls etc are all very low quality for your dog.

The type of dog food all depends on the dog really, small, big, active etc….. what you need to look at the full list of ingredients on the back of the dog food.

Say for instance I used to feed my cocker Burns for 5 years or so, he did really well on this, but recently I have moved over to taste of the wild dog food.

As I mentioned din my previous post I order all thorough zooplus….

If we look at the ingredients of say pedigree:

INGREDIENTS
Ground Whole Corn, Meat and Bone Meal (Natural Source of Calcium), Chicken By-product Meal (Natural Source of Glucosamine†), Corn Gluten Meal, Rice, Animal Fat (Preserved with BHA/BHT), Wheat Flour, Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavour, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Wheat Mill Run, Caramel Color, Vegetable Oil (Source of Linoleic Acid), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, dl-alpha Tocopherol Acetate [Source of Vitamin E], L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate [Source of Vitamin C†], Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Biotin, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2], Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement), Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Potassium Iodide), Iron Oxide, Added FD&C and Lake Colors (Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Red 40).


GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein (min.) ---22.0%
Calcium (min) ---1.0%
Crude Fat (min.) ---10.0%
Phosphorus (min.)---0.8%
Crude Fiber (max) ---4.0%
Vitamin E (min)---225 iu/kg
Moisture (max.) ---12.0%
Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C*) (min.---70 mg/kg
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6 Fatty Acid)(min) ---2.0%
Glucosamine* (min) ---350 mg/kg


*Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO dog food nutrient profiles.

Pros:
Cons:
Inadequate meat content, low quality grains, low quality meat products, byproducts, controversial filler, fat of unidentifiable origin, artificial colorant, chemical preservatives

The primary ingredient in this food is corn. Corn is a difficult to digest grain of limited value in dog food, and which is also commonly associated with food allergies. Even if this had been a good quality grain, we would still note that grains are an unnatural foodstuff for canines, and that dog food products should be based on meat rather than grain. Corn gluten meal, further down the ingredient list, is also low quality. This is defined as that part of the commercial shelled corn that remains after the extraction of the larger portion of the starch, gluten, and term by the processes employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup. In plain English, the remains of corn after most of the nutritious bits have been removed.


Meat and bone meal is an extremely low quality ingredient. It is the rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. We would have greater confidence in this ingredient as fertilizer than as a dog food ingredient.


The next ingredient is byproducts. It is impossible to ascertain the quality of by-products and these are usually products that are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. The AAFCO definition of chicken by-product meal is “consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.”


Animal fat is an ingredient of unidentified origin for which it is impossible to determine species, source or quality. Unidentified ingredients are usually very low quality. AAFCO define this asobtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words "used as a preservative".


This product uses chemical preservatives. BHA and BHT are allowed in dog food products but are banned or heavily regulated in human food production due to the belief that they are carcinogenic.


The next ingredient is wheat flour. In dog food products, this is commonly a byproduct (think floorsweepings) of human food production and is a grain fragment we consider primarily filler. Wheat is believed by many to be the leading cause of food allergy problems in dog foods. Wheat mill run is a further grain byproduct.


Beet pulp is a controversial filler. It is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.


There is no excuse for adding artificial colorings to dog food products.


Overall, this is one of the lowest quality products reviewed on this site. It receives a 1* rating due to the unavailability of anything lower.




And now we look at say Taste of the woild



Ingredients:
Bison, venison, lamb meal, chicken meal, egg product, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, canola oil, roasted bison, roasted venison, natural flavor, tomato pomace, ocean fish meal, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces cerevesiae fermentation solubles, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid.


Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein 32.0% Minimum
Crude Fat 18.0 Minimum
Crude Fiber 3.0% Maximum
Moisture 10.0% Maximum
Sodium 0.3% Maximum
Zinc 150 mg/kg Minimum
Selenium 0.4 mg/kg Minimum
Vitamin E 150 IU/kg Minimum
Omega-6 Fatty Acids * 2.8% Minimum
Omega-3 Fatty Acids * 0.3% Minimum



Pros:
First four ingredients are named meat products, grainless, primarily good quality ingredients
Cons:
Some mixed quality ingredients.

The first four ingredients of this food are named meat products. The first two of these are meat inclusive of water content (about 80%). Once the water is removed as it must be to create a dry product, these ingredients will weigh around 20% of their wet weight. It is thus unlikely that they are truely the first two ingredients, but would be more accurately placed further down the ingredient list. Since they are followed by two meat meal ingredients, however, this does nothing to diminish our confidence in the overall meat content of the food. There are further meat products 10th and 11th on the ingredient list, and another meat meal ingredient 14th. While this is too far down the ingredient list to make up a substantial portion of the food, it adds to our confidence in species-suitability.


The fifth ingredient in the food is egg product. We would have preferred to see the use of whole eggs. Sweet potatoes, peas and potatoes are further significant ingredients ahead of the fat content. The product uses canola oil rather than fat, which although not a high quality oil is supported by fish meal providing additional omega 3 & 6 OFAs.


The product includes some fruit/vegetables amongst the minor ingredients, and has a good range of probiotics. Overall, it looks to contain a reasonable amount of meat and primarily good quality ingredients. We appreciate the absence of grains in the food, which are not a natural food source for canines. Whilst not on a level with most of the foods in the 6* category, overall this food appears to exceed the standard of many in the 5* category, at least in terms of meat and absence of grains. The quality of ingredients does appear to be somewhat mixed, however, and were greater product information available an adjustment to the rating given might be made. This food is thus cautiously rated 6* for the time being.




Click on the links below and research your chosen dog food….


http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php/product/3

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/taste-of-the-wild-dog-food-dry/


The things is with poor quality dog food, it is directly linked to hyperactivity in dogs and many other issues, it’s up to you to research and buy what you think is the best for what you are willing to pay (or afford if you know what I mean).
I buy 15kg of taste of the wild for €65, BUT with a higher quality dog food you will feed your dog a lesser portion, my bag lasts my cocker 2.5 months or so…. This works out at €.86 per day, that’s €6,06 per week, a lot cheaper than pedigree for a far higher quality.
I also give him some salmon oil is his food each day, and one day per week mashed up sardines in oil… and another day a raw mixed egg.
He’s nearly 9 and in excellent shape, health and his coat is perfect, long may it last.

Best of luck with whatever you decide, but if you do change, its best to do this over one week, mix the old food in with the new half and half, for a week otherwise it can cause upset stomach vomit / diarrhoea.

Anyway sorry about the looooong post… best of luck with what you decide!

loyatemu

maybe take the discussion of dog food nutrition to the Pets forum (its all snouts and entrails anyway...)

had a look in the door of the pet shop today - it is absolutely miniscule. No way its big enough to be an antiques shop, one table would fill the entire shop!

If Eugenes goes it would be ideal as a kiosk/coffee stall - papers and coffees for all the commuters

is Eugenes likely to close? I know it was for sale...

cocker5

maybe take the discussion of dog food nutrition to the Pets forum (its all snouts and entrails anyway...)

Yeah maybe but I was only responding to another posters question.... :P

pixbyjohn

youknowwho wrote: »

How can it be used as a place of employment if there are no basic welfare facilities?

If Eugenes goes it would be ideal as a kiosk/coffee stall - papers and coffees for all the commuters

The guy used the toilet facilities in the Burnaby.
Eugenes used to serve coffee and sambos/rolls on the go before. Must not have been profitable enough!

LEIN

pixbyjohn wrote: »

The guy used the toilet facilities in the Burnaby.
Eugenes used to serve coffee and sambos/rolls on the go before. Must not have been profitable enough!

That was before a regular train service.

Coffee company AMT seem to be snapping up premisses along the DART line for take away coffee and snacks.
On the other hand is there any room for another coffee shop? There would be 2 either side within 1 minute walking distance.

zanador

How about a pop up shop, gallery, rotating with local talent (of which we have loads). A little co-op, or something. Depends on the rent really, I suppose, any ideas how much it would be. Also, Eugene's surely does enough business to stay open, albeit under new management? Would hate to see it close

Cheeky Chops

zanador wrote: »

How about a pop up shop, gallery, rotating with local talent (of which we have loads). A little co-op, or something. Depends on the rent really, I suppose, any ideas how much it would be. Also, Eugene's surely does enough business to stay open, albeit under new management? Would hate to see it close

I find Eugene's overpriced, especially on soft drinks and not very friendly. I avoid it as much as possible. As for another coffee shop ... Greystones has become so bland with the saturation of coffee shops. The town is desperately lacking character. It needs new businesses. Pop up shops would be a great idea. I find the place relentlessly dull these days. There used to be a post office and a butchers on the main street - at least then it felt like a town. Nowadays it is so shallow in feel. I only tend to drive through as there is no reason to stop and I see the same heads sitting outside the same cafes. I still visit the bookshop, the library, the health shop and the opticians but that is about it. The rest, for me, dull and very cliquey.