Petwise

Yay! Real live exciting pets in store!
I think all pet stores ought to have beautiful little animals. It’s a sad fact that the only reason I pop in here is to have a look at the little pets, but one day when I’m a real grown up I may be able to afford to look after my own little *cat/​lizard/​chipmunk/​rabbit/​snake!
*delete as applicable
Anyway, for that kind of fun there is Pet Wise in Otley. Firstly, the less interesting part, the shop is packed. This store has the largest selection of specialist and varied pet foods that I’ve ever seen in Leeds, they’ve got every kind of animal covered that I could see. The same applies to the toys and pet accessories — any number of cuddly baskets, play toys, bones, chewy scratchy posts/​things and the rest. They even have garden type accessories — bird tables and so on!
Now — to the animals! Firstly I came across the fish, there wasn’t a huge selection, but there were plenty of beautiful and sweet looking tiddlers. They had little guppies (males £1.75p, females 99p) and little neon tetras for 85p. After that there were all the birds — canaries £17.50, cockatiels, budgerigars and parrots. There were two parrots who weren’t for sale but amused me as they kept saying ‘hello’ and whistling! They also had some little gerbils and hamsters, who were cute but not as cute as the chipmunks! My favourites were the bearded dragons — there’s something so austere and proud about their stance. Additionally they had tortoises and rabbits too.
I must admit that I’ve never been a huge fan of caged animals — certainly not caged birds — but I guess the point is that when you purchase them you are meant to purchase a larger cage for them to live in. If I had the money I’d have bought every canary in the place as they were gorgeous, sweet and had the most beautiful song. I can’t say that I thought the animals looked particularly unhappy though (perhaps they would have been happier in bigger cages) and they were obviously looked after.
Essentially, Pet Wise is a lovely pet store, with clearly passionate staff, and everything you could possibly need for your loved animals. Perhaps even a new edition to the family too!