Diamond jewellery, trips to the beauty salon and more pink than Barbara Cartland?s knicker drawer ? nope, not a day in the life of Paris Hilton but Daisy the Bichon Frise, writes Elizabeth Joyce.
Daisy lives a lifestyle so luxurious it rivals your average Wag: she eats only the finest, freshest food, is chauffeured from place to place and is showered with gifts and attention.
?She doesn?t walk anywhere,? says owner Patricia Kimberley, cuddling her prized three-year-old pooch, who has just been fluffed and preened to perfection at the grooming parlour. ?I carry her everywhere in a leopard-print bag.
?She only eats fresh beef and chicken and I put ice cubes in her water. I love her so much, I have to spoil her.
?Everything she has is pink and covered in diamant?s ? I go to Crufts and spend a fortune. I love it. She sleeps on a pink fluffy bed with pink fur and super-soft blankets. She?s treated like a queen.?
While the world outside may be battered and bruised by the recession, life inside the pet pampering industry is sparkly, shiny and squeaky clean.
Pets these days are seen as members of the family, with owners willing to spend big bucks on keeping their animals happy, healthy and looking fabulous.
Sam Wilkes has been in the business for a quarter of a century.
?Despite the economic downturn, pet groomers are booming and many are actually crying out for new employees to cope with demand,? she explains. ?People will always spend money on their dogs and cats.?
She?s not wrong. The pet food industry alone is worth more than ?2 billion a year, with organic and healthy products being the top choice. Some of the most luxurious brands offer healthy, holistic and homemade meals that sound like they should be on the menu of a posh gastro pub. Homestyle chicken and turkey casserole, anyone? Slow-cooked lamb hot pot? They?ll set you back more than ?2 a can however.
Then there?s the grooming, the gifts, the training, the accessories, the pet sitting ? it all adds up and is getting more and more outlandish by the year.
Harrods has its own luxury spa just for animals, complete with candles, mud baths and massage tables. It?s plonked right in the middle of the department store?s Pet Kingdom, where you can also get Chewy Vuitton handbag-shaped cushions for more than ?100 and Roberto Cavalli dog coats.
Shropshire-based Nikki Brown from Canine Angels in Highley is known as The UK Dog Whisperer. Qualified in both human and dog psychology, she says pet owners are willing to make sacrifices in their own lives to ensure their animals don?t go without.
?Over the years, animals have become more and more like members of the family,? she explains.
?There are lots of different reasons behind it, people are loving and nurturing by nature and they like to have something to focus that energy on.
?Animals also fill something of an emotional gap for single people or childless couples and they also complete the more traditional family ideal of nice house, big car, 2.4 children and the perfect pet. And some of these dogs are seen as status symbols: people see them on the arms of celebrities or in fashion magazines and they want to emulate that.
?I deal with dogs? behavioural and health-related problems and I draw up payment plans for people who want to look after their pets but perhaps don?t have the means readily available. They are determined however to give their dogs the best possible treatment. The only thing that worries me is if people treat their dogs too much like children, they stop acting like dogs. I get people calling me in to help with a dog?s behaviour and they say to me ?I know, I know, it?s all my fault ? I?ve treated them like a baby?.?
But don?t think all this pet pampering is just a Knightsbridge thing, a distraction for the cast of Made In Chelsea, it?s happening right here in the Midlands, with normal folk willing to spend hundreds, running into thousands, of pounds to give their animals the A-list treatment.
Sam?s Pampered Pets grooming business in Walsall paints nails with glittery polish, has the pink poodle dye in the cupboard and offers dog reiki. It?s been voted the Most Loved Dog & Cat Grooming Business in the UK for the past four years running in the national Best Of business awards.
Patricia brings Daisy in every two weeks.
?People think I?m puddled but I love her so much and I want to spoil her. She gets lots of attention wherever she goes and I want her to look her best. She?s bathed and groomed and fluffed up.
?She is my life and I never leave her. We holiday in this country so I can take her with me. My husband thinks I?m soft, I take her to bed with me,? laughs the 47-year-old foster carer from Bloxwich.
?I?ve spent ?45 on a collar for her, she?s got her own collection of pink cuddly toys and she?s got personalised accessories with her name engraved on them.
?I definitely want another one too. And the other one wouldn?t have her hand-me-downs, it would have all of its own stuff brand new.?
With so much time and money being invested in people?s pets, the pressure falls to people like Sam to ensure their skills and salons make the grade.
?We definitely work hard to make sure the salon looks its best,? she says. ?And I go to seminars and competitions to keep up to date with the latest styles, products and treatments. It?s a fast-moving, ever-changing industry.
?Pets are more pampered these days but that?s only because they?re becoming more and more like members of the family. We?ve even started up our own grooming academy so owners can learn the skills themselves to keep their animals looking their best.?
Patricia Quinn is a commercial director at a distribution company. She is the proud owner of five-month-old cavapoo ? a cross between a cavalier King Charles spaniel and a miniature poodle ? called Peggy.
Little Peggy couldn?t be cuter, especially as her grooming session has just been completed with a tiny pink bow atop her head.
?I don?t have any children so she?s my baby ? well, she certainly acts like she is,? says the 48-year-old from Sutton Coldfield. ?She has her very own pink pen filled with cuddly toys and she has the best of the best of everything and gets lots of little treats as well. She follows me everywhere for attention and is also really popular with the children in the close I live in.?
It is estimated there are eight million dogs and eight million cats in the UK right now and among the two luckiest felines are Henry and Harry Baldwin.
Once in the care of Cats Protection, they are now living the life of Riley with Anne and Christopher Baldwin in Heath Hayes, Cannock.
?Henry?s 10 and Harry?s eight and they?re two very spoilt housecats,? laughs Anne, a 47-year-old housewife. ?They basically have the best of everything such as the finest food.? Other animals among the hustle and bustle at Pampered Pets include shih tzus Snoppy and Meggie, with their respective owners Tracy Newport from Aldridge and Joan Price from Pelsall.
Again, both Tracy, a 40-year-old office worker, and Joan, a 75-year-old retired school cleaner, admit to spoiling their pets but said it was just a way of showing their love.
So, in the 25 years she?s been in the business, does Sam think things are maybe a little bit too OTT now. After all, aside from the grooming side of things, we?ve now got birthday cards for cats, Christmas hampers for dogs, protective paw rubs for when winter gets too much and four-poster pet beds.
We?re even in the realm of guinea pig tiaras. No, seriously. And solid oak pet coffins. Yours for just ?410 if you?re interested.
?I don?t think so,? Sam says. ?These people just love their animals and want to give them the best.?
And what of her own dogs? Does she spoil and pamper them?
?Oh yes,? laughs Sam. ?They?re spoilt rotten. I rock them like babies ? after all, if you can?t beat them, join them.?
- Read our exclusive features first in your Weekend Shropshire Star, on Saturday
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