The Pets Larder

07/06/2026

Your dog is doing a hot coal dance on the pavement and you're wondering if you timed this wrong. You did.

Asphalt reaches 52°C when air temperature hits 25°C. Paw pads tolerate approximately 43°C before tissue damage begins - that's a 9-degree safety margin that disappears fast.

The five-second rule works: place your hand on the pavement for five seconds. If you can't maintain contact, neither can they. Concrete retains heat 4-6 hours after peak sun exposure, so 8pm walks still find warm surfaces.

Grass stays 15-20 degrees cooler than adjacent pavement due to water content and shade from blade coverage. Sand reflects heat upward but doesn't retain it like asphalt.

Paw pad burns present as limping, excessive licking, and visible redness or blistering. Healing takes 7-10 days during which normal walks become impossible.

06/06/2026

The post-walk panic check where you're convinced every dark spot is a tick but most turn out to be ni***es.

Effective tick checking follows a system: start at the head, work backwards. Ticks prefer warm, protected areas — ears, armpits, groin, between toes. Run your fingers against the hair grain to feel for bumps.

Size matters for detection. Unfed ticks are 2-3mm, about the size of a sesame seed. Engorged ticks can reach 10mm and feel like small grapes. The longer they feed, the easier they are to spot.

Dark-coated dogs hide ticks better than light ones. Double the checking time for black or brown dogs, especially around ears and neck where you rely more on touch than sight.

Daily checks catch ticks before the 24-hour disease transmission window closes. Post-walk checks catch them before they settle and start feeding.

Arte & Polar get checked every evening. They tolerate this with the resigned patience of someone who's given up arguing!

05/06/2026

You've bought every cooling mat and fan available, but your dog still struggles with heat after meals.

Digestion generates significant internal heat. Large meals consumed during daylight hours force dogs to manage both external temperature and internal metabolic heat simultaneously. This double burden causes visible distress in sensitive dogs.

Split daily food portions into smaller, more frequent meals. Feed the largest portion after sunset when ambient temperature drops. Morning feeds should be minimal - just enough to maintain blood sugar stability.

Raw and fresh foods require 23% less metabolic energy to digest compared to heavily processed kibble. This reduces post-meal heat generation significantly. Dogs on fresh meat diets show lower core body temperatures within 2 hours of eating.

During peak summer months, I fed daycare dogs their main meals at 7am and 7pm. Midday portions were minimal.

05/06/2026

The tin tells the story. Our Pets Larder Dog & Cat Treats get their first rebrand since launch, housed in reusable aluminium instead of plastic pouches, the calming duck and chicken formula contains chamomile and lavender — both studied for their anxiolytic effects in canines. The dental turkey and wild boar variant includes natural abrasives that work mechanically against tartar buildup. Each tin holds 175g, with 500g bulk refill bags available for regular users.

This rebrand marks the beginning of our largest product expansion since 2021. Six new formulations launching over the next month, all following the same plastic-free approach.

Aluminium recycles indefinitely without quality loss, unlike most treat packaging that heads straight to landfill.

04/06/2026

Three months of constant scratching, red patches spreading, vet visits mounting up. Sound familiar?

Grain-free transition reduces inflammatory load.

Most commercial dog foods contain 40-60% grain fillers. Wheat, corn, rice - cheap bulk that some dogs simply cannot process efficiently.

The inflammatory response shows up as skin irritation, hot spots, obsessive licking. Aflora contains 50-55% meat, part of which is fresh, zero wheat, corn or rice. UK-made using Freshtrusion - gentle cooking that preserves nutrients while eliminating pathogens.

Not a miracle cure, but removing inflammatory triggers gives skin time to heal. Poo scores improve too. Firmer, less frequent, better colour.

Digestive health and skin health connect more than most realise.

Ask about grain-free transition plans

30/05/2026

I’ve been in the shop more than usual the past few weeks and had a couple of brilliant “oh yeah” moments — both involving Aflora.

For anyone new here: Aflora is our own-brand dry dog food, launched in 2019 and named after my Airedale, Flora (some of you might remember her from behind the shop counter)

Two conversations with long-standing customers basically stopped me in my tracks:

“Why don’t you do turkey in a non-senior recipe?”
“Why don’t you do salmon in adult standard — you’ve already got it in puppy and large breed?”

They were right. Obviously right. I have no idea how I missed it for this long.

So — here you are. Both. Launching online later this week. 😂

Thanks to Emily for making the sign! 💕

29/05/2026

From a dog daycare to an award-winning natural pet shop -

*We've had an influx recently of new followers! So welcome to you all, here's a little more on who we are and what we do!

Read more >

We didn't set out to open a natural pet shop. We set out to solve a problem — and the shop came after. For years before The Pets Larder existed, I ran a dog daycare in Cornwall. Hundreds of dogs through the doors over a decade. Different breeds, different ages, different temperaments, different di...

27/05/2026

Presenting Natural Cornish Dog Treats. 100% Compostable ASMR