After advertising its new dog bakery section, Nurture Them Naturally in Gosport sold out of sweet treats within the first hour of the next day.
Handmade using organic ingredients, the canine cakes and pastries fit in with the ethos of the shop in Dartmouth Court, which manufactures and sells raw dog food and herbal products.
Owner Kelly Newbold-Cooper said: ‘We got more than 2,000 hits straight away when I put it on Facebook. It went crazy, we sold out within the first hour that day. I literally spent two weeks in the kitchen baking.
‘Everyone has got their favourites, I think it depends what they like to eat themselves.’
Mum-of-one Kelly started the business when her own dogs, ten-year-old Shih Tzus Baxter and Harley, were very ill with digestion problems and bad skin and she could not find somewhere to source natural dog food.
The qualified canine nutritionist, who now also has five-year-old Shih Tzu Beau, said: ‘My dogs changed my life, no one was helping us and I couldn’t get all the natural foods they needed. I just had enough so I opened the shop and went from there.’
Having been open for nine years, the shop was in need of a new pull for customers, and the bakery has provided just that.
Shop manager Clare Woodford said: ‘It’s beyond our wildest dreams. We are so unique, we’re not like your average pet store.
‘I must say Kelly puts blood, sweat and tears into this place. I don’t know many people who work as hard as her, she’s up until 10pm baking. We see how passionate Kelly is and we think “let’s make this the best place we can”.’
Clare started working at the shop after her dog, a small Munsterlander named Zuma, four, reaped the benefits of raw feeding.
She said: ‘He was literally skin and bone but as soon as I put him on raw he got so much better.
‘Hearing the success stories really brightens your day and makes a difference.’
For more information, or to order local delivery on dog bakery items, visit nurturethemnaturally.co.uk