Popular Pets is a family-run pet business in Spencerville, Christchurch, at 415 Lower Styx Road, where a husband and wife team has run the business for over 35 years. It is a boarding kennel and cattery, a pet travel service and a poultry breeder, so it covers dogs, cats and birds. The business is by appointment only, so ring first on 03 3298 733. Its owners can collect pets from most South Island towns. For overseas travel, the team arranges the cage, the paperwork and the flight, and the website lists Australia as the main destination. Plastic cages are available to hire.
Customers say the dogs and cats are well cared for. One says the cattery was recently renovated and is clean. The poultry side gets good reviews too. Visitors who bought birds describe the advice as helpful and welcoming, the birds as healthy, and the prices as fair. One says the heritage breeds are lovely, and some are quite rare. The business breeds heritage poultry to New Zealand standards, sells fertile eggs in season, and has sometimes had ducks, pheasants, geese and Japanese quail. For a pet that needs boarding in Christchurch or a few heritage hens for home, it is our pick in Spencerville.