In my 16 years of motherhood I've spent more time in pet shops than I ever envisioned.

With a young son who was animal mad, we started out with fish and eventually ended up with two guinea pigs, two lizards, a tortoise, a dog and what we thought was a giant African land snail - that sadly turned out to be your average garden snail.

Obviously pets don't last forever, but thankfully we're still left with gecko Joel, our big bouncy Labrador Milo and our hermann's tortoise Sheldon, who will probably outlive us all.

It's Milo who demands most of the attention - he's hard to miss - and it was him who was invited for a VIP first look around the new Pets at Home at Manchester Fort.

He seemed excited at the prospect, pounding through the doors of the swish new Pet Care Centre, homed in the former Sports Direct which has undergone a £982k transformation.

Our first stop was the weighing scales, where the worst possible news was confirmed - the boy needs to diet.

The staff didn't say as much - they're here to advise not preach - but at 40kg and a belly that suggests his penchant for pig's ears and cheese is not boding well, I........

© Manchester Evening News