Thieves stole more than half-a-ton of specialist dog food during a night-time raid on a Gloucestershire pet shop.

Michelle Hawkins, who opened Toughmutts Country Supplies in Staunton, near Newent, only 10 months ago, suspects the burglary on Sunday November 2 was planned well in advanced.

She noticed a total of 46 sacks of feed, as well as dog leads and harnesses, worth in excess of £3,000, were missing when she turned up to open the shop on Monday morning.

“This is a new business venture for us,” Michelle said. “We are supposed to be in a community-minded village. I have been working here seven days per week and I am not drawing a wage yet.

“They must have had a big 4x4 as there was a hell of a lot of big bags of feed.”

She suspects the culprits crossed farmland before reversing through a hedge at the rear of the store in order to avoid being spotted by CCTV at Staunton Garden Centre, where the business is based.

A total of 46, 15kg sacks – weighing a total of 690kg– of Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, Science Plan and Skinners Field and Trial was stolen in the raid.

Michelle says Royal Canin can only be sold by reputable suppliers and wants dog owners to be aware they may be offered stolen dog food at a cut price.

She has also issued a warning via her business’s page on social networking website Facebook.

“All of our money has gone into this business and around £3,000-worth of stock has been taken,” Michelle added.

“This is upsetting because it is a family business. My partner and I have been working seven days per week to build this up and were looking forward to our first Christmas here,” she said.

Police are investigating the burglary and anybody with information is urged to get in touch.

Harm Reduction Advisor David McFarlane: “We know that burglars will target stores that are close to or back on to fields so we would urge business owners to be aware and strengthen their security wherever they can.

“In this case the harm reduction team would be happy to visit the victims and give advice on any extra measures they can take.”

Call police on 101 quoting incident 73 of November 3.