To be annoyed at Pets At Home

[loserdoesnotgohere]

I went to Pets at Home this morning to buy a rabbit. I have bought everything I need for it and have set everything up and spent lots of money in the process.

Only when I got there the stupid cow refused to sell me a rabbit! I was so embarrased at being shown up like that but the manager backed her up!

no idea what to do about this now.

What reason did they give?

Why wouldn't they sell you a rabbit?

What were their reasons - were they following certain procedures or regulations, or did they just not like the look of you?

On what grounds did they refuse to sell you a rabbit?

What did they say?

They asked me about housing and when I told them about my set up they said it wasn't suitable. I was going to let bunny have free range of the shed but they said they don't sell them to live outdoors this time of year.

I can understand that but it's a big heated shed.

What questions did they ask you?

Animals from Pets At Home are sickly.

Find a local breeder.

Sorry x post.

Adopt one from a shelter?

What happened?
Pets at home are usually pretty good and refuse animals if the set up isn't right.
What reason did they give you?

Just that my housing wasn't suitable.

I recently adopted a bunny from them. They do ask extensive questions about housing and care and I can only think this is a good thing.

A shed might be fine space wise, but it won't be insulated or waterproof.

What have you bought for it? If you talked it through with them, maybe they weren't happy. Rabbits need at least 48 sq foot of living space, and their hutches need to be tall enough for them to sit upright without their ears touching the ceiling.

Our hutch is 6 ft tall and the run 8ft by 6ft and is about the only one on the commercial market actually big enough for a rabbit's needs with regard to living space.

Lots of shelter bunnies. Also, they are social so are you getting two?

Pets at home don't even sell hutches that are big enough for rabbits! I wouldn't buy any animal from them- they have an appalling welfare reputation.
Look on Facebook for local bunny rescues. And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, do not get a single rabbit. It will be utterly miserable.

KingJoffrey - all of them? In the entire country? How do you know? FWIW, our rabbit is in pretty rude health and the vet certainly found nothing wrong with him when he went for his post-purchase check up.

Did you explain the shed was heated?
Is it for the rabbit alone or have you other stuff stored there?
Is it of a recommended size for a rabbit to hop around? Ie about 3 hops long, which means about 6-7 feet.
Will the rabbit have any daylight?
Do you plan to keep the poor rabbit on its own?
Have you read up on rabbit keeping?
www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/ahutchisnotenough.htm

YABU. Many people underestimate the space that rabbits need and research on rabbits and the living conditions they require has come a long way since the 90s. If you were told that your set-up is not right, it's not right. What they should have done is told you what you need to do and then allowed you to make changes.

A breeder will sell you a rabbit because they generally (not all) don't care that much about where they go to (they want the profit.) But the best thing to do would be to go to a rescue and talk to the person who runs the rescue about what you need. Getting a rabbit from a rescue is actually cheaper, because they come vaccinated and neutered.

Animals from Pets At Home are sickly

I completely agree, I have no good experiences with PAH and would not recommend anyone by a pet from there.

What are they thinking selling hutches that they themselves don't consider suitable for housing rabbits .

I wouldn't buy an animal from P@H personally.

Don't Breed or Buy While Rescues Die.

My DD and I are onto Guinea-Pig 3,4,5 . They were rescues as were Guinea-Pigs 1 and 2.

Obviously guinea-pigs are different care from rabbits.
I have no idea if your heated shed would be suitable but most rabbits would be outdoor pets.

But YY two are better than one.

Bloody stupid, since when do rabbits need to be indoors? Shelter from the weather, yes, but they can withstand low temperatures for sure. What on earth do they think wild rabbits do?

They have a cage for Baby Guinea-Pigs.
Erm,, the blighters grow.
My boar weighs 3lb. He'd eat his own spleen in that cage.

Same here LeBear, Blanche is from Pets at Home (too old to sell so from their adoption bit) and is in stonking form health wise. They have a vet on site. After a call to SSPCA for a local pet store that had a poor Royal Python having an awful shed with no assistance (despite shelves of moss to help with bad sheds), a beardie with untreated mouth rot and dead stick insects for sale (I know to some they're just insects but come on!) PaH are the only pet store near us who seem to keep their animals in good health.

PaH used to be rubbish, but have improved very very much recently so we're now happy to give them our custom.

ahutchisnotenough.com is a brilliant resource. If PaH say no to giving someone an animal, why encourage them to go to a rescue?! And yes, unless you have a grumpy old woman like we have, you need more than one.