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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be annoyed at Pets At Home

76 replies

loserdoesnotgohere · 20/10/2014 14:53

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.

OP posts:
CherryDolphin · 20/10/2014 17:54

I think Cherry it varies hugely between stores.

I think that's it. I always used the same branch and never had a problem with it.

Sweetpea01 · 20/10/2014 18:08

Whilst I agree P@H are good in asking these questions and refusing to sell on occasion.

Please do not be under the illusion these animals have been properly bred or they/their parents even adequately cared for. They are still bred from factory style breeders that have to churn them out in huge numbers. They have poor genetics at best, their parents are most certainly neglected in both health and care.

Whenever I visit our store, none of the animals are in suitable environments and it is a large one.

BingoBonkers · 20/10/2014 18:13

SweetPe@ is right. Farms are breeding to fill the P@H stores and are no better than puppy mills.

Find a local rabbit rescue and adopt from there.

Shlep · 20/10/2014 18:22

I am not keen on P@H (I'm a breeder, so can't say anything about getting pets from rescues, but I can say A LOT about the conditions a typical hamster might come from, there), but I have to say, everyone I know has only ever had a positive experience. Lovely, healthy, good tempered animals, with ongoing support, and talking to children very well and sensibly. But that is from a selection of three of our local stores. It will vary hugely.

I would personally NEVER buy from a pet shop, apart from getting fish (and even then, I'd be cohosh, diseases and fungi are very easy to spread, and have you seen how P@H can treat it's fish?) maybe. Even the smallest pair of dwarf hamsters. Going to a breeder or rescue is always the better option, imo, (if you're choosy about the breeder and rescue, no backyard breeders etc). Any responsible breeder will focus on temperament and health above even looks- and that's very important for a rabbit. Pets at home, and other pet shops, just can't know the ins and outs, the genetic histories, how a rabbit is with children etc. Rescued ones are great and for your donation, you will get a lot of friendly advice, and even ones from a rabbit breeder won't be too much pricier ever, ime.

WeAreGroot · 20/10/2014 18:25

There are countless rabbits in rescues up and down the country. Have a look at Rabbit Rehome.

I wouldn't buy an animal from any pet shop, regardless of how well cared for they appear to be. They do not come from decent breeders and little to no thought will have been put into their breeding beyond aiming for pretty colours/markings/coat types.

This page shows a typical rodent farm which is the type of place that most pet shops will get their stock from. Although the farm pictured is in the Netherlands it's pretty typical of a rodent farm and a quick search online will bring up farms in the UK which produce vast numbers of animals of various species/breeds including parrots and exotic small pets.

KingJoffreysBloodshotEye · 20/10/2014 18:43

I'd like to adopt another bunny.

I have a girl, had her a year, was given her by a friend of a friend who bought her for their child and the child lost interest quickly.

She lives in the house. Does have a cage but mostly bounces around the house and through the cat flap into an enclosed garden.

I'd like a neutered boy as a buddy for her.

I had a neutered boy/unneutered girl combo before and the bond between them was gorgeous. They really loved each other.

Am in West Wiltshire. Where could I go??

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 20/10/2014 18:44

WeAreGroot I girded myself to look at the second link (I knew roughly what it would be about TBH) but those animals are kept in the sort of conditions you'd see in an organised pantry, not befitting live animals. Intelligent, social live animals Sad

I often think as I clean out the mucky so-and-so's who we love and cherish , that if they were in this sort of environment , they'd most likely be on metal grids to allow all the effluent to flow away Sad and keep them clean.
Of course this would wreck their guinea-pig feet, but when someone is breeding in those numbers for profit, I don't think it would enter the equation Angry

Beatrixemerald · 20/10/2014 18:48

I work for PaH and can honestly say animal welfare comes before profit and everyone who works for the business is animal crazy. I could list all the brilliant things the business does including giving store space over to rspca/battersea etc free of choice to help with rehoming, the £4m + donated per year to animal charities etc but it would take me ages. Due to the pets before profit policy pets arent sold where conditions arent deemed suitable, quite rightly. My experience of local pet shops is that they sell kittens etc which I really dont agree with.

BingoBonkers · 20/10/2014 18:48

King there are lots of rabbit rescues about. Google is your friend!

LePetitMarseillais · 20/10/2014 18:53

We have 2 gerbils and 1 hamster from P at H in the peak of health.They were bright eyed and bushy tailed on purchase and clocking up the years.Very active,never a whimper or even a sniffle.

That said I'd never buy their cages.Our rodents are in mashooooove cages from Zooplus.

LePetitMarseillais · 20/10/2014 18:54

Both of our local P at H staff are fab.

WeAreGroot · 20/10/2014 18:57

Due to the pets before profit policy pets arent sold where conditions arent deemed suitable, quite rightly.

Unfortunately what PaH deems suitable doesn't necessarily match up with what welfare organisations recommend for animals. They still sell hutches and indoor rabbit cages which are far too small. They sell a rat cage as permanent accommodation which is at most only suitable for small babies or as a hospital cage.

I used to work at PaH, it was the most soul destroying job I've ever done.

Beatrixemerald · 20/10/2014 19:00

Weare - dont know how long ago you left, I have only been there the last two years and don't work in stores. I can only comment on my experience

CherryDolphin · 20/10/2014 19:14

WeAreGroot I have to say I agree with that. I'm not entirely convinced on the pets before profit thing. If that's the case why do they sell so many unsuitable things such as too small cages?

IIRC all of their hamster cages are below the recommended minimum requirements.

LaurieFairyCake · 20/10/2014 19:18

Our pets at home has rescue bunnies in store as well as baby ones - they all have huge hutches

ADishBestEatenCold · 20/10/2014 19:19

"a 14ft x 8ft shed with an 8ft run attached (I built this especially for my rabbit) is not big enough, really"

It sounds great, but as an 'only facility' I do think they have a point, sorry loserdoesnotgohere.

Rabbits are right down there in the food chain and they know it! It would be highly stressful for a rabbit to sleep, or even rest, wash, toilet in such a vast area.
In time (don't worry, not too long) a domesticated rabbit would learn to enjoy and make great use of such a vast play, exercise and grazing area ... lucky bunnies it really does sound fantastic ... but they still need secure smaller areas to do everything else in.
Someplace they can make their bed, somewhere they can hide in, somewhere they can easily escape to, and escape from. A place they can keep themselves warm or cool. And it does have to feel really closed in, cut off, secure to them ... you can't fool a bunny when it comes down to security.

So a hutch, or hutch like structure. It doesn't have to be a conventional hutch (a friend had a maze of nesting boxes build into a purpose built low shed-like structure and run), but definitely something.

Hope you enjoy your new pets, OP!!!

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 20/10/2014 19:22

We have a lovely rabbit from Pets at Home. No health issues, she's 5 now Smile. We bought her at around this time of year and they said the same to us. We kept her indoors until after the winter.

Sweetpea01 · 20/10/2014 20:17

I know many of you have posted that your animals from P@H are lovely and healthy, I'm sure they are. As I'm sure many of the dogs sold at DogsRus in Manchester will go on to live long lives.

However, do you honestly think that to have your happy, healthy pet from P@H, it is worth the cruelty and mistreatment of it's parents?

I breed rats and yes I have bought some from P@H before (not to breed, of course). Even seeing them in the same cage, you see a vast difference between my home grown babies and the (yes bright eyed, healthy) pet store ones, who simply lack the size, the personality and tameness of home bred ones who are handled from birth.

The rats kept in P@H stores are nearly always contained in glass tanks that aren't even large enough for one let alone the groups of siblings they keep in there. Sadly the same for many other animals.

Please, stop buying for conveniance, google a breeder, google a rescue. It really isn't more expensive. I charge less than P@H charges for their rats, to purposely encourage people to come my way. When I have sent buyers to the store to buy cages (like the Jenny rat cage) they have come away with advice given by staff on large hamster cages!

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 20/10/2014 20:21

Worth remembering that in the wild, a rabbit would cover 5 miles a day.

littlehayleyc · 20/10/2014 21:06

could it be because their rabbits are kept indoors, so maybe it's too late in the year for them to suddenly be moved outside? Although, as others have said, most people keep their rabbits outside so are they refusing to sell any until spring unless they're to be house bunnies?

I would go to a local rescue and adopt a pair of neutered rabbits. Your set up sounds brilliant for a pair of rabbits already used to living outdoors.

GatoradeMeBitch · 21/10/2014 00:43

I am surprised. I'm subscribed to a woman on YT (here - www.youtube.com/channel/UC1UeUeidLFKTbxxrxGmF0oA ) who makes videos about her hamsters and she dislikes Pets at Home because she says that none of the habitats they sell are large enough for a hamster to have best quality of life.

PixieofCatan · 21/10/2014 07:05

definitely pop to super furry animals section :)

I'd never buy animals from pets at home. Or other commercial shop. Every one I've been too has been hit and miss with staff. Even then the animals usually come from commercial breeders who don't breed for health. They recommend totally unsuitable products for pets and cages. Pets in there get moved to their rehoming centre once they look too big to pass off as babies. It's all awful. Support good breeders, not massive chains.

And please don't get a single rabbit, it'd get lonely.

I'm a rat owner but the same principles apply.

PixieofCatan · 21/10/2014 07:36

Just to add, anecdotally, most pets from a pet store will likely be fine, but it's a bit like saying "I ate unpasteurised cheese all through my pregnancy and baby is fine." or "I drive without a seatbelt and nothing's ever happened to me." The way pet shops breed and treat their animals is not fine, at the very least the animals do not get the attention that they need.

DP and I rehomed two rats earlier this year who had originally come from a pet shop. Two girls, utterly gorgeous. They came to us in their cage that the family had been advised to buy. The cage was quite small by rat standards, bar spacing of about two centimetres, two shelves, a metal rung wheel and a few of those hamster nibble things that clip onto the side of the cage.

Even the slightest bit of research online will tell you that it was wholly unsuitable, but you trust what the pet shop tells you about what you need. We couldn't afford a new cage for a couple of weeks but we did make sure that the environment in it was more suited. However the girls could have gotten out of that cage at any point had they wanted too. In fact one of them sat with her head poked completely through the bars as if to prove a point.

That's completely ignoring the fact that the same one was so terrified of us when we got them, that it took her a week to even come out of her little house when we were in the room, and we sat in there for hours upon hours just talking at her. Part of that would have been her early upbringing.

I've gone into shops and when asked "Can I help you?" I've asked questions about products and cages and so on and so forth, just to see what answers I get. Very rarely has a staff member recommended a suitable cage (usually hamster cages or smallish temporary rabbit cages with large bar spacing get suggested), they don't even know what hammocks are or if they do, they say that they have ferret ones but why would we want them for rats? I've even had one staff member tell me that a rat would be perfectly happy with a bare cage so not to waste money on lots of toys.

It is hit and miss, but I'd rather not give money to a chain who is hit and miss. Though the welfare of the animals is the worst bit. Rodents especially come from rodent farms, which are really upsetting. A pets corner local to me in Sussex get their rats and hamsters from a rodent farm in North Essex. Those animals are bred in tiny plastic containers, then driven down 2.5/3 hours minimum (or more when traffic is bad) in small cages and boxes as they deliver 5 or 6 rats/mice/hamsters/etc to various stores in the area to be deposited into glass sided boxes which does nothing good for their respiratory systems what-so-ever.

Bulbasaur · 21/10/2014 07:43

Rabbits are social animals. If you aren't going to get a companion, you need to have it indoors so that it has you as a companion. But rabbits need some sort of mate to keep them company.

Not going to go into the pet shop vs. shelter debate. All animals deserve a home their origins doesn't make them less worthy of a loving family. I had a loving rabbit from a pet shop and a distant unaffectionate rabbit from a shelter. I've also had a cranky butt head from a pet shop.

The important thing is that you get them neutered or they'll get aggressive. Mine turned into a terror and drew blood. Turned back into her sweet self once she was spayed.

Winter is a bit of a harsh season for baby rabbits to be left alone to the elements (even if the shed is heated). It really would be best to have them inside for the winter, and outside during the warmer seasons.

sunflower49 · 21/10/2014 07:47

I second go to a shelter. Or if you really must not go the shelter route, go to a reputable breeder. And please don't get just one, they need to live in pairs or groups, a lone bunny generally is a miserable bunny.

And I agree, intensively bred rabbits are sickly, P@H are renowned for it. It's as may be that some animals from there dodge the health issues that are put to them but they are shocking in their intensive rodent breeding (as pixie and others have said). Give your business to somewhere that definitely does some good. I don't know where you are, but if you search your area for rabbit rescues, or even go on gumtree or preloved or fb rescue pages in your area, you'll not be long without rabbits.

kingJoff

www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/centres.asp

www.rescuedirectory.co.uk/animals/wiltshire/page1.html

cottontails-rescue.org.uk/

www.facebook.com/groups/1431140223774118/?fref=ts