To think that a Pets At Home store shouldn't have let this cat move in?

[Distractotron]

I went to my local Pets At Home store and was a bit surprised to see a cat sitting in one of the cat beds on display. There was an odd smell nearby and I wondered if it had urinated somewhere.
When I asked the cashier about it, she and her colleague told me the cat had been hanging about by the bins, so the staff had fed it and now it was coming into the store. I had seen several staff members walk past it when I was browsing. My aibu is - would you have reported this, from a customer perspective? There are lots of small animals in tanks and cages in the shop. It seemed pretty irresponsible to me.

WOuld you rather they let it starve?

I think that's lovely of them. Really sweet.

No. The tanks and cages are secure in all the ones I've been in. Better to feed a stray cat that might be a chancer than let it starve. Good for them

what did you expect them to do - let it live outside in the cold and starve to death? Bit mean of you to be honest....

I think it's nice. A few of our local garden centres have a resident cat. So I wouldn't bat an eyelid really at seeing one in PAH

Heaven forbid that people who work in a pet shop care about animals. Would you rather they let the cat starve?

So the only two options are to either let it starve, or let it live in a store and lie around on items people are meant to be buying? It's nice the cat gets fed but it seems an unlikely permanent solution. I wouldn't 'rather' anything bad happened to it. Just surprised it was happening in a chain pet store.
The rabbits and Guinea pigs are kept in tanks without covers btw.

Cats seem to be chancers by nature. We were getting concerned about one mewling at our door frequently til we learned it belonged to next door and was getting fed by several neighbours including ourselves 😂

Presumably you're a pet lover though OP?
Wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I'd be inclined to see which bed the cat favoured if I was thinking of getting one except our bastard cat just sleeps on the clean laundry.

That's a fair point. Are you sure it's a cat, because no cat I've ever known actually sleeps on a cat bed. If it was squeezed into a too-small cardboard box maybe.

Ive see no end of dozy dog owners in Pets at Home not notice that their beloved dogs were peeing up against things in there, I'd imagine that's more likely to be that causing smells.

And I'd be more worried about it opening a sack of cat food than eating a small animal!

I'm in the "Pat the store on the back" camp. What a clever cat moving in somewhere that has beds, food and a vet.

My local Pets at Home store had a cat living there for a while, I thought it seemed cute until it jumped into the guinea pig enclosure, which didn't seem like a great idea

We've got hamsters. Although we'd really like another dog (old one passed this year). I'd personally be wary of a natural predator hanging around the rodents etc. But maybe I'm over cautious!

TapStep yes that's the sort of thing I'd worry about! Did it jump out again? Were the Guinea pigs ok?

Rabbits and guineas can normally defend themselves against cats, ours were never bothered, especially the rabbit! But certainly we had multiple guineas for years alongside two cats, one of whom was quite the hunter, but she was never interested in the pigs. She did used to eat their food though if you gave her a chance

Loads of pet shops have resident cats and/or dogs.

I think it's nice.

Are you sure it's a cat, because no cat I've ever known actually sleeps on a cat bed. If it was squeezed into a too-small cardboard box maybe.

I presume the cat has been scanned for a chip? And a poster put up saying it's been found?

I hope they can rehome it through the store but lovely that they are looking after it until then.

It’s a bit odd
But I wouldn’t trust P@H with a goldfish tbh 😂

They should have scanned it for a chip it may not even be a stray!

Our garden centre has two cats who live there. They prance about the place like they own is and occasionally climb into your shopping trolley for a little drive about the place.

It's lovely so long as it's got a litter box and isn't peeing on the things customers might buy.

I think they should write off a bed and only let it sleep in that one, if they want to officially help it as a store. I wouldn't want to buy a pre-used cat bed thinking I was getting a new one!

Best you have met a cat right?!
Only let it use one bed.

My brother’s cat often brought home dead bunnies and squirrels he’d caught. Given the cat is sleeping on a bed, or several, they’ll have a hard job selling them. Also, loads of people take their dogs into PAH, me included. Mine has an extremely high prey drive for cats and would create merry hell if he saw a cat in there.