What happened to traditional pet shops?

[Floogal]

This is a piggyback thread from

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5386992-why-do-families-who-are-poor-have-pets?page=1

As the title asks. I remember when pet shops used to sell animals like fish, rodents, rabbits guinea pigs and budgies. My parents said that when they were young, pet shops even sold dogs. Nowadays, they seem hard to find. In my town there are pet shops but either they just sell food and accessories, or only sell fish, reptiles and invertebrates. Birds, rabbits and rodents are seemingly non existent (apart from the frozen rats and mice)

I forgot to add cats could be brought in shops too.

It's been illegal to sell puppies and kittens in pet shops in the UK since 2020.

For other pets,the shop needs a licence and regular inspections to ensure animal welfare. Many decided it was just not cost effective any more.

Rabbit are exotic pets

Good!!

It's been illegal to sell puppies and kittens in pet shops in the UK since 2020.

Good thing too, it’s incredibly cruel.

It was mad wasn't it. I'm sure I remember Harrods pet dept had puppies.

Harrods used to sell lions!!!!

Our local pet shop sells fish, turtles, hamsters, mice, gerbils, and various birds. We often stop in on our walk around town to nosey at them.

There was a pet shop in the Leeds arcades that used to have a monkey in the 1950s or 60s.
(It may have been a chimp, my elderly neighbours argued between themselves on that)

The reason my mum got me my bunny when I was 10 was because when I saw her in the tiny cage in the pet shop I started crying and said I was going to break in and night and steal her. It was pretty horrible how they treated them. I guess it kind of worked as a sales tactic lol.

I take my kids to pets at home sometimes though - the poor man’s zoo. I have been tempted to take a bunny or two back but I resist as the cat would 100% eat it.

I’m old English to remember a pet shop in Mansfield when I was a kid sold monkeys. 🙈 me and my brother used to go in to see them.

That recent
I have heard because of puppy farming

MONKEYS 😂 never heard of that.

I remember the pet shop at the garden centre had kittens, this is back in the 90s. Another pet shop had Chinchillas. It always felt wrong to me, and I always wondered who looked after them when the shop was shut!

Pets at home still sell rodents, and rabbits (just not at Easter).

Because you can’t give pets any quality of life in a shop.

They don’t get handled they way they need to be to become happy pets, don’t have the space they need, are constantly disturbed by curious children. It’s a rotten life.

TBH it's a good thing less animals are sold in pet shops - rescues are a prime example as the vast majority of their intake have been bought from a certain large pet chain store on a whim and aren't wanted anymore, or have been dumped to fend for themselves.

Pet shops that still sell animals will get them from rodent mills - shady huge scale animal breeding establishments that just ship out baby animals every week in crates. Not a great start in life!

Bought surely, not brought? But thank goodness this no longer happens. They should be with their mum and seen in the home setting by a prospective owner.

We had a pet shop near us selling monkeys not all that long ago!