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Small pets

Mumsnet does not check the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you're worried about the health of your pet, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

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Original poster

my poor bunnys im fuming.

45 replies

Corster7 · 01/07/2012 19:59

We bought 2 rabbits from pets at home (it would be two weeks Wednesday).
We bought a lovely huge hutch two story.
They had everything they needed, hay, pellets, fresh water, a few toys.
The Sunday after we got them one off the rabbits fitted and then passed away.
We were all shocked tbh, so I placed her in the box we brought her home in with some straw (even though she was gone it felt right to make her comfy).
I cleaned the whole hutch and used rabbit safe detergent and put everything fresh, cleaned the water bottles ect.
Pets at home would not do noting as it was out of warranty.
Any way now the other rabbit has started to have a runny eye and runny nose (I have been cleaning the eye with cooled boiled water as the nose was fine then)
And now she is not eating : (.

I will be taken her to the vets tomorrow, I'm just disappointed with pets at home two poorly rabbits in a week of buying them.
I will never get anything from them again!

OP posts:

TequilaMockinBird · 04/07/2012 20:18

so sorry.

RIP George x

MoaningMinnieWhingesAgain · 04/07/2012 22:31

Sorry to hear this

I do hope you will be kicking Pets at Homes arse though, for a refund and vet fees. They sold you 2 ill animals.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/07/2012 22:54

Is the vet who treated Rabbit 2 of the opinion that he was ill when you bought him ?
I'm assuming you didn't have the chance to get Rabbit 1 to a vet if he died completely out of the blue.

They might give you a letter to take to P@H that "in their opinion..." and what they found when they examined the bunny and what treatment they had to have.

You might be able to get a refund of the vet treatment and the cost of the rabbits.

I would definately take it further, even if the vet says they can't pinpoint the stage at which your rabbit became ill.
You certainly don't expect 2 rabbits to become ill/PTS after a matter of days.

for your pets.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/07/2012 22:55

Rabbit 1 - she .

oops.

KRITIQ · 04/07/2012 23:01

Sorry to hear about your loss. The more I hear about P a H, the more angry I get. I won't go near the place any more. They seem to be the small animal equivalent of those nasty puppy mills that breed and sell allegedly pure bred dogs often with serious defects and kept in lousy conditions. It just makes me seethe. It's a rip off but more importantly, these are living creatures that are suffering, and the people who buy them suffer when they see them get ill and die.

RIP George and her mate.

Joolyjoolyjoo · 04/07/2012 23:08

So sorry to hear about your bunnies

Bit surprised at your local PAH, however. I'm a vet, and I treat the livestock from 2 local PAH stores. I've found the ones near me are fairly knowledgeable and tend to bring animals in at the first sign of illness. I also thought they had a policy that said they would pay for vet treatment/ replace any animal falling ill within a week of purchase- I have recently treated a couple of such animals (although neither seriously unwell) and PAH have happily footed the bill. I guess there must be huge variation between the stores.

Would your vet be able to carry out a postmortem for you, to establish exactly what caused your bunnies deaths? This may give you more weight behind you if you wanted to pursue a complaint with PAH. Unfortunately the very nature of buying and selling young livestock is fraught with potential hazards for the animals, even with the best intentions, and stress is often a huge factor in illness at such a young age.

If you feel up to getting another rabbit (or rabbits!) its well worth looking at rescue organisations. Our local rabbit rescue does a great job taking in and fostering out all ages of bunnies, no longer wanted for a host of reasons, never the bunnies fault. They have babies, young adults and oldies, and they vaccinate, health check and sometimes even neuter them before homing. I'd definitely look there first if I was looking for another bunny!

TheDivineMsB · 07/07/2012 13:56

I have two lovely Netherland Dwarf bunnies (now 8 years old) and I hate pet shops that sell pets. There are so many rabbits in rescue centres waiting to be rehomed - it really grieves me. I think rabbits should only be available from registered breeders.

OP - you did right though, you did take two bunnies and provide them with a large hutch. Sorry to hear about your problems.

However, the term warranty puts the whole thing into perspective. Pets @ Home are not responsible sellers of pets, it's merely a business to them.

Nigglenaggle · 07/07/2012 14:05

Discussions about Pets At Home in general aside, Viral Haemorrhagic disease causes death within 24hrs, often with few outward signs. So it is possible that the shop are not to blame in this instance.

Nigglenaggle · 07/07/2012 14:07

Hey sorry, just posted that without realising there was a second page. Sorry to hear about the other one.

hermionestranger · 07/07/2012 14:12

I too hate p@h. DS1 ha two fish from there. We wet up pur tank and got the fish a week later after checking the water.

Both fish dead within days. I called p@h and was told to bring the dead fish in and they would swap them! I took them
In and got my money back instead.

We have since got fairground fish because i always feel badly for them. Had them 3 years so far.

guineapiglet · 07/07/2012 17:26

I'm really sorry to hear about your rabbits and do hope rabbit 2 recovers quickly - sounds like they were way too young to be sold on - typical. I have had terrible experiences with PAH and would not recommend them to anyone. IF you need to get some new rabbits, do try local rescue centres/rabbit rescue nationally first - they are well cared for and genuinely need a new home.

What can we do about PAH - I try and put everyone off going there, but of course they are convenient and cheap etc. Their animal welfare is very dubious. I witnessed a male guinea jumping on top of a female baby, so so young, and I told the assistant who assured me they were all girls. Later after I had insisted the male was removed, they picked up the tiny female victim and said' Well we cant sell her on now if shes pregnant, she'll have to go' ( where to? - the chop probably). I offered to take the baby and nearly ended up in tears, promising I would look after her etc but they refused. Poor little creature I dread to think what happened to her. They are careless and cruel in my opinion. Go on, sue me.

guineapiglet · 07/07/2012 17:30

PS - Im really sorry, had flipped the page and not realised, so sorry for my rant. I would definitely send them the Vet bill and spread the word about how careless they have been. I am so surprised the RSPCA havent more to say about them.

Hope you will feel that you can try again when you have all recovered, there will be some lovely bunnies out there waiting for you. :(

Toughasoldboots · 07/07/2012 17:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Empusa · 07/07/2012 17:40

"Yes our ratty was on a type of bedding known to cause respiratory problems when in the shop"

We complained to one P@H store about the bedding, funnily enough they never changed it. I assume it's cheaper

OP Sorry to hear about your rabbits :(

hermionestranger · 07/07/2012 18:43

The RSPCA are a useless shower so not actually surprised they weren't interested.

Original poster

Corster7 · 07/07/2012 20:13

Thanks for all the replys, we do have a rabbit which we got from a very small and wonderful pet place.
They knew everything about rabbits, and told us straight away what this rabbits breed and sex was.
The rabbit (pepper the 2nd) is so much different to the others (very energetic, loves to jump and flip in the air.
Also we have a free month with a vet so that gives us peace of mind.

I really hope watchdog gets back to me, so please if you have concerns about p@h I beg you to contact them as it will give watchdog more weight to do something.

It's the suffering that they both went through, also that the staff had no clue about the pets that they are supposed to look after and care for until they find a home.

OP posts:

Original poster

Corster7 · 07/07/2012 20:15

But I am glad we got them two as at least they had a short time knowing someone looked after and cared for them.

OP posts:

Empusa · 08/07/2012 01:16

"I really hope watchdog gets back to me, so please if you have concerns about p@h I beg you to contact them as it will give watchdog more weight to do something. "

Good idea

guineapiglet · 08/07/2012 13:48

I would be more than happy to get involved with this - tell me what you have done so far and who you have contacted, would gladly add my name to the list of very dissatisfied customers. You are right, at least your rabbits did have some tlc and genuine human contact instead of being treated like a 'product'. - -and that matters alot.

In my experience the RSPCA have been brilliant, but maybe what happens is when they 'inspect' they dont see the follow up that we have all experienced. Plus it is very easy to cover up bad practice :O as we have seen this week.
Let us all know what you think we should do - this is a campaign we could all be proud of, for the animals' sake.

deb9 · 08/07/2012 18:05

really sorry to hear about your bunnies. I would persue this with Pets at Home. They unfortunately do not have a good reputation are are not at all experienced. I would always recommend that you buy rabbits from a local rescue who will not be breeding them just to make money. They will also make sure that the rabbits are healthy when they leave.

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