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Has Your Local Pet Shop Been Stocking Up.................

The Duchess

The Duchess

Wise Old Thumper
..........with baby bunnies?

Is it just me or have you seen many more baby bunnies in than normal recently. Whilst I don't go into pet shops, there is one (which is not good at all for bunnies) that has plate glass windows and keeps the bunnies in pens, on shavings, with unlimited mixed food, near the windows normally. I walked past last week to see indoor cages on top of the pens, full of new baby bunnies. Worse than that, they were all black ones so that even if they sell initially, when they (some of them) enivitably get given up, the chances of rehoming will be much slimmer than for bunnies who are 'pretty colours'

Call me old fashioned, but do any of you think that this is a cynical attempt to capture the impulse purchase market by parents of bored school kids looking for something to do in the holidays?

Discuss....................
 
there were no animals at all in the pets at home by where ste lives. i guess they were just getting ready for some tho maybe :?
 
I try not to go into pet shops very often all my bunny stuff is bought from asda or a horse shop. I pop into my local P@H now and then and they have had two gorgeous giants in for ages - I feel like I have watched them grow up and they have wasted their babyhood in a glass tank :(
 
I don't go in them either, so I've no idea, but I suppose from a marketing point of view it's a good time of year to sell more animals :(

I also saw the new Argos catalogue, I see writing to them didn't have any effect. The smaller hutch would actually fit inside mine, and I only have a hutch, not even a shed! It's terrible.

Xxx
 
I haven't really noticed an increase tbh, but only really see the buns for sale in PaH and a local shop.

I've noticed that both places seem to be getting more 'unusual' looking buns in though - there were some Argente de Champagne bunnies for example and lots of 'pretty coloured' buns. I thought to myself at the time that at least they will be easier to rehome when the novelty wears off. :( They also had some mini rexes which was very saddening as few people will know of their special requirements to avoid sore hocks, and I wonder if it's something the pet shop are aware of or would pass on. :(
 
beckie20 said:
I don't go in them either, so I've no idea, but I suppose from a marketing point of view it's a good time of year to sell more animals :(

I also saw the new Argos catalogue, I see writing to them didn't have any effect. The smaller hutch would actually fit inside mine, and I only have a hutch, not even a shed! It's terrible.

Xxx
Click to expand...

oh I forgot all about that, i was reading the new argos book in bed the other night and couldn't believe that despite us writing in they now seem to have even smaller hutches and now indoor cages than they did before :cry::censored:


I really hope the pet shops aren't stocking up for bored summer-holiday purchases, that would be so cynical and well, just wrong
 
KarenM said:
:( They also had some mini rexes which was very saddening as few people will know of their special requirements to avoid sore hocks, and I wonder if it's something the pet shop are aware of or would pass on. :(
Click to expand...


I very much doubt it... unless that particular sales person knows about them :roll::roll:

Telling people about potential future health problems will put most people off buying and a shop has to keep to it's sales target :?
 
I tend not to set foot in P@H unless it's a life or death situation, I get most of my bunny stuff either off the web or from a local petfeeds warehouse.

However, I was int he vets today and a young couple had a baby lop in a P@H carrying box. He was very sweet :love:. I asked them if they had any other rabbits and when they said no, I said that rabbits love rabbit company and they were looking at my two. The girl said that she wondered if her rabbit would grow as big as my two and I asked her what breed their one was, she said they hadn't been told beyond it being a lop. I thought that was a bit sad really:(.
 
losing-the-plot said:
Telling people about potential future health problems will put most people off buying and a shop has to keep to it's sales target :?
Click to expand...

Well that's what I thought too - potential sore hocks aren't exactly a good selling point really. :(
 
my local pet shop is not so bad i dont think :oops:
They only get 5 litters a year of bunnies, they have a 7ft pen and get outdoor time, they also make you sign paperwork to makesure you get vaccs/neuter exetra so that yoou dont breed, also there is a rescue back up so that buns dont actually go to rescues, also they take care of any buns that have been brought from there when the owner is on holiday for neer to free :) is this good or am i just being nice ??
 
funnybunnyabc said:
my local pet shop is not so bad i dont think :oops:
They only get 5 litters a year of bunnies, they have a 7ft pen and get outdoor time, they also make you sign paperwork to makesure you get vaccs/neuter exetra so that yoou dont breed, also there is a rescue back up so that buns dont actually go to rescues, also they take care of any buns that have been brought from there when the owner is on holiday for neer to free :) is this good or am i just being nice ??
Click to expand...

That sounds pretty reasonable to me. :wave: I daren't go into pet shops apart from my very small local one that doesn't deal in the actual animals.
 
I haven't been in a pet shop for ages. Except Jollyes but the one here doesn't sell livestock.

I went into P@H a few weeks ago and they didn't have too many rabbits. Maybe five in both pens. And a giant that looked just like Thistle but with one floppy ear :love: There was nothing in the adoption centre.
 
beckie20 said:
I don't go in them either, so I've no idea, but I suppose from a marketing point of view it's a good time of year to sell more animals :(

I also saw the new Argos catalogue, I see writing to them didn't have any effect. The smaller hutch would actually fit inside mine, and I only have a hutch, not even a shed! It's terrible.

Xxx
Click to expand...

Having said that they would recommend a run to be bought with a cage/hutch they have actually included that point. Unfortunately the hutches are small and the run is a very small 4 sided metal one with no top.....time for us all to write in again, methinks.....
 
Yes whilst I was on hols the other week I went into two PAHS and a garden centre which sells rabbits and guineas. There were loads of baby rabbits together with two young giants in PAH. In the garden centre they had set up a lot of extra accommodation to house all the guineas and rabbits. There were quite a few agoutis and REWS.
 
I can't bear to go into the one near where I work to find out, I'd probably end up getting myself arrested.

They have a sign outside which reads "we buy kittens". Says it all, really...
 
Santa said:
I can't bear to go into the one near where I work to find out, I'd probably end up getting myself arrested.

They have a sign outside which reads "we buy kittens". Says it all, really...
Click to expand...

Is that the one up Moulsham Steet? That one is awful, the smell is terrible :evil:
 
I wonder if any of these pet shops will be left with stock though this year as maybe fewer people will buy? Or, as it looks bleak for holiday makers trying to get away by air, more people will stay at home and buy the kids 'things' instead. Maybe more buns will be bought.

It certainly seems that as more rabbit stories hit the papers and TV, it brings them to the forefront in people's minds; and maybe they are becoming a bit of a fashion item, much like handbag dogs.

I just keep hearing the same thing, "we thought we'd get the kids a rabbit", and maybe this is nothing new, and maybe it's because I have more to do with rabbits these days, but I just get the impression that they are becoming a victim of the 'I want, I want and I want it now' culture in the UK. If it's not the latest mobile phone, or the latest flat screen telly then it's the latest pet. And I do think that kids can be more indulged these days than at any time in my lifetime, getting what they want just to keep the peace.

Am I wrong? Is it just my imagination?
 
louise and Gus said:
Is that the one up Moulsham Steet? That one is awful, the smell is terrible :evil:
Click to expand...

No that's the one that used to be called Wet and Furry. It was opposite a sex shop whose name I forget. We always used to joke that they could quite legitimately have swapped names :lol::oops:
 
The Duchess said:
I wonder if any of these pet shops will be left with stock though this year as maybe fewer people will buy? Or, as it looks bleak for holiday makers trying to get away by air, more people will stay at home and buy the kids 'things' instead. Maybe more buns will be bought.

It certainly seems that as more rabbit stories hit the papers and TV, it brings them to the forefront in people's minds; and maybe they are becoming a bit of a fashion item, much like handbag dogs.

I just keep hearing the same thing, "we thought we'd get the kids a rabbit", and maybe this is nothing new, and maybe it's because I have more to do with rabbits these days, but I just get the impression that they are becoming a victim of the 'I want, I want and I want it now' culture in the UK. If it's not the latest mobile phone, or the latest flat screen telly then it's the latest pet. And I do think that kids can be more indulged these days than at any time in my lifetime, getting what they want just to keep the peace.

Am I wrong? Is it just my imagination?
Click to expand...

You are not wrong. When in P@H during rabbit awareness week, Paul I witnessed no less than 10 children nagging their parents for a rabbit or guinea pig. Countless times I have seen or heard parents giving in as a way of 'shutting them up'!

It took me 3 years to persuade my mum to allow me to have 2 rabbits! It seems that the easier option for kids these days who are bored or who are constantly nagging, is for parents to give in (quieter life I guess!)

Each and every time, it is the poor rabbit who ends up suffering. I feel it is the responsibility of the parents and the pet shop/rescue/breeder to be sure that the rabbits will be going to the right home for the rest of their lives.
 
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