I am not going to look at preloved / gumtree again

For whatever reason I keep searching rabbits on these sites and I find myself getting rather cross at people who are selling a rabbit / s and its/ they are like less then 15 weeks old! how long have they had it??? not long at all!! grrrrrrrr

'bought for my child' but she has got bored of it!!

'dont have time to care for it'

'free to a good home, only had for 2 weeks'......

and on it goes!!

You cant blame the pet shops for peoples 'I want now' - if they stopped stocking rabbits, people would go to rescues - and the poor buns would be back there in weeks.

There are always free animals on our local Gumtree. Dogs, cats rabbits. Makes me so mad :evil:

cyprusrabbit said:

For whatever reason I keep searching rabbits on these sites and I find myself getting rather cross at people who are selling a rabbit / s and its/ they are like less then 15 weeks old! how long have they had it??? not long at all!! grrrrrrrr

'bought for my child' but she has got bored of it!!

'dont have time to care for it'

'free to a good home, only had for 2 weeks'......

and on it goes!!

You cant blame the pet shops for peoples 'I want now' - if they stopped stocking rabbits, people would go to rescues - and the poor buns would be back there in weeks.

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Such owners had obviously not separated the leap between "want it now" and "but think about it first".:roll:

A child's whining "pester power" is not sufficient reason to condemn a bun to a life of misery when said "pestering brat" loses interest.:evil:

Rabbits are a living creature, not a tin of beans.


In respect of pet shops, the P@H Head of Pets (HoP) (Maeve Moorcroft MVB MRCVS) made some comments about P@H's policies/procedures/training during the extensive correspondence with P@H that ensued regarding their "Easter Bunny Offer". (This is shown in an earlier RU thread).

Of these, perhaps the following are the most relevant to this thread:

• P@H staff are are empowered to refuse a sale if they are not happy about anything when they go through the questions they have been trained to ask with the prospective pet buyer. These include finding out if it is the right type of pet for the owner’s situation, housing, feeding, time and money commitment, etc.
• P@H staff can refuse a sale if they unhappy about any aspect of the pet's future environment or care or have any doubts as to the customers commitment or ability to care for the pet.
• The HoP noted that some of the most vociferous complaints to P@H's customer services are when a member of P@H's staff refuses to sell a pet to someone, and the HoP is always pleased to hear about it.
• P@H has a commitment to take back any pet it has sold no matter how long after it has been sold if it does not work out, and try to find it a good home through our Support Adoption centres in store.
• P@H will take in any small pet (of species P@H sells) into its "Support Adoption" units in store, subject to there being space. The store pays for their keep and any treatment needed, but the donation that is made when someone adopts them is given to animal charities and rescues around the UK.
• The HoP was "amazed" by the training given to staff, from basic through to external courses. There are several steps in the training, each book being hundreds of pages long.
• P@H Staff are not allowed to sell pets until they have completed a certain level of training.
• Most P@H training is done in-house and completed during their shift in store and with the help of the manager and/or experienced colleague; this is so that they can put into practise the skills they learn with supervision before they are signed off. This training covers all areas of pet care/animal husbandry including feeding, sexing, health checks, enrichment, environment required etc.Then staff can do more advanced training, such as OATA courses, which involve distance learning, or reptile courses at Reaseheath College.
• In respect of how the care of the pets in store is assured, members of the HoP's pet team perform an audit on a regular basis and any issues are addressed. Stores are also visited by the EHO every year to obtain their Pet licence and P@H has an independent vet visit every year. P@H recently trialled the new PCT standards in their East region, which involved an independent audit by SAI Global and P@H are looking to extend that across the country, leading the way on pet retail standards

.

If done as indicated, this might serve to cut down "impulse purchases" by "uninformed customers".

Other pet shops usually claim to be "responsible retailers" - whatever that means.

You see I do think P@H have that right with their fish :shock:

You cant purchase a gold fish and set up at the same time. Maybe if you could purchase rabbit and set up / hamster and set up and so on there would be less impluse buys...........

cyprusrabbit said:

You see I do think P@H have that right with their fish :shock:

You cant purchase a gold fish and set up at the same time. Maybe if you could purchase rabbit and set up / hamster and set up and so on there would be less impluse buys...........

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Sadly the reason behind that is you need to filtrate the tank for over a week or it will harm/kill the fish x

PixieRabbit said:

Sadly the reason behind that is you need to filtrate the tank for over a week or it will harm/kill the fish x

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Yes I know the reason behind it.... But if you had to have the home before the pet........ would people bother - iykwim

cyprusrabbit said:

You see I do think P@H have that right with their fish :shock:

You cant purchase a gold fish and set up at the same time. Maybe if you could purchase rabbit and set up / hamster and set up and so on there would be less impluse buys...........

Click to expand...

Does anyone know whether P@H are doing each and every thing claimed by the P@H Head of Pets in the bullet points in Post #3 in each and every P@H store on every single day of every trading week? :?