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Pet Shops!

Indy

Warren Scout
:oops: Im ready to get gunned down!

I work for a pet shop (P@H rival:twisted: ) and we're supposed to be getting an animal unit in the next month. Ive seen the animals in certain pet shops... Its not always great...

But good lordy the amount of paperwork we have to fill in is amazing :shock: We do home checks on breeders and if they dont meet criteria, they arent used. They have to be vacc'd up to date, sexed, kept in certain conditions etc...

So in your opinion, do all pet shops conform to generally the same standard? I know where i work is pretty tough on nutrition and care anyway... but is this the norm? :)
 
Do you work at Pets Corner?

Personally I think all pet shops that sell animals are crazy. Its the rescue centers overflowing with animals, that gets to me:? Why sell young new animals, when there are so many without a home? So even if the standard is perfect, and from the Pets Corners I have seen they seem really strict, why sell when there is no need.

And yes you may get gunned down:lol:
 
I wont gun you down - everybody has to work somewhere right? And you don't own the petshop right??!!

Have to say though that I tend not to buy from petshops that sell live animals unless I really have to. I buy from a small local petshop who, on principle don't sell live animals. I respect that. Sorry, you being new and all that... :roll:
 
I personally don't buy from a pet shop that sells animals, but I'm blessed with living across the street from a PetValue. While I wish pet stores would stick to pet supplies and maybe rescue animals, I'm glad to hear your shop goes through the trouble of getting good pets from reputable breeders.
 
I hope people aren't rude to you because of where you work.

In an ideal world I would prefer to see pet shops from being allowed to sell animals, but in the meantime I'm sure you'll do your best for the animals in your care, and hopefully be able to educate the new owners too :)

ETA: I have 2 local pet shops - one which sells animals and is clean and the staff seem very knowledgeable, and the other which is filthy, dark, smelly and everything looks out of date......so now I mostly buy online.
 
If it makes you feel any better, I applied to work in the local P@H when it first opened. And ages ago I applied for a job at the nursery that I recently complained about to the Council! :oops::lol:

I think it's the pet shops with livestock on the whole that people on RU don't like. As Hancy said, it seems horrid that pet shops seem to sell animals like an item of grocery shopping when there are thousands of animals that are homeless out there. But that's not the pet shop employee's fault at all and I don't think anyone will think any less of you for working in one. :):wave:
 
I only buy from stores which do not sell animals. Can you not try to convince head office that stocking animals will drive many customers away?
 
:oops: Im ready to get gunned down!

I work for a pet shop (P@H rival:twisted: ) and we're supposed to be getting an animal unit in the next month. Ive seen the animals in certain pet shops... Its not always great...

But good lordy the amount of paperwork we have to fill in is amazing :shock: We do home checks on breeders and if they dont meet criteria, they arent used. They have to be vacc'd up to date, sexed, kept in certain conditions etc...

So in your opinion, do all pet shops conform to generally the same standard? I know where i work is pretty tough on nutrition and care anyway... but is this the norm? :)

I don't think that all pet shops conform generally to the same standard.

They have a legal obligation to comply with the Pet Shop Licence Conditions and most (if any at all) don't do that.

They make effusive claims about their staff training, their company procedures and the knowledge/experience of their staff. Then, in practice, customers find staff lacking even basic animal knowledge and providing customers with poor advice.

Pets are often handed out to customers with little prior thought or checking and the poor creatures rapidly end up being returned, given to rescues or just dumped.

Many pet shops appear to want live creatures just to attract customers, who then buy food and accessories.
 
I honestly think pet shops that research breeders, have good sized enclosures, give good advice and reserve the right to refuse sale are a positive thing. That's not the average pet shop.

People ARE going to go in to a pet shop and buy an animal so it's a good thing for there to be places that will make sure they think about the purchase, know how to care for the animal and buy big enough housing.

We don't live in an ideal world, or obviously you'd only get responsible breeders and there would be no need for rescues, so increasing the standard is never going to be a bad thing.
 
Interesting to see all the replies :)

All the staff at ours (including myself) are sent up on a three day animal course at head office before the animals arrive. If you dont go on the course, you're not eligable to sell or even clean out the animals.

We suggested doing a scheme with a rescue centre near us (having adoption days, etc) instead of having livestock in, but apparently its not doable :(

Originally they were going to arrive in Ferplast Cavies until the shops kicked up a stink and now they'll be having a bigger glass unit (with no bars for kiddies fingers to go through, yay!!)
 
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