Pets at Home: Your thoughts

Hi everyone,

Up to now I've been really lucky with my animals and where I've got them from:

First rabbit: friend of a friend
Guinea pigs: woman who happened to work in our pet shop
Second rabbit: petting farm where I worked
First cat: friend of a friend who took in rescues
Third rabbit: SSPCA
Cat: friend whose cat had had kittens

Now the problem is that I want two rabbits and I was hoping that the "local" SSPCA (it's only 100 miles away) would be getting a bonded pair, but they seem to be singletons. I don't have the room to bond a couple myself (very small house with free-range cat, only one hutch) so in spite of my misgivings I have started to wonder about getting two from P@H. Now this really does go against the grain, but at the same time I'm thinking that they'll be already bonded, and when I was there at Xmas their conditions didn't look too bad, and the buns looked healthy. Now my main problem is that I really don't like people "breeding" any animal to excess, and you never really know where the animals are coming from ("one of their breeders in Glasgow" was the answer I got when asked, but they weren't sure). But then again you rarely know when a rescue is coming from either.

So, any ideas? Am I being unreasonable to think of getting a pair from there? Alternatively, does anyone know of a suitable source within the Inverness / Skye / Fort William triangle? (I don't drive so I'd have to ask my housemate for a lift. He'd be willing but I can't ask him to go too far).

Thanks for reading, and for your help in advance,

M

The risk with buying from Pets At Home (excluding the potential health issues and miss sexing) is that they won't necessarily stay a pair. They will arrive as babies, but when their hormones hit them, they can very easily divorce and then not rebond back. Which would, from the sounds of it, create a problem for you.

Also, you would likely have to have them temporarily separated while you wait to get them spayed/neutered, which again presents a problem for you.

Could your SSPCA bond a pair ready for you?

I know some rescues, e.g. Honeybunnies rehome nationally and a bun run could potentially be arranged for you. Have you looked on the rabbit rehome site for other bunnies?

http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/sear...%&RabBond=%&County=Scotland&Submit=++Search++

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Sky-O said:

The risk with buying from Pets At Home (excluding the potential health issues and miss sexing) is that they won't necessarily stay a pair. They will arrive as babies, but when their hormones hit them, they can very easily divorce and then not rebond back. Which would, from the sounds of it, create a problem for you.

Also, you would likely have to have them temporarily separated while you wait to get them spayed/neutered, which again presents a problem for you.

Could your SSPCA bond a pair ready for you?

Click to expand...

That is so true i bought rocky and raisin as two girls they turned out to be two boys. Also i have had so many problems with fighting but hopefully now everything will be ok.

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Sky-O said:

The risk with buying from Pets At Home (excluding the potential health issues and miss sexing) is that they won't necessarily stay a pair. They will arrive as babies, but when their hormones hit them, they can very easily divorce and then not rebond back. Which would, from the sounds of it, create a problem for you.

Also, you would likely have to have them temporarily separated while you wait to get them spayed/neutered, which again presents a problem for you.

Could your SSPCA bond a pair ready for you?

Click to expand...

That is so true i bought rocky and raisin as two girls they turned out to be two boys. Also i have had so many problems with fighting but hopefully now everything will be ok.

Completley agrre!

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Sky-O said:

The risk with buying from Pets At Home (excluding the potential health issues and miss sexing) is that they won't necessarily stay a pair. They will arrive as babies, but when their hormones hit them, they can very easily divorce and then not rebond back. Which would, from the sounds of it, create a problem for you.

Also, you would likely have to have them temporarily separated while you wait to get them spayed/neutered, which again presents a problem for you.

Could your SSPCA bond a pair ready for you?

Click to expand...

That is so true i bought rocky and raisin as two girls they turned out to be two boys. Also i have had so many problems with fighting but hopefully now everything will be ok.

Sky-O said:

The risk with buying from Pets At Home (excluding the potential health issues and miss sexing) is that they won't necessarily stay a pair. They will arrive as babies, but when their hormones hit them, they can very easily divorce and then not rebond back. Which would, from the sounds of it, create a problem for you.

Also, you would likely have to have them temporarily separated while you wait to get them spayed/neutered, which again presents a problem for you.

Could your SSPCA bond a pair ready for you?

Click to expand...

i agree with this thats wat happened with scooter and stallion. we knew both were males but was told they would be alright to be together until 3 months old. next thing u know at 2 months old there fighting. scooter had a massive gash in his leg and stalllion had bits of hair missing and a couple of cuts but nothing serious. they were seperated and have never seen each other since. stallion is really nice and very tame and also docile. scooter can be nice but only when he deems it necessary and isnt that tame and definately not docile.

I thought Inverness had a SSPCA rehoming centre?

Fife Rabbit Rescue? www.fiferabbitrescue.co.uk

Could you not get the train to Newcastle - pawz have some bonded pairs

Animal Ark rabbit and guinea rescue in Inverness do bonded pairs, but they do require a home check, and wouldn't do one for me 110 miles north of Inverness, how far are you from them?

Animal Ark
44 Cranmore Dr
Smithton, Inverness, Inverness-Shire IV2 7FG
01463 793 521

On the other hand, while a lot don't like P@H, I have healthy animals from them, currently 2 buns, 2 guineas and 2 hamsters, although I didn't buy the rabbits directly from them, but the person I adopted them from did.

And nice to see another Scot

Sky-O said:

Also, you would likely have to have them temporarily separated while you wait to get them spayed/neutered, which again presents a problem for you.

Click to expand...

If they have ven sexed them correctly :roll:. Less of a risk if you are capable of doing this. I personally would never advocate buying from a pet shop, much better to rescue from somewhere whether it is a rescue centre, rabbit rehome or even the freeads.