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Pets@home turned good..ish?

Nemily

Warren Scout
Popped into P@H today as daughters wanted to spend their money on the buns :)

In the adoption centre at the back of the store was a black giant lop in a small space I reckon was about 3x3 ft. She was all alone and I felt totally gutted to see her there. I kept going back to look at her and felt so sorry that she was in this tiny little space.

Anyway, totally unlike me but encouraged by some of the comments on here in similar situations, I asked a member of staff why she was kept in that tiny space when there was two other enclosures much bigger, I stressed that she needed space.

The assistant told me that they couldnt put the giant in with the tiny buns in the larger space as there may be some aggression as the giant was older and bigger. She said that they never have buns this big in the store and that they had two given to them as unwanted rabbits. They were both in a separate small pen next to each other and at 6 am every day they were both allowed out for a romp around the store! One has now been rehomed and the other has now been reserved for adoption. They said that they realised the space was too small but that they do get her out into more space when the store is closed and have tried to give the best under the circumstances.

A bad situation turned good I hope, I am glad I asked because I know this would have played on my mind, poor bun.

Meanwhile, I heard a mum say to her kids, ''right then do you want a fish or a rabbit'' :censored::censored::censored::censored: then saw them buying guinea pigs :cry:
 
Must admit I think there is a huge variation from store to store. I've had problems with one of our local stores and called the RSPCA to them and reported them to the council as well. I've also been firmly told that I can't introduce rats and degu to other rats and degu if they are not from the same litter and been told to keep them solo instead. The other one however is a lot more with it and the staff seem to care.

I actually used to work for a P@H in Durham when I was a student (let's skim over the fact that this was about thirteen years ago:oops:) as a Saturday girl, and I must say that store made efforts with their staff. They left out books and welfare updates during lunch that were required reading and some of the animals used to get runs - the chinchillas and large birds specifically.

Also, when there was an epidemic of a rather nasty rabbit bug, (green jelly like poo and rapid death) they actually took the trouble to medicate the rabbits and care for the sick ones (one of my first experiences of getting Recovery food into rabbits). The manager's pet rat used to come to work with her during the week, riding on her shoulder for the day.

I think it does massively depend on the individual manager.

I totally despair of that awful parent though!
 
I have to say our local p@h are great:D They do their best to educate their customers and the cages are always clean and as big as possible. They look after their animals much better than what a lot of our local small pet shops do and (have had a look in most of them recently while trying to find things for Poppys and was disgusted/disappointed by most).
 
I do think it depends who you speak to as well. I asked about an adoption rabbit in one of our local P@H and the girl I spoke to really seemed to know her stuff.
 
Some stores (or staff) are definately better than others!

I've heard the rabbits are allowed time outside to roam the store too (the giant ones anyway, I can't imagine them letting a load of babies loose)
 
P@H stores vary. I think my local P@H store is very good. The animals are well looked after in good sized pens. The rabbits always have hay available and clean water. They also don't give them pellets all day long either like some pet shops would, and they don't feed mixes. The giant rabbit's enclosure is huge and they have tons of useful information about caring for rabbits, like they should be neutered and vaccinated and they should be in pairs.

The only bit I don't like is the adoption centre as its quite small and the info about the rabbits is usually "this is here because it fought so it needs to be kept alone". Maybe they have neutered the rabbit and tried bonding it to others, but I doubt it. :(
 
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