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P@H?????

I<3Rabbits

Mama Doe
What does everyone have against P@H:? I have never got a animal from P@H of bought any food for my rabbits. I can only ever remember going in their once, can't remember why now:roll: but I have read loads of threads when people have mentioned about P@H, how they were so disappointed that they had to in there, and are trying to get the rabbits of their food ect. How come everybody hates it so much???
 
Some people just do not like to support any pet shop that sells live animals. But some stores give incorrect advice, or don't seem to look after the rabbits properly, i.e. not seperating the sexes properly. Also there are some questions about where they source their small animals from.

However some stores are good and work eith local rescues and have very knowledgeable staff. I guess it just depends on the individual persons experiences.
 
Firstly it's because most people on this forum are pro-rescue and disagree with pet shops selling animals as it perpetuates the breeding of animals for sale in pet shops and their subsequent abandonment into rescues.
They have also been known to give out bad advice (in my experience this varies from branch to branch) and sell hutches and cages that are too small and don't meet the usual minimum requirements (they do sell 6 foot hutches now at least). They were importing very young rabbits from Spain earlier in the year that were already neutered which was very controversial. They also focus their marketing in my opinion, towards the purchase of animals for children which I don't agree with.
In terms of hutches, I personally think The Range is worse, their hutches are rediculously small and I have seen worse animal welfare in independant pet shops than in Pets at Home.
We buy wood shavings and bedding hay there but our buns are rescues. Our rats were from P@H. Many people on here boycott the shop completely.
 
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Some people dont agree with the ethics of the shop, and prefer to not enable them by giving P@H their money. Some people also find the sight of the animals/their enclosures/the way they are sold/the advice given out, upsetting, so they don't want to put themselves in that situation.

Personally, I shop there sometimes as I prefer to see some items in the flesh before I buy them, and the only other pet shop accessible to me is limited in range and more expensive. I prefer to buy online where I can though, particularly as many of P@H's products for small animals aren't very good quality, e.g. their hays. I personally feel that their ethics are slightly better than most pet shops, so don't feel guilty for shopping with them, but I can see why people boycott the company, and do get irritated by their putting ex-stock that got too old into the 'adoption' section, their often poor advice and their inadequate housing.
 
They say the most important thing is the welfare of the animals. Pfft. Our p@h is disgusting, the enclosures smell and the animals are in tiny areas. I have heard them myself give out the worst advice and even though I have anxiety when talking to new people I told them exactly what they needed to know and they were thankful.

I hate it in ours. It's all profit in there, they couldn't give 2 :censored: about the animals because yeah they may have a good life, but they may have a rubbish life or end up in a rescue or passed from person to person anyway. The rwaf I think made a thread the other day saying 67,000 rabbits per year were handed into rescues. If p@h stopped selling animals perhaps more could be rehomed. And I would be more than happy to shop there.

I found a hare in there yesterday after being desperate for dwarf hamster food.. Unfortunately they're the only place that sell it .. A hare. Someone will think its a rabbit no doubt, the people who work at ours are thick as anything, buy it and it will be in a tiny hutch. Like any of the rabbits there but a hare.. Why would they think that's a good idea..
Like I have said, our p@h. The one in the next town is better, the hamsters have wheels and the animals, although they are on woodshavings, they are genuinely looked after and the staff are knowledgable. The people that go in aren't but ..I don't mind going in that one. Our closest one is vile though :evil:

It depends on the store like DeeLove said, ours is frustrating.. The other one is fine and they actually care. People are always checking on them etc.

I agree with redfraggle on The Range selling ridiculous hutches.. Our p@h got rid of the new big hutches and now sell the 5ft one as the biggest.. But The Range has a 3ft one and double 3ft one atm.. They have also for some reason stopped selling hay and only sell straw and sawdust now. Neither of which I use.. :roll:
 
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Look up the VIP bunnies debacle :evil::roll:


I do think that p@h is moving in the right direction, but very slowly. When I was a kid our local p@h had hundreds of birds in teeny tiny hutches, and guinea pigs and rabbits all mixed in together. Now the birdies are gone, the rabbits have much more space, are kept seperate from guinea pigs and they do advocate keeping abbots together, buying bigger hutches, the importance of hay and they recommend pellet food over muesli.

On the other hand it took me less than twenty minutes and £30 to walk out of one with 3 hamsters the other week. They were in the adoption centre and all crammed into one tiny hutch with nothing but water, food and a too small house :( they were £4.25 each :shock::shock::shock:

Some p@h are truly dire from what I have heard, aside from not really agreeing with the sale of bunnies a lot of the time the staff are not very well trained and have not got a clue about the animals they stock.

However I prefer p@h to pampurred pets as my local one is currently advertising with a sign on the door for effectively byb :evil: they also keep animals in truly tiny cages and their rabbits always look too small :( I now refuse to buy anything from there!
 
Pets at Home are one of the biggest single reasons why rabbits end up in rescue in my opinion. Too easy to buy a rabbit from their hundreds of stores, with incorrect advice, incorrect sexing, incorrect housing............and guess what, a few months down the line the owners (not all obviously, but a lot) realise the error of their ways and want to give the rabbits up, and in the main want to do it immediately.

I hate them with a passion and I'm blessed with having four dreadful branches within about 20 minutes from me. The sooner they stop selling or what's laughingly called rehoming them, the better in my opinion.
 
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Pets at Home are one of the biggest single reasons why rabbits end up in rescue in my opinion. Too easy to buy a rabbit from their hundreds of stores, with incorrect advice, incorrect sexing, incorrect housing............and guess what, a few months down the line the owners realise the error of their ways and want to give the rabbits up, and in the main want to do it immediately.

I hate them with a passion and I'm blessed with having four dreadful branches within about 20 minutes from me. The sooner they stop selling or what's laughingly called rehoming them, the better in my opinion.

:thumb:
 
I cant fault my local P@H for the care of their animals...all the animals are healthy looking and have plenty of fresh water, pellets and fresh hay (always a mountian of fresh hay in the middle of the pen) and the staff all love them...I often go in and see staff in there just sitting with them and fussing them :)

I dont think they should sell live pets but they arnt terrible by any means...I shop in there alot of the time as i have lots of animals and dont always want to pay delivery from the internet and its our only local pet shop :) There are signs up in there about buying/keeping rabbits in pairs, neutering, worming, promoting hay hay hay over pellets etc etc etc...
 
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