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Permanent resident at PAH Continental Giant in unsuitable housing

dextertherat

Young Bun
I visited my local Pets at Home (Skippers Lane, Middlesbrough) at the weekend and was quite shocked to see this. Am I over-reacting or is this not a suitable life for this poor bunny? The space is probably about 5x4ft and the door is open to the thin corridor between the other enclosures, maybe giving him another 1x3ft space. He's on his own, he cant see any other bunnies, and as you can see from the photos he has nothing to do, no toys, digging box or anything. He had a small amount of hay and a HUGE bowl of pellets.

I might be wrong but my main issue isn't really the space he has (although not ideal) it's his lack of interaction with either another bunny or humans, after all, its a shop, so its only open a maximum of 11 hours a day but he can't be getting much interaction during this time either, as the staff will be busy serving etc. Not only is it his lack of interaction, but also the lack of anything for him to do. Its like a solitary confinement prison for him. I obviously have a lot of other issues with his housing, but they are probably more minor things.

My question is, Is this wrong? Is there anything that can be done and where would I/we start? I dont feel I know enough about welfare to challenge them.

Surely this shows customers that this is a suitable permanent home/situation for a Giant rabbit as he is now a 'resident' and therefore most people would assume its fine for their pet rabbits (and most likely on a much smaller scale for an average size bunny).

 
Hi Dextertherat,
That's my local PAH too and I've seen poor Titch. I asked a member of staff if he ever gets to go outside, and I was told he has the run of the shop for a couple of hours on a morning before they open. Not ideal but if what I was told is true at least he does get some free range time.
But I agree with you, he has no toys and appears to have very little interaction except from customers peering in at him. And he does always seem to have a large bowl of pellets so he probably doesn't eat much hay so he must be so bored.
You've prompted me to write them a letter, I'm going to suggest he needs at least some toys and somewhere to hide away if he feels the need, and I'll ask them how much free range time he gets.
If you do the same, maybe we can get them to improve his environment even just a little.:thumb:
 
Hi Dextertherat,
That's my local PAH too and I've seen poor Titch. I asked a member of staff if he ever gets to go outside, and I was told he has the run of the shop for a couple of hours on a morning before they open. Not ideal but if what I was told is true at least he does get some free range time.
But I agree with you, he has no toys and appears to have very little interaction except from customers peering in at him. And he does always seem to have a large bowl of pellets so he probably doesn't eat much hay so he must be so bored.
You've prompted me to write them a letter, I'm going to suggest he needs at least some toys and somewhere to hide away if he feels the need, and I'll ask them how much free range time he gets.
If you do the same, maybe we can get them to improve his environment even just a little.:thumb:

Thank you. I didnt get chance to ask any members of staff as it was so busy in there, it was complete madness! Also I wanted to get reassurance that I wasnt over reacting!

It seems highly unlikely (but not impossible) that he gets a couple of hours to run around the shop (I know staff get there before it opens but 2 hours before? hmmmmm!) :roll:

I'm not exactly sure where to start with a letter......my mouth usually moves quicker than my brain!! :shock:
 
Why is he a full time resident there? Does he have health issues or something that they thought he was unsuitable to sell or is it a silly reason i.e the staff just took a fancy to him. What a shame he has to spend his entire life living alone in a small space in a shop with no real home. And you're right about the staff who won't have any time for him (not their fault), I used to work in a PAH store many moons ago and didn't spend much time with the animals. I can believe that he could get time free range, I used to start at 7.30am for a 9am start so if he was let out as soon as the staff got in and put away before the shop closed he would get 1.5 hrs exercise a day. Not good enough though.

Ridiculous. Obviously the space isn't great anyway but it wouldn't be so bad if it was only temporary. :(

I would complain, I actually emailed them over the weekend with a complaint about their :censored: rabbit and hamster accommodation, just like I'm sure a lot of people have so I'm sure it won't get anywhere but it made me feel better. :lol:
 
:cry:

What a poor example. They need tons of interaction and exercise.

I can't even imagine locking Hector up in a room that size on his own.
 
Thanks everyone.

It didnt give a reason for why he has become a permanent resident, thats one of the questions I will be asking. But if its for health reasons that seems a little silly as he'll be left for long periods of time with nobody checking on him (ie when the shop is closed)

I dont see any reason for a pet shop to have a resident (unless its a family run shop that bring their dog to work etc)

I was already in a bad mood that day and then when I saw poor Titch, the steam started coming out of my ears....... my husband made me leave and forced me to go home! :censored:
 
Ok, I'll write a letter (I'm better if I have a chance to think about what I want to say), and you could have a chat with someone next time your there.
I don't know much about giant breeds, can they live with a smaller bun? As that enclosure doesn't seem big enough for one Giant, let alone another bun, big or small.
Just noticed in your pic he does have some toys, so I'll maybe just focus on company, free range time and somewhere to hide in.
 
Ok, I'll write a letter (I'm better if I have a chance to think about what I want to say), and you could have a chat with someone next time your there.
I don't know much about giant breeds, can they live with a smaller bun? As that enclosure doesn't seem big enough for one Giant, let alone another bun, big or small.
Just noticed in your pic he does have some toys, so I'll maybe just focus on company, free range time and somewhere to hide in.

I'm terrible at composing letters, it took me long enough to post this thread!

I dont know a great deal either, I've seen pics of Giants happily living with small buns, so I guess its ok, but then I cant imagine they've neutered Titch?!?

yeah they were his two and only toys (not the most exciting) he has nowhere to dig or hide, just a thin layer of sawdust and the tiniest amount of hay, he didnt have a litter tray either (which surely would be useful and more pleasant for him if he's a permanent resident) even a cardboard box would have been something! The hamsters/gerbils in the tanks next to him have more stimulation and some of those have a friend with them to. No offence to hamsters and gerbils but I'd have thought a rabbit would require a little more stimulation than them
 
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Ok, I'll write a letter (I'm better if I have a chance to think about what I want to say), and you could have a chat with someone next time your there.
I don't know much about giant breeds, can they live with a smaller bun? As that enclosure doesn't seem big enough for one Giant, let alone another bun, big or small.
Just noticed in your pic he does have some toys, so I'll maybe just focus on company, free range time and somewhere to hide in.

They can live with smaller buns.

Essentially, they are no different except EVERYTHING is bigger - more room; more height; more climbing; more food; more hay; more mischief.....:lol:
 
They can live with smaller buns.

Essentially, they are no different except EVERYTHING is bigger - more room; more height; more climbing; more food; more hay; more mischief.....:lol:

.......unless they live at PAH, then they have less of everything! :?
 
Definitely write a letter.
Or email someone at head office (there should be an email on their website)

I once spent about 6 weeks complaining about a local pets corner (just as rubbish as p@h!) because they had 2 giant rabbits stuffed in a glass tank, they couldn't even lay and stretch their legs out :( No hay, no toys, nothing.

So I started off with an email including pictures of the bunnies crammed into the tank. It got ignored.
Sent another email a week later. It got ignored.
I then started sending an email pretty much every day. I would send links to the RWAF/A hutch is not enough. I'd send them literature about how important hay is, how important space is, how bad sawdust is.
I just kept complaining.

Finally.......I got an email back.
They said they were changing their rabbit enclosures.

I went back to the store about 2 weeks later and the enclosures were much bigger (not ideal but better than they were) they had hay and a load of toys.

So definitely complain. And please please keep complaining until something has changed.
That bunny looks so sad :( He needs a friend and some toys and MUCH more space.
Animals don't have voices......we do, and we have to be heard for them.
 
Could be health issues as they are prone to suffer. That said, if he has a heart condition, being cooped up with no exercise is hardly going to help him. P@H used to sell a lot of giants. Thankfully, I think they have stopped. People really need to know they are taking on what is effectively a small dog or a cat.

I hope your letters help. :cry:
 
Well done for complaining on Titch's behalf. Hopefully they will make some changes for him for the better!

It is pretty daft that a shop that sells hay fails to give their resident bunny an adequate amount to eat. It isn't as if it is in short supply in there!! That company really isn't my favourite at all (it has been on my boycott list since the VIP bunnies debacle) and when I tweeted Watchdog thanking them for doing a piece on them, I had a load of random people who had searched "Pets at home" start tweeting me abuse :lol:
 
I agree it isn't suitable, and I'd definitely write a letter to them.

Why don't you say something like:

Dear Pets At Home

On (date, i.e. 5th October 2013) I went into your (location) store to browse the Small Animals section. Upon entering, one of the first things I saw was your resident Continental Giant rabbit, Titch. As I am sure you know, because you are often advocating this, rabbits need a lot of space and a partner in order for them to be happy and content. Sadly, I could see Titch had neither. This greatly disappointed me, as I am an experienced rabbit owner myself and have seen first hand just how happy rabbits are when they have lots of space to run around and binky.

The more I looked at Titch, the more unsuitable his enclosure became. I realised that he was actually being kept in a very small enclosure, even though he is such a big rabbit. In tests carried out by the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund, they have concluded that an average sized rabbit covers 6-7 feet in just three hops. Titch is obviously not an average sized rabbit, so he is bound to cover even more space in 3 hops. The enclosure he was in, in my opinion, only enabled him to do two hops in both width and length (this may be wrong, I'm going on the pictures but you would be able to see for yourself!). I find this very disappointing indeed, as I know you have been recently improving your rabbit housing and trying to encourage people to buy bigger, more suitable enclosures.

Another friend of mine, who also comes into the (location) store, has asked a member of staff about Titch before and has been told he gets let out every morning from when staff arrive, until the store opens to the public. If this is true then that is good, but I still can't help but feel that it is unsuitable even with his free-ranging time in the morning. He also did not have any toys in - something which disappointed me again because your younger rabbits seem to have quite a few toys in their enclosure (my local store does anyway).

May I ask why Titch is a permanent resident in the first place? Does he suffer from health problems?

Look forward to hearing from you soon,
(Name)


That's the rough sort of letter I'd write, anyway. You could then add on the bit about him not having much stimulation and hay etc! Sorry it's a bit long winded, i can get carried away! You don't have to use it by any means, I just thought I'd suggest a rough template :)
 
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