• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Surely this is wrong Pets@home?

Sarah1991

Sarah1991

Warren Veteran
I know a lot of people feel that nothing good ever gets said about pets at home, but I've just seen something that made me a bit livid, I only went in to pick up some food for our conure..

They have their larger hutches with the "three hop" display which I always see....



They even had quite large hutches and runs advertised around which whilst don't meet the RWAF standards were much better than some hutches!

But displayed around where the rabbits were being sold were these cages that are barely just over two foot advertised as being suitable for one rabbit!



Surely this is wrong? Shouldn't this not be allowed? :cry:
 
Sarah1991 said:
I know a lot of people feel that nothing good ever gets said about pets at home, but I've just seen something that made me a bit livid, I only went in to pick up some food for our conure..

They have their larger hutches with the "three hop" display which I always see....



They even had quite large hutches and runs advertised around which whilst don't meet the RWAF standards were much better than some hutches!

But displayed around where the rabbits were being sold were these cages that are barely just over two foot advertised as being suitable for one rabbit!



Surely this is wrong? Shouldn't this not be allowed? :cry:
Click to expand...


It's certainly not best practice. It's advertised as for one young rabbit as far as I can see. Silly to encourage people to get something that their rabbit will have grown out of in a few months, even though it was never right for them in the first place!
 
MightyMax said:
It's certainly not best practice. It's advertised as for one young rabbit as far as I can see. Silly to encourage people to get something that their rabbit will have grown out of in a few months, even though it was never right for them in the first place!
Click to expand...

Yes, I mean I understand it says it's for a "young rabbit" but obviously people are going to keep their rabbits in these....I think it's really bad practice...
 
MightyMax said:
Do you feel a petition coming on ........? :)
Click to expand...

I don't know, I have complained on their facebook page but I really think this needs to be changed.

Imagine all of the rabbits that will be bought this weekend and probably forced to live their entire lives in one of these atrocities! :cry:
 
I think the disparity between hutch and cage size is normally justified (wrongly, in my view) that an indoor rabbit gets a lot more time out of the cage and therefore you can get away with a much smaller cage.
 
Sarah1991 said:
I don't know, I have complained on their facebook page but I really think this needs to be changed.

Imagine all of the rabbits that will be bought this weekend and probably forced to live their entire lives in one of these atrocities! :cry:
Click to expand...

Actually that's rather a good peg to hang a letter on, if all of us wrote to Pets at Home one way or another .. (Well all who wanted to :lol: ).
It being Easter, people are going to make impulse buys, and parents looking at a 'bargain' set up won't consider how very tiny that cage is.
 
SarahP said:
I think the disparity between hutch and cage size is normally justified (wrongly, in my view) that an indoor rabbit gets a lot more time out of the cage and therefore you can get away with a much smaller cage.
Click to expand...

But surely Pets at Home aren't that dim? They know rabbits will be left in these most of the day every day...it's just very sad isn't it? :cry:
 
MightyMax said:
Actually that's rather a good peg to hang a letter on, if all of us wrote to Pets at Home one way or another .. (Well all who wanted to :lol: ).
It being Easter, people are going to make impulse buys, and parents looking at a 'bargain' set up won't consider how very tiny that cage is.
Click to expand...

Exactly :(
 
I've got two friends who work for P@H, I'm hoping that the information I can get from them will be good for writing a news clip or similar to bring them into bad light with the press.

Does anyone else want to help draft something? We can approach local newspapers etc.
 
To add, the breeders my local P@H have been using have been investigated once already. They are undergoing another one.

Yesterday I got them to remove a rabbit with leaky eyes and another with one sore red eye from the pen. Another, balded guinea pig was removed room suspected ringworm.

The assistant manager said he's happy if I want to come in and point out sick rabbits(!)

I desperately want them to take out the sawdust, I think I'll approach their new manager and offer my help. At the end of the day, each store can ve changed by the manager to a point so I'm going to arrange a discussion time when I can speak with him. Armed with a RWAF leaflet.

Also, he pointed out that they work very closely with the RSPCA. I then pointed out that they are only there to say what is legal. What is legal is the bare minimum, what is RWAF guidlined is best practice.

Instead of moaning about P@H I'm going to try and change at least my local branch!!!
 
Freakinfreak said:
To add, the breeders my local P@H have been using have been investigated once already. They are undergoing another one.

Yesterday I got them to remove a rabbit with leaky eyes and another with one sore red eye from the pen. Another, balded guinea pig was removed room suspected ringworm.

The assistant manager said he's happy if I want to come in and point out sick rabbits(!)

I desperately want them to take out the sawdust, I think I'll approach their new manager and offer my help. At the end of the day, each store can ve changed by the manager to a point so I'm going to arrange a discussion time when I can speak with him. Armed with a RWAF leaflet.

Also, he pointed out that they work very closely with the RSPCA. I then pointed out that they are only there to say what is legal. What is legal is the bare minimum, what is RWAF guidlined is best practice.

Instead of moaning about P@H I'm going to try and change at least my local branch!!!
Click to expand...


Yes, the P@H near me works with the R.S.P.C.A. I did think of alerting them to put out some message to P@H about these minuscule cages, but I doubt they would respond fast enough for Easter. (I have R.S.P.C.A. connections, but even so ...)
 
Sarah1991 said:
I don't know, I have complained on their facebook page but I really think this needs to be changed.

Imagine all of the rabbits that will be bought this weekend and probably forced to live their entire lives in one of these atrocities! :cry:
Click to expand...

Apparently P@H won't sell rabbits over the Easter weekend, I think someone posted that on your facebook post….not sure how trustworthy the source is but I guess it's a step forward if it's true! Apparently people will get a voucher if they want to buy a rabbit, so maybe it will help prevent the impulse buys to an extent? I don't think these cages should be the only apparatus sold with a rabbit though, they should have to buy some sort of attachable run/puppy pen panels or something. When I got my rabbit he came in this cage and now I just use the base for his litter tray, hay and food bowl, so it is quite useful to have.
 
Sarah1991 said:
Click to expand...

I can't believe it's acceptable to advertise rabbits as an Easter deal :shock: That's like advertising puppies as a perfect Christmas present!

In my local p@h they usually advertise 'vouchers' for a pet around Easter and Christmas, and then if you want to buy an animal as a present you can come and collect them after the holidays when things have quietened down, so the animal is less stressed and there's less chance of impulse buys. I really don't understand how this can be standard practice in one store and not another!
 
ImoT said:
Apparently P@H won't sell rabbits over the Easter weekend, I think someone posted that on your facebook post….not sure how trustworthy the source is but I guess it's a step forward if it's true! Apparently people will get a voucher if they want to buy a rabbit, so maybe it will help prevent the impulse buys to an extent? I don't think these cages should be the only apparatus sold with a rabbit though, they should have to buy some sort of attachable run/puppy pen panels or something. When I got my rabbit he came in this cage and now I just use the base for his litter tray, hay and food bowl, so it is quite useful to have.
Click to expand...

Even if this is true I don't see how it will change that much in the end? Parents will simply put this voucher in a card or whatever and the kids will go and pick their rabbit after the Easter weekend...I know it might stop some being sold but I'll bet it hardly makes a difference
 
Sarah1991 said:
Even if this is true I don't see how it will change that much in the end? Parents will simply put this voucher in a card or whatever and the kids will go and pick their rabbit after the Easter weekend...I know it might stop some being sold but I'll bet it hardly makes a difference
Click to expand...

I definitely don't think it's ideal, but at least it helps stop animals being seen as an impulse buy, in that people can't just walk in and take one home and they have to do some amount of planning.

Ideally I'd love pet shops not to sell any live animals, but p@h is a hell of a lot better than most local pet shops near me that sell animals in awful tiny cages :( It's disappointing to see them promoting 'Easter deals' for rabbits :(
 
Lucy-Lou said:
I can't believe it's acceptable to advertise rabbits as an Easter deal :shock: That's like advertising puppies as a perfect Christmas present!

In my local p@h they usually advertise 'vouchers' for a pet around Easter and Christmas, and then if you want to buy an animal as a present you can come and collect them after the holidays when things have quietened down, so the animal is less stressed and there's less chance of impulse buys. I really don't understand how this can be standard practice in one store and not another!
Click to expand...
That's what got me, the fact that it has cracking easter deal, suggesting get a bun for easter & stick it in this tiny prison :cry: the view by many is "if it's not suitable for rabbits, why would they sell it" I've heard this said many times. And welfare charities can do all they can, the fact is its only responsible owners who will read up on care & they're not the problem owners! Big companies need to take welfare more seriously & stop selling these litter trays as homes.

I do know my local pah doesn't sell rabbits over easter but you can reserve them & pick them up after which is basically the same thing?!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

O
Hind leg weakness
Replies
2
Views
242
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
B
Mouth Ulcers and Pus
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
M
Is this enough space for my bunny?
Replies
4
Views
2K
Zoobec
Zoobec
Back
Top