pets at home scandle

[taylor v 109]

I have today been to pets at home at my local branch at charlton se london and was shocked at whot i saw. 2 babyy rabbits up for sale that were ill and when i checked them they had ME [ mucroid enterrites] 2 rabbits so bloated that they were grinding their teeth and 2 that had no flesh on there backs and you could count the bones of their spines.well needless to say i raised hell and made them remove the bunnies concerend, their was no manager at the time so ill be back on monday to find out whot has happened. Youve never seen a shop clear so fast. by the time i came out i was in tears this is not the first time ive been in there and found ill rabbits and will again be contacting the head office about it. I wouldnt mind but they have an in store vet and i told them they should have the rabbits checked out at weekly intervals if there is noone that knows whot to look for. I have not been so cross for a very long time. They are going to here more about this. val

[bunnymad]

You go girl :!: :!:

I hate it when you have to educate petshop workers :!:

Surely they should have a love for ALL animals.

But what really gets me is how they couldn`t tell they were sick :!: :!:

Keep us informed.

I`m angry with you too :)

bronie

[luvabun]

Just looked up ME as I had no idea what you were talking about. Apparently it can be triggered by stress e.g. taking an unweaned baby bun too early from its Mum or putting a babe in a pet shop with different food. From this I would imagine it is quite common and good on you for recognizing this in these buns. But, for us that are concerned but not so clued up, what are the symptoms of ME? I'm beginning to understand why so many buns end up in rescues if they already have not too obvious problems to the regular Joe before they leave the pet shop.

[Rexy bexy]

u go girl lol
and pet shop by me called dolittles had a pooly nethie in there so i told them staight and the women said quite nastly oh its fine, thats the 3rd person thats said something but ill go have a look anyway
but my first rabbits were from there and had nothing but trouble with them, the one died at 2 the other is still with us, the one reason we had troble with our bun was cause they gave us wrong information and went to the vets to get the right info
becky

[Denny]

It is just heartbreaking to hear stories like this one, and there are so many disturbing stories with regard to pet shops.

I was in my nearest P@H a couple of weeks ago, i could of literally walked off with the whole shop, there was one assistant on the till, and one other somewhere in the shop :(

Please let us know what response you get Val.

[haffyj]

Well done!!

I think its disgusting how pet shops treat animals!! :twisted: :evil: I personally dont think petshops should sell most animals most of them have no idea when it comes to looking after animals!! i hope you get a good response from the the head office please let us know

[taylor v 109]

Been back to the shop the rabbits are not there have not had a reply yet from pets at home head office. The staff diddnt rearly want to talk to me, hopefully the babys are in the care of the vet at the shop. Whot i carnt understand is why when having an on site vet they carnt get them to check on stock every couple of days. ME: mucroid enterrites, this is a common problem in baby rabbits, it is usually brought on by stress witch can be brought on by the slightest thing. The symptoms are the bunnie will sit hunched up looking sorry for itself it will stop eating and drinking. Its droppings will be covered im mucus as time goes on it will be loose with whot looks like jelly being pased by then there is usualy a distinctive smell to them, once you know the smell you will no it without looking. This is caused by the lining of the stomach coming away. This leads to dehydrating on a big scale. Left untreated or left to long results in death. It can be hard to bring them round again and takes intensive nursing. This can be achived at home though providing you can get things from the vet like prapulcid, recovery powders, avipro. Weaning is the main time they will get it but you can expect it at the time they leave their home for werever. Many breeders are very familier with it, it can be a problem, some litters just seem prone to it for some reason and you carnt always pin down the cause. val

[luvabun]

thanks Val - what a horrible, horrible disease.

[scotratrescue]

Hi there,

i personally know of petshops that keep their animals looking awful, they apparently sell more as people feel sorry for them, awful but true.

petshops are in for the profit, nothing else, far better from a rescue where the animal has been assessed, vaccinated and neutered. not always with a history, but most rescues wont rehome an unsuitable bun.

Unless the law changes to stop the sell of livestock, this practice will keep going on and on.

[Clare Green]

Has anyone tried reporting these stores to the RSPCA? I have heard lots of people say about things they have seen at Pets @ Home, just wondered if the RSPCA get involved?

Luv Clare x

http://richard.cam-web.co.uk

[taylor v 109]

I will try but to be honest ive very little faith in the rspca, plus they would have to be there at the right time to find a sick rabbit. When you go in there you will note that it all looks very nice and clean, food and water always there so they dont stand much of a chance of picking a day to visit when there is a sick rabbit. Plus they have on site vets witch looks good and we know but the rspca carnt prove that some do not get the treatment they need. its not that easy. val

[rabshan]

I wonder if it would be possible to get pictures of these sick babies, perhaps next time you go in you could take a camera with you & get some evidence surely that would count for some thing. I know the RSPCA are useless iv,e been trying to get them to come out to the sick foxes in my garden but they don,t want to know.

[Clare Green]

I've never had any experience with the RSPCA, it seems very sad that they are so willing to help out with these things as surely that is their main purpose! Then again I bet they are over stretched and under funded like most things!

[rabshan]

HI...well in my area they are known for their disreguard for animals, I once did some cat rescue for them, I was told that as soon as the "rescued" cats were taken to the kennels they would be PTS, people give them their pets thinking that they will be re-homed but more often than not they will be killed, a friend of mine does dog rescue & she "rescues" them from their kennels (hillside, waltham abbey) as they are kept in cold , unheated concrete "cells".I have been trying to get them to help the foxes in my garden, they are bald & sick (one has already died in next doors) but I have been told that they have no policy on foxes. I pointed out that they were sick, hungry & in pain but it fell on deaf ears & they claim to CARE what rot!!! UUURRRRGGGGHHHH I hate them...right RANT over for now.

[taylor v 109]

The problem there is that no one rearly has the money to keep all the animals that come in for rehoming, and they have to look at an animal as to whether it CAN be rehomed. We all love animals but we couldent keep them all noone could so the ones that are not going to be able to be rehomed for whotever reason would have to be pts. noone likes it but thats life, you cannot save them all. val :( :(

[haffyj]

HI...well in my area they are known for their disreguard for animals, I once did some cat rescue for them, I was told that as soon as the "rescued" cats were taken to the kennels they would be PTS, people give them their pets thinking that they will be re-homed but more often than not they will be killed, a friend of mine does dog rescue & she "rescues" them from their kennels (hillside, waltham abbey) as they are kept in cold , unheated concrete "cells".I have been trying to get them to help the foxes in my garden, they are bald & sick (one has already died in next doors) but I have been told that they have no policy on foxes. I pointed out that they were sick, hungry & in pain but it fell on deaf ears & they claim to CARE what rot!!! UUURRRRGGGGHHHH I hate them...right RANT over for now.

They are not far from me i remember me and my other half went up there to have a look for a dog and they were closed it doesnt look very homey

[hutchley_eats_hamsters]

If your looking for an example of disgraceful treatment of animals, just visit the stoke on trent branch.

I popped in today as I'd ran out of guineapig food.
(last resort)

To my horror a guinea pig caged with a rabbit was slowly picking his face bald. The rabbit was caged with 3-4 other guinea pigs.

I'd never, ever buy an animal from there or recommend them.
Needless to say I travelled across town to get the pig food.

They should be banned from selling animals.

[bunnyhuggger]

I hope you complained to the manager Sarah, people should always bring things like this to their attention. The more people who do something about it, the more chance there is of something being done about it. Be a voice for the animals, they can't talk for themselves :wink: :D

[hutchley_eats_hamsters]

I was fronted with,
"oh, the manager is unavailable at present"

To be honest I didn't feel I could threaten them with much.
I suppose, "oh, well I'll never shop here again" bothers them much.

Does anyone have any advice on what to say, and the substance to back it up with?

[kelly]

too get annoyed with P@H!

I have heard so many stories from local ppl whom have purchased either a bunny or hamster from there and after a few weeks they have always passed away.

I popped into my local P@H to get some doggie treats and saw some beautiful bunnies. When I asked the assistant a little information about them, he couldnt even tell me which sex they were. I also asked him whether they were from a local breeder ( i knew they wouldnt be) he actually admitted they were from a rabbit farm. Just think of the conditions that these bunnies probably came from to be stuck in a pet super store for screaming children to prod and poke at them. No wonder they don't look happy bunnies!!!!

It also makes you wonder just how many of these rabbits and other pets get "taken out the back". I think we all know that the sick animals are more than likely to be "knocked on the head" rather the expense of treatment.

As for the RSPCA I have mixed veiws with them. They are very good in cases of prosecuting ppl that have neglected animals but as far as the rehoming etc, well...... when I was a veterinary nurse a few years back, we actually took in the stray cats for the RSPCA. the cats would stay with us for a week and then on the 7th day the RSPCA inspector would walk around and point out which ones would be PTS as they had not been claimed.
So as far as I am concerned all of this "we never put a healthy animal to sleep" is utter b*******! :x
This was so heartbreaking for me and so therefore my mother ended up with 6 beautiful cats. :)

[kelly]

Sarah,

I always Demand to speak to a manager! if they give you the lie that s/he is not present then dont believe them. they will not let a shop run itself, there will always be someone in charge e.g supervisor etc.

Put your foot down!

If it is a bad incedent then you can tell them that you will be taking the matter further..... head office etc.

You can also tell them you will be informing RSPCA or even the local newspaper (they will do anything not to get bad press)

Hope this is of some help..... you just have to be strong girl! :D

Kelly xxx

[Nix]

:? I wish I was closer to Stoke so I could go and have words with P@H and get that poor bunny out of there.

I hadn't seen this rabbits-in-seperate-cages thing until I popped into the one in Canley, Coventry yesterday. They had a fabulous looking rabbit in a cage on his own (with a guinea pig :evil: ; the piggie had somewhere to hide but he didn't, he just had people all around him all day the poor thing). I asked why he was on his own and they said because they were having some new buns in and because he was older he'd "bully" them :!: .

Having seen photos of the Guardian Angels buns, I think he was a castor rex!!! I was so tempted to buy him, but I'd only have been encouraging them to "stock" more. :(

[aliceechamberlain]

Hi, one of the questions we ask people when they give their bunnies up for adoption is 'where did you get it from?' If it was from our local P@H we expect dental problems at least.

One of my friends bought 10 bunnies from another local pet shop the weekend before Christmas. 4 of the babies went straight to the vet as they were dehydrated, lacking vitamin A and extremely sick, one died that day another a few days later. Of the remaining 6, 3 were netherlands needing nursing, one of these has died, and the older 3 came to me. 2 were at least 4 months old, males together - fighting of course. Luckily I was able to get them neutered very quickly so they are now the best of friends, however due to bad breeding the one does not have any tear ducts and will therefore need daily attention for the rest of his life having his eyes bathed and eye drops administered, not easy to find the right home for. Anyway they are called Cuthbert and Dibble.

The 10th bunny (Egg Nog) at least is alright. He bonded extremely quickly with a very distressed, aggressive neutered chocolate brown rex doe and I think she is more content with life!

My friend went back to the pet shop to read the riot act but they were most disinterested. They feebly agreed they may list previous owners of rabbits they sell, and they may feed them with hay, but this makes the pens look untidy. Also, as I told her would be the case, they were already fully stocked again with more bunnies. She insists she will keep visiting the shop to check the situation but I have had to ask her not to buy any more as (a)small rescues such as ours cannot cope with the vet bills, and (b) we then have no room for abandoned/unwanted pets. The RSPCA have made a few visits to this pet shop but it appears to no avail. All we can do is keep chipping away at the terrible situations and know every little life saved is special and worth the effort. Alice

[luvabun]

Hi, one of the questions we ask people when they give their bunnies up for adoption is 'where did you get it from?' If it was from our local P@H we expect dental problems at least.

One of my friends bought 10 bunnies from another local pet shop the weekend before Christmas Alice

This throws up "chicken and the egg" conundrum. i.e. if she didn't buy the buns, what would happen to them and by buying them, she has shown that there is a demand. Its very difficult to know what to do for the best.

[Bertie]

Can't you force the shop to pay the vet bills? Sorry to sound mercenary, but there's a law in this country that goods have to be suitable for the purpose for which they're sold. In this case the goods were clearly faulty, i.e. the bunnies all needed to go to the vets and were not suitable to be sold as pets. Therefore the pet shop are in breach of their contract. Maybe the RSPCA isn't the way to go with this. Has anyone ever reported the situation to Trading Standards? They're pretty good at cracking down on shoddy business practices. The pet shop is essentially selling damaged goods and then refusing liability. That's illegal. If Trading Standards say that the bunnies count as livestock then Andi reckons DEFRA instead. Seriously, the pet shops are treating them as product not animals, so play them at their own game. When I buy a toaster, I don't expect to have to take it off to be fixed before I can make toast with it. When I buy a brand new rabbit I shouldn't have to take it to the vets before I can take it home and play with it.


Trading Standards have a lot more time and money than the RSPCA. If they haven't been approached before then how about a letter campaign to bring it to their attention?

[aliceechamberlain]

Hi, Yes thanks luvabun and Bertie for your inputs. Personally I do not buy pets from Pet Shops 'cos as you say the old chicken and egg scenario, however this particular friend would make herself ill thinking about those animals she saw if she didn't do anything about it. I have to admit twice I have bought long haired guinea pigs from shows to prevent someone else I know buying them so to an extent I can understand how she feels. It is a very diifficult situation.
Good point about the Trading Standards. I know my friend was writing to the local Council to go down this route, I shall give her a nudge to remind her. I know the RSPCA investigation cannot do anything, the rabbits have been 'saved' in one way or another, the only thing I can hope is that this will put the Pet Shop on its toes abit!

[taylor v 109]

I agree that trading standards may be worth contacting , also perhaps the local council that must supply a licence for them to sell livestock, check out the guarenty that comes with the animal i think it is very sort say 24 hrs in some small pet shops.The only way to rearly hurt these people is by not going there. Perhaps one of you on here would like to start a protest about them. say a petition or something along those lines ? val :evil: :evil:

[Bramblespack]

As for the RSPCA I have mixed veiws with them. They are very good in cases of prosecuting ppl that have neglected animals but as far as the rehoming etc, well...... when I was a veterinary nurse a few years back, we actually took in the stray cats for the RSPCA. the cats would stay with us for a week and then on the 7th day the RSPCA inspector would walk around and point out which ones would be PTS as they had not been claimed.
So as far as I am concerned all of this "we never put a healthy animal to sleep" is utter b*******! :x
This was so heartbreaking for me and so therefore my mother ended up with 6 beautiful cats. :)

I would like to say that it actually depends on the centres nearby. All the actual centres for rehoming anaimals are individually run (not by the RSPCA itself) therefore some are better than others.
York for example has yet to put a rabbit to sleep who has had any chance of rehoming (this does include ill bunnies) (THe last one pts was by the vets without permission) and the one before was flopsey who had been at the centre for over a year and had major teeth issues that got really bad.
THe same applies for cats and dogs who have heated kennels and lareg runs

Other centres do not follow the same policy

Ant

[mad about bunnys]

hi i work at the pets at home in Blackpool and we do look after the rabbits propperly as if any do get ill we always take them to the vets no matter how much it is going to cost. The staff there are very caring and know a lot about rabbits and give out propper advice. We always advise people to buy the biggest hutch possible and give them advise on how to properly care for them. I am sorry that you have had a bad experience at the london store but not all pet shops are not as bad as the one you mentioned there are a lot of good ones out there its just the few bad ones which give pet shops a bad name. :D

[mad about bunnys]

hi i work at the pets at home in Blackpool and we do look after the rabbits propperly as if any do get ill we always take them to the vets no matter how much it is going to cost. The staff there are very caring and know a lot about rabbits and give out propper advice. We always advise people to buy the biggest hutch possible and give them advise on how to properly care for them. I am sorry that you have had a bad experience at the london store but not all pet shops are not as bad as the one you mentioned there are a lot of good ones out there its just the few bad ones which give pet shops a bad name. :D

[FunnyBunnyRunny]

After I left P@H (then Pet City) in '96 I heard from my brother who still then worked for the company that some former work mates had been caught throwing baby hamsters and mice at the floor to kill them as they were unwanted and were to be used for snake food and also of a member of staff who dropped a Syrian hamster on the floor from waist height while showing it to some prospective purchasers, the hamster was clearly badly injured but the salesperson just put it back in the tank and said the buyers should choose another.
I was shocked as one of the members of staff involved I had considered a close friend.
I reported the incidents to my local RSPCA and also the BBC Watchdog program, the staff members involved were dismissed.

[FlipFlop]

This is really horrible and shocking :( I have to say though my local p@h is good, the staff are friendly and give advice, and I regularly go to check on the animals and other than sme being the only ones there (generally black bunnies :cry: ) I find them good. If a little expensive :lol: :lol:

It's so shocking what goes on in these places though :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Phill]

Our local pets@home have never been to bad the only really poorly bun i ever found was a little grey lop (about 6mnth) he had small bruises and lumps all over his back i told a member of staff that i knew and she said they would take him to the vet, i asked her to ring me and let me know how the bun was but she never did. I later found out that the manager wouldn't let her phone me and i never saw the bun or the girl again!!!!

[Mikeymoo]

I went in to my local pet shop at the weekend (not P@H) and they had a little long haired bunny ( oh so cute) :evil:
Instead of having shavings, which is bad, they had tissue paper. I thought this was progress. Saying that they really shouldnt sell long haired bunnies to begin with

[kelly-louise]

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
it make's me so sad :( to hear about this i wish i could do something for all the bunnys that are like this

kelly-louise