luvabun said:
Re buying a wider variety of stuff from P@H, I think bunns needs are very simple. Top quality hay and straw (which is better and cheaper from the farm); veggies - again good quality from the farmers market or supermarkets; wood shavings (if you use it) from a garden centre with a pet section and likewise with the pellets. I really can't think of anything that you need to go to P@H for. Toys? Maybe a one off purchase and easy on the internet. So, what do P@H provide that cannot be easily sourced from elsewhere?
At the time of having my bun Jill, no where around here sold Burgess for dwarf rabbits which he loved, even a mineral stick was hard to get. Even now, the closest garden centre to me have not long been selling burgess and ss, meaedow hay and timmy hay. Unfortunately, it is the same garden centre who I had a row with regarding selling bunnies. They did'nt look pleased when I walked in to get hay for Pams 2 boys.
I go to p@h for cat food and dog biscuits + food for my mom. She has a yorkie and has special diet to avoid sticky bottom problems that can occur with this type of dog. Also, late last year when my cat was diagnosed with renal failure, the vets renal foods where very limiting and I did research on what ingredients he could and could not have. p@h are the only ones with a large variety of suitable foods. I now buy certain foods for my remaining cat as he has only a few teeth left and am trying to avoid whiskers because of the high sugar content to try and avoid any renal problems occuring. Also, my local asda, tesco's etc all seem to be changing to chunky foods which my cat struggles with and I am finding it increasingly hard to find supermeat cat food.
Also, the big chain stores and local petshops only sell the nasty bunny brunch, I dont know any local small petshops that sell burgess or any decent rabbit pellets, where I live.
P@H is a good 20/25 min drive for me and even the garden centre is 15 mins away from me so I dont go lightly as I do find it distressing to see the animals.
So as much as I agree with not giving them the trade, until local smaller petshops start stocking good quality stuff, I have to put a pets health first.
P@H would still make a good profit on products alone without selling any kind of animal, and this is what I think they need educating in.
Internet is a good source as you say, but to some, postage can be heafty at times, especially if bulk buying or have more than 1 pet.
I was in Lichfield last week and popped into the petshop that I reported to the RSPCA. The gpigs are now seperate from the bunnies but it was still heart wrenching to see these baby bunnies in what I would class as a hamster cage, so the RSPCA have obviously educated them in not keeping buns with gpigs, but there is no law on what size cages rabbits etc should be in, except for birds that is (thats what the rspca told me)
I missed out me smilies, cant be bothered to go through this essay :lol: so I'll put them all here
:roll:
:shock: :shock: :? :?
:roll: