P @ H, ABerdeen

Went 2 a Pets @ Home 2day for 1st time, the 1 in Aberdeen, & must say I was pleasantly surpried, althought there were still some things which I was concerned about, dont knw if its jst me looking for things 2 b wrong tho...........

(There is a shortage of decent pet shops here, and I can't get willow sticks/balls anywhere, thought Id try P & H but have a good inspection when there.)

There were 2 enclosures, each of which had Id say it was a 5 ft hutch in. The enclosures themsleves that the hutches were in were huge, easily as big as the run I have (4ft x 4ft) . There were no overhead lights, and highfence type walls so kids couldnt bang or scare rabbits (unless parents lifted them of course.....). , they had loads of wood shavings which was nice and clean, big tubes and wooden tunnels, chew toys, hay in racks & big bowls of food.

The only things which concerned me were - 1? the water in their bottles looked tinged green (although Ive seen bottles with algae before, and it wasnt like that, not lumps floating or scum on top or on sides of bottle, could it b sumthin added 2 the water? vitamin drops or sumthin?) and - 2) there were guinea pigs & rabbits in 2gether (in 1 enclosure were 3 buns & 2 guineas, in the other was 1 gorgeous little lionhead, who my friends affectionatly nicknamed Gandalf :lol: , & 4 guineas. Maybe this is still not enough space 4 the amount in their? I dont know. ALso, in 1 enclosure (the 1 with Gandalf) another rabbit was in the enclosure, but shut in an large indoor cage inside.

Think I'll just pop back next week and see if he's still in there....maybe he's a little ill but not ill enough 2 isolate?

Had a look at everything else, dont know much bout birds so couldnt say if they were crammed or not, but the hamsters and rats were the same, seemed 2 have plenty space, clean bedding, food & a couple of toys each

The bunny might have been in the indoor cage because it was a bit older, and wasn't getting on with the 'new' rabbit? I've heard of some pet shops doing this, so they don't end up with one poor rabbit sitting 'out back', just because they can't mix the 2 in the main run. It makes sense, better for it to get sold than stay in one of those indoor cages for even longer!

It sounds very much like my branch but they don't mix rabbits and piggies together - they all have seperate pens and they are big. What lets my store down isn't so much how the animals are kept, it is more that some of the staff have absolutley no idea what they are talking about.

In my local branch they do put some stuff in the water (can't remember what it is called but they had a sign about it). It is supposed to help with stress and you can get some to take home with you when you buy a rabbit as well. If I go in again anytime soon, I'll have a proper look.