The 5 freedoms

[George&dillon]

At my PAH they don't have cages they have big massive hexagon runs for them in the middle of the shop with all sorts in them including little houses where they can go, definately get in touch i'm sure they'll help out

 

[taylor v 109]

Thank you all for the links. I was asked in to the Pets At Home store in Blackheath and had very good disscusions with the manger there. He has taken it upon himself to make a lot of changes there and sometimes even refuses to sell to a few undisirables .The staff are now being trained as best they can and do not go on to selling animals until they have had training. A good step in the right direction. Ive been asked to come to one of their staff monthly meetings to give advise on rabbits. While i still will not team up with them until the breeders they buy from are regulated and checked up on, this manager is putting a lot of work into making things better.Blackheath has said as well they do not want to sell any giant breeds.Whether the head office are going to go along with this i do not know. Cages are being changed and hopefully with the new information about sizing the messages will get across. There is still a long way to go but at least one branch wants to make changes and work along side a rescue properly.What a difference one person can make its a shame that head office does not take more advise from their better managers. Im going to be pushing hard for more checks to be made for the people who are breeding the rabbits that are produced for the company as i maintain its one of the roots of their problems. The amount of rabbits that come to me with bad teeth and heath is staggering.Plus the fact that they are not handled when babys before they reach the shop. One of the breeders that sell to Pets At Home i have visited and was saddened by the conditions. There was hardly any bedding no hay, powdered food and when the ventilation was turned of a horrible smell of urine in the shed. The water was automatic and only very brief visits made to the animals. None were handled till the day they were transported to the shops. I saw does with teeth coming out of her mouth and they had a litters. The person who ran it didnt know anything about rabbits and hadent had any experience in rabbits till he started breeding about a year ago. This all makes for unfit unfriendly rabbits being sold to custermers who will be scared to death of their pet or face huge vet bills as a result of their choice of shop.No proper checks are made on these breeders and the RSPCA had no knowledge of them this has got to change. val

 

[Ted an Petal]

You seemed to be doing a great job. The p@H in belfast is nice but i wouldn't buy the rabbits from them. i bought mine from a local breeder, whos rabbits are health, i went out and visit her as she's a friend of my nans. that is a disgrace about that other breeder you visited, it's not hard to keep them clean and in good health and everyone should know that you shouldn't breed from animals with bad health probs specially ones that can be passed. so good to hear that their trying to make changes, because they are a good store beside their animals. they have such a wide range of stock. One thing i was annoyed about was that they transported the animals from england over to here and i would be interested as to what conditions they were transport over with. couldn't understand why the wouldn't use a local breeder.