Or they could go to responsible breeders or rescues

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Hi all,

I must say i hadn't realised how disliked the pet trade is!

We are very careful here not to over breed anything, for example our Lop rabbits, we have 2 does, and they will each have a litter (yes one litter each) this year, and these babies will be to people on our waiting list that didn't get one last year, or those that go on the list between now and April, when the first litter will be ready. The second doe will have her litter to be ready june / july, and they will go to people who missed the first litter.

All of our animals leave here only when we are satisfied the new owners fully understand what the animals requirements are and are equipped to meet them, they are also subject to a signed agreement that should anything go wrong i.e family break up, up keep becomes to expensive etc they can come back to us and will return to our home until such time as a suitable home can be found.

Yes pet shops need to make money, but make no mistake, we would never ever sacrifice our livestock for the sake of profit.

I hope that you all will understand that not all pet shops can be tarred with the same brush.

G

Do you home check?

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are all your rabbits vaccinated? do you know their FULL genetic history going back atleast 4 generations? what breed are they? just "lop eared" is not a breed, what are the goals behind each breeding (ie to better the breed) and how do you aim to achive these?

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My rabbits are all vaccinated against mixi, and all have had preventative treatement agianst E.cuniculi. They are Dwarf Lop, one doe is a harlequin, and a little big at just over 2.4kg, and the other is broken butterfly colour at 2.2kg, i must admit that i only know their breeding in so much as their parents. They are not BRC rung / registered, but i believe them to be typey, and last years young all got to just over 2kg ( I kept one back to be able to vouch for their type, and to allow those people on the waiting list the oppertunity to see roughly what to expect). As for bettering the line i have a very handsome light harlequin buck, which weighs 2.2kg and is very typey, my thinking when i used him last year was that i could perhaps breed the big doe down a little, to keep the babies a more acceptable size.

As for the previous post regarding home checks, i have done these for people who are inexperienced as i think they gain confidence from this, and other than that i tend to suggest that i deliver the babies, then i can have a look as well as getting the babies there early in the day so they have plenty of daylight hours to explore their new home.

I know that this seems to be a bone of contention, and i am sorry to stir a hornets nest. When we first took over the shop we were inundated with requests for pets, and we took the decision to take them on, but keep prices high and never allow people to buy on a whim. Nothing ever goes out on a customers first visit - we always suggest that they come again to see the animal a second time before deciding. I agree that reputable breeders is always the best way, but lacking those we do the best we can.

G

I wonder if you could sort something out with a rescue whereby you could foster the animals - they live in your shop, you'd look after them and people could see them and handle them, but they would have to pass a home check with the rescue and make their donation with them before taking them home?
An alternative might be to take on animals from free ads?

I know you wouldn't make any money but you can still sell the accessories for the animals - cages, food, bedding, etc.

You'd need to be very careful how you explained it to a rescue though and it would only work if you were really doing it for the good of the animals, rather than to make money.

You could try fostering dogs and taking them to work with you too. I'm sure regular customers would love meeting the dogs, and it might improve the dogs chances of finding a home. I know the rescue I foster for love people who take the fosters to work because it really gets the word out about them.

I think what was probably meant is bettering the line in a health respect rather than just getting then to look like the right "type".

Hi Gareth,

To be fair you do sound like you're thinking about the welfare of the animal more than profit unlike many other pet shops so in that respect it's a shame that you've been 'jumped on' for breeding for shop stock. And yes, breeding and pet shops does seem to hit a nerve quite a lot down here in the small animal forum.

Personally I'm pro rescue so wouldn't consider buying pets from a pet shop but that's just my opinion and I try not to judge others on their decisions whether it be breeding/pet shops/fostering/etc. Have you considered space requirements/quarantine periods/dietary choices/care for the animals when the shop is closed/etc. I won't ask about home checks and veterinary treatments as others have already done that. There are a lot of pros and cons to starting anything live animal related and not everybody is going to agree.

Have you considered forming a partnership with a local rescue, so you put posters up of their animals, they direct adopters to you for stock type thing. Would you consider going along the 'adoption centre' route rather than breeding.

In my humble opinion staying as a supplies store, and forming a rescue link would be the way to go. That way you could hold rescue fundraisers in your store so that way you've got people coming into see the local rescue animals and 'conviently' having a nose around at boosting your sales. Just a suggestion.

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Adopted by:

Ginge - Abby guinea piggy
Bubbles - English crested piggy
Mackenzie - English crested piggy
Skit - Standard (but cute) piggy
Max - Ragdoll x cat
The Rainbow Fish
Rest in peace my lovely furfamily that are no longer with us.

I do agree with most of the points made, but yes you do sound better than most pet shops at least. You say you can only get Hamsters and Gerbils from commercial breeders - why just not sell them then? I run a Gerbil rescue and see the result first hand from poorly bred petshop gerbils. As long as people keep buying from commercial breeders they are going to keep breeding and breeding. Often it's for "pretty colours" rather than health or temperament. The Gerbil gene pool has practically been destroyed due to this sort of thing.

I know you probably take very good care of the Rabbits you have also but when there are thousands of rabbits in rescues looking for homes - how can they compete with the cute fluffy little babies? (who will end up no doubt as a statistic in a rescue when they too are all grown up) I'm not trying to have a go I'm just saying as much as you may care for your Rabbits etc you have to look at the bigger picture and think of all the ones struggling for homes.

In all honesty I think the way these animals will be sold is probably pretty great compared to your regular pet store. After all, if you can remember the faces of the people who buy animals, you can ask for updates whenever they want to buy food/toys/etc.

The concern for me is that while the way they're being adopted out sounds fine, the fact that the lineage isn't well known isn't that great. Colour and looks appear to be a priority over long term health and temprement. (short term seems different, but vaccines aren't as good as making sure the rabbit has a healthy family. There aren't vaccines against arthritis, cancer, etc... if you can keep genetically healthy animals which get vaccinated, I think it's ideal)