But you still buy pet shop hamsters so therefore you are still supporting the mills
You're first hamster may have been sweet but that doesn't negate the conditions her mum and many of her family members are kept in, which is the point I'm trying to get at, just because a few people haven't had problems with petshop animals or the animals are kept in sparkly clean enclosures on the shop floor it doesn't take away the fact that petshops are responsible for a huge amount of animal cruelty because people are willing to brush off the bad because "I've never had a problem"

It really does seem to be "Out of sight, out of mind" when it comes to peoples 'wants'

actually my local shop do not get their pets from mills, they get their pets from a proper breeder, hence when they dont have a constant supply of them unlike pets at home

you have no idea why i got into keeping hamsters, i wont get into it with you but lets just say my pets have saved my life

 

actually my local shop do not get their pets from mills, they get their pets from a proper breeder, hence when they dont have a constant supply of them unlike pets at home

you have no idea why i got into keeping hamsters, i wont get into it with you but lets just say my pets have saved my life

No proper breeder will sell to pet shops, and any breeders that do are almost as bad as the mills themselves. And just because the pet shop says they don't buy from mills doesn't make it so, P@H also state they are supplied by good breeders

The bit I bolded is irrelevant to the debate, it doesn't matter why you got into keeping hamsters, however it does matter if they are ethically bred.

Pet shops keep us rescuers in business and personally that is something I would love to stop. If I could no longer fill my house with unwanted/sick pet shop animals I would be a very happy bunny.

 

I dont buy frozen rats and mice because of the way they are bred, why would anyone want a pet that had been bred that way

 

No proper breeder will sell to pet shops, and any breeders that do are almost as bad as the mills themselves. And just because the pet shop says they don't buy from mills doesn't make it so, P@H also state they are supplied by good breeders

The bit I bolded is irrelevant to the debate, it doesn't matter why you got into keeping hamsters, however it does matter if they are ethically bred.

Pet shops keep us rescuers in business and personally that is something I would love to stop. If I could no longer fill my house with unwanted/sick pet shop animals I would be a very happy bunny.

i would love to rescue small animals but i am not good enough for rescue places to consider me so i will continue to get my pets the way i do

aside from breeding them myself i have no other way of having animals

oh and by the by i KNOW that the pet shop does not get them from mills

 

i would love to rescue small animals but i am not good enough for rescue places to consider me so i will continue to get my pets the way i do

aside from breeding them myself i have no other way of having animals

oh and by the by i KNOW that the pet shop does not get them from mills

You have the potential to be good enough for rescues, you are the only one stopping that

 

You have the potential to be good enough for rescues, you are the only one stopping that

no, i did everything the rescues suggested and i still wasnt good enough

plus there are no rescues in my area, the one i was talking to is quite a way away so i have a feeling that might have put her off as shes let the ham i wanted go to someone whos going to pick her up, i offered to pay her travel

 

no, i did everything the rescues suggested and i still wasnt good enough

plus there are no rescues in my area, the one i was talking to is quite a way away so i have a feeling that might have put her off as shes let the ham i wanted go to someone whos going to pick her up, i offered to pay her travel

There are lots of rescues up your way, and there are lots of rescues that rehome nationally.

1 of my hamsters is travelling over 130 miles to a good home, it is possible if you're willing to work with rescues

But this is sidetracking the thread so I will say no more :aureola:

 

There are lots of rescues up your way, and there are lots of rescues that rehome nationally.

1 of my hamsters is travelling over 130 miles to a good home, it is possible if you're willing to work with rescues

But this is sidetracking the thread so I will say no more :aureola:

actually there arent lots up my area, the one we got slingshot from has shut down! the one i was on to about rescuing a ham was in teeside and while thats not far away its far enough away since i cant travel!

 

actually there arent lots up my area, the one we got slingshot from has shut down! the one i was on to about rescuing a ham was in teeside and while thats not far away its far enough away since i cant travel!

Being that I am in the rescue community I know for a fact there are a few up your way, I can't travel yet I still rescue

 

Being that I am in the rescue community I know for a fact there are a few up your way, I can't travel yet I still rescue

oh right well if there are a few up my way how come when i started a topic on rescue places in my area you didnt reply listing them

how about listing them now (if you wouldnt mind please) for future reference

 

oh right well if there are a few up my way how come when i started a topic on rescue places in my area you didnt reply listing them

how about listing them now (if you wouldnt mind please) for future reference

I missed that thread, but google is a great tool
I will pm you rather than take this thread off on a tangent

 

I missed that thread, but google is a great tool
I will pm you rather than take this thread off on a tangent

well i did google and i even looked at the adoption section on here

thanks

 

I've only ever bought the odd few fish from Pets @ Home in the past, have one shubunkin (originally from a P@H store) who's got real big and fat since he jumped from a small tank into a big deep pond.

Hated the over-crammed conditions of the birds and rodents tho.They stopped selling birds in a couple of stores here but now they sell reptiles!

 

Why is the food and accessories not suitable???

Aside from all the issues already discussed, I strongly object to any store selling animals without selling the appropriate, necessary equipment etc to go with them.

For example, they do not sell a single "hamster cage" that is suitable for hamsters, and the same is true for mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, etc. They are way too small, some with other problems too (eg wire floors). You have to go up a species to get a decent cage (eg buy a rat cage for a syrian) but these are very limited.

IIRC they sell only one rabbit hutch that meets the recommended minimum size of 6x2x2. The other hutches and all the indoor cages are all way too small. They don't sell a single cage / hutch suitable for the giant bunnies they now also sell.

They sell various types of goldfish, yet I've not seen a single store selling tanks large enough for these large, dirty fish to be housed properly (ie approx 100litres per fish).

They don't sell any running wheels suitably sized for a syrian hamster, and their range of toys and enrichment for small animals is pretty poor in most of the stores I've visited.

They have a fantastic wide range of really crap food for most species (albeit with a few decent exceptions) Dog and cat food made up primarily of cereals, etc. Vit C drops for guinea pigs water (despite these generally being pretty useless and potentially harmful) They also continue to sell and use themselves sawdust / wood shavings for hamsters, gerbils etc despite all the evidence that the phenols in these cause both respiratory and liver disease.

Their collection of books and care guides is frankly pitiful - the range is tiny and all "same old same old". Most contain very outdated and/ or inaccurate info, and their entire dog section seems to be dedicated to the abusive and ridiculous antics of the dog-wrestler.

Don't get me wrong - these faults are true for almost all pet shops, both actual shops and online, but it all adds to my reasons for not being their biggest fan.

 

Two of my rats were from pets at home both brothers one died only at 13 months old he suffered a pituitary tumour!! And now his brother who is still alive at 18 months is showing signs of thinning fur he is thin in body mass he suffers with respiratory infections that won't seem to clear up with antibiotics and he's always snuffly with red poryhrin around his eyes. He is very unsteady on his legs he struggles to hold his food sometimes.
So you think this is ok from a pet shop rats????
Never ever again am I going in pets at home or any other pet shops that sell animals. I buy most of my pet products online.

I have another rat who is 16 months old and he's from a good breeder and you can certainly tell the difference in size and health between him and the pets at home rat!

 

I've been to the one at Aberdeen beach. Got two guinea piggs. Both had insects despite the supposed 4 day period when they watch them to see if they are ill. Plus, I think mine had a disease which developed into an inner ear infection from that place, as he always sneezed from the very beggining. Something that turned out to be the ear infection. I almost lost him. They look like they care, but I learnt my lesson - do not trust Pets at Home

 

I just want to say I really hope you are all vegan.
I am not trolling but having read all the posts I feel like I am on a peta. Blog. If you are not vegan then all of you are disgusting hypocrites, on every level. Sorryv but that is very true

 

I visited a Pets at Home in London last September and liked it. I found what I needed, nothing more, nothing less.

 

I just want to say I really hope you are all vegan.
I am not trolling but having read all the posts I feel like I am on a peta. Blog. If you are not vegan then all of you are disgusting hypocrites, on every level. Sorryv but that is very true

this thread is over a year old,and with a post like that, as your first and only post. im pretty sure i can say with great certainty

you do not have to be vegan to care about animal welfare

 

I'm glad in a way that our troll friend resurrected this thread otherwise I wouldn't have seen it.

It's probably very naive of me but I didn't realise that p@h were so bad. In fairness to the local Worthing store, the girl I spoke to about gerbils was very knowledgeable and everything she told me has been correct. She also clearly had huge love for rodents.

That being said, if the underlying morals of the company are that bad, I won't shop there again.

I got my girls there, and so far so good! Hopefully they'll have happy gerbil lives and be here as long as possible

 

The fact they sell live animals. You just know the person in the queue holding the cage that's too small getting the pet for the children is a worry.

I'm not saying all the people who buy pets from there will not look after them properly but it is so easy to buy these living creatures and so easy to neglect them

 

I worked for pets at home and walked out due to bullying. I love animals and studied them before working there. We have to pass 2 work books before selling animals and to be honest school kids could pass as the answers are in the book. I still have these books ( which the company wont like me having as they like to hold them in the shop ). The so called manager never liked us cleaning the animals out properly in the mornings telling us just to water and feed them as she wanted to save time. This killed me and was threatened to be sacked because i DID fully clean them ignoring what she wanted.
Every week an order is put in for animals and they are stored in the back room. They will stay there until the shop floor animals are sold. There is often 4 rabbits or 6 guinea pigs to a small cage in the back. It breaks my heart. The adoption part makes me laugh. We do take animals in who cant be looked after any longer but there was a waiting list and were often rejected. In other words ,,,,, they keep spaces for themselves to put their own animals in . The ones that have had treatment, or have grown too big and not selling , then they write a little story saying " my owner can no longer look after me " ect. Pets do not come first , the profit does. I was also threatened with my job as i disagreed with the size of the cages they sold. Im well out of that place and would never step foot back in there again. We were also told to check the fish every half hour for dead ones. We did not have enough staff or the time to check and paperwork was forged to say they had been checked.

 

Since writing this thread years ago my Fiance got a job at pets at home as a dog groomer and has left to start her own business for pretty much the same reasons as you. Including the bullying nature and the profits before pets attitude.

I now completely boycott pets at home!

 

Anyone who knows how to look after an animal is treated badly as they cant mould you to their way of thinking. There is no need to shop there. We all managed our pets perfectly well before that joke of a company came along. People need to stop lining their pocket. We were also told at a training meeting that although they work with the rspca we were not allowed to let them in the back rooms without speaking to the manager first. Something to hide??????.

 

I can only speak as I find and my local Pets at Home keep their small animals beautifully.

They're in large pens, cages, with plenty fresh bedding and scrupulously clean play areas. They all have many toys/apparatus to keep them entertained and I have never been in there, whatever the time, when the food bowls are not clean and full and water bottles full of clean, fresh water.

Foodwise, they all have extras around in the way of treats.

The animals themselves always look clean, healthy and full of life.

 

The animals at the front are clean , i agree but when our new boss came in to our store she would tell us to only spot clean every other day and that the hamsters should only have food and water. I guess it all depends on what boss the store has in at the time. I stood up for the animals and every chance i got i would let the rabbits in the back rooms out their cage to run about to stop muscle wastage. One rabbit was in there for a month on a shelf in a small cage. Just not on at all.