This is going to be short as I have to start work soon but I did want to correct a few points...
I live in England. I spend a lot of time hanging around pets at home to keep an eye on things, I always enter other pet stores I pass to check them out, and in the past I have bought animals from stores.
1) There ARE pet shops in the UK selling dogs and cats. It is NOT illegal - despite ongoing campaigns. There are still maybe 20 places in
England selling pups from known puppy farms, and a great many more selling cats. There are even a few English pet shops selling monkeys.
2) The law that only over 16s can buy animals is very welcome but only a recent thing. I bought my first pigs (without my parents present) at 12. I have also known kids to just lie to pets at home over the phone, saying the parents have to work so the kids will be picking up the animals alone.
3) We DO have animal mills here, both for puppies and for smaller animals. Have you seen a rabbit breeding facility? I have - its not pretty. Pet stores also buy from dodgy back yard breeders. I had a friend when I was about 14 who deliberately bred her hamsters. The shop knew she was under 16 but they offered to buy her litters anyway.
4) Yes - pets at home have a vet in store. Have you never wondered why they still don't guarantee the sex of their animals? Are their vets really that incompetant, or do they not actually use the vets for their own stock?
5) I have NEVER been offered any animal care info when buying a pet myself, nor have I ever seen anyone else offered advice. I have known them to sell to anyone with cash in hand. I have known them to advise crap cages (or sell the worst cages without comment) and vitamin drops for water etc.
6) Your opinion that pet stores selling animals isn't a big deal is not one that seems to be shared. Most of the large rescue groups, especially the species specific or small animal groups have long campaigned to get animals out of shops. There are various groups campaigning against the sale of dogs in shops, and the puppy farms they come from.
7) Finally, most pets shops here take crap care of their animals. Pets at home at least looks nicer than most. My experience of pet shop animals is of unhandled, badly bred animals. Some of my purchased pets have been sick, two were considerably older than I had been told, and NOT ONE lived the expected lifespan.
As for care - pets at home still house their syrian hamsters in groups, still use pine shavings as bedding for all small furries - except rats which are housed on grid floors in my local. All animals are housed in aquarium stle cages or pens with no ventialtion, they are always hot and stuffy - you may notice they have to put fans up in summer?
I have seen much worse though - including large numbers of mice and hamsters etc being housed in "shoe box" lab cages, or a large adult rabbit in a hutch that can only have been about 1x2 feet.
8) I agree that animal welfare laws here are better than some - but they are not adequate and are poorly enforced. Check out this site on Welsh puppy farms (the same ones selling to pet shops in England!) and watch the videos. The authorities STILL claim that these people are doping nothing wrong - they are acting within the law. Despite this footage, these people have not been prosecuted, they still have their licences and are still doing it.
Puppy Love-Home
Hope this sets the record a bit straighter.