Big cheer for 'pets at home' near me!

[muffin]

I have to give some congratulations to my local 'pets at home' stores. I'm in Edinburgh and I have to say their cages are always clean and roomy, and their stock is excellent. Their information leaflets are very good, and the info on their website too. Although they don't emphasise that guineas and rabbits shouldn't be kept together, but for a petstore, they're pretty darn good. Their whole ethos encourages people to see their pets as part of the family and give them really good care and attention and toys. Their range of cages and care is improving all the time, and for a large chain store that needs to turn a good profit, they're pretty caring. These are just my local stores, let me know if you have any bad experiences with pets at home anywhere else in the uk.

[salana]

Aren't they the same as petsmart?

[daftscotslass]

Originally Posted by salana

Aren't they the same as petsmart?

One and the same. They bought over all the petsmart stores in the UK in the late 90's. All the animals appear healthy, cages are always spotless, but I have a few gripes with my local store:

Guinea pigs are in roomy enclosures but kept with rabbits (BIG rabbits).
They have vitamin drops in the water.
Guinea pigs and rabbits are fed the same food.
Syrian hamsters are housed in groups (I've spoken to them about this on several occasions).

It's the only place that sells my guinea pig supplies locally, since the little pet shop (that don't sell animals) don't stock carefresh any more. They hugely monopolise the market. I tend to just buy what I need then go.

[Myspoiltpiggies]

I live near two Pet At Home's. I hate them both. They keep them with rabbits for a start. When me and my mum went into one of the stores we noticed that on the female side their was a little piggy mounting and purring the other girls. I know they do this when they are in season but it clearly had male bits. They were too big to miss! So we told someone that worked there that there was a male piggy in with the (5+) females. She picked him out and put him in with the males. Big mistake - the males could smell the females on the male, they started to fight. So we called her back over She took him out and then I don't know where she put him. Poor little guy. Most male animals fight when they've been with a female so I don't know why she was stupid enough to not realise what would happen. They are just useless!!

[Spirited]

My local Pets at Home isn't bad - my only gripe with them is the rabbit/cavy issue but even then they aren't over crowded and the pigs have hidey places that rabbits can't get to, their bowls are always full and hayracks and water bottles easy to reach.

I visited a further away Pets at Home (we were passing through and I am looking for a large aviary for my rats and wanted to see if the one I'm looking at online was set up so that I could have a good look at it) I finally realised why some people hate pets at home. There were ten rabbits and ten guinea pigs in one side of the run, their dishes were nearly empty. I'm not sure Pets at Home do enough to ensure a (high) minimum standard of care across their stores, it seems to be left up to the store staff.

I buy my regular supplies from an independant pet supplies store because for the most part, I can't stand to visit shops where I would be tempted to 'rescue' animals.

Spirited

[muffin]

Hmmm, seemed too good to be true. I have spoken to my local store about the rabbits and pigs together, and emailed their rep, who was very understanding but explained that it is store policy for the moment. My point was that for a big pet store they do pretty well, although I agree some of their staff are very poorly trained and just don't seem to care about being there. I don't think the rabbit and pigs situation will change soon, I even noticed that an SSPCA shelter is trying to rehome a rabbit and guinea pig together. The reason is that they are inseparable, but they really ought to try and pair them with their own species, but they can't do this either because no-one is there at night to make sure no fights break out. Difficult one. I would use an independent pet store if I had one near and if they were good.

I have to say that there are four rabbit/pig enclosures in my local store, and never more than about 2 rabbits, or 1 rabbit 2 pigs in each. They're pretty good overall. It is interesting to see how standards vary, and I don think a lot of it omes down to individual stores.

PS. Petsmart used to be where pets at home stores are, but their animal care was shocking, always in the news, and they were bought over, thank goodness.

[Spirited]

It's worth pointing out that whilst living in the city where the good Pets at Home is, I found it to be superior to independant petshops which often had as many as eight cavies in a cage that we wouldn't even recommend for one. I'm lucky to have found two pet supplies shops near me which do not stock animals or even lower quality products e.g. only dog foods like Burns, James Wellbeloved etc... none of the supermarket rubbish that they pass off as pet food.

Spirited

[KPIGGY]

The Pets at Home near me is not good at all. My guinea pigs came from there and were suffering very bad from mite, they told me they were from the same litter and 8 weeks old - my vet (who specializies in rabbits and cavys) said that one was around 2 weeks younger, so they were not the same litter. The guinea pigs are housed with rabbits. The mice, rats, geribals are all housed in glass tanks. They only sell there own make of hay. The 2 guinea pig information books I brought from there (was told by there staff that they were the best) has alot of wrong information in them. All the cages they sell are small. The staff are very rude and they have had alot of complaints from people who have taken there animals there to be groomed.
There store is very clean, and tidy - thats all it has going for it.

[CavyKind]

Before any of us start patting P@H on the back, I think we should step back and ask ourselves if we really want to lavish praise on stores that sells guinea pigs and other animals /birds?

I won't buy from there, thankfully, don't need to...but do wander in for a nosey around. The last time I was in there was guinea pig scratching itself to bits, because of what looked like skin mites. I of course complained to staff, who removed it from the pen. Pity they hadn't spotted it themselves, it was obvious to me.

The poor guinea pigs are apparently now brought in from "suppliers"...very nice.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

They all get them from 'suppliers' i.e. distributors who buy them from the pet mills.

[daftscotslass]

I have a funny feeling that a lot of their "suppliers" are just a bunch of silly people who decided they wanted to breed just for the sake of it.

They are anything but professional in the stores too. I know someone who used to work in one. I stopped by there one day and noticed a female hamster that had been there for nearly a month. I asked my friend about it. I went in with her another day and her boss said it was untameable and no-one wanted it, so she would probably just die of old age there (urgh). He said I could have "it" as long as I promised not to bring "it" back. So home she came with me.



Yes, she's an absolute savage. I mean just look at her.

I don't think they can handle the animals properly. She would attack the staff. I have NEVER, in the time I have had her, been bitten once. She's not hugely cuddleable but definitely not savage. I'm not one to buy from pet stores, but I still feel guilty even though she was a "freebie".

I am not confident in their policies regarding the return of animals. I overheard a conversation between the manager in my local store and a customer who had bought a hamster who had wet tail (probably due to stress). The manager stated that she could have a new hamster or a refund on return of the sick one. "What will happen to Boris (or whatever it was called)?" the customer asked. The manager stuttered before he answered it would be seen by a vet. "Can we have him back?" she asked. "No" was the answer.

It doesn't matter that Petsmart was bought over by PAH. I have seen no difference whatsoever in practice and policy in my local store. You know what? I'm going to get down on my knees and beg my little local shop to start stocking my stuff again!

[pamziaw]

Before i was cavy educated by this site, many years ago i had a hamster called moley. She was the most adorable thing after a few months however when we did buy her from a pet store she was the oldest one there and had been there for ages and was vicious. She was kept on her own in a tiny tiny tank with no ventilation and less food and water. Didn't matter to me that she was old and snappy, i loved her so we took her home. We spent 6 months teaching her not to bite and gaining her trust. We had to wear thick leather biking gloves to stop her biting straight though our fingers. After a while she was the sweetest little thing you ever saw. Being regular dumb pet owners back then we didn't make the connection between the treatment of the pet store and her behavior at first. However we did after we went on holiday one time and couldn't find anyone to hamster sit and the same pet store was offering to take care of peoples pets while they were on holiday. When we left her she was happy and clean and well fed and watered but when we picked her up she was in her house hiding in terror. My mum made the connection straight away and we never ever went back (i was only 12 at the time). She thought i wasn't coming back for her. Will never forget her face when i held her when we were home. I don't trust pet stores anymore, good or bad. They are only in it for the money.

[CavySpirit]

There is no difference. If you want to praise pet stores that sell animals, do it on another forum. End of story.

[muffin]

Don't think that I am praising pet stores, I am just expressing gladness that my local pets at home is of a good standard. Obviously it is better than the rest. Of course pet stores are going to buy animals from pet mills, and staff won't handle them correctly, which is awful, I agree, and it makes me very sad. My point is that at least this chain store, and lets remember that that is what it is, -profit and turnover-, is at least guiding people towards looking at their pets as family members rather than toys. I'm not praising the sale of animals in pet stores, but you all have to accept that it is going to happen, -it doesn't occur to most people to try their local shelter first- I'm just glad that my local store provides good conditions, and I stand by this. Yes rabbits are in with guineas, but they have lots of room, hay, food, water and a clean environment. You couldn't ask much more from a pet store, and lets remember it could be much worse.

[Susan9608]

but you all have to accept that it is going to happen

It doesn't *have* to happen, not at all.

it doesn't occur to most people to try their local shelter first

So educate people. By saying, "Oh well, people won't think of shelters first and pet stores are always going to sell animals, so we just have to accept it," you're part of the problem. If you know that the sale of animals in pet stores is wrong, then it's NOT okay to accept that practice; rather, that makes it more important to try to change things. And if you know it's wrong, then it's *your* responsibility to try to educate other people about it.

If everyone who knew it was wrong to sell animals in pet store made the effort to educate others, instead of just "accepting" that fact, I imagine there'd be a lot less of an animal population problem.

I don't understand that kind of lackadaisical attitude about pet stores. If you know it's wrong to sell animals in pet stores, why aren't you trying to change that, instead of patting a pet store on the back because it's animals are kept in decent conditions?

[Jessica]

I think what she is trying to say is that they have made a step. A very small step, but its a step. I understand what she is saying. Our local Petco, I was quite impressed at their care sheet, it looked like something they may of gotten the info from guinealynx, it had a list of common problems like mites and URI's and stated to make sure you know where there is a exotic pets vet and to find out info on them and it talked about the prober care and nutrition (which was surprisingly correct for the most part) the only thing was they did not state what kind of food, just what to look for in the food such as Vit. C, freshness, etc. It had a lot of other info on it too. I was very surprised and they also put on there to not forget all the animals for adoption in shelters and to consider that too when planning on a pet. I am not much impressed by their cages of course but they always have clean good food and clean water. Their animals are always clean and I have yet to see one look unhealthy, which to me is a surprise. They also had a great book on guinea pigs there, my mom wanted to get it for a friend and I told her it probably had a lot of bull in there but she got it and told me to read it and then decide, so I did..and I think it was written by someone who has a lot of experience, possibly someone who is involved with cavy rescue, it had a lot of good info in it, I couldnt beleive it.

I am not by any means patting them on the back but merely stating that it is a step, a very small one but its there. And I beleive that was all the was trying to be stated in the origional post is that a step has been made.