adoption section in p@h

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hayleyandjohn

I went to my local p@h and they have now separated the rabbits and guinea pigs which i was very happy about and they have also got an adoption section, which means I'm definately going to have to keep away from the that shop other wise i will have a hundred!lol
 
our new PAH is still doing great fingers crossed they've got the message maybe the new law has prompted them to change for the good
 
I went to the Truro one (the only one I have been to) and I was quite impressed. The rabbits and guneas were completely separated. The guineas were separated according to sex. They had clean runs, water, tunnels etc.

And I found Toony and Cozzie :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
Would you like to hear my story of Pets at Home adoptions? Here's how it went as I posted my dilemma on another forum. First and foremost let me tell you that when you think they're doing good, they're not.

"On Saturday of last week I stepped into our local Pets at Home (large chain pet store in the UK, they bought over PetsMart here in 2000). I always nip in when I'm in the area and whinge to the staff if anything is wrong. I had heard rumours that they were starting adoptions but was under the impression it was being piloted in England first. How wrong was I?

I walked to the back of the store, interested what was in the former bird enclosures since they stopped selling birds due to the scare over avian flu. My heart sank when I saw the sign saying "for adoption". In the cage was an unusual crested rex sow with 4 babies toddling around behind her.

Having been sighing over the cage for some minutes I caught the attention of a member of staff who asked if I needed help. I asked where the sow had come from. "Uh... she was handed in pregnant" he said. I asked how old the babies were and it transpired they were around 5 weeks. I asked if they had been sexed and he said no. I offered to sex them, he said no problem. 3 sows and one boar later, I caught the interest of the store manager. "You seem to know quite a lot about them" was what she said. I mentioned I volunteered for a rescue and urged her to seperate the male from the females, albeit 2 weeks late. We had a chat and I left my details in case she needed advice.

I was awake most of Saturday night thinking about this and called up on Sunday to say I would take them all. Fine about the sow, not sure about the babies. I was told to call back when the store manager was next in.

On Tuesday this week I called in to speak to the manager again. Having offered to take the whole family off her hands she said I was welcome to the mother but the babies would be classed as "sale stock". I nearly hung up on her. I calmly put across my opinion that it was absolutely ridiculous to be doing this and she failed to give me an answer regarding WHY. Naturally, it's to make some money. Wouldn't look too good for the chain if they were put on the record for selling supposed adoptables to make a pretty penny. No-one has shown any interest in her because she looks like a toilet brush (quote unquote store member of staff).

Now I am totally stuck. I can take the sow home on Sunday. I want to be able to walk away from this, I really do, but my heart is utterly, utterly breaking for this pig. I just don't know what's right to do. Leave her to suffer fate unknown or bring her home where she'll be loved 'til the end of her days, kicking up a stink with corporate when I know she is safe. "

I made the decision to take her and try and get the babies. I was devestated when I went to get her and the babies had all gone. The assistant brought her out and there and then I knew she was coming home with me. We called her Rosie. Her claws were a disgrace her back bare from either cheap shavings or mites and she is quite possibly pregnant by her son. 3 weeks on she is doing well and her hair is almost completely back. Looking back I don't know if it was the right but I did it. In the case of Rosie, if she had produced another litter in the store, they would have put an inbred litter in the sales pen with goodness knows what implications for potential owners.

The bottom line is, they are offloading old, unsellable "stock". They are taking in or putting up animals for adoption and then selling what offspring there might be.

"We're too old and too big to be in the bunny village [sales pen] so we're now up for adoption"

is what the sign says on the adoptable rabbits' pen. Sums it up for me. It's a farce.
 
There was a new one opened here last week no adoption bit though. Staff got grilled by me ;) the girl did not have a clue about the animals in there and contridicted what she said too ::)
 
Sehnsucht said:
the one at arnold?
I think ill have to have a mooch around there ;)
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Its not far from me so call in for a coffee on the way back ;) or I will meet you at the fox (PUB) which is a stones throw from my house ;D
 
Pumpkinpiggie said:
Sehnsucht said:
the one at arnold?
I think ill have to have a mooch around there ;)
Click to expand...
Its not far from me so call in for a coffee on the way back ;) or I will meet you at the fox (PUB) which is a stones throw from my house ;D
Click to expand...

ohhhh now theres a plan
ill prob come over in the week with Sars if thats ok?
 
Daftscotslass, do you think she's pregnant? It's absolutely awful that pet stores do things like that. You've now inspired me to tell my story..

In the very beginning of my rescue days I went to Petco (I believe the largest pet store chain in the US) for some supplies. There they said they had a boy and a girl for adoption. Well, it was the very beginning of the rescue and I didn't have many piggies at the rescue but I had quite a few people wanting to adopt so I figured I'd just take a look. Well, we went back there and it turns out the boy had been adopted and only the girl was left. She was in a tiny aquarium with enough room to eat, drink, and sit. I felt really bad for her so I brought her home.

The only single piggy I had was a male, and she was not going in with him no matter how badly he wanted her to, so she was in a cage alone until she got adopted. Cutie (the male) went absolutely nuts trying to get to her. He'd rumble-strut, purr, bite the bars, and everything but I couldn't allow it because I'm a rescue after all! I got her a home rather quickly with someone who had a female that needed a buddy. It was a really good home and I was super excited.

Well, about ten weeks later the person emailed me with the subject- "Guess what!" The guinea pig was a male and he got their guinea pig pregnant. I felt so stupid because I should have checked, but I was told he was a she and I didn't think Cutie would get so excited over a male, so I just let it go. Well, I called Petco to tell them and complain and surprisingly they had it all on file. I had gotten the male and they had adopted out the female (who got pregnant by the person's guinea pig). I ended up taking all of the babies and homing them, and I definitely learned to sex guinea pigs no matter where they come from!

Pet stores that sell animals are just all around bad ::)
Kimmie
 
hi daftscotlass, you couldn't of done any thing else, if you hadn't of adopted her, it could of been anyone, you were the right person for the job,you have done the best thing, try not to feel guilty about the babies, what more could you of done.
I live about a minutes walk of our pets at home, sooooo tempting to bring them all home, bunnys and piggies are still mixed, but are also doing adoptions, I really have to refrain from telling all the customers I see buying rabbits and guinea pigs all the do's don'ts and musts, I find it really hard not to stick my nose in. Especially yesterday when someone was buying one rabbit.
by the way what is their charge to adopt?
 
The Petco here adopts them out for free and gives you a coupon book for the needed supplies, but I'm not sure about P@H.

Kimmie
 
we have had a hell of a lot of problems with p@h and have managed to get fair 'compensaton' if you can call it that from then after mis sexing our boar. Did you take her to the vet? If so, then if i were you i would call head office (keep the reciept if they gave you one) and give them a list of all the things that were wrong with the poor girlie. Explain that you work with a rescue and think it was appauling the way they dealt with her babies.

Hopefully if anything they will inspect the store and tell a few people off, but at least you will feel a bit better!

Our local p@h have had the adoption thing and supposedly seperated sex's for a few months now, but it didnt stop them getting the sex of our boar wrong, which means not only did he get my sows pregnant, but potentially all the other sows he was allowed to run around with!

And as she was pregnant when you got her, you should be entitled to a free cage, food, vets beds etc, its in their policy.

Call them, stand your ground about it and they will have to listen!

Unless we kick up a stink, cost them money and potentially damage their sales, nothing will happen and they will keep treating animals this way!
 
yikes sounds like pets at home need to sort themselves out

i go there occasionally as the notcutts near us is a bit pricey. When i went about 2 weeks ago i was checking out the baby piggies (couldnt see that they were separated by sexes only in one pen) i didnt notice at first but my partner pointed out that there ears looked funny. On closer inspection most of the guinea pigs had bitten ears, i assume they had been bitten and it wasnt a genetic as there were quite a few of them. i was a bit disgusted, poor things, its something that could have been prevented if they had kept an eye on them.

i think notcutts look after there animals better - when i go there piggies are always paired up in sexes to buy as a pair.

i dont get the thing about stopping selling birds, what a shame. i bred all sorts of birds a few years ago, they are great animals to be around and to keep as pets.
 
I have to say that Pets at Home in Rugby seem to be doing a good job at the moment. :) The piggies and rabbits are now separate and the enclosures are always very clean with plenty of food and water. I chat with a number of the staff in there and quite a few of them keep guinea pigs or rabbits themselves and show a keen interest in them. :)

I can only take as I find, and at the moment I am reasonably impressed with this store. :)

Pity I couldn't say the same for a local garden centre I went to last weekend where the enclosures needed a good clean out. :(
 
Last week I visited a P@H store, I'd never been to one before, was just popping in to buy a few bits and pieces really.

I was appalled to find them not only selling animals but out of the 4 guinea pigs there one was blind and one had a significant mite problem.

Management were next to useless when it came dealing with my enquiries, unable to tell me where the guineas came from, exactly how old they were, whether they had received any treatment etc etc etc etc It was unbelievable to me that they should even be considering selling a blind guinea pig and yet manager still persisted in telling me they came from a reputable breeder, heaven help us all!

Anyway needless to say I now have two lovely sows residing with me.........one is blind (Hyacinth) and the other one is having treatment for mites(Rose)! Both for £35!!

However, I was horrified at how easy it is to buy pets........not one person asked me one question about how I was to look after them, I might just aswell have been buying a bag of hay for all they cared. I was given no advice, no care sheet, absolutely NOTHING. The staff were not in the least bit concerned about the guineas and were very cold towards them. The whole process was simply awful.

These large businesses only understand one thing and that is money...........never again will they get a penny out of me, perhaps if more people boycotted petshops selling animals they would finally get the message.

Anyway I will be writing to their head office to let them know how appalled I am, in the meantime I won't be supporting them in any way at all in the future.
 
piggies being kept in that state should not be allowed, if i were you id call the rspca!
 
I'm lucky enough that I have the experience, resources and support to treat her mites myself. Nails are sorted and her skin is normal. She has put on weight and is eating well. It took several GG shampoos to get the stink of cheap shavings out of her and her feet have finally gone from red to the colour they should be. It's been 3 weeks now so she's started to be allowed to play with my other pigs. With regards to her possible pregnancy it's fairly hard to tell. She is fairly heavy for her length and is rather pair shaped (quite solid rather than squishy like my 3 other sows). Time will tell with that one. They said she had a health check - by whom? There is no vet in my area that would allow an animal to leave its consultation room with claws the length that hers were. I'm currently waiting for a response from head office on the issue - I get the impression that "adoptions" have been thrust upon the stores without it being thought through or store/regional management being consulted on the skills they will require if complex surrenders come in.

rosiefront.jpg


Do you know the irony of what the manager said when I asked about the adoption process. She said "the same thorough process we use for the sale stock". Basically if you look 16 and have an address you can have an animal. It's not about them seperating the animals or keeping the enclosures clean for me. They sell them to anyone and everyone and now are using social cause marketing (see article on www.guineapighome.com) to tug at people's heartstrings and make them think they're doing good. It's like them breaking legs in one area of the store and trying to fix it with an elastoplast in another.
 
i got star almost a year ago now, and he had severley bitten ears, we call him cauliflower ears, my daughter picked him because of this, she didn't want him to get chewed anymore. (and he was in with the girls they,miss sexed him WHATS NEW)
He is adorable though, you can see a picture of him in the photo gallery posted yesterday with photos of maisy and toffee too.
 
I went to p@h to check it out and find out if ours had a adoption bit and yes they did and my heart just sank. These animals are in the corner they have little or no information about them. They looked clean but then I went around the corner to find a tiny little Russian hamster on his own trying to drink water out of a bottle he couldn't use, that was it for me I had to take him home! When I asked the guy what he was (as I wasn't sure) he said I don't know anything about these adoption animals they are just brought in, you can make a donation and take them away the donation per animal is what you want to donate but a minimum of £5 they took no info from me and gave me no info! The poor little thing hubby was livid too. I will be going again to check out for guinea pigs as I cant bear the thought of anyone leaving them there. Pets at home don't seem to even want them there it is totally a promotional thing it disgusts me! :tickedoff:
 
dazie said:
I went to p@h to check it out and find out if ours had a adoption bit and yes they did and my heart just sank. These animals are in the corner they have little or no information about them. They looked clean but then I went around the corner to find a tiny little Russian hamster on his own trying to drink water out of a bottle he couldn't use, that was it for me I had to take him home! When I asked the guy what he was (as I wasn't sure) he said I don't know anything about these adoption animals they are just brought in, you can make a donation and take them away the donation per animal is what you want to donate but a minimum of £5 they took no info from me and gave me no info! The poor little thing hubby was livid too. I will be going again to check out for guinea pigs as I cant bear the thought of anyone leaving them there. Pets at home don't seem to even want them there it is totally a promotional thing it disgusts me! :tickedoff:
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That is completely illegal. It is against the law for them to sell/adopt out an animal without taking at least your name and telephone number. Contact your local council and inform them it's what your local store are doing - they are the ones who issue the licences.

As for the name of the store I would rather not say while I am still waiting for official word back on my own issues.
 
daftscotslass said:
dazie said:
I went to p@h to check it out and find out if ours had a adoption bit and yes they did and my heart just sank. These animals are in the corner they have little or no information about them. They looked clean but then I went around the corner to find a tiny little Russian hamster on his own trying to drink water out of a bottle he couldn't use, that was it for me I had to take him home! When I asked the guy what he was (as I wasn't sure) he said I don't know anything about these adoption animals they are just brought in, you can make a donation and take them away the donation per animal is what you want to donate but a minimum of £5 they took no info from me and gave me no info! The poor little thing hubby was livid too. I will be going again to check out for guinea pigs as I cant bear the thought of anyone leaving them there. Pets at home don't seem to even want them there it is totally a promotional thing it disgusts me! :tickedoff:
Click to expand...

That is completely illegal. It is against the law for them to sell/adopt out an animal without taking at least your name and telephone number. Contact your local council and inform them it's what your local store are doing - they are the ones who issue the licences.

As for the name of the store I would rather not say while I am still waiting for official word back on my own issues.
Click to expand...

None of the pet shops near me which I have been in ever asked for your name or telephone number aslong as they get your money. I've only bought one animal from a petshop and wont again, but I know people who have done and they have never been asked for any information about them either.
 
My mistook, it's for the pet shops buying in the animals. Register of sales is for cats, dogs and birds. I wonder if this has changed under new legislation.
 
When I bought my guinea pigs the breeder took my details and told me she had to do this for legal reasons. Also when we have bought animals in small pet shops they have taken our details. I just think they couldn't be bothered this whole adoption thing makes them loose money! They made it seem like such a hassle.
 
When I bought Rabbie from P@H they took my details said it was for the Animal health and welfare register, He was up at the back of the shop alone in a pen his mother and sister was in a pen a few pens aways, I cant really knock them for help as two weeks after I got him he got a sore eye and they paid for a vet to treat him, this was a 5 day treatment, that took place in the shop. The girl I was dealing with had 3 piggies of her own showed me photo's and talked alot about them. so I take it she cared a lot for the piggies in the shop.
It annoys me dearly hearing the mishandling of an pet.
 
I have been an employee for P@H for nearly 5 years, and would like to say that all P@H stores are not the same, I am very proud of the store I work in as i know the pets that we sell are well cared for.

The Adoption scheme has been launched to help raise the awareness of all of our local rescue centres, therefore encouraging customers to adopt not buy. The adoption scheme instore has been set up so that we can help people to re home customers pets. There are many reasons that animals need to be re homed, moving home, children's allergies, lack of time or a child has lost interest. If we didn't offer to help re home them they would probably be destined to live in a hutch for the rest of their lives, being cleaned out and fed when the owner can be bothered, re homing them means that they have a better chance of finding a loving, caring home.

All owners surrendering a pet must fill out a form giving details about the pets age, diet, veterinary history and any special requirements. New owners are given all of this information apon adoption and must also fill in information, ie name, address and any other pets that they own. We have re homed a number of rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, and many new owners return to let us know how they have settled in to their new homes.

Please remember that not everyone is the same. I have owned dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and fish for 26 years and my animals are my life.
 
we have recently (in the last year) brought 2 piggies from p@h, neither times we were asked for our address and one turned out to be missexed and got our girls pregnant and probably the rest of the girls he was in with!?!? what if we had older sows? that would have been a real problem! We were in there about a week ago picking up a cage and there were two or three piggies in there with gammy eyes and one looked rake thin! P@H shouldnt be allowed to sell animals and should stick to leads and sawdust. :tickedoff: :tickedoff: :tickedoff:
 
My experience (limited)

I was asked for my address when I got Toony and Cozzie.

Both were correctly sexed.

Cozzie had an abscess but I was very glad to have him so I could look after him properly. :)
 
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