do some pet shops just not care?

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i went out for a day trip with some friends, and we decided to nip into a few pet shops while we were out, as my friend wanted to look at animals, as she wants a pet but doesnt know what, and i thought id bring a treat back for my boys :D

so yeah didnt see much in the first pet shop, but in the second pet shop i saw something that made me really sad.

my friend wanted to look at rabbits, so we walked to the far end of the shop, where a huge rabbit (one of those really large ones) was being kept in a plastic tank (like the ones hamsters are kept in at pet shops) with a tiny guinea pig that was huddled in the corner, looking very frightened, and no older than about 3 months old. very tiny compared to the huge rabbit it was housed with.

i turned to my friend and said that the poor little piggy really shouldnt be housed with the rabbit, the lady in the shop heard me and said they got on fine, which i wasnt happy with considering the look of the poor little piggy. so i said that the rabbit could hurt the piggy considering the huge size difference.

the woman then got nasty, and said "what are you an expert?" i said i owned guinea pigs at which she got even more sarchastic and said that there was no way the rabbit would hurt the pig, they got on fine, and the pig was perfectly happy (didnt look like it to me). i got so angry i stormed out of the shop, i didnt get as far as complaining about the tank.

i felt so bad for the little piggy, kept in that tiny tank, with that huge rabbit, looking so terrified, i really wanted to rescue the poor thing and take it home, and if i had either the money or the cage space i would have done. i feel really bad for not buying it :(

why do some pet store owners just seem to be so ignorant or not care :'(
 
I know it's horrible when you go in pet shops and see things like that. Although I think the worst pet shops are abroad. I went to one in Gibraltor once and they had puppies in tiny little cages :( Poor puppies wanted to play and had no room to, was horrible.
 
thats so horrible. thats the first time ive seen pets housed badly and it made me really angry and sad. i usually go to pets at home for anything i buy and the animals at ours seem to be really well housed, as they have completely redone out the piggy/rabbit section recently. the woman at this shop was being very nasty to me, probably cos I'm fairly young she probably thought i had no idea what i was talking about, when i spend half my time reading about piggies, and finding out more about them.
 
i know. its horrible, they must have no emotion. but you shouldn't try to rescue a piggie by buying it because then the pet shop still make money and get more stock. a high percentage of the pet shop's income is probably people who try to save the little animals. it's realy cruel to play off peoples emotions but those people are selfish and care about nothing other than money.
 
I asked a pet shop owner a few months ago if she knew that the RSPCA recommended that rabbits and GPs no longer be housed together - she asked 'so who are you' a little belligerently and proudly stated her views on these two species living together, how they are marvelous friends, how the rabbit would NEVER hurt the GP, not even accidentally (!) and that she had been placing GPs and rabbits together all her life and she had only ever had a problem once (!)

If you think this is a serious breach of animal welfare, canm you contact your local council or RSPCA so see if they can have a chat with them?
 
thats disgusting,, i still dont understand why they use the plastic units and not a cage .. first i feel the air circulation is loads better but the plastic ones are so small.. its just not fair on the animals,, dont they have some kind of warden inspect the living arrangments of these pets in pets shops.
 
Its a really sad state of affairs isn't it? We're supposed to be a nation of animals lovers but these places still seem to be able to tade on, whilst keeping animals in squalid conditions. :'(

I went into a pet shop near me recently, which had an array of animals caged in a small room with no proper ventillation. They had kittens in metal cages with no comfort or toys. One little ginger kitten looked like it had given up the will to live.

I would never buy anything, animals or food stuffs, even if i was desperate, from places like that. I wish the RSPCA had the powers to shut down shops that don't provide adequate living conditions for their animals, no matter how short a space of time they stay there.

By contrast, our local Pets @ Home had good facilities for their animals. Lots of space, food and water, plus toys and lots of things to play and hide in. If i was going to buy from a pet shop, which i wouldn't, I'd buy at P@H for sure...
 
Boureki said:
I asked a pet shop owner a few months ago if she knew that the RSPCA recommended that rabbits and GPs no longer be housed together - she asked 'so who are you' a little belligerently and proudly stated her views on these two species living together, how they are marvelous friends, how the rabbit would NEVER hurt the GP, not even accidentally (!) and that she had been placing GPs and rabbits together all her life and she had only ever had a problem once (!)

If you think this is a serious breach of animal welfare, canm you contact your local council or RSPCA so see if they can have a chat with them?
Click to expand...

what that pet shop owner said to you is exactly what the woman in this shop said to me!

i didnt buy the piggy in the end, i knew if i did the woman would just get more, plus i didnt have the money, but i still felt bad. i didnt buy anything from the shop, the womans attitude made me so mad i stormed out.

i cant really contact my local rspca as it wasnt a local shop. i was away for the day, a couple of hours drive from my home.

in reply to teabag, i also find my local pets at home have good facilities, and the piggies there have loads of space food toys and hidey holes, and are housed seperate from the rabbits
 
In Glassgow there is a petshop and everytime I go in pigs are in with buns with no hay. So other day I asked her why they had no hay in with them and she said she knew what she was talking about and that she's the best petshop in Glasgow and that peple come to her because her animals are healthy. She did agree in the end to give them hay but I didn't even get the chance to tell her about piggies and buns being in together. I don't really think 'the best petshop' would leave a longhaired piggies covered in pee and loads of knots.. Mum said they must be good enough to pass inspections but inspections aren't really good enough..
 
its the companies that make hay and other small animal products who i blame... They put picutres of buns and pigs together on their products so people associate that with them being friends.

Back in the 80s when I had my first pig, we had it with my sisters rabbit and the rabbit tried to rape the piggie despite it being a boy aswell :tickedoff: 98).

We quickly moved the piggie out and never put him back.

If your in a pet store and come across this, see if they have a guinea pig book in there and you will no doubt find a couple of sentances on how this is bad for the gp... then they either stop selling the book, or change their living arrangements for the little ones....
 
I get the same bad attitude at a pet shop near me. I never buy anything from the shop now. I refuse to give money to any business who sells live animals!

I pop in there occasionlly and every time I have to tell them that the buns and piggies have run out of hay and they roll their eyes at me and say 'they had some earlier, they've just eaten it' and I'll say 'but they need access to hay all the time, its the main part of their diet'.

it's exasperating!

I think its a mix of ignorance and not caring to be honest. At the end of the day they just want to make money!

So I talk with my wallet and only spend money at non-animal selling pet stores! It's the only way these places will listen!
 
I went into a pet shop with my mum and we saw something similar to that and my Mum complained to the manager about the size of it
 
It is horrible, I saw a similar display when I was visiting pet shops. There was a huge rabbit being kept in a plastic tank as well, only without a guinea pig. He could barley take a couple steps :'( I went to where they kept small animals and saw a very dirty tank. Wishing nothing was in it, I looked in. There was a poor gerbil all huddled up in the corner. I looked around the tank and saw that his water bottle had fallen, so he had no access to water, his wheel had also been tipped over, so he could not exersize. (which could actually be a good thing since it was a metal slat one where their tails get caught) We promptly left and decided not to buy anything and went to another pet store. Only to find more mistreatment :tickedoff: They were keeping a puppy in a 20 gallon long tank! Had a towel folded in half, water was spilled, and no food. Oh, and a pathetic tiny toy that he could have choked on. The poor thing looked so scared and was cowering in a corner. Once again, we left and went to another pet store. This one seemed to have good facilities, and kept their animals in good condition. :) We bought what was needed and then headed home. I couldnt believe what I had seen, and these people work in pet shops for goodness sakes! :tickedoff:
 
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