Pets at Home - A Positive Visit

Merab

Merab

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I know that PAH come in for a lot of stick but chatting to a staff member today I get the impression they are listening. I was in to buy supplies to keep us going over Christmas and was - of course - looking at the guinea pigs.
A staff member came over to ask if I needed help and I pointed out that the label saying Guinea Pigs could live up to 6 years wasn't accurate.
She replied that they always tell people they can live longer.
Further conversation revealed that they no longer sell the really small cages for guinea pigs - the smallest is the Ferplast 120.
They automatically book every new pet in for a health check at the in-store Vets -4- Pets and the vet will go over the health costs with new owners before final purchase.
They also don't sell single guinea pigs unless it's going as a companion to an existing pet.
I don't know whether this is now company practice or whether it's just the Swindon branch but it's an improvement on some past practices
 
When we bought are piggys we never got booked in to see the vets.

The staff who sell them to you does it. Checks there ears and teeth and nails.


If you have a jollys local I think the cages they keep there animals in are terrible.

We also saw them on there own. And the cages are very small
 
My in laws brought a couple of gerbils from their local PAH a few months ago. They were asked lots of questions about the tank they were planning on keeping them in etc. A few days after getting them home, a PAH worker phoned my MIL to see how the gerbils we’re settling in. Definitely an improvement 👍
 
We bought 8 pets from them. And also have never gotten a phone call aswell. Lol. But we are in every other day and tend to ask us how they are lol
 
Sounds as if it might depend where you are and the local store practices then if @Skullblits has a different experience.
I don't know Jolleys - are they just a local store or a national chain?
 
Merab's Slave said:
I know that PAH come in for a lot of stick but chatting to a staff member today I get the impression they are listening. I was in to buy supplies to keep us going over Christmas and was - of course - looking at the guinea pigs.
A staff member came over to ask if I needed help and I pointed out that the label saying Guinea Pigs could live up to 6 years wasn't accurate.
She replied that they always tell people they can live longer.
Further conversation revealed that they no longer sell the really small cages for guinea pigs - the smallest is the Ferplast 120.
They automatically book every new pet in for a health check at the in-store Vets -4- Pets and the vet will go over the health costs with new owners before final purchase.
They also don't sell single guinea pigs unless it's going as a companion to an existing pet.
I don't know whether this is now company practice or whether it's just the Swindon branch but it's an improvement on some past practices
Click to expand...
yeah I got 2 of mine they seem to be really chilled by the way if any of u are looking for cheap piggy supplies check out wilko so cheap
 
That’s good to hear, a shame it isn’t nationwide.

I went to PaH near Nottingham Ikea, I asked the member of staff if the pigs were sows or boars, she didn’t know what that meant. There was no hay in the enclosure (she added some after I mentioned their diet is 80% hay), no questions about cage sizes etc.

The only positive was that she handled them very well while checking teeth etc and was able to show that they were both boars.
 
When I bought Velvet and Betsy from PAH nearly 3 years ago, the member of staff I say was fairly knowledgeable about piggies. I didn't want to take them home though until I had everything set up so I could just pop them in the temporary cage before I bought a hutch the next day (My car isn't big enough to transport a hutch). I went back with a small hamster cage just for transport as the piggies were used to being together and I thought it would be less stressful for them than being shoved unceremoniously and alone in those small cardboard box carriers they give you. The member of staff only saw the hamster cage and just took my word for it that Velvet and Betsy were going to be in a larger cage then a hutch. As far as she knew they could have been in that small hamster cage for the rest of their lives. She didn't even ask to see a photo of the set up I had at home (I have a picture on my phone). They did phone a few days later though to ask how they had settled in and reminded me to take them for their free health check at their in-store vets. Well I did take them and it turned out that Velvet was "with pig" and 35 days after I had bought Velvet and Betsy I had 5 guinea pigs. So it was buy 2 get 3 free on 1st April 2016.
 
Our PAH recently opened a Vets 4 Pets. The main vet is very well regarded in rabbit circles, the rabbit equivalent of this forum spoke about him a great deal. I “interviewed” him before I took my pigs and whilst he admitted his pig knowledge was behind his rabbit, he still seemed ahead of the common game. When I expressed surprise at him joining PAH he basically said that by getting “inside” he was able to influence change more effectively. So there is a change happening from various fronts...
 
Merab's Slave said:
I know that PAH come in for a lot of stick but chatting to a staff member today I get the impression they are listening. I was in to buy supplies to keep us going over Christmas and was - of course - looking at the guinea pigs.
A staff member came over to ask if I needed help and I pointed out that the label saying Guinea Pigs could live up to 6 years wasn't accurate.
She replied that they always tell people they can live longer.
Further conversation revealed that they no longer sell the really small cages for guinea pigs - the smallest is the Ferplast 120.
They automatically book every new pet in for a health check at the in-store Vets -4- Pets and the vet will go over the health costs with new owners before final purchase.
They also don't sell single guinea pigs unless it's going as a companion to an existing pet.
I don't know whether this is now company practice or whether it's just the Swindon branch but it's an improvement on some past practices
Click to expand...
Great news, i have noticed at my local one that the signs on the enclosures say best kept in pairs. Not quite good enough saying best and not must but its a start
 
My vets for pets in pets@home managed to operate on my old gerbil but failed to diagnose a scent gland tumour in the first place. I had to tell him it was that.
 
Skullblits said:
When we bought are piggys we never got booked in to see the vets.

The staff who sell them to you does it. Checks there ears and teeth and nails.


If you have a jollys local I think the cages they keep there animals in are terrible.

We also saw them on there own. And the cages are very small
Click to expand...

All pets at home animals come with a free health check at any vets4pets or companion care (animal registered and booked in by new owner), but the staff are required to complete a "head to toe" health check at point of sale too
 
Well it's the 1st I've heard of that. I know they do it for rabbits.

But nothing for piggies
 
G1992M said:
All pets at home animals come with a free health check at any vets4pets or companion care (animal registered and booked in by new owner), but the staff are required to complete a "head to toe" health check at point of sale too
Click to expand...
I went in a jollys somewhere, i cant remember. They had a brilliant range of hay but they had guinea pigs in cramped tanks. Sort of like vivariums
 
Skullblits said:
Well it's the 1st I've heard of that. I know they do it for rabbits.

But nothing for piggies
Click to expand...

I haven’t heard of it either, I would also have to drive well over an hour to any of those vet chains.
 
Yeah when i went in yesterday all off the small unsuitable cages were above people reach and didn't have prices on them and when I went in 2 years ago and bought Chippy and Biscuit they gave both of them a full heath checks and when I asked about the nips in theirs ears they said that they could sometimes fight in such small cages and they also got me to do this general care quiz on an ipad which was quite cool and told me I had done my research and they showed me how to hold biscuit which was not easy as he thought my hair was hay and tried to crawl up my chest!
 
We got a Syrian hamster and they didn't even sex it. And they said as they live alone there's no need to.

This wasnt at my local store.
 
I'd say some stores have more dedicated staff who own guinea pigs and want these ones to go to good homes but their are some who just want a pay pack at the end of the day and really could not care less. I was watching this one member of staff at the store yesterday talking to a young couple about getting a rabbit and he seemed to get really stressed at the fact that this couple had no idea how to look after this rabbit.
 
We where 1st gunna get a rabbit at are local store. And we got talking to one person about them.

She talked us out of it and into the piggys instead. After doing research on rabbits we are both glad she did lol.

Then we over heard them talk to couple who where thinking of getting a piggy for there daughter for Xmas.

And she done everything to put them off.

I know I shouldnt judge. But they kinda looked like they would sell it for a tin of beer
 
I think it must range from store to store and staff to staff. When I brought my Eliza back in 2007 as a companion for Connie who I adopted from a lady who's kids had lost interest (I didn't know about rescues back then) the staff member was lovely. She explained that she was only willing to let Eliza go as a companion, which she was. I had no idea about bonding or anything back then (Connie and Eliza were my first piggies) and she explained to me how to bond. She suggested using the empty bath tub. Eliza also had a quick health check from the Companion Care vets which they were at the time. When I bonded Eliza with Connie I was very concerned so I phoned the lady who had sold her to me who reassured me that all was normal.

All my hamsters and gerbils have all come from PAH and they have always been sexed and health checked before coming home. May be I've just been lucky
 
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