Pets at Home mixing guinea pigs!

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RosieHardy

RosieHardy

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I'm starting to get VERY annoyed and quite worried with Pets At Home.
I do love the store, but for food and treats etc not for when it comes to the animals they have there.

I don't no if they do it in every Pets At Home but the one near me has an adoption centre where you can "Adopt" a pet that's been brought in, to me this seemed a bit random, having an adoption centre in a Pet Shop where they will happily buy animals bread souly for their shop o_O
.. anyway i went in the other day and over heard an elder man talking to one of the staff... he was wanting to buy two of the guineapigs in the adoption centre bit.
The first thing that annoyed me was they didn't ask some basic, simple questions; they didn't ask who he was buying the guinea pigs for, weather they were for him or if there were a present which i'm guessing they was! as knowing my grandad he'd have happily gone into a Pet Shop and brought me a rabbit even tho i have no room for one or wanted another one, he'd have brought me one cus i like them XD (hense why my mum always went with him) so the first quest n i'd have asked was is it a suprize and do they no about it?.. as they could have figured out from that if the guinea pigs are actually wanted and he's not just impluse buying etc if you get me?
But to make matters worse they didn't even ask if he had a cage, or anything like that, they didn't tell him he'd need to buy hay, sawdust, a water bowl, get the right food etc etc they just went over and got them out!

He then went "oh yes i'll have them" ... and they then tried to charge him the same price they charged in the shop, which i guess is fine, but he was having non of that and managed to bargin down the price, which to me was a bit weird as you can't just half price a guinea pig? :/ BUT to make matters worse he then noticed another guinea pig in the shop section (not in the adoption bit) that he liked too and asked if he could have that one as well.... to me this just looked like he was impulse buying, going awww i'll have that one too.

Now, normally i'm guessing you'd tell him that that might not be the best idea and it might be better to get the two your buying, let them settle in and then may be think about getting another late on dwn the line.. or at least tell him that you'd need to keep them in different cages for a while and let them get use to each other etc etc before you can put them in together as they could very well fight, not to mention the ones in the adoption centre looked an awful lot older than the tiny baby ones in the shop.
...No they went "yeah sure, let me just check the sex"..
No word of a lie, they put the 3 guinea pigs in a box TOGETHER, took the gentalman to the till, sold them, and he left!
Left with no sawdust, no cage nothing, just 2 guinea pigs and a last min impulse buy one.

I was shocked.. i literally stood their looking at them like wtf.
And i no it sounds like i was there for 3 hours XD .. but all that happened under 20 mins, no joke, he came in, saw them, got them, got another 1 on the way to the till and then paid 4 them and went o__O

I mean if there just happily selling animal willynilley to anyone, mixing them in and all sorts, god knows how many have gone to awful homes you no.
I thought Pets At Home would hold a bit of respect!
Was so VERY wrong.
 
Thats really bad.

the P@H that i go to are really good and quiz you on where they will live have you had them before tells you what you need and wont let them be sold at the mo if they are going outside as its to cold.

and will not sell you boys and girls at the same time
 
Oh thats not good. I went in three p&h yesterday(thanks hubby for driving me round most of kent) I looked at the piggies up for adoption and I asked the sex, the assistant was very forthcoming and got them both out to have a wee look. Unfortunatly both were boys.If not they would have come home with me.
2 of the stores had piggies out but they wernt ready till Friday so wouldnt sell.Thank goodness for that, they looked soo small.
When I decided to get Boofle I was asked if I had had piggies before. Obviously I told them I have 2 at home. She was very very helpful, and even insisted on me taking pellets with me before I left.
Not all of the staff are as well educated as the ones I encountered in the 3 stores I went in. TUT TUT.Looks like I might have to get a job there myself.lol
 
It seems to very much depend on the management. Warrington P @ H is not too bad. Boars kept separate from sows in pink or blue pigloos. The adoption centre gives full details, and I have heard them questioning people. I have only been involved in 1 adoption from a P @ H (not Warrington) and they asked for a £10 donation.
I really wish though that they wouldn't put the 12 week old ones in there though, and some others, saying that they must live alone. Maybe they don't have the time/inclination/knowledge to advise on bonding. That is one definite down fall of the Warrington Branch. x
 
YES I asked about how much adoption was and she told me £10 per piggie.The ones I looked at first that she got out to see what sex they were, were 2 years old, and beautiful. Hub said oh they are to old to adopt anyways. NOOOOOOO. Tuts
 
fluffy69 said:
YES I asked about how much adoption was and she told me £10 per piggie.The ones I looked at first that she got out to see what sex they were, were 2 years old, and beautiful. Hub said oh they are to old to adopt anyways. NOOOOOOO. Tuts
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Steven was 5 when we adopted him, tell hub! :(|) xx
 
I told my mum today that I want another hutch so I can have boys as well.lol.
My son thinks I'm going to be a mad lady soon cos I talk to my piggies like they are human.lol
He thinks I'm mental.hahahamallethead
 
Before we got our two from the R.S.P.C.A., went into our local p@h to look at the piggies.
When we asked what sex they were, as they were all in one cage.
The assistant told us that "it dosent matter what sex a GP is, as they dont fight and will all live happily together".
And when we said that we dont want them breeding, she said "thats no problem, you can bring the babys here".
We were flabbergasted!

Our only visits to P@H now is for supplies(when asda etc. are not cheaper).
 
oh my god you should really not get me started on PAH.... :)>>>:)>>>:)>>>:)>>>:)>>>

PLEASE PLEASE complain about this to PAH central office. Detail exactly what happened and tell them how disgusted you are about the whole episode. Complaining is the only way of getting them to change their practices.

I agree it does depend on which PAH you are in as to how they treat the animals and how much information they ask, however they still breed and sell animals for money. To me that means I will not give them my business. I shop online so as not to support their blatant disrespect for animals.

Also you mention their "adoption charity". I know for a fact that alot of the animals sold in this part of the shop are old breeding stock, or the animals that have got too old in the main shop to sell. I find it unbelievable that they actually have a charity set up. It's a load of @$%£ and I've sent them a mail telling them exactly what I thought of it although they sent some smug response back completely missing my point. malletheadmalletheadmallethead

Sorry venting a bit here, it just winds me up sooooooooooooooooo much.
 
vanguard said:
Before we got our two from the R.S.P.C.A., went into our local p@h to look at the piggies.
When we asked what sex they were, as they were all in one cage.
The assistant told us that "it dosent matter what sex a GP is, as they dont fight and will all live happily together".
And when we said that we dont want them breeding, she said "thats no problem, you can bring the babys here".
We were flabbergasted!

Our only visits to P@H now is for supplies(when asda etc. are not cheaper).
Click to expand...

Complain to head office about this PLEASE!

Shopping online's always good for cheap stuff....:)
 
I've discussed PAH with nutmeg before as we both live in Warrington. They often move gps into the adoption bit of the store, giving the reason they need a home as the piggies have got too old to sell in store (at 14 weeks). I went in last week to get some supplies and there was a single boar in the adoption bit, yet the sign next to his cage had two names on it. When I asked the assistant she said that someone had homed the other gp the day before :(
Went in today and he's still there on his own :(
 
vanguard said:
Before we got our two from the R.S.P.C.A., went into our local p@h to look at the piggies.
When we asked what sex they were, as they were all in one cage.
The assistant told us that "it dosent matter what sex a GP is, as they dont fight and will all live happily together".
And when we said that we dont want them breeding, she said "thats no problem, you can bring the babys here".
We were flabbergasted!

Our only visits to P@H now is for supplies(when asda etc. are not cheaper).
Click to expand...

PiggiePal said:
Complain to head office about this PLEASE!

Shopping online's always good for cheap stuff....:)
Click to expand...

http://www.animalmagicpetsupplies.co.uk/ are fab! (and run by one of TGPF members - Holiday Hutch)

vanguard said:
Will get the address and send a letter in the morning.
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Customer Service Manager, Pets at Home Ltd, Epsom Avenue, Stanley Green Trading Estate, Handforth, Cheshire, SK9 3RN.

I'm voting with my feet and not shopping in P@H anymore.
 
Nothing P@H do now surprises me. I went in there a few wks ago and saw that they had two piggies up for adoption - as i was considering the possibility of adding to my current female paring, i inquired about their sex and told her from the outset that we were looking to add to our existing girls. She took the first out and proceeded to sex it - i instantly thought it was a boy, but she said she believed it was a female. She then took the other piggie out and i immediately said well that defo looks like a boy and she agreed and said it looked like a neutered male/female pairing. I asked if she could double check as i'd been done over before with mis-sexing so she went to grab the paperwork. After 5mins she came back and said unfortunately they were both intact males :{

The problem i have with this is that these two could have quite easily been sat in their 'for sale' section of piggies and right away i would have bought home at least 1 male to add to two girls....

I also inquired about their now selling of 3 pigs together - i said that i thought this was great in females, but i thought trio's of boars should be based upon personality and be done by someone with a lot of piggie experience as it can so very easily end up with 3 single pigs. She agreed that rarely 3 males pigs work out - so i have to ask: why are they selling them as such?

I emailed their head office with my concerns over them selling of 3 males together and also the sexing issues that still seem to remain at this store - even though i alerted them to the problem (8 months ago) when i found out my boy was in fact a female. The email i got back was:

Firstly I would like to apologise for the below complaint, I will look in to the sexing issues and ensure every one is fully trained on sexing the pets.

Trios of guinea pigs can work quite well, and many forums recommend trios. As with all aspects of pet keeping there is not necessarily one ‘right way’ for everyone.

This link from Guinea pig welfare states….

The domestic guinea pig is, on the whole, able to adapt to living in a pair, trio or group situation providing it is appreciated that not all guinea pigs will live together and some are not in a ‘place’ where they are ready for bonding. However, given time, guinea pigs should reach a state where they are able to be bonded with another guinea pig of their choosing.

http://www.guineapigwelfare.org.uk/guinea-pig-rescue/guineapigrehome/choosing-your-guinea-pigs/

The problem with their comment is in the last line of their email:

However, given time, guinea pigs should reach a state where they are able to be bonded with another guinea pig of their choosing.

People who go in to pet shops to buy guinea pigs are not going to choose the three male pigs they think get along best are they? No. they are going to choose the three males out of a whole bunch they they think are the cutest or nicest or have the best colourings. They are not at all letting the guinea pig choose when selling them as a trio. How can you possibly know through 10mins of observation of 10+ guinea pigs running around to know which get along best anyhow?

I think that statement could be true of females - but even then it takes a certain amount of knowledge of the pigs personalities to ensure a harmonious herd is created.

I think everything P@H staff say/do should be taken with a pinch of salt - it'll never change - no matter how many complaints they receive
 
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Sodapops said:
I also inquired about their now selling of 3 pigs together - i said that i thought this was great in females, but i thought trio's of boars should be based upon personality and be done by someone with a lot of piggie experience as it can so very easily end up with 3 single pigs. She agreed that rarely 3 males pigs work out - so i have to ask: why are they selling them as such?
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Quite simply

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and then if the trio doesn't work out there's the added possibility of people going back to buy extra cages etc...
 
yes i dont agree with a lot at pets at home,first off how can they give to that man without even asking questions,i go to my local petshop n they asked me questions all the time n I'm only buying seeds for the budgies!

secondly how can they SELL the guinea's when their in the adoption section,their for ADOPTION!,if thats the case it doesnt make them any different to the other guineas in the shop,

their treats etc are good in the shop,we regulary buy the boys things from there(at a price sometimes)but care wise their not very good,all the animals look doped up and the fish tanks always have a fish stuck to the filter!

arent the staff ment to be trained too look after the animals in there?
 
timzandsunz said:
yes i dont agree with a lot at pets at home,first off how can they give to that man without even asking questions,i go to my local petshop n they asked me questions all the time n I'm only buying seeds for the budgies!

secondly how can they SELL the guinea's when their in the adoption section,their for ADOPTION!,if thats the case it doesnt make them any different to the other guineas in the shop,

their treats etc are good in the shop,we regulary buy the boys things from there(at a price sometimes)but care wise their not very good,all the animals look doped up and the fish tanks always have a fish stuck to the filter!

arent the staff ment to be trained too look after the animals in there?
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Just out of curiosity what is the name of your local store?
I work for a pet store and we're trained on all our products on training days, recently (and sadly) we have started to sell animals. I haven't been trained to sell animals and don't want to be to be honest, it means I'm 'not allowed' to sell animals therefore I don't have the responsibility. (which I quite like). We have policies e.g. no selling of animals for presents, must buy certain stuff, can't be sold for breeding etc however I have to say head office are just in it for the money. I mentioned it in a thread before but basically the staff in store care about the animals and stick to the policies, but if that customer complains then head office is more than likely to take the customers side..
Makes me :)>>>
 
Thats disgusting! some do seem to be good, some seem to be bad, like was said, it does seem to depend on the manager, i have bought no animals from the p@h near me so I'm not sure, but when i looked they didn't seem to be mxing younger ones with other ones, and i couldnt see the sexes obviously, atleast at shelters, most ask fo a £20-50 donation or fee, so you know its going to a good home, i mean who will pay 50 for a pig to abuse it or, .. yeah.
 
Just so people know, we're building up a lot of information, veterinary, legal, and personal experiences to hit p@h hard, i want them to loose there licence, at least in my local store if not more. I may be posting note on here at a later date, and I may need your help. But its not just going to be little rant in store, ive had enough and I'm doing my best to stop them selling live animals.

Sorry if this offends anyone.

x.
 
Abi_nurse said:
Just so people know, we're building up a lot of information, veterinary, legal, and personal experiences to hit p@h hard, i want them to loose there licence, at least in my local store if not more. I may be posting note on here at a later date, and I may need your help. But its not just going to be little rant in store, ive had enough and I'm doing my best to stop them selling live animals.

Sorry if this offends anyone.

x.
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Good on you. There is ALOT of information stored on this forum about PAH's past misdemenours. I will keep this in mind and also inform the people I know incase you need any help xx
 
PopcornPigs said:
I mentioned it in a thread before but basically the staff in store care about the animals and stick to the policies, but if that customer complains then head office is more than likely to take the customers side..
Makes me :)>>>
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well this is different to every reply i've had from PAH when i've complained where they've managed to twist things round completely so that they were right and I was wrong.malletheadmallethead
 
Ok, now, we have a VERY VERY good P@H near us. With very knowledgable stuff who turn away sales if they feel the welfare of the animal is at all compromised. They know what they are talking about and the animals are always incredably healthy and always well fed and water.

Now, I am shocked that ANY of these P@H's are 'selling' the animals in the adoption centre as the animals up for adoption at ours are free, but they ask for a donation. Which is different than asking for a set price.

I feel very lucky to have a store like ours. I keep hearing horror stories from these places who should be the forefront of information for the keeping of the animals they sell.

Abi_nurse said:
Just so people know, we're building up a lot of information, veterinary, legal, and personal experiences to hit p@h hard, i want them to loose there licence, at least in my local store if not more. I may be posting note on here at a later date, and I may need your help. But its not just going to be little rant in store, ive had enough and I'm doing my best to stop them selling live animals.

Sorry if this offends anyone.

x.
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I REALLY don't want ours to shut as the other pet store in town keeps the animals in pretty bad conditions, often on their own, with no houses and more often than not, with bunnies.

-Carma
 
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Abi_nurse said:
Just so people know, we're building up a lot of information, veterinary, legal, and personal experiences to hit p@h hard, i want them to loose there licence, at least in my local store if not more. I may be posting note on here at a later date, and I may need your help. But its not just going to be little rant in store, ive had enough and I'm doing my best to stop them selling live animals.

Sorry if this offends anyone.

x.
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Glad to hear it! I agree that they should not be allowed to sell live animals.

My last experience with P@H: I went in about a week ago to the Pets at Home in Truro because some of the stuff I wanted to order wasn't available online (hour journey for me each way if I have to actually go there)

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Male and Female pigs separate, all pigs in one group from the same litter, so same age, bedding, water, food, pigloos, toys...

I purposely didn't so much as consider getting any of my pigs from them because of all the things I have read about them if I couldn't find any that needed adopting near me/ or if I couldn't get to my nearest rescue (no car)... but, after grabbing 3 bags of mini alfalfa bales for the babies, I was curious, I must admit. One of the girls was feeding the pigs so I stopped and asked a few questions about them.

She told me they had two girls left (checked them in front of me, so I could see for myself, picked them up and held them properly as well), they were 12 weeks old and from the same litter, I said I have pigs myself and she asked me about them and asked if I was thinking about getting more... I'm not but I told her "I'm thinking about it" to see what she said, and she asked me a load of questions, including where are they kept, their diet etc... She also told me that they don't want to sell the last two separate as they are "social animals".

I know that it would depend on the person you have attending you, this one was one of the knowledgeable ones, and I still believe they shouldn't be allowed to sell live animals but as I said, I was pleasantly surprised by her. I was expecting something similar to what I have read about. I'd still never get a pig from them though... or any other animal for that matter. I wonder, when that particular girl isn't working, who they have to sell the pigs and whether or not they are as knowledgeable or if they even care about who they are selling to/ their knowledge etc...

Just cause there might be a few good ones, its not worth what the pigs sold by the ignorant ones may/ may not have to go through - unacceptable risk. It might go further than that, all of the employees of that particular store or another may be properly trained and have an excellent knowledge of the animals but there are far more that are rubbish and don't care about anything as long as they get the money in your pocket. Its disgusting!
 
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My local store is pretty good, animals for adoption are obviously not 'older babies' - i've never seen one younger than 2-3 years! Once they did have a problem with the sex of the pigs- the breeder had sent them in separated mallethead you would think a breeder should know the difference between boys and girls!- they have now changed breeders.
It is horrible to think that there are so many bad stores! :)>>>

x
 
Is this the Chesterfield p@h cos usually they're really good, when my mum bought my niece a g/p from there they quizzed her for ages and when I went in to asked about a replacement part for my ferplast cage they gave it to me for free (even though I didn't buy it from them) and when p@h in drakehouse misexed my brothers piggie (should have been a girl but was a boy) chesterfield p@h sorted it all out and even phoned Drakehouse and complained.
I've never known Chesterfield P@h ask for a set price for adoption, when I've previously asked (recently) theyve said please make a donation as it goes towards their chosen animal charity.
 
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