Should I report them?

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Amysmom

Amysmom

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I visited a pet shop today-Prestwood Avaries.
Ive never really been keen on the place but we needed some guinea pig food-didnt have the one I use anyway.

We had a look and noticed some sad looking piggies in what they usually keep the hamsters in-a glass fronted 'cage' if you can call it that on the lower level on the ground-they used to be in large open pens in the middle of the shop but these are now used to store all the bags of hay! I noticed they had no hay and the one piggie was eating a bit of sawdust.There were 2 in one 'cage'-one of them looked rather fat (pregnant maybe?) and there was also one on their own.:(

There was a young lad on the counter so I told him that the piggies needed some hay-his reply was that they had been cleaned and fed the night before.I explained that piggies needed hay at all times.I also said that the 'cages' they were in were unsuitable and that RSPCA wouldnt be happy.He decided to write down what I said so he could give the note to the manager.

Question is will they do anything or should I report them anyway?
 
Poor piggies. I can't give advice but once when I saw piggies without hay in my local garden centre I took some out of the bag of hay I'd bought and slipped it in their cage. The little piggie in it went crazy wheeking with happiness and trying to climb up for mroe. I think I made his day.
 
Aww, tempting, but it wouldnt solve the problem long term though.
I wouldnt have been able to do that-the cages were glass fronted and locked!

I cant believe that the people working there wouldnt know that a guinea pig should have hay at all times.grrrr
 
Maybe print off some facts and take it into their office or some website links? Show them that you are talking truth and only after the guinea pigs welfare?

The ones I saw had a glass tank to but it had a jail bar like topping so I could slip the hay through quite easily.
 
The reality is, they may just not know. So definatly try taking in fact sheets. When i got into pet shops like pets at home and hear bad advice being given i talk about how appauling it is that the advice is wrong (VERY loudly. lol) but i know not everyone feels comfortable doing this... my mom always waits in the car for me now. :))

The other option is reporting them to your local council, as it is the council who issue the license to sell animals. People seem to have more luck with the council actually going to visit the pet shops in question than with the rspca.
 
the pet shop will wriggle out of it. My local one I go in every week (only place that sells green dog dry food) the piggies are out the back in like a covered area but it is so cold. The cages are on pallets but they never have any hay. I have said at least twice about the hay the answer is they have eaten it and it will be replaced later. I have never seen them with veggies but the response will be the same! My friend who keeps rabbits was going to report them as the cages were much too small to keep rabbits in, not sure if she did....sad isnt it?
 
if you are going to report it you should remove the name of the place from the thread

you never know who is watching and you could get in trouble for slander - i know its unlikley though
 
Bekki2308 said:
if you are going to report it you should remove the name of the place from the thread

you never know who is watching and you could get in trouble for slander - i know its unlikely though
Click to expand...

that is a good point actually....:))
 
Bekki2308 said:
if you are going to report it you should remove the name of the place from the thread

you never know who is watching and you could get in trouble for slander - i know its unlikley though
Click to expand...


I decided to mention the name of the place in case anyone here has been there and noticed this too.

People mention certain pets at homes in many threads so I didnt think it would be a problem.
 
Julesie said:
Maybe print off some facts and take it into their office or some website links? Show them that you are talking truth and only after the guinea pigs welfare?

The ones I saw had a glass tank to but it had a jail bar like topping so I could slip the hay through quite easily.
Click to expand...


The glass tanks they were in were on the bottom of a 'stack', there were rats and hamsters above them with birds right above.

When we went in there a few months ago there was a dead bird in one of the cages, I was about to tell someone but somebody else did it.
I just dont think the staff check the animals regularly enough.
 
Amysmom said:
I decided to mention the name of the place in case anyone here has been there and noticed this too.

People mention certain pets at homes in many threads so I didnt think it would be a problem.
Click to expand...

pets a home is a large chain - you should never mention the exact branch in question

with a smaller or independant chain its obvious which one you're talking about and its pretty easy to identify people using the internet though
 
I understand what your saying but I'm sure that some members have mentioned the area of the pets at home they were discussing

In my opinion sometimes places have to be 'named and shamed'.
 
Bekki2308 said:
if you are going to report it you should remove the name of the place from the thread

you never know who is watching and you could get in trouble for slander - i know its unlikley though
Click to expand...


Slander is if I was saying 'dont buy from here', 'this place is terrible' !
If your stating a true situation that is happening that is not slander.
 
I suggest you report them to your local council. There is a garden centre not far from us and they had a HORRIBLE pet section. The worsed I have ever seen in fact. The animals lived in appalling conditions and they gave crap advice. We complained to the local council even providing photos (don't ask) and I'm sure other people must have too. The garden centre has had a revamp. The pet section NO LONGER sells animals just food and toys and it is now a lovely place to visit xx
 
I totally agree with you! If they looked after their animals in the correct way then you wouldn't have to name and shame! There's no excuse for not looking after animals correctly I had never owned Guineas until last year but with the help of the internet and books you know how to treat them. I thinks it's disgusting!
 
Well. I'm not afraid to 'name and shame' - bad bad place! I bought two young sows from there several months ago......they were to be bonded with my two lonely newly castrated boars........I took the 'girls' home, put them in a cage together until such time as they could each be introduced to their new huspig.....but, even though I'd not even got them out of the cage, I just had a niggly feeling that they were actually boars and not sows.

Anyway, the next morning, I just had to have a look and yep, they were boars.

So we drove straight back over to the shop to return them.......only to be offered two of the other sows that were from the same pen....that would be sows that had been living with the two boars we'd been mistakenly sold as sows. Needless to say, we refused, very loudly!

I also told the staff (again, very loudly) that the remaining sows should be taken off sale until such time that they knew whether or not they were pregnant, but they told me that wouldn't happen, they would be left where they were and sold on. grrrr

Anyway, we don't use the place any more, on principle. Which is a shame, as the fish section is brilliant and is run by a very knowledgeable and experienced fish expert. We have had some lovely fish from there in the past, but we won't use it any more.
 
Oh my god-thats shocking!

I agree they have some lovely fish sold by a very knowledgable person-we have bought many pond fish from there and he was always very helpful, what a shame the same cant be said of the 'kids' who are selling the guinea pigs.

I'm still pretty sure judging by how fat one of them looked yesterday that it could be pregnant so someones going to have a suprise.

I am tempted to go one more time though and see if anythings changed but if it hasnt I will end up shouting at someone. grrrr
 
i hate petshops so much i avoid them as much as possible i went in to one yesterday to get a bag of hay and there was a hutch right in front of the door with really small puppies curled up together in a corner, they were lying on straw which looked really wet and they looked really cold as they were in the draught of the door grrrr
 
I have not been to the place you mention for years now but I have had several debates with them in the past. They are known for not offering the level of care to the small animals. The staff especially at weekends do not seem to have even the basic levels of small animal knowledge. Not always their fault they are often young and not had any training in small animal care and/or do lack experience in animal care. There does seem to be a lack of managers about.

I have not been in years as I did not want to support the shop due to their size of cages etc...

Many years ago I took in information on cage sizes/basic care of guineas/rabbits.

I don't drive so can't go to look.

I'd consider reporting them to the council and going back to see if anything has improved.

I have the same concerns about another large pet store in the Midlands not too far away part of a large shopping centre (those from the Midlands can maybe work out which one) I won't ask for placements for students there anymore as It's to me not giving out the correct example of animal care. I've seen behind the scenes when I did risk assessments there and had concerns. In fact many years ago as in about 10 I did a placement visit to be told by a student about a dead or brain damaged hamster in the office who was going to be thrown away after closing as a member of staff had dropped it on the floor whilst cleaning it out! I asked to see it and said I'd take it and it was not dead just in shock - was fine the next day and lived a happy life with me for 2 years!

I always feel I have to go in if walking past a pet shop to see how the animals are but try and stop myself now as I can get so annoyed/upset.

If I can get a lift I will try and pop there to have a look.
 
I know the one you mean AlisonT......that place is (in my opinion) even worse than Prestwood (and I know MerryPip will agree with me on that matter!)

I didn't mention on my earlier post, but early last year we had a look at Prestwood's "pet hotel", when we were looking for boarding for our piggies (before we started up www.vipiggies.co.uk).

Well, to say we were horrified would be an understatement.......a lock-up type building with shelf after shelf of cages (looked almost prison-like), the smell of faeces and urine was eye watering, and the adjacent room housed blimmin' big snakes! Eeeeep!

Oh, and the salesperson kept telling us that the building was locked and alarmed all the time (apart from a short period during the day when the cages were being checked on)....I think they considered this some sort of a 'selling point'....not for me, thanks! I want my guinea pigs to have some kind of human interaction when they're being boarded!

:{
 
I could only see 2 young lads there Saturday and to be fair the lad that I spoke to handled it very well.It was his idea to write down what I said-word for word even though he had a queue of people building up waiting to be served.He looked embarassed and apologised-he said something to the other lad (didnt quite catch it though) and I did get the feeling the hay situation was going to be sorted when I left.

I'm going to look for the relevant number and report them to the council-I will go back in the summer and see if anythings changed.
 
Avril said:
i hate petshops so much i avoid them as much as possible i went in to one yesterday to get a bag of hay and there was a hutch right in front of the door with really small puppies curled up together in a corner, they were lying on straw which looked really wet and they looked really cold as they were in the draught of the door grrrr
Click to expand...


Gosh is it legal to sell puppies like that in Ireland then?
You dont see that in England anymore thank god.
 
Ive just remembered-many years ago when I was 1st married (22yrs) we wanted a kitten-guilty of not thinking about rescuing one at that time although we did a few years later.We went into the 'said' petshop at the shopping centre and saw a little black and white kitten all on his own looking thin and sad-I had to have him!

We named him Barney, unfortunatley he contracted feline aids and had to be put to sleep when he was 7.8...

So strange to think how we used to see kittens for sale in petshops and I cant believe that petshop has been going for so long! I'm presuming it kept the same name though?
 
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