Why does Pets at Home divide opinions?

Hi everyone I hope you and your furry friends are all happy and healthy, in this week’s blog I want to talk about Pets at Home. This is a company that we all know of and seems to divide opinion amongst rabbit owners so I would like to share my own personal views and experiences with them.

First of all, I want to make it clear that I have never purchased any rabbits from pets at home and can not comment on any checks that they do or don’t make about customers knowledge of rabbits or the set ups that they require. I am only going to comment on what I have seen or purchased myself. I also want to make it clear that I have no interest in promoting nor discouraging anyone with my views on this company.

So then, something that I have noticed in the stores that I have visited is that the rabbit’s enclosures are covered in wood shaving. Personally, I am not a fan of wood shavings due to the dust that comes from them which rabbits can inhale, potentially causing breathing issues. Other problems are that they can occasionally be ingested causing gut issues. Also scented wood such as pine or cedar can contain irritant resins which can cause lung damage, here’s what the RWAF have to say on wood shavings https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/be-careful-with-wood-shavings/. For more information on bedding feel free to read about it here.

I have also seen that in Pets at Home they do not offer a better price for purchasing rabbits in pairs. As all rabbit owners should know, rabbits should not be kept by themselves and are much happier and healthier when in a pair (As long as they are friends). For more information on the importance of keeping rabbits in pairs please check out our previous blog. I personally think if you had a saving for purchasing two rabbits it would encourage people to get a pair, even if they didn’t originally know that they shouldn’t be kept by themselves. Obviously ideally the customers would know everything they need to know about rabbits and be willing to spend whatever they need to in order to have the healthiest and happiest rabbits.

One item that I have purchased from Pets at Home is timothy hay as that is what our rabbits prefer to have and I usually find it greener and just generally nicer than meadow hay. Unfortunately, I have been disappointed each time I have had no other choice to purchase the subpar Pets at Home timothy hay, it has usually been purchased because of needs must but I’m afraid that I have never been impressed at all with it and find it to be of poor quality.

My next frustration with the UK’s biggest pet store chain is their ‘hutches’. The majority I see for sale should not be sold without a run attached or at a minimum it should be clear when purchasing that the ‘hutch’ is not suitable to keep a rabbit in for an extended period of time. I feel they should be a leading voice for education amongst rabbit owners and should be promoting the ‘Hutch is not enough’ movement, for more on that please check out our blog on it. (Why a Hutch is not enough blog)

One positive I do have about Pets at Home is when that we were purchasing goldfish a few years ago, they did ask several questions to see what kind of set up we had. They wanted to know how big our set up was and how long the water pump had been running in the tank for, only when they were happy with the answers would they sell to us. I have also seen them refuse to sell to customers who do not have the correct tank size for the quantity of fish that they want. Although, it does make me wonder how those tens of fishes go on in the tanks in store.

 I do hope that at least some questions are asked to new rabbit owners and are only sold to responsible buyers. I also want to give them credit for not selling rabbits over the Easter weekend, this is obviously a boom period for rabbit sales with the Easter bunny seen everywhere and young children wanting their very own fluffy bunny, when in fact rabbits and small children are usually not a great combination. Credit to Pets at Home on putting the rabbits’ welfare first on this occasion.

I hope you have all enjoyed this weeks’ blog and I would love to hear your experiences from shopping with Pets at Home.