Dogsey

Great news and a triumph for common sense ..

What a result

Removing CMs books is a Good Thing.

Selling pets for adoption with cats in pens in their stores is a Bad Thing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...als-shops.html

That's brilliant!

No, they're not Malka. They're giving space to rescues to bring animals along. P@H are not involved in any transactions.

Dear customers and animal lovers,

Pets at Home notes the article entitled “Anger as charities sell off rescue cats at pet superstores” published in the Mail on Sunday (16/03/2014).

We are huge supporters of rehoming charities and are deeply angered that their important work has been undermined by an ill-informed and negative article by the Mail on Sunday.

We’d like to reassure any concerned customers or animal lovers that we absolutely do not sell any rescue cats and dogs, nor do we make any money from any of our rehoming charity partnerships.

We are passionate about pets and are champions of responsible pet ownership. The sad fact is that there are still many pets which are left abandoned. As a result we have long term partnerships with a number of rehoming charities to help abandoned cats and dogs back into loving homes through in-store rehoming centres.

We offer store space free of charge to certain charities to allow then to carry out their much needed re-homing work. These centres are manned full time by the charities who are experienced and fully qualified when rehoming animals in their care. We are confident that they would only allow animals to be passed on to responsible and committed new owners. Below is some information from each of them to show what they do.

We also note that Mike Jessop, a veterinary professional, quoted in the Mail on Sunday article, also has criticisms about the way cats are housed in our stores. This is organised by the respective charities and we have absolute faith that our partners ensure that all animals have the best possible care, are supervised and are as comfortable as possible in the purpose-built units, which are in a completely separate area to the rest of the store. For example, the Battersea and Dogs Trust units have a whole room for the dog to chill out in, complete with a sofa for them to lounge on. Prospective owners are vetted in the same way as when you go to any of these charities’ re-homing centres, including home visits if required by the RSPCA and Battersea.

We have invited Mr Jessop to come in to speak to us and review our state of the art facilities first hand.

We also extend this invitation to Alison Smith-Squire, the journalist responsible for the article and we would encourage the Mail on Sunday to publish our response in their newspaper for any concerned readers and animal lovers.

Pets at Home are full supporters of rehoming charities. They do an amazing job and since its establishment, ‘Support Adoption For Pets’ has awarded over £4.5 million in grants to a variety of local and national animal re-homing charities and rescue centres.

We also donate through Pets at Home’s VIP Club, whose reward currency is ‘Lifeline points’ which convert into gift cards that charities can spend in Pets at Home stores. So far this has donated £2 million worth of food to Dogs Trust re-homing centres. The scheme has also raised around £400,000 to other charities to date.

Overall we are proud of the work we do with our partner charities and we would encourage anyone to donate to these worthwhile organisations to help support their work against animal homelessness.

Cats Protection:

It is a very sad fact there are too many unwanted cats in the UK in need of homes. Cats Protection has over 6,000 cats currently in care so having a homing and information centre in a Pets at Home store will help to encourage more people to consider adopting a homeless cat. It will also enable us to further promote cat welfare and responsible cat ownership to the public. This follows in the footsteps of other animal welfare charities that already have homing centres in Pets at Home stores.

The welfare of cats will be safeguarded in the same way as that of the cats in our care across the UK and potential adopters will go through the same process as they would when adopting from any Cats Protection centre, ensuring people cannot buy a cat on impulse.

The centre in Pets at Home will contain spacious pens that have been custom-built to our welfare standards and the cats will be cared for by charity’s staff and volunteers. It has purposely been separated from the rest of the store to avoid large numbers of people passing by the pens.

The centre is the latest step to expand our capacity to find unwanted and abandoned cats new homes, in addition to our existing network of 287 branches and centres.

To adopt a cat from Cats Protection anywhere in the UK, we ask for an adoption fee to enable us to carry on helping more cats in need. Whilst fees do not cover the cost of looking after the cats, they go some way towards helping us continue the day-to-day cat welfare work.

helpline@cats.org.uk

www.cats.org.uk

Dogs Trust:

Dogs Trust has a well established and successful partnership with Pets at Home. We are able to raise awareness of our rescue dogs and offer advice to dog owners through our Advice and Adoption Centres within Pets at Home stores.

We do not rehome any of our dogs directly within the stores and if there is any interest in the dogs on show they are rehomed in the normal way through the local Dogs Trust rehoming centre. This is a rigorous procedure and most certainly not something that happens overnight as implied in the article.

This partnership was established as we were concerned that people were not aware of the risks in buying a dog from a pet shop, ‘pet superstore’, through classified advertisements or an irresponsible breeder. By having a regular presence in a large retail outlet we are able to meet thousands of potential new owners and talk to them about responsible dog ownership and what to look for when buying a dog.

This is also an opportunity for us to showcase a selection of the fantastic dogs available for rehoming from Dogs Trust. Each Pets at Home store receives on average 4,000 visitors a week so we able to reach a large audience of people to educate them about responsible pet ownership, the benefits of owning a dog and to encourage them to rehome from Dogs Trust.

Dogs Trust has dedicated staff members in the stores all of the time who feed and walk the dogs as well as greeting the public and answering any questions that people have. The dogs all have regular rest times and walks. The dogs are brought by staff from the Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre in the morning and taken back at the end of the day.

www.dogstrust.org.uk

RSPCA:

As the largest rehomer of rescue animals across England and Wales, the RSPCA has a strong interest in happy and healthy pets and we recognise the animal welfare benefits of promoting rehoming through a company like Pets at Home - which reaches the kind of people who may not normally come to a rescue centre.

The first RSPCA adoption centre opened in the Pets at Home store in Stockport in November 2012. Since then over 150 animals have been adopted directly from the adoption centre or following referrals to local RSPCA branches and animal centres.

The RSPCA and Pets at Home are committed to supporting responsible pet ownership. All RSPCA animals rehomed via Pets at Home are done so in accordance with the charities strict adoption procedures and carried out entirely by RSPCA staff and volunteers.

Further information:

The RSPCA has strict welfare standards for any of our animals showcased in store and they are looked after by RSPCA staff and volunteers.

If a dog features at an adoption centre there will be two members of the RSPCA in store too, the dog will never be left alone, it has regular exercise and our staff will keep a very close eye on it to ensure if it not suffering from stress.

Dogs which are featured in-store are often long stay dogs looking for homes and most seem to appear to enjoy a break from life in the kennels. All our dogs are vaccinated, have all been assessed by branch or centre staff and are considered suitable to mix with the public and children.

We discourage people from buy pets from shops on impulse without fully being aware of the commitment they are taking on. Anyone interested in adopting an RSPCA cat, dog or rabbit they have seen at a Pets at Home adoption centre will be referred to the branch or animal centre where the adoption process and home checks will take place as normal.

In the case of dogs our staff in store will speak to potential adopters about the dog and answer any of their questions before referring them on to the RSPCA branch or centre.

Contrary to misleading media reports, the animals are not being "sold", they are being showcased in three specially created adoption centres in-store, and interested members of the public can find out how to adopt them from the relevant branch or centre. All of the animals are cared for on site by RSPCA volunteers and staff and their welfare is our top priority.
http://www.rspca.org.uk/utilities/statement/0214_8
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home:

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home has its own dedicated small centre within one Pets at Home store in Sydenham. It is fully fitted to our high rescue centre standards and Battersea staff and volunteers are there every day with one cat and one dog that are brought from our conveniently located Brands Hatch Centre.

Our animals are constantly under the care of Battersea's own highly trained staff who accompany them to the centre inside Pets at Home. Dogs and cats are never stressed or left caged. No dog or cat is taken if it is not sociable and happy to meet people.
Our animals are rehomed through a detailed and strict procedure no differently those rehomed through our main sites.

No welfare standards are breached and like our colleagues in Dogs Trust, RSPCA and Cats Protection we use the site as an extension of our main rescue centres to educate the public about dog and cat welfare, teach people how to care for their pets, answer questions about pet behaviour and advise on training. If an enquiry to rehome an animal is made, we take everyone through our usual rehoming procedures. We never allow impulse rehoming.

Anyone interested in learning more about Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, animal behaviour or pet care as well as the great benefits of rehoming a rescue animal should come along and meet our team at Pets at Home in Sydenham.

www.battersea.org.uk

About time! Maybe television will be next

I stand corrected on that one - I apologise. As I had not read any follow-up I had no idea that the article to which I linked was incorrect.

You really shouldn't believe anything you read in the Daily Mail! Lol

That's good and, as said, perhaps they can get him off of Animal Planet (he is all over it like a rash).

I think Pets @ Home are doing what they can. Every little helps when it comes to strays and rescues. I've seen many saying they won't ever donate again to this that or other place regarding rescue animals. I do sometimes wonder if they were really donating in the first place? Some of them would probably welcome as many donations as they get moaners and criticisers.