A bit of advice please!

I get my rabbit food from a local garden centre because my rabbit seems to like this particular brand. Well anyway everytime I go I feel really angry and upset how this man who owns the garden centre keeps his small furries. He used to keep them in a separate room from the birds but now has expanded his fish ornaments etc and has decided to display these there instead so has moved his rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils into the bird room which is like a long narrow room with no windows or ventilation from what I can see. The birds smell very birdy and dusty and it gets on your chest as soon as you enter the room and I think its so unfair to put other animals into a small room with all the various birds he has - which are all in small cages. Yesterday I couldn't resist having a look at the poor things and he has a small cage with about 8 or maybe more syrian hamsters in with no bedding for them and it was freezing cold. Same with the rabbits and other furries - hardly any bedding to keep them warm at all. I felt so angry and sad for them and wished I could take them all home with me. I know rabbits will probably be okay but I think it was wrong that he had so many hamsters in a small cage without any bedding - they get cold very easily and can hibenate if they get too cold.

Do you think if I ring the RSPCA they will do anything or not - or is this not really cruel - am I being a bit over-sensitive do you think

Ring the RSPCA and stop buying food there and support his business if you dont like the way he keep the animals.
We cant know how bad it is, but if you say its bad, then report him and hope they will take action

Well I don't think buying a bag of rabbit food every 4 weeks for £8.95 will make him go out of business or affect his business at all amts to be honest - its the only thing we buy there now since he has done this but I can't buy the food anywhere else because they don't stock it and its very good value and my rabbit loves it - we have tried numerous other foods and he doesn't really like them much so I don't want to deprive him and if I do it won't stop this man anyway

Deffinately let someone know.
To have a petshop and keep animals you have to have a licence, and your animals have to have a certain amount of room each.

I didnt expect you to be able to take him out of business by stopping to buy your bag of rabbit food there That comment was a matter of principle but totally up to you.
Continue to buy the rabbit food there then and call the RSPCA :smt102

imo the best rabbit food around is alpha rabbit herbal from GPS direct - it is divine it smells wonderful too - all herby and fresh... It really is fabulous stuff (PM me if you're interested and i can give you a link and some more info )

I agree with AMTS - a boycott on the shop would be a start. calling the RSPCA will not help at all. There are some truly appalling petshops that have been shut down and re-opened again that i know of, and the RSPCA do nothing. There is really not much you can do except confront the toad who runs the centre and tell him what an idiot he is. If you call the local papers and do a statement perhaps - what he needs is enough people avoiding his shop to cause a lack of business. Sadly, with garden centres, they have enough non-animal-loving clientale to warrant ignoring the animal aspect. You won't jeopardise his business by doing anything about the animals, and chances are he won't change his ways. This is why i can't go into garden centres that sell anials any more.

hope that helped a bit.

xx

Although a boycott on a bag of food wont affect his finances too much its the principle of the thing....afterall the fact I refuse to ever buy anything from a co-op wont send them into the red, but its my principle because of my strong beliefs so i stick to it & feel all warm & smug because of it! Why not write a letter to him & send a copy to the local council who license him...just stating why you wil never buy from him again . You could always dress it up a bit by saying you buy lots of stuff there every week & he is losing a valuable customer

I wish I was able to tackle him about it but I saw someone complain about the birds being dirty once and the mans father who is quite old gave them a right dressing down I suppose there is not much I can do except hope all the little furries get good homes soon where they will be a bit warmer

you can but hope - at least you recognise the problems that so many refuse ot acknowledge. I would say complain to environmental health as they can do far more than the RSPCA.

I have a personal dislike of the RSPCA and the lack of things they do in the name of animal welfare but that's another topic...

anyway... good luck whatever you choose to do. Sadly, where furries are concerned there's nothing anyone can do - the only time the RSPCA will step in is if they are starving or have no water.

xx

Actually, in a petshop, the RSPCA/local council have to do something if the animals are not in the correct amount of space per animal, so it is worth phoning them!
This counts for dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, hamsters, fish etc

The first animal is supposed to have X amount of room, and each additional animal needs Y amount of room added on.

EDIT: Just spoke to a friend who owns a pet shop, and she said as the local council set the licence terms, it's probably those you should be ringing.

There are a lot of terms to running a petshop, and you have to be inspected by environmental health etc.