# Adopt don't shop!



## Stayc1989 (Mar 24, 2016)

If you are thinking of getting a small animal why not visit a rescue centre instead of you local pet shop/breeder.
Yes you will need to have a home check. But apart from that there are no other reasons not to adopt. So if you have nothing to hide, you wouldn't mind the home check. 
Firstly you will receive a lifetime of help and advice from the rescue and with most offering to take them back off you if your circumstances change and you find you are no longer able to look after them anymore. 
Here are a couple more reasons to adopt and not shop for pets. 
: From any reputable rescue all animals should be up to date with jabs, worming, anti flea treatment etc. They should also be micro chipped and neutered. 
: Will not be sold wrong sex/already pregnant animal. 
: You are freeing up a space in the rescue for a desperate animal in need. 
: Your new pet will have been treated with respect and have had a full health check before coming home with you, unlike from a breeder where your new pet is literally just "stock" not a little life. 
: A lot of people seem to think that animals in rescues are "damaged" this is not always the case, some animals come into rescues after their doting owner has passed away or become homeless. 
: If you only buy from shops/breeders because you want a young animal and you think rescues don't have them, you couldn't be more wrong, there are lots of baby animals being born in rescues everyday, you could always visit a few just to see what they have available. 
: You are giving an animal a second chance at having a happy and loving home, for what maybe their first time to ever feel loved and happiness.
: Your wanting a pedigree but you think they "don't do pedigrees in rescues!" Again you couldn't be more wrong, people will neglect/dump/get bored of anything no matter how much it cost them! If you are wanting a certain breed, again you could always visit a few rescues. 
Also rescues help you find what you are looking for in a pet personallity wise as well as looks wise, whereas a breeder will tell you anything to gain a sale "oh yes that puppy's house trained" *gets puppy home and weed everywhere!* Same as petshops do "why is that fish laid on the bottom of the tank?" - "it's asleep!"


----------



## Muttly (Oct 1, 2014)

Pets at Home actually do have a rescue area away from the ones they sell. You only pay for the cage and equipment, not the animal. They actually work with local rescues. So not all pet shops are bad 
Also real breeders won't tell you any old crap to make a sale, that's a Back Yard Breeder. A real breeder, you will be selling yourself to them, not the other way round!

But yeah, fair play on your intent of this thread, I agree to go to rescues first if that suits you.


----------



## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

As @Muttly said, don't tar all breeders with the same brush, many care intently for their dogs and puppies and want the very best for them and wouldn't dream of lying in order to make a sale.


----------



## Stayc1989 (Mar 24, 2016)

Okay so some are reputable breeders but a lot aren't. And a lot do lie, it's all over the papers and news at the minuet. If everyone stopped breeding then there would be no pets left, so I understand it's important for SOME to breed animals but I was in the vets last week and the receptionist took a call and basically someone had a puppy at 6 weeks old and wanted to have his injections and the receptionist was asking what injections has he had and why he had left his mother so early and the owner didn't know so the receptionist asked them to contact the breeder and find out, so they call up again A few mins later and said he didn't have any but they were told he had! So the vet said there was nothing they could do at that time because they obviously didn't know if he had or not so told them to call back when he was 8 weeks.

Also I have a dog who I got from someone I know. Hers was an accidental pregnancy and when they were 6 weeks old she said she was wanting rid of all the puppies because aparantly they were chewing their mum to bits?! So obviously we had him as she was saying she was going to dump them, now he's nearly 5 years old and has behavioural problems, he can't get on with other dogs and has social issues the vet has told us and she said this is due to him being taken from his mum so early. 
The best breeders to get puppies from is people who don't let their dogs have litter after litter and ones where the dogs are in a home environment. Although this post is not just about dogs it's about all animals and I have naively bought Guinea pigs from pet shops in the past (2014 was the last one I bought from a petshop) and they have had several health issues which went on to cost me an arm and a leg to treat.

I don't really like pets at home too much because I have heard they put animals they can't sell to sleep (not sure how true this is) and plus I bought a Guinea pig from there who had health issues and was asked "do you want to swap it for another one?!" We were offered nothing to help with vets treatment but when he was better we were given a free health check, which we didn't even need as he had been regularly going to the vets for his treatment anyway so regularly had them paid for by ourselves. Obviously we didn't mind paying it because we had taken him on so therefore was our responsibility but he was obviously unwell when we got him as he was rushed to the vets the next day! If I'd have gotten him from a rescue he would only have come home if he was given a clean bill of health. 
Plus there have been a lot of reports about Guinea pigs in petshop being lethal whites (these are Guinea pigs that are born deformed and usually blind and deaf with dental problems) and they are born when a Dalmatian Guinea pig is bred with a roan Guinea pig. So these poorly little animals have come straight from the breeder straight into the petshops! From breeders who clearly have no idea what they are doing or simply don't care


----------



## Stayc1989 (Mar 24, 2016)

Sorry I did also forget to mention that the girl I know who had the unexpected litter (my dog) also tried selling the pups for £200 each and when no one was interested she decided to charge £30 for them instead and once she'd got rid of them she then bred one of the pups with her dad and tried to say they were full staffy and again tried to charge £200 each for these pups and again didn't get it so most ended up in local rspca, my mum wanted to report her to the rspca but how could we prove she's threatened to dump them? If she never actually did it? 

I think they should bring in a breeders licence so that only reputable breeders can sell animals and if accidental pregnancies happen the owners should be fined for not having their animals spayed. Or if they buy from a petshop and the animal is already pregnant, the petshop should be fined. Therefore petshops should issue a full receipt for the pet and the vets can work out if indeed the animal was already pregnant before the sale to stop any foul play from new owners. So buyers would ask to see the licence and if the breeder cannot produce then the buyer knows this is an illegal breeder and should report them straight away, there are so many people making a killing from breeding animals in such terrible conditions and even in breeding, it needs to be stopped and these breeders even avoid paying tax as is is classed as "a hobby" but someone who sells too many items on eBay goes to prison for not paying tax it's ridiculous!


----------



## Wee T (Dec 6, 2015)

I would ideally have liked to rescue when looking for a hamster but there were very few rescues here who had small furries and none had hamsters at all.

Couldn't make contact with a breeder either.

We're we live the only choices were Pets at Home, smaller pet shop or Gumtree. 

Worryingly when we asked about a hamster in our Pets at Home's rescue section they confessed they rarely get true rescues in and the hams in the rescue tanks were infact their own unsold hams, just transferred over.


----------

