1 December 2015

Why I Hate Pet Shops

I should probably qualify the statement in my title.  A good pet shop, one that sells toys, food, pet aides, crates, beds etc is invaluable particularly when the people who run it are generally friendly, helpful and a mine of pet related information.  The lady who ran our favorite pet shop in Astana was absolutely brilliant in this regard and I love to go into the Pets at Home warehouses in the UK – it is like a treasure trove of wonderful things for your pet.

No, the type of pet shop I hate are the ones that sell animals with absolutely no regard for their welfare and sadly they are still all too common here in Malaysia.  A friend of ours got their cats through one of these shops and they have had a variety of health problems - our little stray, Kismet, rescued from the streets was much healthier - a true indictment on the 'care' these places provide their charges.

One of the pet shops near our home sells a wide variety of exotic pets as well as puppies and kittens taken from their mothers too early and left to wait alone and un-socialised in a cage.  This is why I hate pet shops…

This poor cat has nowhere comfortable to sleep and has no place
to hide from prying eyes
 
No real enrichment for this poor chap

This ferret is practically bald

A poor environment for young pups to grow up in

Completely un-socialised a bad start in life


Poodles are clever- he must be bored stiff

Desperate for any interaction or loving contact

And marked down because no one wants him

Yes - this really is a raccoon being sold as a family pet!

These little chaps sold for £15 will probably end up being 'liberated'
into an overcrowded temple pond for 'merit'.


Click on the picture for more posts about Malaysia


Ersatz Expat

Posted as part of the Eco Gites de Lenault Animal Tales Link up

ANIMALTALES

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this! it really is an eye opener for people. I hate pet shops too but as long as people buy from them they are never going to go out of business, it's a shame because if most people saw this they would probably not shop there again! sharing :) #AnimalTales

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    1. Thanks Charlotte. I get very upset when I see the animals and my first impulse is to buy them to help them but of course I can't afford it and it would be counter productive. I remember seeing lots of pet shops like this in Paris when I was a little girl but I hope that they have stopped selling the poor animals now. Those puppies are ruined in so many ways.

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  2. with you all the way, I find them quiet distressing, ok for tiny animals like a hamster but not larger ones #AnimalsTales

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    1. Yes I agree, hamsters etc are ok (as long as they are well cared for) but those poor pups and that cat having to sleep on a wire floor in the middle of the room. It makes me very angry.

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  3. the pet shops here selling animals is huge business, i won't purchase anything from a pet shop that sells live animals, they were just as bad in South Africa also

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    1. It is heartbreaking isn't it. I suppose all we can do is hope that things will change, slowly and surely.

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  4. It's so upsetting pet shops like these that have no concern for animals' welfare. Too often their puppies also come from 'puppy farms.'

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    1. A woman around the corner from me runs a puppy mill and cat farm/colony. I think our rescue/stray might have been an escapee from there. Our vet reports her to the authorities with wearisome regularity as do the compound management but she just goes quiet for a while and then starts up again. Awful, awful, awful. The pups are sold for a lot of money (the black lab/retriever was for RM1180 and that was with a 20% discount) minimum wage here is RM800 give or take so in general they are going for an average month's salary. Big business.

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  5. So sad and totally not necessary ... except of course some-one is making money from these poor creatures. In France the only pet shops I have seen are in garden centres selling fish, hamsters etc and birds. I can cope with the fish and to a degree the small furry creatures but feel caged birds are wrong. I have seen fish sold but never any others so I am not sure how popular rodents and birds are. I always hope any birds sold go to a larger aviary than the small cages that are in the garden centre. #AnimalTales

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    1. So pleased to hear the larger animals are no longer sold in pet shops - the ones in Paris when I was a little girl were just so sad.

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