I went into my local pet shop today and I am worried about their standards of cleanliness.

First I looked in the bird cages and their was avian faecal matter in their water. The water was not clear but yellowy green.

Then I looked to the bunnies and the poor bunnies had urine in their straw and faecal matter.

I walked out in disgust.

Should I complain to the council?

YES!!!!!!! with bells on!!!!!!

Complain! When in doubt complain.

I still think it's wrong that some pet shops are allowed to keep kittens in cages, they look so sad and lonely with no toys nor treats when all the rest get sold and they are probably left there all night in the darkness....

I think it should be illegal for both dogs and cats to be sold at petshops... I think it now is for dogs thankfully.....

and there should be very tight regulations about the standard they are kept in that includes how clean they are kept and the size of the place they are kept in.

You'd think owning a pet shop this would come naturally to the owners..... Sadly I often wonder...

It is not illegal for cats, kittens, dogs or puppies to sold in pet shops, so long as that shop is licensed to do so. The license would usually specify the maximum number of each speicies that they can have in the shop at one time.

Pet shops are licensed and inspected by the local council Environmental health dept but as routine they are only inspected once a year.
Some councils use vets to do this inspection, others use the local Environmental Health Officer so that who you need to complain to.

Are you suggesting that the petshop staff should change the rabbits hay, every time one of them pees or poos?

Yes when it turns into a thickly clumped mess which could endanger health.

A clumped mess to me suggests that they don 't clean them often enough.

how do you mean clump? not trying to exonerate the shop here, but some rabbits when in a change of location stop eating their soft pellets like they are supposed to, they soon start again when they become less stressed however.


yeah... the first pair of guinea pigs i sent to a pet shop, one of them died in the store - the owner was changing their feed one day from sticky food, to muesli, to sticky food again, when they were used to muesli
both water bottles had vit C suppliments in them (something i never use) and they weren't being given fresh veg at all.

i had a right go at them, gave them a lecture on how to look after them & thankfully the second pig survived

i later found out that they had bought a litter of 6 from another breeder before me - all of which died in store, probably the same way mine did

Well this was a thick clumped mess of urine and straw. It stank.

Yes definitely complain to the local RSPCA because that's what I would do as I couldn't bear to think of poor animals and birds not having fresh water, clean bedding and proper food.

Pets at Home (mostly rightly) get criticized for their animal husbandry, yet at my local P@H they manage to keep their for sale animals in a clean environment.

If they can manage it with the halfwits they seem to employ, anyone can.

So report to the council, RSPCA and your local newspapers. I have been involved in a pet shop protest (to stop them selling puppies) so I might even be inclined to take some direct action such as printing off a load of flyers and spend Saturday morning outside the petshop asking people to go to an alternative supplier that either carries no livestock or treats their live stock as living, breathing creatures capable of suffering, not just money makers.

My nearest Pets at Home is also really good with a lot of caring and friendly staff. Everywhere is clean, the rabbits and guinea pigs have good living/play areas with fresh water, food and clean hay. There is a nice area for the various birds who all chirp away happily and when they have chinchillas they looked well cared for too.

I would go back take pics with a mobile phone and send them off along with a letter of complaint

They had cleaned the bunnies out but there was straw all over the carpet. The baby bunnies are so cute.

The birds' water supply is mucky still but they have moved them to a place where the light is better and they see the sunshine and the canaries were having a lovely time singing such beautiful songs. I could have listened for ages.

Unfortunately,where they moved the birds to is not possible to take a discreet photo(s).