It's no wonder people buy small hutches :(

I went to get supplies yetserday, and there's 2 pet shops nearby. One of them sells rabbits, so I don't go in there, and they had a hutch that could have been no bigger than 2.5 feet by 18" by 18". It stood on long legs, and the label on the front said 'Suitable Rabbit hutch' - it was £54

You can get a rabbit for £25, but this pathetic hutch, that I would consider cruel for G/Pigs was £54. Do you think rabbits should be more expensive to buy? I mean, the whole package for a rabbit, hutch, food, bedding etc could come in as cheaply as £80 from a pet store like this. If you had to pay £50 - £70 for a bunny, it would hike up the impulse price, and maybe make people think that their rabbit deserves better, as it has more value? I'm sure there's some psychology study that says that people that pay more for things think more of them...

I think ALL pets sold in pet stores should be much more expensive to buy.
For one it would encourage people to look for adoptions more instead of buying from pet stores, and it would also stop people from randomly buying a pet because they "feel like it" or because "the kids want it".
The pet being expensive would encourage people to do a bit of research at least before getting it, so that, even if they don't care about the animal, it will "last long" and be "worth their money".
There are just too many people who let their pets die because it's cheaper to just replace it with another pet than to pay vet bills.
This is often the case when parents don't care about the animals, and they make the kids believe that "there's nothing to be done, but you can get a new one when this one dies".

As for the hutch, that's just sad.
I still don't understand how pet stores, who are supposed to know more about pets and their well being than most of us, can have such low standards on hutches and cages, and just pet care in general.

Thats shocking, but not surprising at all.

I certainly dont think animals should be that cheap, they should be much more expensive - if people have to fork out more money to buy in the first place it may be an indication of whether they can afford to keep a bun.

However I dont know if it goes that the more expensive, the more likely they are to care. People pay a lot of money for pedigree dogs for example and they are still abandoned/ abused. I dong think cash has anything to do with being caring. Perhaps it just makes a person think more things are disposable.

And if rabbits are £100 each, what's to stop me breeding a few dozen in cramped conditions to make money. Look at puppy farms to see what happens when the price goes up.

James

James1966 wrote:And if rabbits are £100 each, what's to stop me breeding a few dozen in cramped conditions to make money. Look at puppy farms to see what happens when the price goes up.

James

Yeah, I thought of this downside too, if there is money to be made presently by selling rabbits at £25- where would the extra money go...

I would say though that if the profile of the rabbit were raised, which could, in part, be achieved by raising the cost, the next step would be to give the same legal protection to rabbit welfare that dogs & cats have. At the mo, very little of the animals welfare act re: rabbits,, is enforceable, because they are seen as less sentient than dogs, which clearly isn't true. The Govt's position is clear from their recent refusal to publish a code of practice for rabbits - clicky

I got very angry the other day and the adoption thing for a bunny said "My previous owner couldn't give me any attention." I got very annoyed after reading that this bunny was so beautiful and so friendly she just come up to the edge and put her paws on the side and looked at me like will you be my friend and my heart just melted.

I was flicking through the loot at work last night & there was a full page add for a pet shop with the prices of animals CROSSED OUT with the 'reduced' price next to it. Just made me sick. You could buy a mouse for £2 WTF!!!!

I know how you feel, somebody at work said she wouldn't pay much for treatment for her gunea pig when he was ill because if he died she could "just buy another one for 15 pounds" so basically saying it'd be cheaper to just let her piggie die and buy a new one I just didn't know what to say to her.

However, most petshops I have been in seem to have no clue about rabbits themselves...the best looked after I have seen were in pets at home Perhaps there should be stricter rules on WHO can sell rabbits...and live stock in their petshops - maybe some kind of test to prove they know all the things they need to. Rabbits should be advertised as having to have toys and space, dig boxes, the right food etc. People don't buy dogs to just lock them in a kennel..they get them to play with them and take them for walks, but with bunnys the whole image of them is wrong "stick them in a hutch all day and they'll be fine", I know it's slowly changing, but it's still frustrating.

I had no idea about about the govts refusal to do that, it's awful, how hard would it be for them just to make one change which would make so much difference to so many little lives

Sometimes I think the majority of people don't care enough.

Hutches are unbelievably expensive, even for the awful quality ones. I'm often surprised at the price of the indoor Ferplast cages too, more than a massive dog crate which give far more room & versatility!

When Scout broke her leg I recall my Dad telling me I could have bought 12 new rabbits for the price of fixing it.

I went into a shop the other week and they had a "suitable" hutch for £80 which was 3 foot, and then they had a chicken coop, which was quite large in comparison, so i thought "oh well thats good" - £400!? i have seen them for £200 online.

I walked in, hobbling on my crutches with my dad and went "£80 for a three foot hutch, OR £120 for a 14 foot shed/run combination like ours- makes you laugh doesnt it" and they gave me such filthy looks but ...you cant argue with someone hobbling around can you!

They had a mouse reduced to £2 too. and pedigree rabbits £25, non pedigree "just £10"

The amount I paid for the cages I have I didn't know at the time they could be in dog crates, had I of known that at the time I would have purchased dog crates straight away.

Velvet.Tears wrote:I got very angry the other day and the adoption thing for a bunny said "My previous owner couldn't give me any attention." I got very annoyed after reading that this bunny was so beautiful and so friendly she just come up to the edge and put her paws on the side and looked at me like will you be my friend and my heart just melted.

i don't think this would have annoyed me, not knowing the circumstances if she couldn't care for her pet looking for a better home for it was surely a better thing to do that leave the rabbit alone and bored.

A few people around me actually make hutches from reclaimed wood, they are normally much cheaper than pet store hutches and they are huge! i guess people don't shop around, if they buy a pet from a pet shop they buy the hutch from the same one too .... regardless of size. The assume small pet small space, and we all know thats not true.

I do so agree with everything everyone has said on this forum and Lilly grace, I don't know how you managed to keep your temper. How can she say such a dreadful thing about a little guinea pig and not care if he is ill and suffering? I worry about those in that piggy's situation constantly, I know they are out there but I feel so helpless. I agree, they should all be more expensive and people would then tend to give them the life they deserve.

Bunny Hugs


Jo xx

jolovesbunnies wrote:I do so agree with everything everyone has said on this forum and Lilly grace, I don't know how you managed to keep your temper. How can she say such a dreadful thing about a little guinea pig and not care if he is ill and suffering? I worry about those in that piggy's situation constantly, I know they are out there but I feel so helpless. I agree, they should all be more expensive and people would then tend to give them the life they deserve.

Bunny Hugs


Jo xx

I don't know, she's quite a difficult person in general and doesn't get on with many people at work so I've learnt how to tolerate her rubbish. Unfortunately, or maybe for the better...that piggie passed away a few months ago and then she promptly rehomed his brother. She only has a cat now, which I'm glad of. She's expressed how she thinks the cat a more precious, superior pet to her others in things she has said, it drives me nuts

There is always one at work isn't there love? I think you are very tolerant as she would drive me nuts too. I am afraid I have a short fuse where animal welfare is concerned, but I also realise that it doesn't do to loose ones temper.

Hugs

Jo xx

Im not really sure what to think. In one way, if rabbits were more expensive, I think alot more BYBs would breed to get even more money.
And potential lovely homes would perhaps not be able to afford a rabbit that could £50 + but would look after it 100%.

IF on the other hand rabbits, along with other animals, cats, dogs etc became alot cheaper, then BYBs wouldnt be getting the money for their animals so would hopfully stop breeding the sheer amount that there is now.

People would be able to put the money saved from buying an overpriced animal, towards better living conditions, food and medical care for said animal, therefore giving the animal a better quality of life.

See what I mean?

I totally agree though that £80 for a tiny hutch is ridiculous! I bought my rabbits shed for less then £150 and bought chicken wire to make a big 'bunny garden', all in all my 4 rabbits live together in their own shed, with at least 12 hour access to their garden, measureing about 5ft X 20ft. All costing less than 2 tiny hutches

Kate7590 wrote:Im not really sure what to think. In one way, if rabbits were more expensive, I think alot more BYBs would breed to get even more money.
And potential lovely homes would perhaps not be able to afford a rabbit that could £50 + but would look after it 100%.

IF on the other hand rabbits, along with other animals, cats, dogs etc became alot cheaper, then BYBs wouldnt be getting the money for their animals so would hopfully stop breeding the sheer amount that there is now.

People would be able to put the money saved from buying an overpriced animal, towards better living conditions, food and medical care for said animal, therefore giving the animal a better quality of life.

See what I mean?

I totally agree though that £80 for a tiny hutch is ridiculous! I bought my rabbits shed for less then £150 and bought chicken wire to make a big 'bunny garden', all in all my 4 rabbits live together in their own shed, with at least 12 hour access to their garden, measureing about 5ft X 20ft. All costing less than 2 tiny hutches

i don't think thats quite right either. If you lowered the price right down any small child/person could want one on a whim look after it for a couple days/weeks then just leave it. If it died they would just think oh well only cost me a few pounds can easily go and get another one from the shops. Makes them more disposable, which is defiantly not for the good of animals.

It's a bit od a quandry isn't it? Yo're kinda damned if you do and damned if you don't. The points raised in this have all been good ones, but there doesn't seem to be a simple solution.

My preferance is that they become more expensive. It may exclude some folk from rabbit ownership, and I'm not in any way being elitist about rabbit ownership, however, given what we know from the PDSA survey about the conditions that many UK rabbits live in (1M living alone, outside in cramped accommodation) then I think that this is a pay off for the better welfare of rabbits.

If buns were expensive and demand went down, so would the supply, so pet shop breeding farms would not be getting as much £. BYB's, you couldn't regulate really, it's all private and cash.

I have to agree with you, and actually it could increase the amount of rabbits being rehomed through rescue.

Most people impulse buy BEFORE finding out the infomation. I know I did. THEN when I found out about rescues I thought "oh if only I had known". Therefore if you could decrease the impulse buys by say increasing the price, you make a few people go home and read about them first THEN find out about rabbit rescues.

not everyone will go to a rescue obviously, but the people who would have had they known would.

Perhaps if - I know it would seem unrealistic - pet shops should do home checks like rescues do. If they care about animals, surely this wld be worth their time, I know I would want to if I owned/worked in one. Then when people buy the rabbit, it shld include the price of all the proper things they need...I suppose that would seem like too much hassle to most people

I agree with Jay, there is for and against for each senario. Yes, I agree with home checks too and and in an ideal world, every household would be checked to see if their pets are being well cared for - totally unrealistic I know.
You are right too Katie, it is a poser.

Hugs

Jo xx

How about real 'wish on a star' thinking... What if it was 500 for a pair of rabbits, but u got the whole package, accomodation of a suitable size for inside and out, and a jabs and neuter voucher redeemable at the vet of ur choice- or u can adopt rescue rabbits who are already neutered and jabbed, and are given a good insight into their personality and health, i know which i would rather do! (I hope im not repeating myself, i wrote a similar comment the other day and its not showing so i dont think it posted!)

If you could pay it in installments, that would be great

I havent sat and worked it out, but i have spent about 400 on my two in 2 mnths, just getting set up- indoor cage, outdoor hutch and run, all the little bits and bobs, and myxi and vhd jabs. I have 200 set aside for their speys, and i pay 25 pounds a mnth insurance for the 2- people should know they arent a cheap pet. As it happened i didnt intend of having pets at all, if someone had told me a few mnths ago i would end up with 2 rabbits living in my house and i would spend 600 on them (more if u count the insurance) i would have laughed! Yet here we are, and i couldnt be happier (except if willow would enjoy being cuddled and felix would stop chewing the carpet)

I went to a new place that sold hutches... I couldnt believe how small they were... I dont even think Binky would have fitted at all..... It made me so angry.. then my dauhgter reminded me that we have large buns and there are a lot of small buns out there...

I think it would be helpful when selling hutches if there was a guideline ie size ratio to hutch , so people with no knowledge can understand..

If I had it my way I wouldnt let any hutch be sold without a run at least... and a leaflet explaining how to look after a bun and the choices... One of the places I go to does this and its great... Pets at home .. think thats the name

Dawn