Identifying a good pet shop can be hard. What do I look for? What should the shop offer? What should I expect?
To help the decision making process Pro-Pets have produced a poster giving
the public pointers to what they should look for in a good pet shop. This
will be mailed free to every pet shop in the UK with leading trade magazine "PBWNews",
as well as being distributed to veterinary surgeries, EHO's, animal welfare
organisations and other organisations that come into contact with the pet
keeping public.
Pet shops that are maintaining good standards should look at the poster, think "we do all of that" and be proud to display the poster to publicize their achievements.
Keith Davenport (OATA and Pro-Pets chairman) said:
"If they still exist there is no room for bad pet shops. Pets badly cared for, or poor advice offered, by a single pet shop potentially undermines our whole industry. For over 50 years local authorities have had the power to shut down shops not looking after the animals they wish to sell as pets.
The minimum acceptable standard for a pet shop is "good". This poster and the materials on the ProPets website, both those present now and those to be added in the future, will help the public choose to buy only from good pet shops by telling them what to expect.
By doing this we hope those not offering a good service will stick out like sore thumbs and suffer commercially and those selling pets poorly come under scrutiny from the relevant licensing authorities.
By reducing the chance of unfair competition by those who ignore reasonable standards good petshops will be able to continue to offer the standards of care the animals we sell deserve."
