Can Pets at Home refuse me back my hamster?

ClareEmily

Amethyst_ice wrote: »

I have never said how pets at home have called the hamster an 'it'.

I have always been concerned with his welfare so don't accuse me of treating him like an item! I am not one of those pet buyers who gets them impulsivly, we had a cage set up ready and went with the intention to get him. We rang up to ask for advice and becuase it is company policy to treat the animal for you we did that. they have a registered vet in branch.

We rang up this morning and he has has a course of antibiotics, a small scab left where his injury was and i am going to collect him later.

If you go to a private vet you have to have it cleared with the store first before they consider paying costs. Where they have a vet available they offer a free service first.

Surely if P@H didn't have qualified vets they would be subject to trading standards and animal welfare councils.

If we do find he has any more problems we will take him to another vet but it seems fair to let the store try right a wrong first.

The man on the phone called him a 'little guy' the whole time and seemed generally concerned about his welfare. The antibiotics he has been on is what any other vet would have put him on too. x

Fantastic news glad he is going home to you

If it was a campanion care vets in store most are brilliant, they are the only ones I found to be rabbit savvy, you did the right thing.

kindofagilr

Amethyst_ice wrote: »

I tried to post a pic but dunno how.

Hes a syrian black bear.

Im quite ill today but i want him back soon. gonna put him on some probiotic...then leave him to settle ..all this stress wont be doing him well but they are toughies. Then we can start getting him used to us, from the one night we had him he seems very friendly and willing to approach us x

we want some dwarf hammies but the spare cage we have is wide barred

Aww yeah they can squeeze tight lol.

We initially wanted a Roborovski (probably spelt that wrong lol) but when he brought some out for us to look at they run SO fast and they can't really be handled cos you cant catch them.

So then we saw Wispa he was the last one in the cage and we felt so sorry for him, he was 14 weeks old when we got him, had him nearly a year now

shegirl

kindofagilr wrote: »

Aww yeah they can squeeze tight lol.

We initially wanted a Roborovski (probably spelt that wrong lol) but when he brought some out for us to look at they run SO fast and they can't really be handled cos you cant catch them.

So then we saw Wispa he was the last one in the cage and we felt so sorry for him, he was 14 weeks old when we got him, had him nearly a year now

We have two Roborovskis and they are soo adorable and funny with their speed!They can be handled but after a lot of them getting used to you and in the rigt situation,have to be very alert though just in case lol.Much more fun watching them run like crazy around their little adventure playground though

samboette

Amethyst - I'm really pleased your hamster is coming home.......you did the right thing, i'm sure he'll love his new home!!

Proc - I was the one who was appalled they called my hamster an 'it'......perhaps I didn't explain myself properly. I didn't take my hamster back to the store when he was poorly , that didn't even enter my head, I took him straight to the vets and it just so happens that the the vet inside [EMAIL="P@H"]P@H[/EMAIL] (Companion Care) are my vet of choice.

I explained, we had bought him from the store the day or so before and that's when they told me that because he was purchased there then [EMAIL="P@H"]P@H[/EMAIL] would cover the cost of his treatment, something I didn't know. We then had to talk to the manager of the store and advised we would have to return him to the store!! The rest as they say is history and he made a full recovery, it wouldn't have mattered if [EMAIL="P@H"]P@H[/EMAIL] covered the treatment or not, we took him to the vets with the intention of paying for it as we would with any of our other furries.

Anyway, Amethyst, again i'm glad he's coming home, also you'll get loads of advice and tips from hamstercentral.

kindofagilr

shegirl wrote: »

We have two Roborovskis and they are soo adorable and funny with their speed!They can be handled but after a lot of them getting used to you and in the rigt situation,have to be very alert though just in case lol.Much more fun watching them run like crazy around their little adventure playground though

yeah I can imagine they would be great to watch, I was just terrifed in case he got out and then I would never be able to get him back lol

~Chameleon~

Amethyst_ice wrote: »

Surely if P@H didn't have qualified vets they would be subject to trading standards and animal welfare councils.

P@H don't have qualified vets. The vet you saw works for Companion Care, a national veterinary group which is a totally independent company.

Many of their surgeries, but by no means all, are situated within P@H stores for the convenience of both the public and their own business practice. Not all P@H stores have a CC branch within or near a store either.

Glad your little fella is doing well and will soon be home with you

mistrihelen

kindofagilr wrote: »

yeah I can imagine they would be great to watch, I was just terrifed in case he got out and then I would never be able to get him back lol

I've got robos and I only play with them in a play box (large plastic storage box, filled with carefresh and some toys they like) because mine are not the sit still sort . They will happily get food out of my hand or try and run up my arm, but they're not the type I could hold in my hands and sit on the sofa with.

But I can lean into the playbox and interact with them there (I use a plastic ball to transport them from cage to box - they are quite happy to jump into it) and they love foraging about in a different space for a while.

Robos are so different to Syrians (which I owned for many years) but completely delightful in their own way.

Amethyst_ice

I have my baby home!!!! omg though, when I turned up the woman went to have a look, came back after 10 minutes (!) said, nope we don't have him...i was mortified! Asked to speak to manager, after another 10 they returned with a cage saying they found him, i insisted on looking him over...was my lil guy same box i brought him in, nice to know he was being kept ok though, nice cage, wheel etc he is deff missing a toe but the scab has gone down. I asked if they would throw in some probiotics after the trouble I have gone through, she went to confirm with manager so i got that free. Then i took him to the till to pay, another woman opened the box to look at who the fuss was about..I asked if i had to fill another form..they were ignoring me, told us to egt to the car quickly as it was cold so I thought...F it, they didn't cause the injury, ive had lots of car journeys, ive offered to pay and they ignored me so fine! So after all that i got him free lol

Good job i brought the cage, he chewed through the box after 5 mins!!!

I got a pic, will upload in a bit, but yay!!!! xXx

mistrihelen

I'm so glad you got him back - frustrating that they weren't very helpful at P@H though!

Amethyst_ice

well they were but it was diff staff so they didnt know what was going on...worked out better, lol everything free so it was money saving lol x