Pet shop rodent turned out to be pregnant

korvskrot

Hey,

TL;DR: Got myself a pregnant rodent by mistake, the company refuses to speak to me other than on the phone or in person, and refuse to let me record such communications. Do I have any rights to not "strike a deal" verbally, with no confirmation? Do I then still have a right to claim the regular rights of the consumer? What are my rights in this case, or who should I turn to for advice?

sheramber

How long ago did you buy it?

Did they say that it wasn't pregnant when you bought it?

What Consumer Rights do you want?

I bought a guinea pig who turned out to be pregnant. I sold the 4 babies back to the petshop so more than covered the cost of the mother.

teddysmum

It happens because pet shop workers can't sex, daren't handle them to do so or don't realise that they can breed at a very early age.


Unfortunately, it is likely that the female bred with one of her brothers and this can lead to health problems.


I had the mum and one baby from someone, who bought a pregnant hamster from PaH, but, unfortunately, the baby died very young after having what looked like a stroke.

Feral_Moon

Wouldn't touch any animals from P@H as they're all produced in large breeding units similar to puppy farms. They have inherent health problems due to poor breeding.

I used to health check the livestock as it came into store and reject any obvious unhealthy ones. These were returned to the unit and no doubt passed onto another store or slaughtered.

korvskrot

The consumer rights I want is to claim some kind of compensation for having been sold a "product" that was not exactly as presented. I was not told it was pregnant, and it was not evident at the time of purchase. In fact, I weighed both of them the same week, and they were 5g apart - now they're 50g apart, and the gap is increasing.

It has been four weeks since purchase. Gestation time is over 60 days.

I do NOT want to give any pups back to the shop, as they are clearly bad at handelling them. I also do NOT want to hand out fertile pets, because as teddysmum mentioned, they will almost ceirtanly be inbred already.

What I would ideally like to get from them is:

*cost of castrating any males
*any additional vet costs if the birthing does not go well (for example euthanization) through no fault of mine
*refund for the original animal if she does die, so I can get a new friend for the remaining one.
*a cage, as I will most likely get at least one male pup, and he will need to be separated from the ladies before weaning.

If anyone is concerned for the future wellbeing of the pups, I'd just like to let you know that I have found an aquaintance who is happy to take a couple of them off my hands, which means I can monitor how it goes, and take them back if the new owner is not able to care for them. We have also decided to keep one or two girls (depending on the total number of pups we get).

I would like to thank you for your replies so far - this experience has been incredibly stressful for me already, especially with the moral dilemma of what to do with the pups, and it is very nice to get any kind of support.

korvskrot

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Wouldn't touch any animals from P@H as they're all produced in large breeding units similar to puppy farms. They have inherent health problems due to poor breeding.

I used to health check the livestock as it came into store and reject any obvious unhealthy ones. These were returned to the unit and no doubt passed onto another store or slaughtered.

Glad you did do the health checks honestly though, rather than let them pass and slowly suffer until they die in a strange place. Thank you!

sheramber

I doubt you would have a case if the shop did not specifically tell you she wasn't pregnant. They may not have been aware she was pregnant.

How long was she in the petshop? She may have been mated before coming into the shop.

On the other hand if you reject the animal under the CRA as unsatisfactory within 30 days you would need to return it to the shop for a refund.

I think to claim for vet expenses etc you would need to sue through the small claims court.

CAB would be the bet people to advise you.

narabanekeater

what rodent are we talking about please? theres only a few that I can think of with a gestation period of over 60 days . I'm quite knowledgeable where rodents are concerned so will happily advise. Not many vets will castrate rodents to be honest as they can be very dodgy under anaesthetic.

unforeseen

Get CMS on the case. You can claim maintenance from the father on behalf of your rodent, although he may expect visiting rights

Fosterdog

From the gestation period I'm guessing you have Guinea pigs?

Are you 100% sure you have two females? It is very common for rodents to be mis-sexed and people ending up with one of each sex instead of both the same. This would mean your female could have become pregnant at any time.

Are you also 100% sure she is pregnant? Most pet shop animals are juveniles and do grow quite rapidly once they have been bought, it doesn't take long for rodents to mature and grow to full adult size and weight. There can be many reasons other than pregnancy leading to the weight differences with the two GPs, genetics or one being much greedier and eating most of the food being just two other possibilities.

Mupette

korvskrot wrote: »

The consumer rights I want is to claim some kind of compensation for having been sold a "product" that was not exactly as presented. I was not told it was pregnant, and it was not evident at the time of purchase.

It was not evident at purchase, you were sold the Guinea Pigs by a shop assistant not a vet.

i don't believe you have a leg to stand on, if you could not tell then I doubt if they could either.