Pets At Home promote a company-wide disregard to small animals through both their cruel practices and unsuitable products. They promote and sell unsuitable housing, inadequately sized wheels and an overall lack of knowledge in relation to the small animals both in their care and in the care of the public.

For example, Wood Green, The Animals Charity, states that:

"The minimum cage size for a Syrian hamster would be 80 cm. wide by 50 cm. deep by 35 cm. high."

"The minimum size for a cage housing a pair of dwarf or Chinese hamsters would be 80 cm. long by 50 cm, deep by 35 cm. high."

Despite these measurements, Pets At Home only sell THREE cages that fit these sizing categories, two of which are very recent additions. These cages are very rarely found in-store and must be ordered in to be purchased. Seeing as Pets At Home state that there is NO minimum cage size or wheel size for hamsters, consumers will naturally be much more likely to purchase the unsuitable and cruel housing options that are easily accessed in every single Pets At Home store.

Small animals sold in store are sourced from inhumane rodent mills and face a lifetime of issues, including severe illness and disease, as a result of the incredibly poor breeding and living standards found in these environments. Pets At Home then profit from these animals by selling them to the public and recommending and selling accompanying products that are both unsuitable and cruel. Often, even the animals found in the adoption section have simply been on the shop floor for "too long" and are then transferred across.

In-store animals are also often mis-sexed and sold in pairs or groups, leading to a multitude of unexpected litters and stress for both owner and animal. Animals are frequently sold whilst suffering from undiagnosed illnesses and disease, often after also having had little to no human contact for the entire duration of their poor lives so far.

We demand better care and increased knowledge of these animals across the entirety of Pets At Home. We believe that these animals should be sourced from respectable and knowledgable breeders with strong healthy lines, or should not be sourced and sold by Pets At Home at all. ALL stores should sell a multitude of housing options that greatly exceed the size and quality of those that they currently offer, and should provide and sell wheels and other accessories that exceed the cruelly small sizes that are recommended and used currently.

ALL animals matter, regardless of size or lifespan, and it's time for Pets At Home to acknowledge that and put it into practice.