“Impulse buying” fear for cats at Pets at Home, Newbury

As part of a partnership with Pets at Home, the Newbury branch of the Cats Protection charity will open its first UK rehoming centre at the London Road store next month.
Cats will be displayed in pens provided by the store, with shoppers able to choose a cat and – after paying a £65 ‘adoption fee’ – return the next day to pick it up.
A statement from Pets at Home said that spacious pens have been custom-built to animal welfare standards and that they have been purposely separated from the rest of the store to avoid large numbers of people passing by, while Cats Protection said “a cat’s welfare will never be compromised”. The cats will stay in the store overnight.
However, a vet and former president of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, Mike Jessop, said: “Pets at Home is a busy place with kids and a lot of activity, not the quiet tranquil place where you would expect a cat to be homed.
“It exposes them to a lot more stress and a noisy environment rather than a calmer pet rescue centre. People will impulse buy and I fear this could see cats and dogs being put back into pet shops.”
Reacting to these claims, a spokeswoman for Pets at Home said: “The welfare of cats will be safeguarded in the same way as that of the cats in our care across the UK and potential adopters will go through the same process as they would when adopting from any Cats Protection centre, ensuring people cannot buy a cat on impulse.”
The centre will be run by Cats Protection staff and volunteers in an individual unit within the store, with a reception area and three cabins.
A statement on the Cats Protection website from Newbury Adoption Centre manager Karen Clarke read: “When Newbury Adoption Centre was first approached with the proposal to have a ‘mini’ adoption centre within Pets at Home, my first reaction was pretty much the same as everyone else’s – no, not cats in pet shops.
“I was particularly concerned that we would be seen to approve of selling cats from pet shops and the message it may send to smaller independent shops, but I listened to the proposal and it actually made good sense.
“The bottom line is we will be able to help more cats, to the standard that we do now and we have to find new and innovative ways to do this. A cats welfare will never be compromised.”
However, founder of animal welfare organisation North West Action for Animals, Stef Spode, said: “Pets at Home are an absolutely massive chain and they lead by example. This is a very dangerous example they are setting – that it is OK to sell cats in their shops.
“I genuinely fear that small pet shops will now sell small animals like kittens and puppies to compete with Pets at Home.”