Outrage of rescue animals being adopted at Pets at Home stores. PLEASE SUPPORT!!!

• Pets At Home has gone into partnership with charities including the RSPCA, Cats Protection and Battersea Dogs & Cats
• Animals are on display in stores and sold for an 'adoption fee'
• Top vet claims the practise is 'an appalling idea'
• He said animal welfare organisations campaigned to stop the selling of animals from stores, and this move is a 'step backward'

Animal charities, including the RSPCA and Battersea Dogs & Cats, have gone into 'partnership' with Pets At Home and animals are being sold in stores for an 'adoption fee' Rescue dogs and cats from some of Britain’s biggest animal charities are being sold from the giant pet store chain Pets At Home.

After years of campaigning for dogs and cats not to be sold in pet shops, charities such as the RSPCA and Battersea Dogs & Cats have gone into ‘partnership’ with the UK’s biggest pet supermarket, and some animals – including cats – are on display in pens at stores, where they can be purchased for an ‘adoption fee’.

The partnerships are a coup for Pets At Home, which earned £600 million last year and was last week floated on the stock market for £1.23 billion.The company, which boasts that it raises tens of thousands of pounds in donations for animal charities every year, is planning an expansion programme in the UK, aiming to operate more than 500 stores, 700 veterinary practices and 300 dog grooming outlets.

But as Cats Protection became the latest animal charity to announce a ‘partnership’ with Pets At Home, the deals were slammed as ‘irresponsible’ and ‘appalling.’

Vet Mike Jessop, a past president of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, said: ‘Selling animals from a pet store is an appalling idea. Animal welfare organisations have fought for years to keep dogs and cats out of pet shops and you no longer see puppies and kittens in shop windows.

‘So this is a huge step backwards. I am also very concerned that shoppers will be encouraged to buy a pet on the spur of the moment. And I feel uncomfortable about cats being kept in pens in what will surely be stressful conditions. Confined to a pen for too long, they can become depressed.’

 Cats Protection is to open its first rehoming centre at the supermarket’s branch in Newbury, Berkshire, next month. Cats will be displayed in pens provided by the supermarket  to the charity’s specifications. Shoppers will be able to choose a cat and, after paying an ‘adoption fee’, return the next day to pick it up. Cats Protection also hopes to sell its own branded merchandise in the store.

If successful, the scheme could be rolled out to at least four other Pets At Home stores. Meanwhile, both the RSPCA and Battersea Dogs & Cats have opened Pets At Home rehoming centres over the past 18 months.But the move has come under criticism. Vet Mike Jessop, a past president of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, said: 'Selling animals from a pet store is an appalling idea. Animal welfare organisations have fought for years to keep dogs and cats out of pet shops and you no longer see puppies and kittens in shop windows. So this is a huge step backwards'

Feelings are running high among Cats Protection’s 8,500 unpaid volunteers who have flooded the charity’s private forums. One said: ‘The thought of cats being screamed at by unruly kids with parents who will get them one to appease them, is frightening. It feels wrong and irresponsible.’

Cats Protection said it hopes that the move will ‘bring the message of responsible cat ownership to a wider audience’, adding: ‘The cats will be safeguarded in the same way as  the cats in our care, ensuring  people cannot buy on impulse.’

Pets At Home said: ‘We always put pets before profit and make no money from this partnership. We offer store space free of charge to certain charities to allow them to carry out their much-needed rehoming work.’

An RSPCA spokesman said: ‘All animals rehomed via Pets At Home are done so in accordance with the charity’s strict adoption procedures.’

A Battersea spokesman said: ‘We are happy to work with this major retailer as it enables us to reach some of their customers who may not previously have considered rehoming an animal from a rescue centre.’