Anger as charities sell off rescue cats at giant pet superstores after years of campaigning against the sale of animals in shops.

"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'."

Pets at Home say "We offer store space free of charge to certain charities to allow then to carry out their much needed re-homing work. These centres are manned full time by the charities who are experienced and fully qualified when rehoming animals in their care. We are confident that they would only allow animals to be passed on to responsible and committed new owners."

Cats Protection say "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."

Dogs Trust say "We do not rehome any of our dogs directly within the stores and if there is any interest in the dogs on show they are rehomed in the normal way through the local Dogs Trust rehoming centre. This is a rigorous procedure and most certainly not something that happens overnight as implied in the article. Dogs Trust has dedicated staff members in the stores all of the time who feed and walk the dogs as well as greeting the public and answering any questions that people have. The dogs all have regular rest times and walks. The dogs are brought by staff from the Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre in the morning and taken back at the end of the day."

RSPCA say "Dogs which are featured in-store are often long stay dogs looking for homes and most seem to appear to enjoy a break from life in the kennels. All our dogs are vaccinated, have all been assessed by branch or centre staff and are considered suitable to mix with the public and children.

We discourage people from buy pets from shops on impulse without fully being aware of the commitment they are taking on. Anyone interested in adopting an RSPCA cat, dog or rabbit they have seen at a Pets at Home adoption centre will be referred to the branch or animal centre where the adoption process and home checks will take place as normal. "

Do as I say, not as I do !!!!!

Dogs Trust say "We do not rehome any of our dogs directly within the stores and if there is any interest in the dogs on show they are rehomed in the normal way through the local Dogs Trust rehoming centre. This is a rigorous procedure and most certainly not something that happens overnight as implied in the article. Dogs Trust has dedicated staff members in the stores all of the time who feed and walk the dogs as well as greeting the public and answering any questions that people have. The dogs all have regular rest times and walks. The dogs are brought by staff from the Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre in the morning and taken back at the end of the day."

If that's how there doing it I think it's a great idea, the dogs get some time out of the rescue centre and people who may not have thought about getting a rescue dog will see them and consider that hopefully instead of just going to a pet shop with puppy farm pups in. If the interested people are having to go threw the charities normal adoption procedure it's no diffrent to if they went to the rescue to look at the dogs realy.

After all its better to have rescue animals given an extra chance than shops having to get in more mass produced for product animals. I've often thought pet shops should do this sort of thing.

They just have a few animals on display. All normal adoption criteria eg homechecks still apply .

The RSPCA has a large annex connected to our local PAH, usually a few rabbits, cats and staff with lots of info there.

This has been done for many years in the US in PetSmart, who were bought up by PAH here. As it is cats I don't see a problem. They will be on display in the rescue centres so no difference to the cats, and nobody can walk in and just buy one. It may help a few get homes as people who would not think about going to a rescue may spot a cat when shopping for petfood or whatever and decide they have room etc for it. It isn't like taking on a dog where you have to factor in training, not leaving it alone when you go to work etc.

Provided they're 'advertising for rehoming' and not selling the cats there & then as they do with other small furries, I don't have a problem with this, as anything that encourages someone to consider a rescue isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I would have an enormous problem with this is someone could just walk in off the street & buy a cat without a home check, in the same way they might buy a bag of compost, or a washing machine.

PAH generally need tightening up in terms of how they sell their small animals though I think, a few years ago, my friends' teenage daughter (13 or 14 at the time) walked into the local PAH with her school friend one day, and came out having purchased a rabbit!