[lizzagarcia]

All the stories here just made me totally sick. I cannot believe that people would do such harmful things to such beautiful creatures!

I have a story to tell and I was just devastated at what I was witnessing.

So I went over to my local Petco petstore to have a look at what was going on ... I immediately went over to the small animal section and had a look at the mouses, the rats & the guinea pigs.

The mouses were fighting each other over and over again to get time on the wheel, and if I had to guess .. about 20 of them where under a very small igloo. (not like the size thats acceptable for a guinea pig.. more like the size thats acceptable for like 1-2 hamsters)

All 12 rats were sleeping in the corners of the cages ... bored out of lack of entertainment, probably.

BUT THE WORST OF ALL .... I was looking over at the sad male *hopefully .. because thats how it was marked* and I noticed right away that something was definitely wrong. It looked like he was choking or having trouble breathing... I also noticed that their waterbottle had fallen and spilled all over the bedding .. so the guinea pig was sitting on wet bedding and choking. I immediately ran over to the counter workers... and asked them to come quickly. (It was late at night, so there were only 2 workers.. both male teenagers probably around 17-18 on their day job) walked slowly to where the poor guinea pig was and opened the cage. He observed the guinea pig and told me it was nothing to worry about, and that it was probably just a cough. He picked up the bottle, went to the sink, refilled it and placed it back in the cage... and neglected to change the wet bedding. I complained and told him that the guinea pig was NOT fine and that he needs to be taken to a vet.. and after hes safe.. the bedding has to be changed to fresh. Listen to his remark: "LOOK lady... I'm sorry.. but I think I know more about pets than you do .. seeing as I work at PETco. (he emphasized on pet) . I'm telling you that hes just fine.. and theres nothing to worry about. Anyways ... Even if there was something wrong with him.. theres nothing I could do about it since my boss went home..." I couldn't listen to him say anything anymore... I left the store to go to my car and get my cell phone to call my neighbor who's a vet... I notice him and his coworker running back over to the guinea pig cage.. I sneak back into the store just to see what he was doing. I hide behind one of the aisles.. because I knew that if he knew I was in the store .. he would immediately stop whatever he was doing. I saw him TAKE THE GUINEA PIG OUT OF THE CAGE... still breathing heavly, and say to his coworker in a joking way.. "haha.. stupid thing. chocked on the thing that held the water bottle up.... guess theres nothing to do now.. "

HOW COULD ANYONE LET SOMEONE WORK THERE WHO WAS SO CARELESS?