[ferndalezoo]

I live near Detroit, MI. We have Petco, Petsmart, Pet Supplies Plus, and a handful of mom-and-pop type stores. On a monthly basis I go through 4 bags of cat food (two for the cats and two of a different brand for the ferrets), 3-4 bags of dog food (depending on how many fosters I have at the time), 3-4 bags of cavy food, 3-4 bags of chinchilla food, 8 feeder rats, 4 feeder mice, a bucket of "suebees" rat mix, 3-4 bags of hay, 100 or more crickets and about as many feeder fish. Plus a big bag of clay litter and 2-3 boxes of scoopable litter. That's NOT counting the mass quantities of greens and veggies we need for both lizards, the cavies, the degus, the chinchillas and the rats. We can't seem to find the good brands of cavy/chin food locally in anything but the small bags, or we'd buy it that way, for sure. I don't have a credit card and don't like to order online. All of this gets VERY expensive, and most of the mom-and-pop stores are seriously overpriced in this area. I can provide good care for all of my animals, but I can't spend more on things than I have to just on principle. I can't.

There is ONE non-chain store that I was willing to shop in, and I'll admit I still do if I can't find my brand of dogfood anywhere else, but I try not to. They don't sell animals, but they might as well, as they have GOBS of ads up all over their store from back-yard-breeders (mostly dogs). So... I can support the sale of small animals, or the irresponsible uncontrolled breeding and sale of hundreds and hundreds of dogs. It's a really bad choice to have to make.

I wish there was a well-priced pet-supplies store in my area that didn't do either, but so far as I can tell, there isn't.