[GuineaAddict]

You guys think Petco and petsmart are bad? I have a few horror stories that I could tell you from places that I've been to (I like to walk around pet stores). There was one kinda small chain they had when I was in MA where they sold pets in the mall. The employees were no better than highschool kids who were just there to stand, talk, and make a paycheck. One day I went in there with the intention of buying a guinea pig and I asked one of the girls if she would help me find a female (before I found out how to sex them for myself) and she was picking the pigs up and just being absolutely brutal in handling them and then when they'd start to panic (as is normal) and squirm and scratch her she'd toss them back down in the bin. I moved back to Indiana and once again was just walking around my different local pet stores (I've been in all of them now) and they all are atrocious. There's one in particular though that is beyond bad and I thought it was shut down for the longest time but they had just moved. They overbreed everything to the point of insanity and at their new store it's absolutely filthy and they don't take care of any of the animals. The lady that I see there half of the time is just walking around or standing in one spot talking on the phone. The guinea pigs are in these big grey containers and the baby's get to be on chips but the adults that they can't get rid of are on wire flooring in this bin. Not only that, but I was in there a couple of weeks ago and they had this huge beautiful albino adult and I picked it up and it's eye was bleeding. I mean there was fresh blood and everything on it's fur and you could see it around the edges in the eye. It was in there with two other adult guinea pigs and I know for a fact that the store doesn't bother to seperate the different sexed guinea pigs. The puppies make me sad too because they often have sometimes as many as 4 puppies to one cage and the cages are decent size for one puppy, two at the most but they are no place for more than that. They also stink like they only clean them once a month. I go in there to pet and hold the animals (kinda strange I know) and I want to cry every time cause it sickens me and makes me so sad and I feel so helpless against it.