[Susan9608]

I don't think Petsmart is any better than Petco, even if there are a few "good" Petsmart stores scattered here and there.

Before discovering this site and finding out about the guinea pig overpopulation problem, my husband and I purchased a guinea pig from Petsmart. Their small animal "expert" assured us that the pig was only 3-4 months old. When we discovered a lump on her face about a week later, the same expert assured us that it was just an abcess and it would go away in about a week (which would put us past their 2 week return deadline). When it didn't go away after a week, we visited my vet, who had to sedate the pig and x-ray her head. What he discovered was not an abcess, but a tumor ... a tumor so far advanced that it had lysed away most of her jaw bone on that side. The x-ray also showed her growth plates, which were fused, signaling that she was closer to a year old than just 3-4 months. My vet told us that pet stores are notorious for selling animals they know are ill, in hopes that the customers won't realize it until they are past their 2 week return deadline. And if a customer does notice and return the animal, most pet stores simply put the animal back in a cage so it's up for sale again. Our vet told us that pet stores will simply send the ill animal to a different store in the area, so that the original purchasing customer won't recognize it in their store. Pretty sick.

We had a very difficult time getting Petsmart to refund our money and to cover our vet bill ($300!). The manager wanted to make it a condition that we return the pig to them in order to receive reimbursement. We said no way to that, thinking that the pig would either be inhumanely euthanized or just resold. So it was a huge hassle to get our money back ...and our poor pig suffered greatly.

Petsmart, Petco ... to me, the only difference is in the name.