Pet Stores that have adoption signs

[pink piggy lips]

Hey guys, I don't post much here, but an interesting situation has come up and I totally want your pro-animal welfare feedback.

OK, firstly, I don't like Pet stores. So here is my predicament:

I have an ad on Petfinder.com for local rescues to contact me if they need some volunteers to help them. I was recently contacted by a new cat rescue organization in my town.

At this time I don't know if I will be getting involved because of my car situation. My car has problems and I share it with my husband, who works an off-the-wall schedule.

Anyway, the lady who runs it told me that many of their cats are at one of the local Petsmarts around here. Sure, they need fosterers, too, but there are as many as 20 cats kept at the Petsmart. One of the volunteer positions she was offering is for people to go there during the week and clean litter pans and pet kitties.

So I think it's really great that there is this organization who wants to find homes for these homeless cats. BUT, I've told my husband that I want to avoid any dependency on Petsmart, Petco, or any pet stores for that matter. I order hay and pellets from Oxbow, etc.

Technically, by helping with these kitties, I wouldn't be putting any money into the Petsmart corporation. But, by my involvement there, am I saying that I think Petsmart is OK? That I have absolutely no problem with its existence?

If my involvement would only be adding to the problem, then I don't want to do it.

What do you think??

--Ash

[pink piggy lips]

Originally Posted by PookiesPiggy

My problem with adoption days is they don't screen the people who adopt these cats and dogs. Im not talking about asking if they've owned a pet before. I'm talking about house checks and vet checks. We have clients who bring in their newly adopted pets that, given my opinion, shouldn't be allowed to care for a rock. Its VERY sad.

That makes me think about when husband mentioned a girl he works with who adopted quite a few dogs from Petsmart. The dogs kept running away; I think she kept going back and adopting a new one.

I'm sure the people at Petsmart must have thought she had a huge, loving heart since she took home all those needy pooches.

I nearly pulled my hair out when my husband told me that. Apparently she and her husband were being careless with how they were housing/keeping the dogs, and they kept getting loose and running off. I'm figuring they kept the dogs in the backyard, which wasn't very secure.

[mommyoffive]

Originally Posted by DaisyGP

I know what you mean. I use to work for a petsmart. They only adopted out cats and dogs. Our store was considered more "liberal" because they let us refuse to sell a pet to someone how shouldn't provide for it, was going to keep it in conditions, use it as a feeder for another animal. We did this with all the animals sold. That includes the fish!! This is against coperate policy as I've been told, but out store manager was a nice lady.

actually at our store (which is petsmart) if we have a sick guniea pig, hamster, turtle, lizard, etc we do adopt them out you just have to ask if we have any that need good homes. And yes even though petsmart does only have adoption days for cats and dogs, we still get those pets from our local animal shelter. We house the cats at our store till they find a good home, that way, it can lessen the load for the animal shelter

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by mommyoffive

if we have a sick guniea pig, hamster, turtle, lizard, etc we do adopt them out you just have to ask if we have any that need good homes.

Just curious. I do not want to fight or for this to turn into a fight.

If someone "adopts" a sick animal from your store does Petsmart pay for the necessary vet bills?

[mommyoffive]

Originally Posted by VoodooJoint

Just curious. I do not want to fight or for this to turn into a fight.

If someone "adopts" a sick animal from your store does Petsmart pay for the necessary vet bills?

woops type error what I ment if there is a sick animal, then of course we cannot put it back on the floor, so we treat it at our vets (which is sadly banfield ) and once its better, then we can adopt it out. We always tell the customer that is adopting the animal what was wrong with it, what we treated it with, and well as giving them all the paper work that we have filled out over the course of the treatment. I dont know if thats how other petsmart do that, but thats how we do it. And dont worry, i'm not looking for fights, I just want some good quality guinea pig info that I can use for myself as well as customers who buy guinea pigs

[seagirl96]

PinkPiggyLips, it sounds okay to me. At the local petsmart where my son adopted his cat from the CT Humane Society, there was little or no interaction between store employees & cat rescue people. The store might profit from some adopters, although we walked out with only the cat, but it seems like the rescuers were doing a really GOOD thing. My son had to fill out forms & bring a letter from his wife and his landlord saying they were agreeable to the adoption. We never even spoke to the Petsmart people. Please tell me if my thinking is wrong.

[Slave to the Wheek]

Originally Posted by seagirl96

PinkPiggyLips, it sounds okay to me. At the local petsmart where my son adopted his cat from the CT Humane Society, there was little or no interaction between store employees & cat rescue people. The store might profit from some adopters, although we walked out with only the cat, but it seems like the rescuers were doing a really GOOD thing. My son had to fill out forms & bring a letter from his wife and his landlord saying they were agreeable to the adoption. We never even spoke to the Petsmart people. Please tell me if my thinking is wrong.

The issue here isn't about Rescues that use Petstores as an adoption location, (that in itself is a secondary debate really) it's about that same store that sells guinea pigs right next to the cat rescues. Why are they selling guinea pigs but only adopting out cats??

Because the CAT people do not support stores that sell cats. Period. They HAD to adapt because they could not survive anymore by selling cats.

Why is it morally wrong to sell cats..but not to sell guinea pigs?

Because guinea pigs are disposable.

Why are guinea pigs disposable?

Because they sell them at pet stores.

[pink piggy lips]

Originally Posted by Slave to the Wheek

The issue here isn't about Rescues that use Petstores as an adoption location, (that in itself is a secondary debate really) it's about that same store that sells guinea pigs right next to the cat rescues. Why are they selling guinea pigs but only adopting out cats??

Because the CAT people do not support stores that sell cats. Period. They HAD to adapt because they could not survive anymore by selling cats.

Why is it morally wrong to sell cats..but not to sell guinea pigs?

Because guinea pigs are disposable.

Why are guinea pigs disposable?

Because they sell them at pet stores.

I've been getting offers to help with local rescues. At least one of them does the Petsmart adoption days; and actually keeps the cats at Petsmart.

Since I don't support Petsmart, I was curious if would be supporting it by working with this rescue that works with Petsmart.

That's my big question. Hope it didn't sound too confusing.

[Slave to the Wheek]

In many folks opinions, if the cat people had supported the idea of not selling animals in retail stores at all instead of selling out and bringing in adoptables to the stores, then the guinea pig issue would be moot..at least that's what I think.

Pet rescues that go into pet stores who sell animals is an oxymoron. I don't get it personally.

In addition, there are many who say that the kind of adoptions that happen in stores are not reliable. Some rescues are of the mentality that it's better to adopt out as many as fast as you can so that you are "saving" as many animals, while others are more interested in the animals quality of life. It just depends on what you think is important I guess.

[seagirl96]

I'm asking questions because I don't know, just like PinkPiggyLips. If the Humane Society makes cats available for adoption in the pet stores where animals are sold, aren't they attracting the wrong kind of people? I mean impulse "buyers" who haven't thought things through. The rescue people try to counteract that with additional paperwork required from landlords, spouses, references, etc.

On the other hand, the sincere experienced & devoted pet owners know that they can come to these locations to meet some cats who need homes. And the rescue people get to meet & talk with potential pet owners who need education on what it means to be responsible, ask for donations & let people know that there are a lot of cats in need of homes. I see good & bad here.

[akintolife]

I personally think the difference would be how the adoption process is carried out. Do they do an adoption questionaire/ask questions to find out if the home is suitable? Also how is the store set up? Are the animals up for adoption clearly labelled as being from a rescue/shelter? And are they next to other animals that are for sale? I also guess it would be important (to me at least) to know if there was a way of identifying who was volunteering for the rescue and who worked in the store.

While I don't support the sale of animals in pet shops, I would have less of a problem with this style of adoption if 1) The animals for adoption were clearly labelled with details of the resuce organisation listed 2) the animals for adoption were kept in an area of the store where they were not near animals that were for sale and 3) those working with the adoptable animals were clearly identified as working/volunteering for the resuce.

The other thing I would consider is where the pet shop was located in relation to the rescue/shelter. If the pet shop that had animals for adoption was a reasonable distance from the rescue and allowed people who would consider adoption over purchasing, but were unlikely to make the trip to the rescue/shelter location an option for adoption, then it's not so much of a bad thing and may result in less stress on the animal in question when they are taken home, compared to a longer drive.

For me, unlike a lot of the others that have replied a lot of this is theoretical, since I am unaware of any pet shops that offer a service like that here, so you might want to take than into consideration with my response.

[kinderkritters]

I just want to give a huge kudos to out local Petsmart in my hometown. Many area animal shelters who cater to all kinds of animals are encouraged to have adoption days at this center, educate the public, and hold fundraisers. PetSmart does in no way take any money for this service nor do they demand anything in return except for us cleaning up after ourselves. All adoptors are screened thoroughly. Although we have the animals there no one takes one home with them because we review the application and make a home visit before they go to their forever home. PetSmart has nothing to do with that. As far as them making money off pet food...well what else would they do, give it away? PetSmart is a business and they have a legal obligation to increase stock value for their shareholders. It is the same way at Walmart, Kroger, Petco, Dolar general or anywhere else a person chooses to buy their supplies and food. There are too many adoptable animals without homes right now and I would hate to think that instead of being adopted out at well known facilities they had to be euthanized in the backroom of a struggling shelter.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Petsmart sells animals, often sick and pregnant ones from pet mills. Yes, it makes them look good while hiding some ugly truths. They're in the pet mill business and contributing the the pet overpopulation problem.

[Slave to the Wheek]

Originally Posted by kinderkritters

I just want to give a huge kudos to out local Petsmart in my hometown. Many area animal shelters who cater to all kinds of animals are encouraged to have adoption days at this center, educate the public, and hold fundraisers. PetSmart does in no way take any money for this service nor do they demand anything in return except for us cleaning up after ourselves. All adoptors are screened thoroughly. Although we have the animals there no one takes one home with them because we review the application and make a home visit before they go to their forever home. PetSmart has nothing to do with that. As far as them making money off pet food...well what else would they do, give it away? PetSmart is a business and they have a legal obligation to increase stock value for their shareholders. It is the same way at Walmart, Kroger, Petco, Dolar general or anywhere else a person chooses to buy their supplies and food. There are too many adoptable animals without homes right now and I would hate to think that instead of being adopted out at well known facilities they had to be euthanized in the backroom of a struggling shelter.

What you are not getting is that PetStupid DOES SELL ANIMALS. People do not acknowledge that rabbits, guinea pigs, birds or reptiles ARE even considered PETS, let alone should have equal respect when it comes to care and housing..but to those of us who have chewed on this subject awhile have figured out that by supporting corporate entities who discount the value of OUR pets, but somehow gets "respect" for "allowing adoptions" in their stores for the lives of dogs and cats is so ridiculous that it's unfathomable that anyone could walk in and CLAIM that they value the lives animals, let alone participate in "rescuing" them.

I didn't know what I didn't know. Now I know and I find it disgusting. I didn't know that guinea pigs die daily in these places do to the lack of APPROPRIATE care provided by these RETAIL stores. I didn't know that there are thousands of guinea pigs being housed across my state alone in vast rescue operations because these stores continue to pump out animals. In the last year alone, I've read at LEAST 60 posts from owners who have said that they purchased guinea pigs who were sick or that died within days of getting them..only to be replaced quite easily by the corporation. They make a living with animals that are sick or injured. It never occurred to me that most people considered them disposable. I had assumed they were an "exotic" animal and were few and far between. I had assumed that the empty cages for guinea pigs in the pet stores meant they were hard to come by..not that they were empty because 90% of their stock died from simple causes. That the pigs in those cages were moved to the "back room" to die from long and painful illness.

To me...I see it as akin to rescuing only the people in your city that YOU consider valuable. Like sitting in a welfare office and offering help to only the people who match the race/creed/color/religion of your chosen population for example, while ignoring the people LITERALLY sitting in the chairs next to you who are equally in need, but because they don't match your club's criteria, you ignore them..while they sit next to you in cages dying from poor medical care, bad living conditions and dying from simple upper respiratory infections.

The fact these stores NEED the shelter/rescue "support" in order to be accepted by the public makes it all the more sickening. The power that the dog/cat lobby has is immense. If they simply refused to put their shelter animals into these stores who sell animals...they would stop selling animals.

It's that simple. Period.

You see, the ONLY reason the DON'T sell cats/dogs is because of RESCUE people who got the word out about puppy mills and overpopulation. The public no longer supports stores that sell dogs/cats..but they "accept" the selling of caged critters because they assume that the stores are being "humane" in their treatment..UNTIL they find out the truth.

There is some idiot corporate pet store chick over on the petfinders message board to claims that the "guinea pig rescuers" refused to "stock" their store with animals, so it's the RESUERS fault that they "HAVE" to sell animals. So...according to that philosophy..the ONLY reason they don't sell dogs/cats is because the RESCUE people CAVED in and starting "SUPPLYING" the pet store with it's "STOCK".

The sad part is..IF they STOPPED supporting the "I wanna pony NOW MOMMY" crowd, and started selling HIGH END guinea pig products and TRIED to bring in the adult owners who spend LOTS of money on their guinea pigs and rabbits that is where the money is. Instead, they have this tiny section filled with stupid products. Bad Marketing? Yep.

I gottta stop..I'll type on this all day...