Small pet stores are not any better then petco and pet dumb

**Guineapigluver2** · #1 10-14-07, 09:33 pm

Today I was inside a small non chain petstore that I absoultly hate. They sell puppies and some small animals (hamsters, mice, guinea pigs, ferrits, rabbits and rats) and also fish. First of all today they had two adorible baby guinea pigs who I wanted verry badly but my mom remined my that I vowed not to buy guinea pigs at petstores. Also I herd a little boy who must have been six or seven say somthing like wow the hamsters are only $6. It makes me sick when I here things like that. Hamsters arnt just $6 they are probably more like $100 for the cost of their entire life. The last thing that really botherd me was the sign above the guinea pig cage. It said that guinea pigs live 4-6 years which is not true if the petstore wouldnt imbreed them and provide poor care and homes for them. Second it said that they are great for all ages which is again not true. Guinea pigs are fragile animals that need to be treated verry gently and with a lot of care which is not somthing that most 5 year olds can do. I'm sorry that I needed to write all that but that little petshop is verry frusturating. There animals look healthy but the poor piggies were huddling with eachother for dear life they were so scared and I just dont think that is right. If you have a problem with your local petstores please tell me I really want to know.

**ortal** · #2 10-14-07, 09:47 pm

Yes, I actually prefer to go to chain pet stores (petco, etc) when I want to look at the pigs (my girl and I go there to poke around and play w the pigs, not to buy). The family one in my area is gross. There are NO STANDARDS. its so musty and smelly and dirty. I went in there once and vowed never again. They have signs that they can specially order "ANY BREED!!!" *rolls eyes*. There was luckily no piggies there, just one cat in a cage, poor thing, some mice/gerbils/etc, and dogs. Dogs in filthy, tiny, conditions. NEVER again.

**banjosnotbombs** · #3 10-15-07, 01:41 pm

There's a small non chain pet store near my home and I was actually quite suprised with their conditions. Their chinchillas had a huge aviary converted cage, it's really something. Their guinea pigs, that are for sale, live in a large aquarium(I don't agree with this at all, but atleast they have a large space) with a few hideys, pellets, and hay. They also have a guinea pig who lives in the pet store. Although he does live in a pet store cage, he had water, hay, pellets, and I've seen romaine. All of the piggies there were very friendly, and weren't overly skittish. The birds seem to be well cared for too, but I don't know a whole lot about birds.
The only thing that upset me was the dogs, because the had to stay in a cage.
I still don't agree with pet stores selling animals, and I'm sure they have many faults, but it was still a nice thing to see.
Unfortunately, I still shop at Petsmart, but only for bedding. I buy my food through my vet.

**Guineapigluver2** · #4 10-15-07, 02:00 pm

The guinea pigs at the small petstore near me have no hidy houses and if I remember correctly also dont have hay. The dogs are usually 2 per cage that is to small for one puppy and have some toys and food and water. I really get concerned about the puppies. I think that most of them are scared so they go pretty far to one extream of timmid or agressive. Once there were two puppies in one cage and one was picking on the other. I wouldnt have a problem with petstore animals if they could just take a little more care with there animals.

**Jess Z** · #5 10-15-07, 03:22 pm

I have a local family store that is pretty nice but they have 4 guinea's in about a 1.5 ft. by 1.5 ft.cage! They have no hay, no hideys, but they were very friendly and came right up to the front! Also, what should u do if ur guinea pig does'nt like hay but they love grass so much they fight over it?

**Tophica** · #6 10-27-07, 03:36 pm

In the petstore near me they have 1 guinea pig housed in a rather small cage with a massive rabbit. They are also feeding the guinea pig rabbit pellets and straw.

**ctinaw** · #7 10-27-07, 04:56 pm

There was a petstore in my old college town that was almost - scary. You had to walk down steps to get to it - and it was in pretty much what I would call a basement - really it was a basement. No windows and underground - total concrete everywhere.

First - it smelled badly. There were WAY too many animals for that amount of space. They didn't sell cats or dogs but they had about everything else - INCLUDING an ALLIGATOR (it was a baby at the time) which was in this make-shift aquarium type thing that they had made into their front desk - cashier area. Good lord - like what were they going to do with it after it grew up??? I didn't go back in to find out :/

They had ferrets - a bunch in one tiny round ferret cage like at petco. They had all kinds of lizards, all kinds of fish (which is why I went in there - I used to have a salt water aquarium until I got a fish from them which KILLED my whole tank)! And yeah - I did quarantine it. That was like a $400 invested tank too - not including the tank - just in fish! Ugh. Poor fishies. Now I just do goldfish.

You wouldn't have even wanted to see their small animal section. They had rats in LAB RAT cages. If you are unfamiliar with what those are - they look like plastic bins that slide in and out of a card - with a metal rack on top that holds their lab block food. A ton of them stuffed in there. I got the feeling they were mostly sold as "feeders" for their enormous snakes they sold in back...

The place STUNK and it was dark and damp - you just got a sad feeling even walking in there...

**Jenni_Feathers** · #8 10-27-07, 07:35 pm

There is a petstore in my town, its a family owned one that is mainly for grooming, its where I get my dog groomed. Its not that bad it only sells birds and fish and a few reptiles along with frozen mice and rats (reptile food) They are all kept in good conditions though, they take the birds out and play with them all the time and they have little play things on top of there cages (which are not the tank ones they are cages like you'd have in your home) and they leave some of te larger birds cages open so they can climb on them and stuff like that. They dont sell many supplies, only a few dog collars and bird and fish accesories so its not that bad, its also a tiny store its 10ft by 10ft literally, without the grooming room though.

**Guineapigluver2** · #9 10-27-07, 10:03 pm

Thank goodness I finaly found a petstore that doesnt sell pets. There is a cat there but it is the owners pet and has full range of the store. I went there to find a new collar for my dog and what do you know they sell guinea pig stuff including oxbow food (for many different types of rodents) and hay. I still would rather buy the food and hay at my shelter but the petstore is on the way home from my dog training place where we go every saterday and so it is slightly more convenient.

**Kyelovespiglets** · #10 11-13-07, 05:42 pm

I am noticing the same thing at a petstore near me. The dogs are kept in small shelve like cages, with glass on the outside. Usually, a whole litter to a 5 by 3 cage. The guinea pigs are better, but still horrible. They have rather big, round cages, and pigloos, though they drink out of a bowl, and I never see any veggies. Plus, they are housed with rabbits. The cats are kept in ferret cages! Uggh! I buy my pig stuff at the grocery store, thanks to that image.

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