Petstore Experiences

[Jess Z]

I couldn't find a thread just posting about what is in thier local petstores so I will post it here.

PetDumb (smart )

I totally don't agree with petdumb or any of the things that go along with it but I was somewhat surprised. I went out there seeing what time santa came so I could get the pigs pictures taken. Please tell me if this is supporting them. Anyway, I went back to the pigs and I saw that the males and females were actually separated! The pigs were clean and had the food without tiny bits and the pen was clean with fresh water, they also had a pigloo. The only issues were small cage, no hay, and no veggies. Not too bad considering the ignorance! I still am unhappy at how they sell animals and how they have breeders etc.

After this I went to the mall to go christmas shopping. We were passing by and I decided to go into "Animal Zone" a small "mom and pop" pet store. Possibly a chain I just haven't seen another one. I have never seen any pigs in there before but this time there was. There was two abyssinians a boy and a girl I believe. They were in a small aquarium maybe a 20 gallon? They had nasty food and a water bowl! The bowl had green water and poos floating! Eww! The pigloo was flipped over and the pigs looked very lethargic, just sitting there laying down! They were probably dying from the heat in that thing! And the smell! If you clean out the cage on a Friday, it was like you forgot a week and that Friday! Pigs get pretty smelly in a week! But it was like that smell in a twenty gallon aquarium! No sign of hayo or veggies anywhere and the two young guys running the store were playing with puppies!

There I blew off some steam! So from that experience I was like !
So please post your experiences with any animal at any petstore.

[Guineapigluver2]

Originally Posted by Jess Z

I went back to the pigs and I saw that the males and females were actually separated!

Just because the cages say male or female doesnt mean that they are acctually seperated. The only way to find out for sure would be if you went and asked to hold every guinea pig and check, mabey they will let you do that if you ask and if you want to but I'm just saying that its really easy to make a mistake and considering that its a petdumb they may have.

[Jess Z]

I know that but they looked as though the males were males and the females were females. I don't know but they may not have dropped yet.
Does anyone else have petstore experiences?

[Tophica]

Once when I went into a pet store and the pigs were with rabbits and huge rabbits at that! They also had no veggies, rabbit food which I believe that there is somthing in rabbit food that is toxic to piggers. They were in okay sized cages, but no toys/hideys. They did have hay but also straw which could poke out an eye. They wre also in the same room as the birds and the birds were making so much noise. I asked to have a look at the pigs but the shop owner said no because they had mites. Well at least he knew that they had mites and was treating them, but probably not with ivermection.

[chexxy]

Originally Posted by Jess Z

I went out there seeing what time santa came so I could get the pigs pictures taken. Please tell me if this is supporting them.

Do you have a Petco in your area? Mine does pics for Santa, but the petstore doesnt get the money, the local SPCA does, so maybe a store near you does that...

[Susan9608]

You want to hear about other people's pet store experiences? Utilize the search feature of the forum.

[Miriku]

From Petsmart, I bought a jumbo rat named Java, who seemed fine..at least in the store. The sales associates did not have any knowledge about small animals, just pretty much could tell you "what color it is." The poor thing was very unhealthy as I examined him better at home (they wouldn't let me in the store). He had diarrhea and other problems. Somehow he ended up a little better, but always had issues afterwards. He died early, probably due to whatever the mills at petsmart gave him.

Recently, I was quite shocked at a mom and pop pet store. Some of the food products were expired, the food with vitamin C was about to deplete its vitamin C (my vet told me 3 months from shipping date is usually about the time when the vitamin C runs out in the pellets). What was most shocking in the pets themselves. They kept everything in the same area, save fish. At the time they were cleaning the area, so I could not literally go in the area, but see through the door. To a large pet store cage, there was four guinea pigs, around 4-5 months of age. Most of the animals were babies, probably not ready to be sold in the first place. The mice was the worst. I cannot even tell you how many mice there were in a plastic tub, all trying to climb out of the tub.

Another pet store, a small business so to speak, had bunnies and guinea pigs in the same cage. What really angered me is how they did not notice one of their piggies was bleeding from the nose, a possible kick from a bunny. I told a sales clerk about it, and he just took the pig in the back to clean him up. I asked later on about the animal, and he said he was fine. Dried blood on the nose does not seem "fine" to me.

And that is my rant, about some of the pet stores I have been to.

[DaisyGP]

I don't get why people go into these stores at all if it bothers them so much.

[Ally has U's]

I went into to {etsmart the other day and I passed by the cages and looked in, like I usually do and I was surprised!

Three guinea pigs. All supposedly male. But they each had their own cage. Of course not big enough but they were separated and looking healthy, no scratching very good size in weight. On top of that they were using Carefresh bedding. I started talking to a lady who was working the area and I asked her if I could hold a light brown smoothed haired piggie. She said well I can bring him out but I can't let you hold him. We have had people who have dropped them. I started talking to her of piggie things and she was about as knowledgeably as anyone of us. SO...maybe working in a pet store and being knowledgeably about animal care can be good.

[Susan9608]

I don't think the answer lies in having experience and/or knowledgeable people working in pet stores. While that may benefit the few animals condemned to those particular stores, it does NOTHING at all to help end the practice of selling animals as merchandise.

Good care is not good enough. Having the pigs in the small, separate cages *alone* is not good enough. Looking healthy doesn't mean that they *are* healthy. Guinea pigs, as prey animals, are very good at hiding illness until it is almost too late.

This pet store experience sounds merely barely adequate ... certainly not good ... not good enough ... and definitely not near enough to make it any where okay to be selling living sentient beings as merchandise.

[Biscuit]

We shouldn't let them lower our standards to where we find the situation acceptable just because the piggies are not living in constant swill, neglect, and torture.

It's like saying slavery is acceptable if the plantation owner doesn't beat the slaves.

We can talk about small steps as progress all day, but eventually Abe has to come and abolish it.

[ferndalezoo]

In my area, the petsmart/petco type stores are "single gendered". They either have all males or all females, and thus far I haven't seen a mistake, but I'm sure it happens.

As for the Santa thing, no, you're not supporting the store. The money taken in from those pictures go to a local shelter or rescue (usually the one that shows at that particular store), and it's one of the biggest fund-raisers they'll have all year. It's a good thing.

[Ally has U's]

I wasn't saying it was a good thing or even an acceptable thing, but it is a huge improvement than anything I ever saw at any petsmart petco petstore...

The lady looked at me in the store and said I took the job to better their lives I have done the best I can and I have done all they will allow me to do I am still trying though. She also said she looks them over and checks for any signs of mites and any other things little piggies can get. She also said she had asked if they could push for a C&C cages (she has seen this website). They told her they would see what they could do. To me that means it isn't going to happen.

But oh well I tried to add in a little view of 'things can get better' on this thread, but all you guys want to do is think negatively! Is everyone on this website pessimistic? I think that even if a pet store did everything in its power to change their ways and treat each animal the way we see fit, people like you guys (who are so willing to fight about it) will find something wrong. No matter the improvement! You will never think wow someone out there is trying to make animals lives better you will always find something wrong about it! Like I am sure you will find something to argue you with me about in this thread.

***Still you don't have to fight me because I agree with you BUT I do think that this is a step up and a step closer to people knowing. She said she tells all her customer who are interesting in buying an animal everything she knows on caring for them. And not just give them the pets store pamphlet.***

[Jess Z]

Wow! I was saying the same thing. It's not perfect but it is a step up! Ugg... we had to watch ratatoullie today in home ec!

[Biscuit]

Realistic, not pessimistic.

[hydrohoki]

It's because in the end we are against petstores having animals. We are against the conditions behind the scenes back at the breeders house.

I'm not going to pat someone on the back for an improvement when it's how things should have been to begin with.

[Ally has U's]

The thing that upsets me about people that have an attitude like yours is that you don't see anything positively. If you never do then how can the world get any better to you, because aparrently baby steps in this long process doesn't make you happy. Maybe you should find something else to be devoted to if you can't handle this. If that lady doesn't make you smile and think it is good, than something is wrong in your thinking. If that is how all of us animal rights people are then how is anyone going to accept us. Three quarters of Americans can't even stand PETA because of their publc displays of outrage. Though I am a part of PETA and believe in all they do even down to eating habits, I understand the rest of Americans when they say PETA is a joke, all they see is their mistakes and public madness. Goes to show a book shouldn't be read by it's covers but it is; almost everytime.


I guess what I am saying is if you are always going to look negatively at everything and think nothing is better and never will be then why try to stop it?

Sure we have a long tedious sad/mad/angry fight ahead of us but once and a while we get to meet someone like the lady I met and smile because something that one of us did hit someone so much that they thought differently.