Pet Stores: Horrid, horrid petstore in Barcelona

[Myspoiltpiggies]

My family took me to Barcelona for my 18th and I of course, missing my piggies, couldn't help myself from taking a peek at the petstore, not to buy anything, just to see the animals. The first thing that struck me was that there were DOGS and CATS in the petshop! I don't know if this is a common thing in other countries but in the UK we don't have that! And rightly so! Dogs need attention like 24/7, how can they be behind glass! The next thing I noticed was that they have no toys... now for an older dog I would think that this isn't SO bad but these were TEETHING puppies! All they had in their glass tank (which were of an ok size, about the size of a 3x6 C&C cage) was shredded paper and a water bowl.

The next thing that caught my attention was these red squirrel-type things. They were in this tiny hamster cage. It was probably the equivalant of 2 people living in a bathroom. Both of these were doing back-flips, the whole time I was watching them. It reminded me of how a lion strides back and forth in a zoo. Utter boredom.

The guinea pigs were in one of the worst conditions. In a single tank the size of a 1x2 C&C cage were 7 baby (about 5-8 weeks) guinea pigs. The floor of the cage was filfthy and the dry food bowl was completely empty. There was no evidence of hay. They had water but the spout was almost touching the bottom of the cage, so they had to lean their heads to the side to drink. As you can imagine, they were all just sitting there huddled together, what much else can they do?

I thought the petshops in the UK were bad but compared with the petshops I have seen abroad, they are excellent, well as good as a petshop can be anyway - they have space to run, always have dry food available, the water is at an appropriate height, they have hay, the cages are clean, they aren't mixed with rabbits.
You really don't realise the suffering going on elsewhere till you go and see for yourself and then it hits you.

[hueyeats]

Yeah, I agree!

I had a recent experience from just a road trip to a Petstore too with hubby...

Where I saw 2 male adult GPs for sale with $7.99 marked on a 1X1 grid size cardboard box (not even a cage)! I thought for sure at that price, they'd sure be python food!

Also in the same store, 3 baby GPs caged with a big huge adult size massive lop in a flexi-glass aquarium (4 X 1.5 grid) and that is divided in 2, the other side housed many baby bunnies!

Plus, all their crocks are empty and there is no hay!

This pet store sells snakes too... so I am sure if someone is here to buy the 2 GPs at $7.99 ea. to feed their python, the people working in there would "understand".

I really hate places like that!

[breezy2]

They sell dogs in many pet stores in the United States. They are all in fairly similar conditions that you described, some worse. One pet shop I was in did have long wood runs for the puppies and had a toy in with each, so that was excellent compared to most although it was still sub par.

I have seen guinea pigs housed with rabbits many many times. Guinea pigs in too small enclosures with one hidey for 7 or more guinea pigs. Some in glass aquariums, some with no hay, some with no food, never ever have I seen any with vegetables. The list could probably go on, if I thought about it.

This is why I won't buy from pet stores any more. I came on this site and to be honest kind of doubted what was said, but once I did a little investigating, everyone is right. I think those who do doubt the conditions really should check out a couple stores. You may be lucky enough to find one that doesn't keep them in horrid conditions, but chances are every single one has some below standard way of caring for their animals.

[yo FOO xD]

Dogs and cats are sold in a lot of pet stores in the US. They all come form horrible puppy mills and backyard breeders though. I just don't go into stores that sell ANY animals so that no abuse is being supported!