Pet Stores: Petco worker gave me good advise!

[iluvmypigclover]

I've gotten mixed advice from places such as Petco and Petsmart.

One time, I went into a pet store (Choice Pet Supply) and returned a package of Carefresh bedding. The sales person asked why I was returning it--was it because I had gotten the wrong thing, found it cheaper somewhere else, etc. I told her that I had switched to fleece for various reasons, and she said "Oh, thats a wonderful idea. I'm glad that you are using that, and not a bedding like Cedar shavings, which can harm a Guinea pig's sensitive respiratory system."

I stood there in shock that she knew what she was talking about!

Then again, I've also seen guinea pigs kept in fishtank-like containers stacked on top of other fishtake cage things with multiple guinea pigs per cage, which is terrible. The choice pet supply store has cages that are about 2x4 for their guinea pigs, which its pretty nice for a petstore, I believe.

[LadyMorrgian]

I have been banned from a PetCo in Texas. I went in to buy some new substrate for my Hermit Crab's (I am obsessed with Hermit's, shoot I know Hermit care the way Ly knows piggie nutrition!) and wandered over to see their stock of Hermies. One of the sales reps heard me commenting on thier tank to my freind who was with me, and came over and began to ask questions. She had recently bought a few her self and not knowing had bought into the commerical products used to sell them, even buyng the painted shells. As I was informing her of what was good for and not, how she needed to remove her four crabs from a plasic cube (less than 1sq foot come on!) and put them into a real tank and was getting into humidity and heat the store manager came over, removed the items in my hands and demanded I leave the store and not return due t the fact i was protesting on private property.

I will say I have never been able to walk into any pet store and not find a worker that didnt know jack about thier department.

One of my best friends works for one of the big chain stores and his training was. These fish will eat each other, these fish wont. These birds will harm these hamster....ect and on so forth. Nothing about the care of the animals or anything. I took him with me to the pet store once after he quit working for them and walked through and taught him the basic care of almost all of the animals and by the end of the time in there I had every worker following me around asking questions!

Training people, something petstores dont do!

[xxlizzybordenxx]

A friend of mine works at petco and she actively adopts out any male guinea pigs they recieve for free because they only sell females, and her boss is aware of whats going on. Instead of sending them somewhere else or giving them to a shelter which some stores will do. She makes sure they are ok and in a good home. Thought that was kind of nice. So yeah i am not a fan of the chain especially when there are so many small animals that need to be adopted. But u can't generalize a whole group of people, she is a very nice petco employee and i am sure there are many out there!

[rabbitsncavyluv]

It isn't the employees - it is the chain and their business model.

[LadyMorrgian]

I am sorry if it seems I was being rude towards employee's. That is not my intention. I was commenting on how the Pet stores train their people. I know many of the people employed love their pets and want to learn about others and that is why they chose a pet store job in the first place.
There is so much misinformation out there, and sadly the main one perpetuating it are the pet stores, namely the large chains. I personally look at "correcting misinformation" something any responsible pet owner should do if given the chance. I personally new jack about piggy care before adopting one (actually three) but I was confident in my own experience with other small animals that I could give basic care till I was able to learn more.

The only way to stop people from giving their pigs salt licks and v-C drops n the water, and Hermies to live in plastic igloos in there closest, or Betta's under Lily Vases is for the pet store employees need to stop telling ignorant people that those things are what they like and that t is "Good for them"
If the pet stores don't want to train their people, and come one doing that may cause a drop in sales, some one has to and why not the informed pet owners.

[Sullivan]

We have a local Pet shop here in MI.. It's called Perues pets.. sorry.. Im not totally sure how to spell the name. Anyways.. they have everything from rabbits, Guinea pigs, ferrets, Chinchillas, Hedgehogs, rats, fish, reptiles, birds, and then they will have a couple kittens up for adoption. I got my pet rat from there.. It's the nicest pet shop i have EVER seen.. all there animals get out of cage time.. they all have huge cages!!!!.. and they all look VERY happy.. i love going in there, the atmosphere is amazing.. the people will always talk to you and give you great advice.. and the animals are ALWAYS healthy and VERY HAPPY!.. so i guess a few pet stores are pretty nice.. but thats the only one i have found that i really like going and seeing.

Thought i would share

[rabbitsncavyluv]

It doesn't really matter how clean the store looks or how nice the employees are. They buy them from irreputable breeders and are still selling animals. Meanwhile shelter pets are euthanized.

[AnimalFarm2006]

Originally Posted by sophistacavy

Well, to tell you the truth, I don't see how it would be helping them, since they're giving you money, they technically lose money by hiring people. But then again, if everyone had a sit down and boycotted pet stores and just refused to come to work, then the stores wouldn't have much of a choice other then to close....I guess maybe it's like even though hiring people costs them money, the people help them not financially, but more like just maintaining and keeping the one store open. You're not necessarily helping the entire chain in general, just the one store, if that makes any sense.

So, We let some fool get hired that end up doing the same things the guys on the youtube video do to a hamster? Yes, I could try our darnest to get "everyone" to boycotte, lossing their jobs in a horrible economy, or I could get a job at a pet store, pet smart, etc in the attempt to atleast bring knoledge to the people that pass though, and help the future choices of them, as well as keeping the animals in the pet store safe. I just don't see "Everyone" boycotteing untill the economy settles down.

Also, Question: I would never buy, but are you guys fine about sacrificing the lives of the hamsters, guinea pigs, and birds inside of petstores by avoiding petstores? I atleast do shop their for what products they do have that is good, and at the same time i make sure to tell people around me about the different cages, and such and how bad they are.

I think you guys need to calm down, and to realy think about what happens to the animals in the petstores as well as shutting them down. They might go "on sale", and than that makes a great impulse buy. Impulse buy= babys, death, or a very sick guinea pig in a shelter.

I tend to not say anything on the forum that even questions the mod's antics, but some things just need to be asked.

[yo FOO xD]

A long, long time ago I went into a PetCo with my friend who needed some hamster food. I never go to any store that sells animals and I was shocked to see that one of the guinea pigs was stuck in a hay rack! His foot was caught and it was bleeding terribly. I got a store employee to remove him, but the employee just YANKED his leg out and it was bleeding worse! I told her to do something about it, but she just said, "I'll get a manager later." I was even more digusted with stores that sell animals. I doubt she ever got a manager, they probably just put the pig in the back for a few days in case I were to come back which I will never do! Also, while I was there an associate had seen me looking at their pathetic little "Deluxe" cages and asked if I was getting a guinea pig. I said "No" and she said well, "We're having a special two day sale" as if that would make a customer buy one. So I replied: "I already have Guinea Pigs." She just said: "Well, I'm sure you'd like some more! Did you get your Guinea Pigs here?" I said "No from rescues and shelters." She said: "Oh my! I didn't know they actually needed homes for guinea pigs!" I was about to say "Yeah, they do, because of pet stores like you" but I just smiled and walked away.

Please don't go to a pet store that sells animals! I'm sure a Piggy at a pet store would rather sacrifice himself than force more Piggies to take his place. Makes me sick to know that my town is getting a new PetSmart!