Pet Stores: I just realised how bad pet stores are for myself!

[Rnd210]

Originally Posted by Peggysu

Unfortunately this store is still adding to the over population of guinea pigs. So since that pet store is selling them you'll be able to find some on craigslist or in the classifieds that are in need of homes.

I hate stores that sell animals they make me sick. Those people don't care about animals, they care about profit. They may sell one guinea pig but because of that one guinea pig someone's going to be buying one over priced litter box (cage) and some crappy food and get some horrible diet information. The list goes on.

I agree that is adding to the over population of guinea pigs and I am guilty of buying 2 piggies from her but I got my cage else where and when looking for someing bigger I found this site and it has helped me a lot and my piggies are in a large C&C cage with lots of scare footage 26 sq ft for 2 girls and 26 square feet for 3 boys as they are seperated. I was given the same diet plan from the woman, who has the pet store, as I have seen here with the exception that she never mention bell peppers and I never even thought of bell peppers until joining this cite. Otherwise she gave me pretty good advice but since joining this cite and finding out that their are guinea pigs without homes (that is what make me sad)I will be keeping an eye out in the local paper, freecycle, and craigslist for any in need of a home. Obviously I can't take all of them in but some I can and if I don't find any there then I will surely make arrangements for a 4 hour drive to the rescue center to adopt one or two. Right now I am content with the 5 I have and my hubby won't let me get anymore yet.

[snistopher]

Since I changed the bedding over to fleece, and now that I order their pellets and hay from Sweet Meadow Farms, I rarely need to venture into a pet store. And for this, I'm happier for it...particularly the Petco up the road from me, that has their guinea pigs in the front of the store and you have to see them when you walk in

[dra&pigs]

I am lucky in the fact that I have never seen the horrid standards of care that you guys are talking about. The times I've gone into Petsmart or Petco (or the small locally owned shop we have) the guinea pigs were well fed, with a clean cage and access to toys, food and water. Their cages were waaaay to small, but still large enough to run in. I am in NO way trying to condone pet shops or breeding, but I am thankful that my local pet shops have at least semi decent standards of care. Granted, I never buy from pet stores, and my two pet store purchased pigs were bought before I knew about adopting, or this site. I haven't been in a pet store in a while, and I don't plan on going into one for a looong while as well. Hopefully, one day, the kind of care you guys are describing won't exist. Or better yet, the entire idea of pet stores won't exist. *Fantasizes*

[RavenHeart]

I understand this... I my self have adopted many neglected animals.. It just kills me how some people teat these little guys.. People say they can't take care of all the animals in the shops, because there are too much.. Bull, I have tons of animals, they all have my un-divided attention.. They shouldn't have so amny, if they can't treat them with respect.

[Peggysu]

I bought my first guinea pig in a pet store before I knew better and after I found this site which was pretty much immediately after getting here I went and visited the store. My guinea pigs sister was obviously pregnant and was being house with bunnies! I was mortified. The guinea pigs in petco are always in glass and have no room to run around. I would hate to see what goes on in back out of public sight!

[Blackjack-n-Me]

There is a pet store in the town I go to college in that it horrible. The woman who owns it is more of an animal collector than anything. She has two closet sized rooms with no ventilation at all with glass doors so you can see into them. One of the closet rooms has two Australian Foxes in it and the other room has a wallaby. The foxes have cat climber things to sit on and the wallaby has one of those Step 2 plastic play houses for small children that has the slide on it that is taking up so much room in the room the poor thing hardly has any space to move. She has signs on the doors explaining that these animals love playing with the toys she gives them and other nonsense. They are living in filthy condition.
The rest of the animals are in extremely small cages - usually glass aquariums that she has put a divider into so they are half the size.

A girl I know took a litter of guinea pigs into town to the better petstore because the man who owns that one said he would take them because it was an unplanned pregnancy and she didn't know what else she could do with them (she wouldn't let me convince her to try to find adoptive parents for all of them online) and when she got there he said he couldn't take them anymore so she took them to the horrible pet store with the wallaby and that lady took them. I went to see them in the store the day after she left them there and I was so shocked I wanted to cry! She had them in a large rabbit cage with a wire mesh bottom that was two large for the pigs to walk on so she had put a small kitty litter pan in with them with a very large empty food bowl in the middle of it. She had the boy and the girl baby together and another very large male pig in with them. They had absolutely no room at all to walk around and they were climbing over each other. The babies were obviously terrified. They had no food or water. I asked to take them back because I knew the girl who left them and she wouldn't let me have them without paying but I couldn't afford them. I am so worried about those babies now and it is all I can think about. I wish there was something that I could do about this store but because I am in a rural area there is no ASPCA and even if there was one people in this area just think they can treat animals as tools or play things.

[Jasper_Hale]

We went into the petstore the other day and decided to look at the animals. We went in there to get food for the guinea pigs and our rabbit. (They eat differnet food. Just decided to make 2 trips into 1.) I went into the back of the store. There was a family, a mom, grandma, and 2 little kids. It was the little boys Birthday, and they told me they were getting the guinea pig there for his gift, so I jumped in. I told them all about this website, foods that are safe, the hay, veggies, and I told them they really needed a C&C Cage. They seemed to be interested in them, but who knows. They left to go check out and I saw the guinea pig cage was about the size of a 1 by 2 C&C Cage. It was over $50 and I was in shock. You could MAKE a C&C Cage for way less that that- or atleast I did. After they left, I decided to go check out the animals for myself. I went in there and say the hamsters and gerbils that looked half dead already, the snakes not moving either, the ferrett wanting to come out and play, and the poor bunnies that had hardly any shavings and no food. The guinea pigs had no hideys or anything, but they did have water and food. I hope petstores dont stay in bussiness to much longer. *Crosses fingers*