For all of those CavySpirit and guineapigcages.com bashers...

[aNiMaLsAmArItAn]

People can be very ignorant about our views on pet stores and breeders sometimes, so I just wanted to clear a few things up. We would not be against pet stores and breeders if they used humane and kind tactics to produce and sell animals! But hold on for a minute...who cares about guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, and other domestic pets anyway? you might be thinking. Well then you need a reality check! WE ARE ANIMALS TOO. We belong to the animal kingdom! What if we were in the pets' place? What if we were abused and neglected by some "higher being?" You CavySpirit and GPC.com haters would have something different to say then, I believe (correct me if I am wrong, please, because I am an animal lover!) And another thing, we do not shove our opinions down peoples' throats, we simply try to educate them about the horrors of animal abuse and cruelty. It is of course the individual's decision, but we are here to inform. And I do not believe that guinea pigs are going to be extinct anytime soon, given the millions, maybe BILLIONS of them in shelters, rescues, and other places all across the globe. We really do not need more guinea pigs right now, or other animals, for that matter. THAT is why we don't support pet stores and breeders, along with their [sometimes] unkind treatment of animals. We are also not against all pet stores and breeders, mainly the ones that deliver sick and maltreated animals. But still, l am personally against breeders because we really don't need anymore animals to be bred.
Not all of us here feel exactly the way I do, so it is very condescending and rude when people set stereotypes, so please don't!
~AnImaLsAMarItAN

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by aNiMaLsAmArItAn

We would not be against pet stores and breeders if they used humane and kind tactics to produce and sell animals!

I have to disagree. There are much larger issues then poor breeding and husbandry.

Considering the overpopulation problem and the fact that several million animals are euthanized, neglected and abandoned each year I personally don't care if a breeder and petstore has Utopian standards, they are still adding to the overpopulation problem, causing animals to die and the petstores are selling to anyone with money to buy. Simply being able to afford to buy an animal does not mean it is a good home.

[aNiMaLsAmArItAn]

I also agree. I should have made my other reason for not supporting pet stores and breeders clearer: overpopulation. I am against them for their contributing to the domestic animal overpopulation problem and for their often cruel and unjust treatment of animals.

[Ly&Pigs]

When people go into their local petstores that do sell animals, they are only seeing what is in front of them. Some stores may take better care of their animals than other stores do but that's only a portion of the problem and they aren't seeing the bigger picture behind what is in front of their eyes. It doesn't matter how well the store takes care of the animals.

A good part of the problem is behind the scenes. The sick animals in the backrooms just left to die with no treatment, the breeders and mills these animals are coming from and the horrible way they are transported to the stores.

[aNiMaLsAmArItAn]

Has anyone else noticed this? It has just come to my attention.
PetSmart | Press Room | The Facts
This makes everything so confusing! Are they lying or just not telling the whole truth???

[aNiMaLsAmArItAn]

This is rediculous! I just got off the phone with the general manager of a PetsMart near where I live and when I asked for the other sources of their animals besides Rainbow Exotics of Texas and he said that I must be a PETA activist and hung up! That's not good business managing! Sorry I waited twenty minutes for someone to talk to me live and when the guy hung up, I got so mad!

[Res Judicata]

They know when you say something like that that you're not going to buy anything. I don't find it worth it to bother complaining to such people. It's like trying to move a graveyard. I let my views be known with my feet and shop elsewhere.

[Fishguy2727]

What if the store takes good care of the animals AND only buys from local private breeders they know take as good of care AND takes in animals that need homes AND sells them at fair prices even if it means losing money AND makes sure any one who buys any animal knows exactly how to properly care for that animal?

I worked at Petsmart for two months. They have standards that are pretty good, but actually carrying them out is where they screw everything up. THEIR policy is that every animal receives ANY needed vet care, no matter the cost. The animal is quarantined until it is healthy again and then put up for sale again at normal cost, even if it is a tiny fraction of the vet care spent to save its life. Having employees who can recognise the problems before the animal is too far along to save is a problem. Good vets are another problem. While I was there a chinchilla hurt its front foot, it was bleeding. The vet said it was an 'attempted self-declawing' and had to put it down because 'chinchillas can't live without a foot'. It was a front foot and worst case the animal would just need a cage setup for its special needs, no big jumps or high places.

[babybunny]

If the store is selling living animals as merchandise, it will never be a "good" pet store.

[Fishguy2727]

That is what I am saying though, if the animals are not harmed, neglected, or improperly cared for in any way (they are taken care of as well as any cared for by anyone on this site) then there is no real harm. And by the store not making any profit on them at all they are not merchandise, especially if they are taken in because people don't want them any more. In that case the guinea pigs would end up at a rescue (but since these people don't care enough about them to keep them they probably don't even know guinea pig rescues exist), at a shelter, or at the store. Since most people think of stores as a source for guinea pigs then it is the fastest way to get that guinea pig a home (and not risk being put to sleep at the shelter).

The average person goes into pet stores, not rescues. If the pet store is good and setting a positive example and not just moving as many animals as possible then they are showing the average person how those animals should really be cared for, not the dumbed down method used to sell them as easy to care for pets for kids.

Simply saying it is wrong because they sell animals is very narrow-sighted. IF a store takes in any available guinea pigs in need of a home, makes no profit (actually loses money on the animal), keeps them according to the guides on this site, and makes sure that anyone who wants them will do the same, then there is no harm to the animal or guinea pigs in general. Since most people go to pet shops they are more likely to see this and see what they really need. This can do more good for more guinea pigs (and any animal) then simply saying any shop that sells any animals is bad.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

They are being harmed when they are being bred and sold as merchandise, regarding of how nice the breeders may be as people or how clean the store may look.

They are sold to whoever walks in the door then often discarded later on. Often they are missexed, pregnant and sick.

Live animals like guinea pigs are loss leaders to the pet store. Even if they don't make money off them (which they don't anyway), they make money off the cages, and supplies. The repeat customers who bought said guinea pig returning each week for more bedding, pellets, etc.

Meanwhile ones in shelters are being euthanized.

[Fishguy2727]

The local shelter actually gives animals to the shop I work at when they are at risk of being put down.

I have never sold any animal just for the sake of a sale. I always make sure they know exactly how to properly care for the animal. I am allowed to, will, and have refused sales when the person will not provide adequate care. I have recommended this site to many customers.

I personally sex and separate them.

"They are being harmed when they are being bred and sold as merchandise, regarding of how nice the breeders may be as people or how clean the store may look." How are they harmed? Because the animals are cared for properly? Because the store sets a positive example?

[sophistacavy]

Oh my gosh, I can't wait till one of the mods sees this thread.... :mischievo

[sophistacavy]

Oh, yeah, don't worry yourself about the hundreds of euthanized shelter cavies every single day, that couldn't find homes because people who purchased their cavies from pet stores like yours already had one.

And don't worry about where all those euthanized cavies go, either. They probably won't be dumped in a landfill, and they most certianly won't be cremated. They'll just be sold to companion animal meat rendering plants, and mashed up into cheapo brand dog, cat, and ferret food, thats all.

No offense. :)

[Fishguy2727]

Like I said, the local shelter here gives us animals if they get close to being put down. And unfortunately people shopping for them in shops don't want to go to the shelter or a rescue, they want a 'cute little baby'.

[wigglesgiggles1]

fishguy-
If your petstore is selling animals it is not a good pet store, all that it is doing is adding to the over population.

[Fishguy2727]

I know the stance on it on this forum.

What if a lot of them are rescues, from people who don't want them anymore. It is either us, the shelter (in which case they could end up with us if they get close to being put down), or a rescue.

[dra&pigs]

If your pet store is "good", how come I had to make a 2 hour drive to rescue a sow who was just hours away from being put down? You know where she came from? A "good" petstore like yours.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Because the mortality rate/ risk to the sow and babies when you breed and when they leave the pet store are the same.

You are doing the same thing those other big bad pet stores are doing, only on a smaller scale.

Are you housing the guinea pigs in C&C cages in the store? Are you selling C&C cages?

How often do people from those other big bad chains come to your store to see how great this model is and how much are they changing to model yours? How is it really effecting them anyway?

You're just cutting out the middle man when you breed and breeding the same sow back to back, lessening her lifespan.

Originally Posted by Fishguy2727

The local shelter actually gives animals to the shop I work at when they are at risk of being put down.

I have never sold any animal just for the sake of a sale. I always make sure they know exactly how to properly care for the animal. I am allowed to, will, and have refused sales when the person will not provide adequate care. I have recommended this site to many customers.

I personally sex and separate them.

"They are being harmed when they are being bred and sold as merchandise, regarding of how nice the breeders may be as people or how clean the store may look." How are they harmed? Because the animals are cared for properly? Because the store sets a positive example?

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by Fishguy2727

What if the store takes good care of the animals AND only buys from local private breeders

In response to this comment and all of the other comments you have made in this thread I refer you back to post #2 http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/374317-post2.html

Take a look at the bigger picture. You are failing to see the forest because you are concentrating on a single tree.