are ALL pet stores bad??

No, not all. There are very, very few good ones though. The best don't sell animals at all. The 'second best' keep their small animals in large cages (minimum recommended sizes), feed them unlimited hay, plain pellets, fresh veggies and give them toys and hideys. They also do their best to check that the animals go to good homes and not just to anyone, and do regular grooming and time out of the cage. But it is rare to come across such a good one.

iLoveDusty said:

I was wondering if ALL petstores are bad. There is one right down the road to us, and I go there about every other day. Whenever I go the cages are ALWAYS clean-looks like they had been cleaned that very day. Also, al the water bottles are full, and none of the piggies look sick

They even have bird play-time!!

I know this is a anti-pet store site, but are all pet stores really really bad??

P.S.-they dont sell puppies either, because that would just break my heart

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Actually, in my opinion, yes.

I also run No Puppy Mills, VA and from my years in a rabbit and cavy club, I can tell you that most animals in pet shops come from mill breeders. How do I know that? I used to know personally several mill breeders of rabbits and cavies, prarie dogs and sugar gliders who were suppling pet shops. I had the eye opening chance to visit many of these farms (and homes in the suburbs).

The animals were being bred and raised in too small cages. Though they were cleaner than the general image of mill breeders, the situations were still inhumane. (And note: through my research and work into puppy mills, the new trend in mill is far cleaner, sterile looking with pictures of cute puppies all over to give a "new image" and sell more - sadly, it is working).

Rabbits and buns were kept on wire - no large sitting boards, no deep piles of hay, etc. Cavies were in 18x24" cages for a single animal and 24x24 for a sow with litter. Even I knew back then this was not enough. I was ridiculed by many for my views on breeding and pet shops and keeping my animals in large cages with homes, etc. I was also doing rescue as most local Shelters were not taking in Angoras or putting them down fast due to the massive care and rough condition most came in in. I was one of the only people actively doing Angora rescue. (Allergies to rabbits forced me out) I also spent my years working agricultural Fairs in rabbit/cavy barns doing what I could to talk people OUT of pets and steering them to rescues. Sales tended to fall off the days I worked - because I knew where these animals had come from. My goal was to talk as many peole out of buying as possible

Mills are not just a midwest thing. They exists all over the world. They exists for all species owned as pets - even many less common exotics.

Our local pet stores get most of their cavies from North Carolina. They come shipped in boxes, no care for health where they are bred, no knowledge ro understanding of genetics (think skinnies and issues than can come with them), no care for to whom the animals go.

Shoot I just checked the time and have to get my son;s lunch ready...

But from actually experiencing the other side of pet shops, knowing ownes of small mom and pop places as well as employees of big chains, there is no good pet shop in regards to the care and sale of animals.

Any pet shop that sells animals is perpetuating the animal overpopulation problem and the view of animals as disposable items and playthings.

It doesn't matter how well they treat their animals.

Any pet store that sells animals is bad, in my opinion.

Exactly. That's the big mistake most people make. They THINK that just because what they see looks all clean and good, then this pet store must be just fine. NOT. That is NOT the point about pet stores.

Olay, I was just wondering. They DO give them hidey-houses and interview the owners though.

Thanks for all your help! Do you think it's bad to get piggie food from there?

If you can avoid buying from pet stores then please do. If there is no other way you can buy piggy food then you'll just have to buy the essentials from them.

What you see on the outside isn't always the truth - you have no idea where the animals in those clean cages have come from. Even if a pet stores treats their animals well, there is no need to buy from there. Adopting is a better option

Also just b'cos the visible display appears clean and nice-looking doesn't mean they don't have another display in the back room, hidden from the public view, where the majority of their animals are kept "in reserve" waiting to be moved to public display once the ones on display are sold. PC and other stores operate this way, they have multiple enclosures for the pigs, and the less visible enclosures where the majority of the pigs are kept are more poorly maintained than the ones in clear public view. Even if they claim vet care for the pigs, the reality is that sick pigs or any pig that exhibits possible signs of sickness are placed into a freezer or even worse a microwave oven until they die. Any employees who do care about animals and animal welfare are driven out by the management or other corporate entities. The only good petstores don't sell animals at all, or they send those interested to a local rescue to adopt.

When you walk into a pet store and find an animal you want, you plunk your money on the counter and take the animal home. They don't interview you to see if you are going to be a good owner. You could be buying it for your snake as snake food, and they don't care. As long as the petstore gets their money, you get the animal.

People are most often given bad advice on cage size, what to feed, etc and the animals are often sick or pregnant or missexed. Many petstores have 4-5 piggies or more in a small cage and no hidey houses and maybe one or two water bottle and one small dish of pellets. Some petstores may give one small hidey house for several pigs.
Many petstores don't give hay or veggies. Some do but even that seems rare. I have been in some of the PetStupid's (PetCo's) and PetNotSoSmart's in Little Rock and they have deplorable conditions for all their animals. I once saw a 10 gallon aquarium with about 50-75 mice in it. They were sitting on top of each other. It was deplorable. That was at a PetStupid.

Also everytime an animal is bought, several more are "restocked" to take the place of that one. Many of these animals come from backyard breeders and pet mills. When you talk about petstores, you have to look at the entire picture.

Well said Ly!


*~jess*

Thanks! I try not to buy stuff from there, but sometimes when I run out of food I have to get it there. Thanks so much!

What about petstores that get their animals from rescues? Here in San Diego it states on weecompanions.com that they send a couple of their piggies to a pet store up here where I work in del mar each month. This is a very reputable piggie rescue that does this, does that make the pet store they send to piggie to bad?

The Daily Pet (in Del Mar) just has the animals on display due to space concerns. You can't buy the animals, you have to go through the normal adoption process with Wee Companions if you want to adopt them. The daily pet doesn't have any animals for sale. That is my understanding, at least; someone correct me if I'm wrong. Wee Companions also has events which are sometimes hosted by Petsmart... kinda in the front of a Petsmart store where customers normally enter and exit. They attract a lot of attention, I remember during one of these adoption events we were doing introductions with my Silkie and people kept thinking my boy was up for adoption and wanted to adopt him.

Yes, last time I was in there, they only had rescued animals. They sell oxbow and other nice items. You have to go through the rescue to adopt, fill out an application, etc.

Pet stores that do not sell animals are good.

Ah ok, that makes sense. So now I"m sure weecompanions doesnt advocate petstore piggies, but if so why would they got to a chain like Petsmart to help them adopt out piggies when Petsmart actually does sell them? I guess the whole thing is kind of confusing to me.

So then that means not ALL pet stores are bad

I guess they just need some place to meet and the petstore happens to be an okay place, they are not actually inside the pet store itself but rather just inside the entryway and in an empty area to the side. I honestly don't remember if the petsmarts have animals here but even if they do, anyone coming in for an animal should notice the adoption even going on first and may at least consider adopting rather than buying an animal from the pet store.

The ones that don't sell pets aren't bad, of course.

Quite frankly, doing adoption days at Petsmart is NOT the best thing to do. As long as the chain still sells animals, it's still like feeding the animal that bites you. Not all rescues see things the same way or to the same extent.

I'd say that of all the rescues in the country, probably Sandi's rescue in Seattle is the top of the list with the best policies. I believe mine is a notch below Sandi's. There are at least two other major rescues that do not adhere to our cage size standards and seem to have no issues at all with doing adoption days at Petsmart. I disagree with this. But, still consider them good rescues.

And regardless of any one rescue's policies, it still remains that only 'good' pet stores are those that are supplies only. Support them with your business.