PetNO!

Wow

Wow is all I can say, I don't want anyone to jump down my throat, it's my opinion only.............. Our petco isn't on the list, thank god for that, they do not sell any sick animals, I have 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 gp, and turtle, I buy most of my supplies from them, My daughter comes w/ me most of the time and she is always looking at the reptiles, they are always healthy. I'm glad for that and I'm glad for that list which makes me sad but I do not agree w/ saying no to petco., ours is fine, I visit weekly, I have no other local pet stores to buy supplies from, I have petedge but you must order ahead of time, w/ 2 kids I find I'm out of cat food that morning, plus pet edge doesn't sell food., anyways, my point is our petco doesn't sell cat/dogs/ - only ferrets, fish, mice, gp's, and hamsters., and my daughter is very conscious of sick, neglected animals and if she seen one being abused she would mention it, so ours is fine

KK

Our Petco is horrid!! I bought my second pig there, this was before I found this site and the reason I went looking for info to begin with!

Superman's cagemates at the store were all very sick. One was so congested that eyes and nose were covered in snot. He couldn't breathe without causing those nasty snot bubbles. It was pitiful.

When I tried to call the situation to the employees attention they all acted like I was nuts and causing an inconvenience to them. I purchased my pig b/c he was new and the only one not sick. I really feel like I saved his poor little piggy life!!!

I will not even purchase a doggy brush in that place now. My own little boycott you could say!!!

Pet stores have the let's make money mentality. Not all are bad, but the vast, VAST majority are horrible. If only people would realize this, but there is really no place to rant and rave about this except where everyone already knows this--like here. =) Anyways, we can just make the pet stores lose some profit by not buying from them. I don't get how some people can be so stupid about living things, but then again, they probably are the ones that abuse their animals, too. What's the point of getting an animal just to beat it up?!?!?! That makes me so sick and angry, I could blow up the world seventeen times over like the nuclear weapons. What makes me angrier than ever is that their pets still love them and would do anything for them! And, they have no voice of their own, so they are not able to get help. They just hpoe for the inexplicable torture to end. Of course, I am yelling at a totally wrong audience, but there just us no way to get this through thick peoples' heads!!! Arghhh! Sorry for the outburst. I just get so mad about this. Anyways, before I go on a ten-hour-long rant, I'll end this. I just hope someday people stop this unnecessary violence. Thanks for bearing with me! =)

That is outragious!!! Hampsters being alowed to eat other hampsters!!! A hampster being droped repeatedly!!! That is cuelity!!! Maybe Walmart should go on this list too. My local Walmart displays dead rotting fish and the survivors look ready to drop. Its horrible!!! I can't STAND how people can even THINK of doing that and neglecting animals!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, the fish at Walmart are always sickly looking. And most of the time there are a couple of floaters in there too.

I can't say my petco is much better, even though it wasn't on the list.. All their gps look sick and lifeless they don't move much, and they have URIs. And the hamsters always have babies because they can't sex them correctly. The rats always look dirty etc..

But the Petsmart in my area takes good care of their piggies. Whenever I go in there the piggies always have lettuce and oranges. And they only house two gps in one cage together. And they only carry one sex in all small animals, right now its females. The hamsters always look healthy and if a hamster has a babies they put them up for adoption instead of selling them. The animals are even vet checked before they are allowed to be bought. (My petsmart has a vet clinic right inside of the store). They are a fairly new store, opened around last October. But not all Petsmarts I have seen are good...

I try not to buy supplies from petstores, (only feedstores that I know don't sell live animals, or take good care of their live animals.) But sometimes I have to because I run out of food etc. I have 6 cats (3 inside 3 outside), a dog, and 9 piggies (well actually 8 piggies right now), so sometimes I need food or supplies right a way..

Cinn&sprinslave

My two cents....

Well, I should first start by saying that I work for Petco. That said, I also need to say that I highly doubt my store is on that site (That I didn't look at btw...) But I want to say that it's tough to say what was going on at the time that whatever was said on that site happened. I know that I have dropped hampsters before because they freakin jump out of my hands...it's nothing that I have done wrong. They freak out and jump out of our hands...that's what they do until they get used to being held. And hampsters will attack each other sometimes because one may not like to be with other hampsters. But the fact that no one caught it before the store was opened points to the fact that they hadn't checked (or fed and watered) the small animals that day wich ticks me off too...it's routine...every morning and before the store closes...that's our job...company policy...so I agree that it was wrong)
I also want to bring up the pregnancy thing again...We can NOT control what happens to the animals before they get to our store, so if they come pregnant, we shouldn't be the ones to get shot down for it. We (again, company policy) seperate them as soon as we realize it, and send them back to the breeder. But the day that they come to our store, male and females are seperated...every thing. (except for feeders, aka 'common' mice/rats because they aren't there for very long.)
I appreciate the fact that mncavylover acknowledged that not all are bad...thanks :0) because mine is not. And I am sorry that you had a bad experiance, and I wouldn't go there again either because they obviously need to be put in check. You should call the corprate office and let them know what kind of shape they're animals are in. Obviously they're regional person isn't doing they're job. (the guy who goes around and makes sure that all the animals are taken care of in his district). I know that they would appreciate the heads up.
Also about the making money thing...it's true to a point...people still buy rawhide for they're animals even though I tell them that their dog can choke and die or that it's not digestable and can perferate the intestines...they want that product and if we don't sell it someone else will...it's supply and demand. People are set in what they like. People buy bird seed for they're birds...that's not good for birds, but they still feed it because that's what they like (the birds)...it's easy for them to feed the animals what they will eat as apposed to what is better for them...you know what I mean??
And petsmart by my house has all they're pigs together...male and female...and the cages are dirty and stained...but the one by my work is nice and I occasionally shop there for stuff my work doesn't carry. But I wouldn't shop at a place like the ones you guys have discribed either...so again...please judge them one by one. My Petco (Anahiem Hills CA...off wier canyon and Santa Ana canyon...next to Mervans...feel free to stop by and check us out because I know for a fact that you wont find anything questionable...) is awsome and I stand by it 110%.
~~Cheri~~

CavyCrazyMom-- Yes, I do understand that there is good and bad pet stores out there. Just because one is bad, doesn't mean all the rest are bad. Yet, you also have to think of this. If we are buying stuff from one store, all the stores are connected. So the money goes to all of them and keeps them running. So basically your are helping the bad stores keep running, even though many aren't doing anything to improve the conditions for the animals. At least that's how I see it. I have turtles, a dog, guinea pigs, hamsters, and dwarf hamsters. So I'm a frequent memeber to many other sites such as this one. The hamster site and the turtle site I'm also with, are anti-Petco (for many reasons mind you). So I'm not attacking you, or your store. I'm just saying, look at the facts. Also, syrian hamstersr are not supposed to be housed together in the first place. So if they are getting pregnant, there is their fist mistake. Syrians are solitary hamsters and will fight when put with others. JFUI! I didn't mean to start a whole argument or disagreement or anything. I had just seen other post about Petco and I wanted to share it with everyone else. I hope all the Petco's can clean up their act.

CavyCrazyMom said:

Well, I should first start by saying that I work for Petco. That said, I also need to say that I highly doubt my store is on that site (That I didn't look at btw...) But I want to say that it's tough to say what was going on at the time that whatever was said on that site happened. I know that I have dropped hampsters before because they freakin jump out of my hands...it's nothing that I have done wrong. They freak out and jump out of our hands...that's what they do until they get used to being held. And hampsters will attack each other sometimes because one may not like to be with other hampsters. But the fact that no one caught it before the store was opened points to the fact that they hadn't checked (or fed and watered) the small animals that day wich ticks me off too...it's routine...every morning and before the store closes...that's our job...company policy...so I agree that it was wrong)
I also want to bring up the pregnancy thing again...We can NOT control what happens to the animals before they get to our store, so if they come pregnant, we shouldn't be the ones to get shot down for it. We (again, company policy) seperate them as soon as we realize it, and send them back to the breeder. But the day that they come to our store, male and females are seperated...every thing. (except for feeders, aka 'common' mice/rats because they aren't there for very long.)
I appreciate the fact that mncavylover acknowledged that not all are bad...thanks :0) because mine is not. And I am sorry that you had a bad experiance, and I wouldn't go there again either because they obviously need to be put in check. You should call the corprate office and let them know what kind of shape they're animals are in. Obviously they're regional person isn't doing they're job. (the guy who goes around and makes sure that all the animals are taken care of in his district). I know that they would appreciate the heads up.
Also about the making money thing...it's true to a point...people still buy rawhide for they're animals even though I tell them that their dog can choke and die or that it's not digestable and can perferate the intestines...they want that product and if we don't sell it someone else will...it's supply and demand. People are set in what they like. People buy bird seed for they're birds...that's not good for birds, but they still feed it because that's what they like (the birds)...it's easy for them to feed the animals what they will eat as apposed to what is better for them...you know what I mean??
And petsmart by my house has all they're pigs together...male and female...and the cages are dirty and stained...but the one by my work is nice and I occasionally shop there for stuff my work doesn't carry. But I wouldn't shop at a place like the ones you guys have discribed either...so again...please judge them one by one. My Petco (Anahiem Hills CA...off wier canyon and Santa Ana canyon...next to Mervans...feel free to stop by and check us out because I know for a fact that you wont find anything questionable...) is awsome and I stand by it 110%.
~~Cheri~~

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I am sure there are good petcos, I went to a different state for a vacation and stopped at a petco, it was a large petco, and yes they did take care of all their animals. But not all petstores are good, just like not all petco stores are good. I did not mean to offend you or the petco you work for in any way. I was just telling people what the petco in my area is like. I am very sorry if I offened you in any way.

Thanks for the information

=CavyCrazyMom] - Thanks for the information on the rawhide, I didn't know, I have a 1 year old dachshund and had no idea, I did some research after I read your post, my dog ate the last of a rawhide last night, the chunk was the side of a pea and sure enough this am he threw it up and it was the size of a quarter, it expanded, that is the last of rawhide. Now I know this is the gp section so can I email you some more about alternatives to rawhides since I'll have to stop giving him those???? let me know

KIm

Oh, wow! Thanks for the info!!!

Well, CavyCrazyMom, I have been to that Petco. It has been about 2 years so things may have changed. I watched a dog being abused by the groomer. She was extremely rough with him and then when the dog pulled away from her, she hit him in the head with the brush, HARD. I complained to the manager and all I was told was that unless I was a an experienced groomer, I was not qualified to judge what was abuse and what was just part of the job. I was furious. So, even though I had other things to do, I sat outside and waited for the owner to pick her dog up. She was horrified. When she confornted them, they denied it. When I demontrated how I saw the dog hit, the owner found a bump on the dogs head the size of a golf ball and a hemotoma in the ear on the same side. She took the dog to her vet and I believe files a law suit. I hope she won big time.

I also know someone who bought a pig from your store, after I told them not to. She had a female at home and wanted another. I gave her the info on a rescue but she went to your store anyway. Well, the first one she got died 4 days later. So, she went back and got a "replacement". So, they sent her home with a female. They flipped it over and showed her it was a female. She had no idea how to sex a pig. So, about a week later I was at her house holder her pig and told her she needed another cage. She asked me why and I told her she had gotten a male. I could tell just by holding the back end. I flipped him over and showed her how to sex her pig. Well, she got another cage, but it was too late. Her female is pregnant. She called the store and they told her she was mistaken and that they had told her it was male. Her receipt said female.

So, I am not trying to jump all over, just stating the fact about YOUR STORE!

OMG...I am so sorry if I came accross as having an attitude! I SO didn't mean to cause a fight over this, I just think that PETA goes overboard a lot of times (not all the time...just sometimes...) and makes fusses about things that are (to me) obviously not an issue (like mice and rats being overcrowded at petco...they're feeders...we sell about 20 a day, so yeah, they're crowded...for like a day). But anyway...please accept my deepest appoligies as I did not mean to offend or point a finger at anyone.

I understand what you're saying about supporting the bad ones, but in my oppinion there are always going to be bad places as well as good places, and I don't think I should have to stop shopping at a place that is good because it is related to a bad place.

Anyway, I'll try not to say anything else on the subject because it's an obvious hot spot! lol I don't want to cause any trouble here, I recomend this place to tons of people so they can get a great cage for their pigs, and I really enjoy reading about others experiance with their pigs and all that.

~~Cheri~~

cinn&sprinslave said:

I am very sorry if I offened you in any way.

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I'm not offended in any way hun, and I'm SO sorry if it sounded like I was. I totally understand where you guys are comming from, I just wanted to show my point of view too, that's all.

Gosh, I must have come of like a totaly female sog! So sorry guys!! Geesh!

~~Cheri~~

Actually......

DaCourt said:

Well, CavyCrazyMom, I have been to that Petco. It has been about 2 years so things may have changed.
So, I am not trying to jump all over, just stating the fact about YOUR STORE!

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Actually hun, that is totally impossible because my store has only been open since the 23rd of July. If someone will go, there's a big banner that says 'grand opening' right under the sign. So you probably went to the petsmart down the street. Actually we get that a lot! People call us with complaints about their store. lol...

CavyCrazyMom said:

Actually hun, that is totally impossible because my store has only been open since the 23rd of July. If someone will go, there's a big banner that says 'grand opening' right under the sign. So you probably went to the petsmart down the street. Actually we get that a lot! People call us with complaints about their store. lol...

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No it was not Petsmart. I honestly thought that it was your store, so if I spoke out of place, I am sorry. I am absolutely possitive it was a PETCO in your general area. I just know...hun, that I would not be able to work for an organization that has such a bad reputation for cruelty to animals. I am sure that your store is as perfect, as you say. However, I have met a girl that unknowingly worked for the "MILL" that Petco got their small animals from. The horror stories that she told. I am sorry, but your store must be the exception. Every Petco I have ever been in (and I don't EVER go into one now) the people that work there really only know the basics about animal care. Here is some "light" reading for you.

https://www.petcocruelty.com/index.asp

First of all, Cavycrazymom, you did NOT come off with an attitude. You stated your opinion in a very mature manner. No appologies needed.

Second, I'm thankful your store is as good as you say it is. And also that you are working there. Someone who is knowledgable about how to do things is important. Those telling you how horrible it is to work for Petco need to consider something.

As long as you are working there then the people who will inevitably shop there have someone who can give them correct information. If you were to quit the likelyhood of someone being trained properly before taking your position is not good. You are providing a good service.

There will never be an end to customers at pet stores. Not all areas have rescues or even supplies. They are needed to a point. Boycott the bad ones, support the good ones.

Third. I find it un-necessary to mock someone for using a term of endearment. If one is using, for example, the word hun and it's not done to be degrading, is it really necessary to mock them just b/c of a differing opinion?

Ok, let's not get into a fight about this, guys, this is just about pet stores.... let's get back to the topic, ok? Thanks! =)

I am sorry, but I find offense to someone calling me hun, in a forum such as this. There is no way to tell how it is meant, and IMHO is comes across as condescending and demeaning. If that is not the way it was meant, then I am sorry. However, I am not the only one who read that post and I am sure that I am not the only one who interpreted it that way. That is the problem with the written word. Sometimes things are not taken as we intended them.

Maybe she can make a difference, and that is her choice. I just stated what I could or could not do. Again, just my opinion. If her store is as great as she claims, then maybe the others can learn from it. But, as long as Petco continues to buy animals from these mills, then I will be against them and will never give them my money.

Good luck! (and I mean that sincerely)