Pet Stores Petco has struck again

[magicpiggie]

As some of you know, my cousins had bought two guinea pigs from a pet store. Two weeks later, one, Lola, died. Charlotte was left alone. I had been pushing for them to adopt another one, but guess what? Since they didn't want to go through the adoption forms and petco is quicker, they get another pig from petco!

I questioned them about introductions, eh, just plopped ginger, the new pig, into the cage. They get along fine. One water bottle one food dish, one hidey, yeah they're cool. I think because Charlotte was so lonely she'd do anything for a friend.

And what still eats at me is that they'd don't get another pig for Charlotte. These cousins are in 5th and 2nd grade. The one in fifth grade "takes care " of Charlotte as in forgets to refill charlottes water bottle hay and food dish so her dad has to do it. But anyways, the second grader kept whining about not having a pig of her "own." So that's what made them get ginger. Not for Charlotte, for the 2nd grader.

Just wanted to let you all know! Petco has struck again and will continue to strike!

 

[Nannub]

Sucks to see people not taking care of their pigs. But I'm confused, hows this Petco's fault? I think it's more irresponsible of the parents to get pigs for little kids, I don't know the whole situation, so I apologize if I misunderstood.

 

[magicpiggie]

I don't think Petco should just let people walk in Petco, point at a guinea pig, and walk out with it. They chose petco over a rescue because the process was faster. They just hand out the pigs, they don't care about what happens to the pig afterwards! It could be snake food for all they care. Places like petco and petsmart are why shelters and rescues are always crowded and why guinea pigs are so over populated! Petco doesn't educate buyers about guinea pigs and their needs.

Does that make a little bit more sense now? I couldn't see through my anger when I was posting that, sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

[Soecara]

Petco doesn't educate buyers about guinea pigs and their needs.

Or worse when they do educate buyers they typically give out horrible advice, unless you get the very rare employee who actually cares about the quality of information they are giving out.

Then the people who have been given an armful of mis-advice treat it like it came from the highest tier of qualification and refuse to believe anything that goes against that advice, like for example that pellets with seeds and colourful bits are horrible for their long term health "But the pet store employee told me it is fine for them to eat only this pellet! Why should I have to pay more for a different pellet when the pet store employee told me this one was good!"

Not all the blame can be pushed onto the pet stores, but they do exasperate the issue by supplying live animals with such ease.

 

[daydreamer89]

I just want to point out its not only the pet store doing bad its also the parents (and has very little to do with the kids) my daughter is in grade 1 she yelled at me for cleaning the cage for her today (i was bored home alone and thought i would be nice and do it for her, but she got mad because its her responsibility and i wasnt suppose to do that) even if petstores sold animals forever its all the parents fault when they treat it like a toy that can be thrown away when the kids get bored of it, the parents need to teach the kids that if this is something they want they have zero choice but to put the well being of that animal 1st, before toys, before fun, before friends, that living creature counts on them for everything. when the parents dont educate themselves how are they suppose to educate their children?

on another note (i do not believe live animals should be fed to reptiles unless the reptile is wild caught and needing rehab) but what do you expect them to eat? i hate seeing this... are mice or rats more special or important than guinea pigs? snakes are living creatures and do need food as well, and as much as people may choose not to think about it they all have their own personalities just like our dogs, cats, guinea pigs and any other critter. I personally chose a tortoise that only eats greens for the simple reason of not wanting to have to feed dead animals to it. keep in mind the bigger the snake the bigger item of food it needs to eat because they do not eat daily some only eat once a week others only once a month. im not condoning live feeding for house pets but simply trying to give another outlook due to being tired of hearing the snake food topic

 

[Nannub]

I got my first guinea pig at a Pet store before joining the forum and reading about it. The person who helped me was trying to sell me the smallest cage in the store and wasn't giving me any hay. I regret it now.

 

[lissie]

on another note (i do not believe live animals should be fed to reptiles unless the reptile is wild caught and needing rehab) but what do you expect them to eat? i hate seeing this... are mice or rats more special or important than guinea pigs? snakes are living creatures and do need food as well, and as much as people may choose not to think about it they all have their own personalities just like our dogs, cats, guinea pigs and any other critter. I personally chose a tortoise that only eats greens for the simple reason of not wanting to have to feed dead animals to it. keep in mind the bigger the snake the bigger item of food it needs to eat because they do not eat daily some only eat once a week others only once a month. im not condoning live feeding for house pets but simply trying to give another outlook due to being tired of hearing the snake food topic

I think this topic has came up before. Someone pointed out that responsible reptile owners would feed them humanely killed and frozen food. Live food can cause harm to the reptiles.

 

[Rywen]

Speaking of Petco their new Christmas ad centers around buying a guinea pig, ugh.

 

[magicpiggie]

on another note (i do not believe live animals should be fed to reptiles unless the reptile is wild caught and needing rehab) but what do you expect them to eat? i hate seeing this... are mice or rats more special or important than guinea pigs? snakes are living creatures and do need food as well, and as much as people may choose not to think about it they all have their own personalities just like our dogs, cats, guinea pigs and any other critter. I personally chose a tortoise that only eats greens for the simple reason of not wanting to have to feed dead animals to it. keep in mind the bigger the snake the bigger item of food it needs to eat because they do not eat daily some only eat once a week others only once a month. im not condoning live feeding for house pets but simply trying to give another outlook due to being tired of hearing the snake food topic

I agree that snakes and reptiles need to eat, I'm just using snake food as an example for how much large pet businesses care about the animals. I don't have anything against snakes that need to eat small mammals, Theyrr living things, of course they need to eat. But I'm using that as an example because petco has no screening process, you could go in there for five minutes and walk out with a guinea pig.

 

[The Cavy Lover]

Ugh I just wish that pet shops didn't sell any live animals at all! I hate seeing a little kid pointing at a guinea pig thinking it's cute and says "mommy can we please have it!" and then a few weeks later they get bored of it and then the guinea pig is neglected. Also I never buy from pet shops that sell live animals as it supports their business.

 

[Guineahamster65]

I went inside of petco today(I had to get my hamster food and this is the only place that I know of that sells it) when I saw the Christmas sales in there it made me sick. They are advertising piggies as great for children and wonderful starter
pets(not like it's anything new) than I saw a lady with her son holding the hamsters incorrectly. Her son was by the cage while she was in another aisle. The store worker was just on her phone!! I went up to her and told her how the boy was mistreating the hammy she didn't flinch I then got his mother and went on a huge rant. They put the hamster back and left. They probably thought I was crazy! I put back the hamster food and left. I still have some I was just running low. I'm going to use my moms credit card to buy it. I HATE my petco. My pet smart is bad too but they are better than petco.