Adopt vs. Buy Adopted (yes, adopted) from PetSmart

[Yoshi&Sebastian]

I know getting pigs from pet stores is looked down upon here, but these guys weren't purchased.

The other day Lauren and I were at PetSmart getting some more pellets and hay for Yoshi, Anubis, Arby, and Mac. We were stopped by an employee who noticed our product selections and mentioned they had two pigs for adoption. We asked about it more, and it turns out one was marked out as damaged merchandise for being "aggressive" and the other was damaged out to make room for more baby pigs to fill their aquariums. They're both somewhere around a year old, PetSmart said they received them about 6 months ago and that they were babies when they got them.

We really did adopt them. They were signed over to us by the store free of charge as damaged merchandise. The "aggressive" one is a real cuddler, he just HATES being picked up and will scratch you up if you aren't careful. I use a piggie elevator to minimize blood loss on my part.

Now as far as the conditions they were kept in... they were horrible. They were kept in two drawers in a locked store room at the front of the store. Each about as tall as a single-pig pigloo. They had enough room to stick their head out of the pigloo to drink and eat pellets. They were deprived of hay. The lights in the room were kept off almost 24/7 unless they were being shown to people, and to be honest I think we were the only people that looked at them aside from employees feeding them since they were "damaged out" off of the sales floor.

We got them home and introduced them together (but not to our other pigs!) in a quarantine cage in our bedroom. They were instant best friends, I suppose because they could smell and hear eachother this whole time in the storage room. Over the next 2-3 weeks we'll build up Yoshi & Anubis' cage to either accept 2 more pigs or to be big enough to split in half if they don't get along. We also need to schedule a vet visit sometime in the next 2-3 weeks for the two new guys before we let them interact with the main herd.

Ollie & Wally now have a new home, free of PetSmart's neglect.

 

[Cogni]

Yay! Good for you! "Damaged goods"! (fume) And who damaged them I'd like to ask those morons.

 

[AmandaErlandson]

How can anybody treat any living thing that way?! I am so glad for you & for them. Just imagine what would've happened if you would not have been in the right place at the right time.

 

[Bamysmum]

'Damaged goods' - my God, I'm disgusted with people. I hope they have a wonderful life with you.

 

[SLS5173]

I may be a party pooper but to me it seems like you just got them because they wanted to make room in the tank they were kept in and that they were put there because they didn't get along with the other pigs in the tank. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem like you adopted them at all you just got them from a pet store who treated them horribly.

 

[Yoshi&Sebastian]

I may be a party pooper but to me it seems like you just got them because they wanted to make room in the tank they were kept in and that they were put there because they didn't get along with the other pigs in the tank. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem like you adopted them at all you just got them from a pet store who treated them horribly.

Then maybe you should re-read my original post.

I should clarify, though - by aggressive they meant aggressive towards people, not other pigs.

I did sign adoption paperwork - they were rung up in the register as damaged merchandise.

 

[blackarrow]

...We asked about it more, and it turns out one was marked out as damaged merchandise for being "aggressive" and the other was damaged out to make room for more baby pigs to fill their aquariums. They're both somewhere around a year old, PetSmart said they received them about 6 months ago and that they were babies when they got them.

We really did adopt them. They were signed over to us by the store free of charge as damaged merchandise....Now as far as the conditions they were kept in... they were horrible. They were kept in two drawers in a locked store room at the front of the store. Each about as tall as a single-pig pigloo. They had enough room to stick their head out of the pigloo to drink and eat pellets. They were deprived of hay. The lights in the room were kept off almost 24/7 unless they were being shown to people, and to be honest I think we were the only people that looked at them aside from employees feeding them since they were "damaged out" off of the sales floor.

We got them home and introduced them together (but not to our other pigs!) in a quarantine cage in our bedroom. They were instant best friends, I suppose because they could smell and hear eachother this whole time in the storage room. Over the next 2-3 weeks we'll build up Yoshi & Anubis' cage to either accept 2 more pigs or to be big enough to split in half if they don't get along. We also need to schedule a vet visit sometime in the next 2-3 weeks for the two new guys before we let them interact with the main herd.

Ollie & Wally now have a new home, free of PetSmart's neglect.

I'm sorry, absolutely none of this amounts to "adopted." "Adopted" doesn't mean you didn't pay for them. "Adopted" means that you were screened, and that you would give the pigs back if you were unable to care for them, and that you did nothing to contribute to the cycle of breeding and selling, breeding and selling. You did the pet store a big favor, taking the less saleable pigs off their hands so they can run out and buy more from a breeder to plop in their aquariums. You've just consigned cuter, younger pigs to take their place, and if they don't get sold, they'll be consigned to the drawer too.

It's hard for me to be glad for Ollie and Wally (who should have been quarantined from each other as well as your pigs) when it means that you've made it so Petsmart can now get Jolly and Polly to take their place. Why doesn't that matter to you?

 

[Yoshi&Sebastian]

I'm sorry, absolutely none of this amounts to "adopted." "Adopted" doesn't mean you didn't pay for them. "Adopted" means that you were screened, and that you would give the pigs back if you were unable to care for them, and that you did nothing to contribute to the cycle of breeding and selling, breeding and selling. You did the pet store a big favor, taking the less saleable pigs off their hands so they can run out and buy more from a breeder to plop in their aquariums. You've just consigned cuter, younger pigs to take their place, and if they don't get sold, they'll be consigned to the drawer too.

It's hard for me to be glad for Ollie and Wally (who should have been quarantined from each other as well as your pigs) when it means that you've made it so Petsmart can now get Jolly and Polly to take their place. Why doesn't that matter to you?

First off, they'd already replaced the two pigs. They were stuck in a STORAGE ROOM in a DRAWER.

As far as putting them in quarantine from eachother - they'd already had contact in the two drawers but were separated from eachother. Anything one had the other is going to have.

I don't see how I contributed to their cycle of breeding if I removed neglected pigs from their property without providing them with monetary compensation.

Go attack someone else to overcompensate for your sorry little life.

 

[AmandaErlandson]

So what should she have done? What would ya'll do? Me personally, I would have done the EXACT same thing. They were kept in small drawers in extreamly poor conditions. I couldn't have left them like that. I really don't know any true GP lover that could.

 

[blackarrow]

You REPORT THEM for animal cruelty. Like any real animal lover would.

Why don't you care about the next batch that will be put in the drawer?

 

[blackarrow]

So why didn't you REPORT THEM for the cruel conditions they were keeping them in, and are sure to keep the next unsaleable batch in? Are you going back in six months to "adopt" those too? If not, why not?

"I don't see how I contributed to their cycle of breeding if I removed neglected pigs from their property without providing them with monetary compensation." Yeah, I gathered. You made it that much easier for them to do the exact same thing to the next batch that they did to this batch, when you could have potentially stopped it altogether by calling animal control to report this.

 

[LauraBean]

I may be a party pooper but to me it seems like you just got them because they wanted to make room in the tank they were kept in and that they were put there because they didn't get along with the other pigs in the tank. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem like you adopted them at all you just got them from a pet store who treated them horribly.

Please forgive me if I sound rude, not my intention.
Firstly, yes, the store treated them like poo and kept them in terrible livin conditions. Possibly the store just wanted them out of the tank, but I got the impression they had been out of the community tank for awhile. I should also add that places like PetsMart usually only "adopt" out animals that were returned to the store and couldn't be resold because of policy (I MAY be wrong here,). If they weren't adopted out/given away within a certain period of time they would have been put down. The OP didn't give any money to the store(for the pigs), so this doesn't qualify as a pet purchase. Some might call it adoption, some a rescue.
Regardless, these "babies" are now in a MUCH better home.
Yoshi, GOOD FOR YOU....and the piggies! I would definatly support a vet visit, sex check, etc as soon as you can. Pigtures would also be awesome!lol
Damaged goods my rear end!

 

[Yoshi&Sebastian]

You REPORT THEM for animal cruelty. Like any real animal lover would.

Why don't you care about the next batch that will be put in the drawer?

I live in ATLANTA. The police here don't even bother to investigate the multiple murders each month in my home neighborhood where I grew up. Much less animal cruelty ... it takes them 30+ minutes to show up for a shots fired call IF THEY EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW UP.

We have some of the most corrupt, careless police. Second only to New Orleans...

 

[blackarrow]

I live in ATLANTA. The police here don't even bother to investigate the multiple murders each month in my home neighborhood where I grew up. Much less animal cruelty ... it takes them 30+ minutes to show up for a shots fired call IF THEY EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW UP.

We have some of the most corrupt, careless police. Second only to New Orleans...

Ever heard of animal control? It would be those folks, not homicide, that covers this.

 

[Yoshi&Sebastian]

It's hard for me to be glad for Ollie and Wally (who should have been quarantined from each other as well as your pigs) when it means that you've made it so Petsmart can now get Jolly and Polly to take their place. Why doesn't that matter to you?

it is pretty rude and uncalled for to make fun of our pigs names...
after my darling Sebby died and we saw these 2 pigs, i KNEW i had to help them.
Sebby lived with my parents for a year when i first moved to Atlanta for college. They took care of him the best they knew how- not knowing much about guinea pigs- but he had a small cage, pine shavings, and no hidey.
It absolutely KILLS me to think that my perfect little boy was stuck like that!

Ollie and Wally were confined to basically a see-through filing cabinet.
Sebby might as well have lived in a drawer for that year. I know he would want me to save these poor little guys.

No matter where they come from- every pig needs love and a good home.
It is NOT their fault they came from mothers who happen to be owned by pet stores.

I love my piggies.

-Lauren.

 

[Yoshi&Sebastian]

I'm sorry that ben kicked up so much dirt in here.

Please don't block us from posting.

-Lauren

 

[Pulsepoint129]

I have shopped for dog food for my elderly grandfather's dogs a few times locally here in town and I, as well, notice that from time-to-time, they have animals (I have seen rats, birds, and guinea pigs) up on a front table with adoption information, paperwork, and the like. Now, given pet stores and their deplorable reputations for how they get their animals, treat their animals, and sell their animals they will probably do anything to look "humane" and "caring". The last time I was in Petco a little over a month ago, there was this lone male guinea pig in your basic pet store get-up of a cage that was locked on the top, and underneath him was a "cute" sign introducing who he was. On the paperwork, there is an "optional" adoption fee of $20 that can be waived by a member of management at the store. But the adoption fee allegedly goes towards some sort of philanthropic, humane animal foundation. My point? I don't trust these places further than I can throw their CEO, however, it could be that the original poster understood the agreement to be somewhat of a humane act. I agree with Black Arrow's statement over those "damaged goods" to be turned over only to be replaced by babies off the back of a truck. It IS the pet store cycle, absolutely. But honestly, if the conditions were that deplorable, I would have been torn myself. Possibly, I would have called the local human society, SPCA, or rabbit/cavy rescue to inform them of the situation though who knows if they would have acted in enough time to do any good for them. Eventually, they either would have died horrible deaths from URIs or lack of proper housing or some unknowing customer would have gone ahead and done exactly what the above poster did. I think, while it's not what this site's standards consider a true "adoption", that if somebody had to take in the animals that this poster was the right person to do so. If it had been somebody that just got them in impulse, they could have been snake food or, played with for so long until they ended up sick or back at the pet store.

It's true that the "adoption" forms really don't screen anybody. I have read over the forms to see that, and have witnessed someone actually adopting a bird who had some kind of broken or deformed wing. The associates usually do not need managerial approval and sign on lines X,Y,Z and the animal is yours. I completely disagree that this is ANY appropriate way to adopt an animal out, especially since it will create an animal turnover where, next "delivery day", they get more hapless animals coming from breeding mills.

I think the original poster's heart was in the right place. It seems as though she was quite torn in making the decision too. It takes a plethora of self-control to turn away from an "adoptive" animal at a pet store. What's done is, however, done. She's learned from this and will probably not give in again next time she walks into a pet store and sees a lonely animal locked in a cage.

 

[AmandaErlandson]

Ever heard of animal control? It would be those folks, not homicide, that covers this.

I beg to differ on this... the police investigate the poor conditions and then calls animal control to sieze the animals. Animal control has no legal authority to remove a animal from its owner (in this case PetSmart would be the owner).

I agree that the police should be notified, however my heart would not have let me leave any animal in this condition for another minute. I would not have been able to sleep that night. I still contend that she did the right thing.

I do think this is more of rescue that a adoption though.

 

[blackarrow]

I most certainly was not making fun of your pigs' names.

I'm sorry you've managed to convince yourself that your deceased pig would have wanted you to get pigs from a pet store. Is there a reason he wouldn't care about the next batch to hit the drawer?