Pet Stores Concerning employees

[Maisie&Hazel]

I went into my local Petsmart to check on the piggies (side note: I went to one my way back from Tractor supply and they had a single piggy by itself with a massive amount of pellets and nearly no hay) and they had two pigs with too many pellets and hay in a rack they could've easily strangled themself in. The cage on the bottom has had no pigs for multiple weeks. These two pigs were 3 months old, and one was gray, the other a really pretty brindle multicolor. The gray pig's bones were visible, I suspect it had bladder stones, and it had this swelled up red lump on its rump. I could tell something was wrong and hurried to an employee to tell them.

She looked about late teens, and I told her my concerns, but she shrugged, saying, "I have no idea what it is. Go tell a vet or something." She didn't sound concerned at all!

Anyways, I went to the (banfield) vet and told the person at the desk. She then said, "Um...we don't treat exotics. Ask the manager."

So I went to the manager, told her my concerns. AND SHE SAID, "ok." NOT CONCERNED AT ALL! I assume my shock showed on my face, because then she said in this careless tone, "fine. I'll check on it later."

I stormed out, feeling terrible for that poor pig. I'm going in tomorrow to see if anything's changed. Knowing Petsmart, either let its health decrease, back to the mill to become frozen alive, or throw it behind closed doors into a dark room for four months, feeding it trash until it looks healthy enough to be sold.
Terrible.

 

[4boipigs]

Your best bet is just to contact Petsmart corp via email, phone, messenger, etc, with the location and tell them everything that happened. They respond pretty fast to issues.

The following is not an attack, just some insight as a Banfield employee myself.

Please don't lump all pet store employees as horrible monsters. Yes, not all pet stores treat their animals well, but some people truly do care, such as my own Petsmart coworkers. Petsmart (and many retail employees) are being forced to work minimal hours, for minimum pay, with a skeleton crew. It is very hard for many of them right now. That's not to say the people you talked to were right, but it helps to see all sides.

Petsmart associates have to get permission from managers to bring any ill pets to the vet (whether it is Banfield, or a different vet if there is no Banfield). They can't just pull a pet off the floor. Their Banfield may/may not see the store's pets, depending on the doctors. Some BF won't see them, some have very good exotics vets, and some will see them but can only treat various conditions before referring them to an exotics vet.

The Banfield person was right - we're totally seperate from Petsmart and can't do anything about pets on the floor unless a Petsmart associate brings it to us. But, I don't think all of us have the same insight on how Petsmart operates.

They don't send pets back to the supplier AFAIK. They definitely don't dump live pets in dumpsters - all those videos are fake and staged. My store barely has time to check the incoming live pets and refuse any sick or misgendered pets. The 'dark rooms' are split into two - a new arrival room and an isolation room for sick pets. It may be small, but it isn't some evil dark place.

 

[Maisie&Hazel]

They don't send pets back to the supplier AFAIK. They definitely don't dump live pets in dumpsters - all those videos are fake and staged.

I don't remember ever coming across those videos, but good to know if I ever do.

I apologize if I sounded rude. Its nice to see insight from both sides.
I wasn't trying to appear as attacking you or being rude, I haven't worked at a petstore. I didn't know. I apologize if you were offended. I know some employees care/know what they're doing. My only problem is how unconcerned the manager sounded. Yes, she might've had other things on her mind, but I personally would've been more concerned than she sounded. That's all.

 

[4boipigs]

No hard feelings, I don't mean to come off as angry or anything, but I am definitely vocal about it! Did you report the store? What was the outcome?

 

[Maisie&Hazel]

I really don't want to sound lazy, ignorant, or like I don't care, but seeing as I'm a kid, I don't know what I can do. I would ask my mom, but the most probable answer will be: 'not right now'. She's a teacher and working double time to get ready for the school year. I will try to go today and see if anything's changed. Its been about a week, so if they were giving the pig meds, would he look any different? I (thankfully) have not had a sick pig so far, so I'm not entirely sure how long medicines/antibiotics take. Even then, every pig is different with diseases.

 

[4boipigs]

If they are treating him for illness, he will not be on the floor for sale. He would be in the sick room. He will have to be cleared by the vet (assuming the Banfield in the store) before he can be sold. You can easily report on the store's corporate FB page. They just need the store location.

 

[Maisie&Hazel]

If they are treating him for illness, he will not be on the floor for sale. He would be in the sick room. He will have to be cleared by the vet (assuming the Banfield in the store) before he can be sold. You can easily report on the store's corporate FB page. They just need the store location.

I went back in there recently to check on the pig (a few days ago) and unfortunately the pig is still in there, even worse, he's alone, which means someone bought the brindle pig who is probably also living alone in a petstore cage, and now Petsmart is probably ordering more pigs from the mills.
Thanks, I'll see what I can do as far as the FB page.