I refuse to buy ________ at the petstores!

[Beatrix187]

I refuse to buy pets from Petstores, but also chew toys!

I personally love supporting small shops, and they have WAY cuter items than what you'd see at Petco. Playtime Little Critter Creations will be opening again this October I think, and also Twilight Chinchillas has got the CUTEST things ever - and they personalize for you! Also on Etsy they have tons of cute chew toys, all handmade!

If I ever want anything that's sold from the Petstore, they almost always have it on Amazon. Hideys, chew toys etc.

 

[CrystalCavy]

No matter how much money I spend on a 'real' hidey, my piggies always prefer a good cardboard box hahahaha

Quick question, do you use boxes like the ones from NoFrills? Or the other cardboard? Like toilet paper tubes, tissue boxes, that sort of thing.

 

[fluffbutt]

Quick question, do you use boxes like the ones from NoFrills? Or the other cardboard? Like toilet paper tubes, tissue boxes, that sort of thing.

I'm an Australian, so not too sure on what NoFrills is? We'll use anything that's not got too much ink on it, just to be safe - plain wine boxes etc. My partner also works for a warehouse and they often throw out really wide paper towel tubes, which my boys love.

 

[Shieme]

I have bought a dog and she was so distant from me. I didn't understand puppy mills then. I didn't understand a lot.

I wont buy live animals, now including fish. Even though I think my petsmart is better than most, it still won't happen. My petsmart uses my vet because that other vet place was closed by my local SPCA. I talked to the manager and he never liked them. When I was going to take my dog there because it was cheeper, he shook his head at me. I took the hint. I wouldn't be surprised if he made the call. I bet he wish he could open his own store. The animals I see there always look great but I wish he could stop live animals being sold. He reaches out to all of our local adoption places and pacts the place with dogs and cats on Saturday. I know a lot have them on Saturdays but not as much as my local Petsmart.

sorry, I really like my local petsmart and buy my food from them.

 

[ZiggyPig]

I have bought a dog and she was so distant from me. I didn't understand puppy mills then. I didn't understand a lot.

I wont buy live animals, now including fish. Even though I think my petsmart is better than most, it still won't happen. My petsmart uses my vet because that other vet place was closed by my local SPCA. I talked to the manager and he never liked them. When I was going to take my dog there because it was cheeper, he shook his head at me. I took the hint. I wouldn't be surprised if he made the call. I bet he wish he could open his own store. The animals I see there always look great but I wish he could stop live animals being sold. He reaches out to all of our local adoption places and pacts the place with dogs and cats on Saturday. I know a lot have them on Saturdays but not as much as my local Petsmart.

sorry, I really like my local petsmart and buy my food from them.

Honestly, each individual store is different. 10 yrs ago I worked at Petco while I was in college. I was the reptile specialist there - thank god, I saved so many lizards from being in tiny cages or on bad substrate. Anyway, our manager was very much like that. Thankfully we didn't sell cats or dogs or I wouldn't have worked there. I did love getting to spend my days interacting with so many animals. Our manager emphasized the health of them, so he wanted all the small animals handled regularly and checked for any small health issues, I was always checking the reptiles over, our fish guy was SUPER knowledgeable, and everybody there owned some kind of pet that wasn't just a dog or a cat so there was always someone to go to for questions.

I also got to spend a lot of my time in the quarantine area, learned a good bit about small animal vet care - we rarely had more than 2-3 animals in there at any given time, which wasn't bad considering the number we carried.

I'm not saying it's all good and that, but it was a good Petco and I still am glad I worked there.

 

[Shieme]

Never said petco was bad. Just praising my local petsmart. But you do have a general point, each individual store is different. I hate my local petco because of the live animal section so I don't tend to shop there. But the management there is also nice. I see management working hard. Store clean. But either store or any pet store, nope, won't buy live animals unless it's food for another animal like feeder gold fish for a red slider or crickets for lizards. But I'm not a reptile person.

 

[ZiggyPig]

@Shieme no, I didn't mean that you were saying something bad about Petco. Neither are great, I was just backing you up. Your local Petsmart sounds awesome! I hate going to the Petsmart closest to us because the live animal areas are disgusting. That's all on the management.
But I'm with you, I don't want to buy live animals from pet stores.

 

[Shieme]

@ZiggyPig, ahhhh! Awesome. Yeah when it boils down to it, they all need to stop live animals for sell. Just have adoption fairs.

 

[ZiggyPig]

@ziggypig, ahhhh! Awesome. Yeah when it boils down to it, they all need to stop live animals for sell. Just have adoption fairs.

truth!

 

[Highhopes112]

I live like 50 miles from the nearest pet store so most of the time when I need/want something for my piggies I order it from chewy.com... I get food, hay, treats, dry shampoo, nail trimmers, things like that, its usually cheaper then a pet store and it usually gets here in like two business days which is kind of impressive. Most of the time I diy toys and things like that and look for them from other people online like from here or etsy, mostly because it's less expensive and I prefer to deal with another person not a big company but if I need thngs like water bottles, feeders/bowls something like that I go to a store so I can handle it before I buy it so that I know EXACTLY what i'm getting, I've ordered things like that online before and what I got was NOT what I was expecting.

 

[Marie5656]

Animals, of course. And most supplies. I have bought most of my supplies from Amazon. Prices are reasonable and as we are Prime members, delivery is quick. I have loved the quality of things I have gotten at Amazon.

Most of my animals have been rescues from our local shelter.

 

[Squibbles]

While I did make the mistake of buying my sows from a local pet store which is not a chain but that does not make it any better, I will never buy any animals from them now that I am more educated.

In fact I do not even go inside any pet stores anymore so I guess what I refuse to buy from them is any and everything [emoji23]. Buy my supplies from chewy.com and have been very satisfied [emoji106]

 

[Cierra_95]

I refuse to buy anything from pet stores!
I use to buy most of my stuff from pet stores but in the past couple years or so I?ve learned it is one of the worse things you can do. Even if you?re not buying an animal, you?re still supporting the business. Plus most of the chew toys, food, treats, etc are terrible and not even suited for guinea pigs. I?d rather buy from SPS where I know everything is natural and healthy for my pigs. If I?m looking for something I can?t buy from there I usually go to amazon or chewy since neither buy animals from mills. Plus it?s usually cheaper buying online rather than a pet store I?ve realized.

 

[guineapiglova88]

I refuse to buy pellets at pet stores. At least my stores. They are the low quality, unhealthy brands with additives and colored treats in them. Oxbow pellets and KMS Hayloft pellets seem to be two top choices. Some pet stores will have Oxbow pellets but mine only carries the hay. One store we have sells puppies, kittens, guinea pigs, hamsters, reptiles - basically you name it they sell them- Not very well educated staff either. I try to buy from there as least as possible. Another one is much better and has only grown rescue cats and fish. Although I don't like the fish part of it, they are much better than the other and sell the hay I need.

 

[Henry And Yuki]

I refuse to but small animal balls and wheels because they can harm my furry friends.

 

[Cizzzi]

I don't buy anything from pet stores! Everything is super expensive! I just buy online or at Tractor Supply, which, btw, has really cheap animal stuff.

 

[PeachyPiggies]

I would love to switch to No Pet Stores, I just can't because I can't get my hamster's food anywhere else! xD

 

[Cizzzi]

I would love to switch to No Pet Stores, I just can't because I can't get my hamster's food anywhere else! xD

Order on amazon. It's way cheaper, especially for the food I get my hamster (Vita Craft Vita Smart. They have this thing that as long as you buy something else at the same time you buy the food, you get it for 5 bucks!).

 

[ItsaZoo]

Drs. Foster and Smith is closing in the next few months. I always thought they carried good products and shared good advice in their catalogs. A few years ago the Doctors sold the business to Petco who showed an interest in keeping the business open. Now they announced the closure.

I’m hoping Chewy remains as customer focused and personable as they have been. Their prices are good, they have a variety of choices, but I really appreciate the customer reviews of products, their quick answers to questions, and their willingness to take returns of products that you aren’t 100% happy with.

I don’t buy much at local pet stores simply because of the prices. However, our local Petsmart has good vets at Banfield, they adopt out cats from local shelters, and they have a variety of rescues that come in each month with dogs to adopt. They have birds and rodents, all look healthy and have clean cages, food and water, etc. So they have a good reputation here.

I usually buy supplies from Chewy or from the local humane society store.

 

[urofan]

Kelsie It was not a good idea for Petco to buy Drs Foster and Smith. In 10 or 15 years Petco will probably stop selling and making Drs. Foster and Smith products. I hope that Pets At Home will consider opening pet stores in the USA and Canada in the future.