Inside Petco...

[hydrohoki]

To me, working at a petstore is like telling someone that you never want to speak with them again but will they be your best friend? It's hypocritical.

If you don't believe in selling animals then you shouldn't sell them. You can work from the outside on trying to improve their quality of life while in the store, and you can educate the customers all without being an employee.

So where's the advantage? (I do understand finding a job can be difficult; however, it's like waiting to adopt. The right one will come along it just make take a bit of time and you might have to look.)

 

[Calliso]

So where's the advantage? (I do understand finding a job can be difficult; however, it's like waiting to adopt. The right one will come along it just make take a bit of time and you might have to look.)

Yeah but it;s not the same as waiting to adopt. I mean think about what you are saying for a second. If they donlt have a job where is the money going to come from? Now I am not saying that someone should grab the first job they come across. But there does come times when one just needs to take what is available to them.

 

[daftscotslass]

Yeah but it;s not the same as waiting to adopt. I mean think about what you are saying for a second. If they donlt have a job where is the money going to come from? Now I am not saying that someone should grab the first job they come across. But there does come times when one just needs to take what is available to them.

The above point I'm sure doesn't mean quit until they can find a job that doesn't involve the sale of animals. All it entails is to look hard, persist and keep applying elsewhere. However, in the meantime, it's a good idea to stop crowing that things are being acheived for animalkind when indeed they are contributing to making the national situation of homeless animals worse.

 

[wheeky-UK]

Many people start these jobs (myself included) before they were educated about these places. By the sounds of it all of you understand this and that it can be difficult to find another job. What i dont understand is why many here feel the need to go over and over what has been said before.

Everyone here who does work in a pet store, im sure are looking for another job, but in the mean time might as well do something to help. Would it be better they did nothing good while they were there? Im sure most of you are thinking "but thats not going to help for the Greater Good" and "that they are still helping the industry". Please understand that we realise this and that it will take TIME.

We are not bad people, only people with unfortunate circumstances.

 

[Calliso]

The above point I'm sure doesn't mean quit until they can find a job that doesn't involve the sale of animals. All it entails is to look hard, persist and keep applying elsewhere. However, in the meantime, it's a good idea to stop crowing that things are being acheived for animalkind when indeed they are contributing to making the national situation of homeless animals worse.

Oh I was more refering to if one doesn;t have a job at all. That sometimes you can only wait so long. But I do agree that they should be looking hard for another job though I think they have already said that they are applying other places.

 

[petz-r-life]

they are no better than petsmart; which is why we should adopt any animals from the shelter.

 

[Maisiepaisie]

I don't see how they are making anything better. They are just enabling the pet stores to continue selling animals ... in fact, they are *helping* pet stores sell animals. I don't see anything helpful to animals about that.

If they didn't work there someone else would, and probably someone a lot less competent who didn't have the pigs best interests at heart. I avoid buying supplies from petstores because I don't want to give them profit. Thats helping them, but people from here working there is helping the pigs. I would hope that they wouldn't encourage sales and would inform about rescue if possible, and also give info about good housing and care. A person not from this forum probably wouldn't do that. We should aim to stop animals being sold in petstores but someone who works there can still campaign for that.

I'd tend to agree... how many people post here going "Well, they give the pigs good care and were very knowledgeable, so they weren't so bad." and buy anyway?

Thats a good point I guess. All we can hope for is that such a person would be encouraged to visit this forum and we make them realise it is so bad.

 

[Susan9608]

We should aim to stop animals being sold in petstores but someone who works there can still campaign for that.

Someone working there can campaign for that, but not just by taking adequate care of the animals. There are steps that could be taken - like taking pictures and documenting every sick animal that comes through the pet store or every animal that gets sick while there and what - if any - vet treatment was provided; taking pictures of and documenting every missexed animal and pregnant animal in the place; getting into the deeper stuff, like exactly which breeders supply the store - and then send all that information to PETA, or any other animal rights group, the humane society, animal control, tv stations, and newspapers. They could also put stickers on the crappy products that say "Dangerous for guinea pigs!" so that if they can't interact with a customer, there's a least something there to give the customer pause. They could also sneak out all the care info, throw it away, and replace it with good, accurate information from here and guinea lynx.

Those are the ways that I see a pet store employee could really help the animals and contribute to the greater good of seeing an end to animals sold in pet stores.

 

[KansasPiggies]

The adoption fees here in Kansas are more expensive than the pet stores. I think that is something that needs fixed.

I am going to check out online food stores, have any more websites?

 

[Jennicat]

No, it doesn't need to be fixed. Nonprofits put a LOT of money into the guinea pigs they rescue. Our average cost was $250 per pig, at one point. Sorry if we inconvenience someone by making them pay $10 more than Petsmart for the convenience of having a healthy pig, free of parasites, vet checked, and correctly sexed after we put $200 of our OWN money into the guinea pig.

 

[Totallyjaded815]

Don't you think its a little unfair to lump all petcos into the horrible category? I have 2 petcos by me, both of which take amazingly awsome care of their animals

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Don't you think its a little unfair to lump all petcos into the horrible category?

Honestly, NO. It doesn't matter how "good" they seem to take care of the animals. The fact remains that these animals come from somewhere and normally that somewhere is pig mills and backyard breeders. Petco also sells unknowing customers crappy food, balls, wheels, harnesses/leashes, etc. for the guinea pigs. When Petco stops selling animals altogether, that's when we will consider taking them out of the horrible category.

 

[salana]

Don't you think its a little unfair to lump all petcos into the horrible category?

They sell animals, don't they?

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Don't you think its a little unfair to lump all petcos into the horrible category? I have 2 petcos by me, both of which take amazingly awsome care of their animals

Nope. They are all owned by the same corporation, aren't they?

So the animals are not housed in aquariums there? And they get fed correctly? And get vet care and out of tank exercise every day?

Their animals are not coming from pet mills and often sold sick and pregnant and missexed? And they are not dumped months later because the novelty wore off?

 

[wheeky-UK]

I think she was talking about the actual CARE of the animals. Yes petstores are bad for selling animals, but there are different levels of care from store to store. Iv heard stories on this forum of terrible animal care, but also stories of very good care in petstores. The fact that they are being sold wasnt what she was talking about.

 

[daftscotslass]

I think she was talking about the actual CARE of the animals. Yes petstores are bad for selling animals, but there are different levels of care from store to store. Iv heard stories on this forum of terrible animal care, but also stories of very good care in petstores. The fact that they are being sold wasnt what she was talking about.

It's not how they're cared for that matters, in my opinion. Pet shops are legally obliged to provide a good level of care for their animals. If they're not doing so, they're breaking the law. It's not because they care. The fact is that they sell animals to anyone and everyone old enough to buy them without question.

Yesterday I was in [email protected] for a nose around and noticed that the guinea pigs were happily munching on vegetables (wow) and timothy hay. At the other end of the store a large rabbit was on its way out the door with a tiny hutch to mutters of "<insert name of child> better look after this one". THIS is the problem I have. One in a hundred could go to a lovely home where they will want for nothing, have the perfect diet, have loving owners and a huge cage. Another percentage will feed a hungry reptile. Some more will be stuck out in the garden in a hutch the size of a hamster cage (I picked up 3 guinea pigs from such a situation last month), some will be the subject of neglect and some will just be downright abused.

Does the good care they received in the pet shop make the outcome any better?

 

[wheeky-UK]

No of course it doesnt, that wasnt what I was saying. I was just pointing out that Totallyjaded was talking about levels of care varying in standards, not pet stores as a whole.

Also that was her first post, so would still be a little unsure of what this forum believes and to what extremes.

 

[Susan9608]

QUOTE] that was her first post, so would still be a little unsure of what this forum believes and to what extremes.[/QUOTE]

Given that we have countless stickies regarding our philosophies, the fact that we have a philosophies and policies section, and the fact that there's a heading to the kitchen, talking about how we are pro-animal welfare and anti-breeding/anti-pet store, this argument doesn't carry much weight.

Someone's first post should not be in the Kitchen, especially if they haven't read through all of those things.

 

[wheeky-UK]

Ok I give up. I try and help people, and see the positive side to things, but that obviously doesnt work.
As members we should be here to help people, especially when they have done something wrong, it isnt always obvious what and how you need to do things and where. She was just adding a comment to the thread, if you dont allow any kind of negative comments or opinions that are not the same as yours then why have a kitchen area at all?

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Wheeky-UK, part of the problem lies in the fact that people don't think about the larger picture behind the smaller picture they are seeing. That's what we encourage people to look at. It doesn't matter if the store houses their animals in 24k gold cages, gives them veggies 5 times a day, etc., the fact still remains that the store sells these animals for a profit, gets them from mills and backyard breeders, has sick animals, mis-sexed animals, etc.

Most people just want to look at what they can visibly see in front of them and don't take the time to know what happens behind the scenes.