Local Petco Closing

[pigmommy89]

I just found out the Petco closest to me is closing next month. Knowing how poorly they treat their animals, this is great news.

 

[guineapigcraz27]

Agreed! There had been some picketing at my local Petland which I was happy about.

 

[LoveMyHerd]

Cool! We're in the same state, so I wonder if the ones near me might hit some turbulence too.

 

[pigmommy89]

I talked to the manager and basically they're closing because their rent is going up at the beginning of the year. Several other stores in the same mall are also closing.

 

[ClemmyOddieIndy]

That's good. My local Pet Land closed a long time ago. It was open for less than a year, and the protesters were there every day. From what I heard they sold hundreds of puppies that died within days of coming home. It created enough of a media storm, and the protesters did a good enough job of keeping the few who didn't hear about it (or I guess didn't care) from going in.

ETA: So then are they just moving their store?

 

[pigmommy89]

They won't be opening another location in the same town. They are directing customers to two other stores, each about 40 minutes in opposite directions. I think another factor is Petsmart being right around the corner. I realize their animals come from the same awful places, but once they get to the store, the care at petsmart seems a little better. I was at Petco one day when they got a shipment of animals and I was horrified by they way they grabbed them out of boxes and threw them into the little tanks.

 

[labgirl5]

That's good. My local Pet Land closed a long time ago. It was open for less than a year, and the protesters were there every day. From what I heard they sold hundreds of puppies that died within days of coming home. It created enough of a media storm, and the protesters did a good enough job of keeping the few who didn't hear about it (or I guess didn't care) from going in.

ETA: So then are they just moving their store?

Oh wow. The same thing happened here (maybe it was the same store, as I live in the Midwest) 6 or 7 years ago. I'd actually gone in that store and it was completely awful. They were charging $1,500+ for sick dogs who were kept in tiny glass boxes. Some of the larger-breed puppies could barely stand up -- and the manager said these dogs got 'outside of the cages everyday'... yeah, right. It was disgusting.

 

[joys_cavies]

Yayyyyy. Yeah the Petsmart care is better but still bad. I've seen them put their guinea pigs in and they hold them up to their chest and pet them a little bit.

 

[Svenandolaf]

Ya I notice pet smart is little bit more careful with the pets. From looking at petco and Petsmart the guinea pigs at Petco look sick, and the guinea pigs at Petsmart seem more lively. I still do not agree with the awful situations they are in before they are brought to the store.

 

[mufasa]

The only good thing I can say about Petco vs. Petsmart is that our local one adopts out guinea pigs. They take in unwanted pigs that people dump there and give them out in exchange for a donation to the Petco charitable fund (that's how I got Quinn). They're not off the hook, though, because they still sell pigs so they're still contributing to the problem. But I literally saw a dead guinea pig at one of the local Petsmarts, and when I alerted someone, they acted like it was no big deal; the guy who removed it just complained that it had just come in the previous day. Ugh. Don't get me started on Pet Land...they're the worst of the worse, as they're the only one of the three that still sells puppy mill dogs in addition to the usual small animal horror.

 

[BaconAndEggs]

Yes, I agree. I hate where their animals come from. Does it annoy anyone else that stores like Petco and Petsmart always classify guinea pigs as "starter pets"? In my experience, they are NOT "Starter Pets".

 

[joys_cavies]

No a starter pet is like a mouse. I only fed mine once every like 3 days cause my boys only ate like a pellet a day (they were huge pellets) and they ate it throughout the day.

 

[joys_cavies]

And they lived. Sadly one died from suffocation (got squished between the hideout when I wasn't home ) and we gave the brother back to the store

 

[Svenandolaf]

Petland is the absolute worst. The family I got my guinea pigs from purchased them from there. They gave them up because the dad was taking care of them

 

[LoveMyHerd]

Exactly! A "starter pet" in my opinion is something like a hermit crab. Not a guinea pig! Seriously, to take proper care of a guinea pig is not something everyone is actually capable of doing, believe it or not. I was ranting about this to my mom today while we were setting up the fleece, and my dad overheard us talking (he was in the next room.) So he came in to see how the fleece looked after we were done. We talked a little about the piggies and when he was about to leave, he said, "They're such a nice little starter pet." I shot a glance at him, and I saw he was grinning. He had said that as a joke, and we laughed. But some people actually believe it!

Yes, I agree. I hate where their animals come from. Does it annoy anyone else that stores like Petco and Petsmart always classify guinea pigs as "starter pets"? In my experience, they are NOT "Starter Pets".

 

[ClemmyOddieIndy]

The only good thing I can say about Petco vs. Petsmart is that our local one adopts out guinea pigs. They take in unwanted pigs that people dump there and give them out in exchange for a donation to the Petco charitable fund (that's how I got Quinn). They're not off the hook, though, because they still sell pigs so they're still contributing to the problem. But I literally saw a dead guinea pig at one of the local Petsmarts, and when I alerted someone, they acted like it was no big deal; the guy who removed it just complained that it had just come in the previous day. Ugh. Don't get me started on Pet Land...they're the worst of the worse, as they're the only one of the three that still sells puppy mill dogs in addition to the usual small animal horror.

That's strange, you should report that store to headquarters because all new animals are QT'd for a while before being placed on the floor. If the pig had come in the day before, it should've been in QT.

 

[ClemmyOddieIndy]

No a starter pet is like a mouse. I only fed mine once every like 3 days cause my boys only ate like a pellet a day (they were huge pellets) and they ate it throughout the day.

Um no. There is no animal that should be a starter pet. All animals should be considered a pet, that is all. An electronic pet is a starter pet, but that's all.


Also, a hermit crab is not a starter pet either. They are actually pretty hard to take care of properly, most people fail miserably at caring for them properly and they die horrible deaths.

 

[LoveMyHerd]

@ClemmyOddieIndy, oops! I was certainly not aware about the hermit crab thing.

So everyone in search of a starter pet, go get a pet rock.

 

[joys_cavies]

Um no. There is no animal that should be a starter pet. All animals should be considered a pet, that is all. An electronic pet is a starter pet, but that's all.


Also, a hermit crab is not a starter pet either. They are actually pretty hard to take care of properly, most people fail miserably at caring for them properly and they die horrible deaths.

Okay I'm sorry I said that but most kids have them as starter pets. But yes like LoveMyHerd said get a rock for a starter pet. And I did take good care of my mice with a huge cage playtime snuggle time and some fruit as treats

 

[Soecara]

I also made the mistake of thinking of hermit crabs as starter pets until I did some research into them. The biggest reason that I say hermit crabs should not be starter pets is because they have never been successfully bred in captivity, meaning that every single hermit crab you see in a pet store was taken from the wild. They also have care that is much more complex then people seem to realise (just one example of which is they need a deep moist sand bed made of very fine sand - course sand is no good, failure to provide this means they can't shed properly causing their deaths).

The reason why I started looking into hermit crabs is because on a holiday I visited a marine centre and their they had these HUGE hermit crabs (the shells they were in were 30-40cm across), when I asked how old they are they replied with "We don't know for sure but they have been with us for 25 years".