So I went to Pet-Co today

[Zeander]

Yeah, I went to Pet-Co today, never been there before. First thing I see when I walk in is a table with 3 aquariums stacked on top of eachother. The one on top had two guinea pigs. The sign on the table said they were for adoption. So I ask a cashier if they were from a shelter or were they just the normal ones they sell. She said she thinks they are there because they have gotten too big for their cage or have been in the store too long. So she calls someone over for me. Those 2 poor piggys were in a maybe 5 gallon aquarium. Amazingly, I think the smaller one was trying to popcorn.

Anyways, the lady comes and tells me that someone had dumped them at the store and that she thinks it's a mom and baby. She picks up the little one and tells me... it's a boy. In a cage with his mom! I wish I had more courage to tell her that they must be sepperated. I was interested in the mom. She said I could have her for a $1 donation. I would have taken her but I don't have a cage built yet. I was upset.

As soon as I walked away some guy comes buy and almost throws her (the pig, not the lady) into a take home box. I kinda wondered if he was trying to make me feel more urgent to buy her? Anyways, the other piggys were in basically aquariums, cramped up, and had not a piece of hay in sight. Their pellets even had seeds and junk in it! I was so upset and sad!

Sorry for the long post, I had to vent!

 

[Marlania]

Your frustration is understandable. Although there are no big pet stores where I live now, there are several "back home," and no matter how many times I ask them to remove the wheels from the guinea pig cages, they never do.

 

[Slap Maxwell]

I know, it's awful.

 

[wuany]

We went into a pet store in Salem CT because they sell the Oxbow stuff and there was a big cute male piggy in such a tiny cage and his nails were curling under. I wanted to ask why his nails weren't being trimmed but I didn't because I lost my nerve. I was so sad for the piggy and he was so cute and even jumped up on his hidey as to say "Take me home". I wanted to cry.

 

[Slap Maxwell]

Was that the one with the brown wooden outside that make you sign in to see the rodents, and have puppies?

They had around 10 baby pigs in a 1x2 pet store cage last time I went.

 

[optimusprime]

petco is a wonderful company, after all, they are PETA approved!

 

[toffeepig]

nyuk, nyuk, nyuk optimus ;-) Good one!

 

[RubyPiggie2]

petco is a wonderful company, after all, they are PETA approved!

Hehe, good one..

 

[mncavylover]

Ha. Ha ha.

And these are the people claiming they love animals.

 

[AngelsCavies]

yeah right, Petco, petsupplies and small private pet store are horable. Petsmart is ok. I know the one I go to really cares about all animals and they clean everyday when they start their shift before customers come in.

 

[Michelle]

I don't go to pet co often. But I do go to pet smart, just about every time I go there someone's cleaning out the cages. And the guinea pigs there are placed by their sex.

 

[Slap Maxwell]

Petsmart only carries female pigs. Petco carries both, and they are seperated by sex as well.

 

[Myspoiltpiggies]

I went to Petsmart once and I noticed a guinea pig mounting the others. We told someone and so they checked it sex and realised they had sexed it wrong! So they put it in with the males... how stupid can they get? The males fought. So now the poor piggy had no where to go. I couldn't buy him, so I hope now he does have a happy home.

When I was in Spain there were two terrible petshops. One had about five puppies in this tiny tank attached to the window. All they had was newspaper, and a bowl with water in... puppies need to play, and they need space! In the other petshop there were not only puppies kept like that, but kittens, birds, you name it! I remember seeing a lone guinea pig in a tiny glass tank. I don't know what it was kept on, didn't look like sawdust or anything, but it was dirty and didn't look ideal. I can't remember it having good food either. It's fur was ruffled up, it wasn't alert, and it certainly didn't look healthy. I wanted to rescue it.

 

[Eckerd]

The petco in my town. IS really really good. Big space. Hay rack. No wheel. But really expensive because they take good care of it.

 

[DaCourt]

*ARGHHH* OK...Both Petco and Petsmart sell BOTH sexes. They are NOT supposed to sell both sexes in the same store however.. Here is the problem. When they get their "STOCK" delivered, they are taking the word of their SUPPLIER that they have been sexed correctly.

My daughter was working on a project where she went into pet stores and whrote reports on the conditions. She talked to the mangers and told her she was from a rescue. They thought it was so cute that this little 8 year old was doing a report on guinea pigs. Little did they know the questions she would be asking. She had one girl assure her they had all girls. She asked if she could hold each of them. While she was doing this, around the 8th guinea pig, she dicovered a boy. He was housed with 5 other pigs, all female. She handed the boy to me to confirm, and when she got to the next female who was in the cage with him, she tell me she can feel something moving.

So, I ask the girl to get her manager, not telling her why. When he comes back, I tell them both that they have a male, and at least one pregnant sow. They don't believe me. So my daughter gets out the page she printed out on how to sex a guinea pig and shows them. Then they doubted that the female was pregnant because she was too young. My daughter shows them another page on pregnancy.

By this time, there is a small crowd gathering, and my daughter tells them, "This didn't have to happen. If your store would only stop selling animals, this sow would not have become pregnant." The manager got all huffy and told her he would "take care of it." But get this...he takes the male back from us and puts him BACK in with the females. I told him that the others were probably pregnant too and he needed to remove them. He said, "If they are already pregnant then I don't need to worry."

 

[Sara'spets]

*ARGHHH* OK...Both Petco and Petsmart sell BOTH sexes. They are NOT supposed to sell both sexes in the same store however.. Here is the problem. When they get their "STOCK" delivered, they are taking the word of their SUPPLIER that they have been sexed correctly.

My daughter was working on a project where she went into pet stores and whrote reports on the conditions. She talked to the mangers and told her she was from a rescue. They thought it was so cute that this little 8 year old was doing a report on guinea pigs. Little did they know the questions she would be asking. She had one girl assure her they had all girls. She asked if she could hold each of them. While she was doing this, around the 8th guinea pig, she dicovered a boy. He was housed with 5 other pigs, all female. She handed the boy to me to confirm, and when she got to the next female who was in the cage with him, she tell me she can feel something moving.

So, I ask the girl to get her manager, not telling her why. When he comes back, I tell them both that they have a male, and at least one pregnant sow. They don't believe me. So my daughter gets out the page she printed out on how to sex a guinea pig and shows them. Then they doubted that the female was pregnant because she was too young. My daughter shows them another page on pregnancy.

By this time, there is a small crowd gathering, and my daughter tells them, "This didn't have to happen. If your store would only stop selling animals, this sow would not have become pregnant." The manager got all huffy and told her he would "take care of it." But get this...he takes the male back from us and puts him BACK in with the females. I told him that the others were probably pregnant too and he needed to remove them. He said, "If they are already pregnant then I don't need to worry."

Hi:

I'm Sara and new to this forum.

I agree pets stores shouldn't sell animals, but unfortunately for the animals they do. I think in your situation and a lot of others, it isn't the corporation that owns the stores, but the employees that work there. The person you encountered proved he didn't care at all about the welfare of the animals, but probably bout the bonus he may receive at the end of the month if the store sales are high enough. A person like him shouldn't be working in a store of that nature and that I do blame that on the corporate since they should have better guidelines for hiring employees.

I do shop at Pet Smart and yes, they do sell small critters, but all I have ever seen are males or I will admit the signs say they are males. I know if I worked at a pet store my concern would be the animal.

I only hope when those little mommies give birth someone is there to help them and the proper separation is done afterwards. Maybe you should consider reporting the store to their corporate headquarters.

 

[DaCourt]

Yes, the sign may say they are males because that is what the supplier told them. Most of them do not know how to sex a guinea pig, and become highly indignant when an 8 year old tries to show them.

Those mommies will end up giving birth alone, in the back of the store, with no help. They will not be sexed properly, not be fed properly, and then shoved back on the sales floor to be bought aas merchandise.

This is why we ONLY shop at stores that don't sell animals. If you live any where near a Centinella Pet Supply and Feed, I urge all of you to shope there. They are pro Rescue, and do NOT sell ANY animals at all.

 

[Sara'spets]

I agree with you, but unfortunately where I live all we have are pet stores that sell animals with the supplies.

I did buy my first 2 guinea pigs from a pet store since I didn't know about rescues, but have since adopted 5.

 

[Butterscotch]

I have worked for Petco. I was the small animal person. The things that happened there and that I have seen have made me boycott the company.
Guinea pigs were shipped to us 5-7 in a little plastic tray, they claimed to be seperated by sex, but I always double checked and most of the time they were mixed. When I started working there they had 7 male guinea pigs in a 20 gal long fish tank in the back room. They were covered with scabs because they would all fight. I told the manager they needed to be separated and they needed to see a vet. He said they couldn't separate them because there wasn't enough room. After several months the manager had them euthanized.
There was then the occurrence of the baby dwarf hamster that kept escaping his cage. I came back from my days off to find him missing so I started asking questions, one of the employees had found him wandering the store and had been told to kill him so they smacked him over the head with a screwdriver to kill him. WHY they didn't put him back is beyond me.
Then there was the distributor issue with the mite infested guinea pigs, they would send us sick pigs WEEKLY. I told the manager there was an issue, it wasn't until the shipment where I pet them and you could see little black specks crawling around on my hands that he believed me. I then got into a 2 hour argument with the distributor and ended up taking them to my vet out of my pocket to get them examined and get a report typed up stating what was wrong.
There was also the meeting with the district manager where I went on a tour with him to show him what was wrong with the store that needed to be fixed to make it better for the animals. He then asked me if I felt animals came first, I told him no, in no way what-so-ever do I feel animals come first at Petco, profits do. Needless to say I was fired.
I could go on and on with what I saw at that store. The other issue I have is aquariums as cages. I got in trouble because after I had worked there a while and was in a higher position I went through the small animal section and pulled every single aquarium that was set up as a small animal cage and moved them back into aquatics. I also went through the back room and threw away every single aquarium they had back there. I got in trouble for not having any aquarium cage set ups in small animals. They are a REQUIRED display in that department. Regardless of the fact that I told them they were unhealthy for the animals. They didn't care.
The issues with Petco are not just at the store level. They run all the way up their corporate ladder. They do not go out to hire the most knowledgable pet people they hire the people who tend to not ask questions. If you do ask questions or fight their policies then you don't last long. Do the animals a favor, don't shop there and tell everyone you know not to shop there either. You can always find what you need elsewhere.

 

[Sara'spets]

I don't shop at Petco due to the stories I have heard.

I have to admit I keep my hamsters in aquariums. They each have their own - the very small ones live in 5.5 gallon tanks with a wheel - and the larger hamsters have 10 gallon tanks again with a wheel. I do have 2 small female hamsters in a 10 gallon tank and they each have their own wheel.

I deal with 3 pet stores - 2 local which their animals are kept very well though I don't agree with their selling them in the first place and PetSmart because of some of the supplies I can get and I also buy most of my fish from them.

I try to buy a lot of my supplies from the internet, but shipping charges have gotten so out of hand that even if the items are cheaper it's not even to cover the shipping costs.

I feel so bad about the little dwarf - it wasn't his fault he was able to get out. Hamsters are very curious little fellows and love to be on the move.