Stupid pet store.. is anyone surprised?

[Chloë-Jasmine]

At the Pet Value in my town, they have the guinea pigs in a big hexangular (is that a word?) aquarium. There's usually about 5 in there, males and females. They are on yesterdays news which is okay I guess, and have a little hidey house made out of sticks. So of course to get to the Timothy hay, you have to walk right past them. Today, they had a wheel in there! It was really big, probably for a chin or a ferret. It made me really angry, and I almost went and said something but I didn't want to in a bad mood for the rest of the night. Then I thought about it... would a guinea pig even use a wheel? I have rats and they won't touch them. Just wondering, I think I will feel better if I know for sure.

 

[Harleigh]

I think it's the 'if they try' part that worries a lot of people. I would suggest you just mention it to a sales clerk in passing. We did at our local store, we went in and they asked us if we needed any help. We asked them to show us what toys they had available, to see if they had anything new. While he was talking we gave him a little polite education about guinea pigs.

 

[MeAndMyLovelies]

I visit that pet store many times and I completly agree with you Chloe! (Forgot to mention I live in the same town.)

But yeah, I find the cage they are always in to be very dirty and "moldy" most of the time.

Pretty sad, and I never have the guts to say anything. Hopefully I will really soon.

 

[karen]

I wish people would learn to speak up its the only way anything will change.
Nobody has to be nasty just speak carmly to the person in charge and explain that Wheels are so dangerous, trapped legs or broken bones or even death.
Actions speak louder than Words

 

[nonamian_girl]

I thought Pet Value is a non animal selling kind of place. It seems to be where I have some.

 

[Chloë-Jasmine]

MeAndMyLovelies, you live in North Bay too?

Yes, I know I should just say something. I have an attidude though, and I'm afraid of that getting the better of me. I probably won't be in there too much, I found a feed store that's close to my house, the only reason I went in there is because I was at work and it's in the same plaza as Pet Value, and I ran over there on my break. Maybe I can be like, 'I want to buy a wheel, THAT one' and point to the one in the cage, give to my cousin for her hammies. Hehe, like that'll work. Well, a girl can dream, can't she?

 

[PiggieMamaKelly]

I think the good news is the pigs probably wont even use the wheel so I doubt they will actually hurt themselves. I imagine its pretty uncomfortable to even sit in. Also, years and years before I ever had cavies, my little brother had a GP and he used to put him in one of those big balls. The little pig just sat there till someone took him out.

 

[MeAndMyLovelies]

I sure do live there!!!

 

[lorry]

I have to say that...gulp...a long time ago before I knew better my pigs had a wheel. I kept trying to entice them to get on and started putting food on it. Neither Jake or Esau (both passed now) ever got up on it, but they did learn to stand on two feet and put their hands on the inside to spin it! It was very cute but as soon as I learned they shouldn't have it, I threw it away.

 

[C&K]

Is this store part of the "Pet Valu" chain? The chain does not have an "e" at the end of it. Anyway, I know they used to be very strictly sellers of pet supplies only, however they now own Paulmac's, which sells animals and keeps them in some pretty dreadful conditions, so if this policy changed it would not surprise me.

I agree that if you are in a really bad mood and likely to blow up, then you should not confront anyone, however, that being said, something should be said. I fully agree something needs to be said. Don't delude yourself that it is fine because they "probably won't" use it. This is not a what if situation, Guinea Pigs have been known to hurt themselves in these contraptions.

If you don't want to a face to face confrontation, then call them over the phone, or drop some information off, but please, do something!

PS: Please try to find a store that does not sell animals to do your shopping from, and let Pet Value know that they are loosing business by being in the live animal trade. I know it can be easier to just dash in if you are in a hurry, but in the long run, giving $$ to small animal retailers for small animal products is part of the problem, not the solution.

 

[lorry]

AMEN cavies and kids!

 

[piggy_love]

Dont let make you really upset. People who work in petstores like these, are just wanting to suck the $$ out of ya by putting cute things in the cage, giving you advice that is not true. I was in PetsMart the other day and the lady that was telling my parents about guinea pigs and said that they should get a wheel and i said my beliefs about the dangers of wheels she just shrugged her shoulders!

 

[Curly's Slave]

the local pet store near me is usually pretty good with the animals, except for having slightly small cages. recently i went there and found that the only guinea pig they had was being housed with bunnies. both the pig and the bunnies were babies, but even still... should i say something the the store clerks or manager?

 

[ellenvega]

Regarding the title,.. nope not surprised. I don't know why people even go into pet stores in the first place.

 

[Susan9608]

should i say something the the store clerks or manager?

Absolutely yes. If you say nothing, what do you think will change? Nothing. People have to speak out about things in order to make things change; it doesn't just happen magically..

 

[Chloë-Jasmine]

My mistake, it is indeed the 'PetValu' chain, I guess being on here got my spelling too correct. lol. It's a "PetValu Plus Pets'. Anyways, like I said, it's usually a last resort to go in there. The only thing is, it has better hours then the feed store I found, but that's what boyfriends are for right? To run your errands! It's actually the only one in town that sells pets, which I guess is good the others don't, but it's bad because they will never run out of buisness. Cavies-and-kids, I totally agree with you. I actaully have said something to someone who works there, who comes into my work often. We even rode the bus home together. She said getting rid of the wheel shouldn't be a problem. So I got something done, and I made a friend. w00t!

 

[C&K]

That is really really great that you where able to talk to someone about it. I am absolutely horrified that Pet Valu is going this route with the pets. I remember nearly 20 years back when Pet Valu was starting out, they where a new innovative concept, "keep pets out of petstores". Over the years I have known many owners, all very against the sale of pets in petstores, and very proud they where just in the pet supply business. This certainly is a grim day for the whole chain. I was in my local Pet Valu today and noticed that all the timothy hay was brown brown brown, I asked the owner if they ever get green hay in, and he flat out said "no, and I have no control over it, I order hay, that is what they send me". I am strongly considering a pellet free diet at this point and securing a farm supply of fresh hay for my girls; just too many stores getting added to the boycott list.

 

[Chloë-Jasmine]

Pellet free? But I thought they really needed it? (correct me if I'm wrong) Plus, when I'm out of pellets, (say I gave out my last on Saturday, I usually forget my feed store is closed on Sunday) They wheek and wheek at me, even though I give them extra everything thing else. And they don't stop until they get pellets. It's like, even though it's thier least favourite they still want it.

 

[VoodooJoint]

Pellet free? But I thought they really needed it

You can think of pellets as the meat part of the meal. Most pigs really like them but they are not necesary as part of a healthy diet and could actually be bad for them.

Pellets are being linked to bladder sludge and stones (at least low quality pellets are) and if a pig likes them too much they may over eat their pellets and under eat their hay.

Many people have gone pellet free and their pigs do very well. You just have to make certain that they have absolutely unlimited high quality grass hay and lots of healthily balanced veggies and forage.

They will get everything they need from the hay and veggies this way making pellets unnecessary.