# petsmart any better than petco?



## tehkayla (May 7, 2007)

well... I wanted to get a new rat so my lucy would have a lil buddy to hang out with...buuut...well..the last rat we got from there died...im not sure why it died becuase there were no signs of her being sick or anything...she was acting just as cheerful as she always had..and the next morning...we found her dead. And ive read that petco often sells defective rats, and my dad suggested getting one from petsmart, but is there really a diffrence? im not sure there are shelters near me that have rats, and I don't know if my parents will take me to a breeder to get one, but I really don't want another rat dying on me


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

Petsmart is just as bad an Petco. I got the boys I have now from Petsmart and they both had health problems. They are fine now, but took quit a few vet visits to straighten that up. Your best bet, if you dont want any problems like this, is to just talk to your parents about it and get them from a breeder. It really would save your parents alot of money, that is if the rats you purchase are sick (most of them are).


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## tehkayla (May 7, 2007)

yea I got my first rat oreo from petco but he never had any real problems up until the end of his life from seizures (and I don't think thats petco's fault) but my rat lucy might have a respritory infection...though im not sure thats petcos fault either becuase ive had her for months now...but that last rat...i have no idea why she died...so I'm going to try and convince my parents to take me to a breeder to get one.


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## DarkDesires814 (Apr 8, 2007)

There is a difference between the stores. Petco employees usually know very little about the rats they sell. I bought 2 rats from them, both weren't very friends and 1 mysteriously died a few months later. Employees there don't treat the rats properly, they'll lie to you about just about everything connected to the rats and I've found them all to be generally rude.
On the other hand, petsmart is a little better. The one near me only keeps 3-4 same sex rats to a large cage, the people who work there play with them daily and know enough about them to be able to tell you how old they are, which ones are the friendliest, and how to care for them properly. Most of the time they'll ask you what kind of cages and stuff you have for them at home. Also, they will have a conversation with you instead of being rude and too busy to deal with your questions.
And they get their rats from different places. Petco rats, in my experience, are less healthy because they come from feeder mills. Petsmart rats are bred to be pets and are generally healthier. I had 2 rats from each store and the petsmart ones never had health problems other than a few sneezes and sniffles that were easily taken care of.


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

The problem with PetCo is that their rats are sold as feeders, never socialized, and kept in tanks with next to no ventilation. Petsmart handles their rats and they tell you right off the bat these are NOT feeders. I would go with a breeeder though!


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

Ill tell you this much, both petco and petsmart over here dont take care of there animals AT ALL. I have had so many problems with them and even yelled at them for it, lol. I know that the petco over here had to have a health inspection, becuase of how poorly it was being taken care of...they have "cleaned" up their act, but to me hasnt changed one bit!


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## tehkayla (May 7, 2007)

guess it all depends on where you live too. I don't really know much about the petsmart around here becuase I usually go to petco. But I know what you mean by petco having rude employees. They're always busy, and when you ask them for somthing (in my case I wanted a rat) they go "be there in a few minutes" or somthing so you go waiting by the rodent section for who knows how many minutes and they finaly get there and when you ask to see the rats (like to pick which one you want) they don't seem to happy about it...and when you pick the one you want they pick it up by the tail and throw it into box...yea..im kinda fed up with petco...
I might go check petsmart but going to a breeder does sound like the best thing to do...


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

I love the petsmarts around here, especially the one up in Noblesville. They have their females in a HUGE well cleaned aquarium and I love their policy of only being an all male or all female selling small animals store. Darn them for only selling females! I mean those black hooded girlies were so adorable and they usually have blues at the one in Castleton. Their aquariums are quite a bit smaller but they have igloos and wheels. I had to get onto them about keeping their water to high a few times but they cleaned up that act.


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## penelope (May 1, 2007)

I do agree that Petsmart is much better; cleaner and nicer people. However, I wouldn't take any of their advice, seeing as how they only know what they are told and usually just making stuff up. For example, I was getting some guinea pig supplies from there and the the small animal care taker girl told me, "don't forget the salt licks". I just walked away. Guinea pigs don't need salt licks, but the books Petsmart carries says they do and I guess that's what they go based off of. 

But here's the kicker. There is no real difference between the two because they are owned by the same people. I say again PETSMART AND PETCO ARE OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY. So saying that one gets sick rats from a different carrier is wrong. I was complaining to a Petsmart employee about Petco and he said that they were sister companies and carried the same things from the same places, they're just set up a little differently. 

Just like Linens-N- Things and Bed, Bath, and Beyond are owned by the same people, but Linens-N-Things tries to be snootier than BBB. 

Best rule is to not get pets from petstores. It just encourages them to breed more animals in small, cramped conditions in which many of them die before they are even shipped to the stores. If you have to get them from a petstore do a small local petstore that usually gets them from a breeder. Independent petstores are the only way to go if you must go to a petstore.


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

wow i didn't know that they were owned by the same people. gross.  i do have to agree that i generally like petsmart better because of their same-sex store policy, greatly reduces the risk you'll buy a pregnant rat, and the cages with more mental stimulus for their animals, but i'm sure that the knowledge or expertise that the salespeople have depends greatly on the people themselves, since they don't receive any more formal training than "read the pamphlet we hand out to customers". yeah, like my rat will live 6 years, i wish. i know that the petco by my house gets their rats from a breeder who breeds them 60 at a time in rubbermaid tubs, but other than that they usually look to be in decent health. my two cents there, but i agree that if you can, don't encourage petstore breeding! admittedly, i've failed there, but who hasn't?


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## Fuzzie (Apr 25, 2007)

I would say that our petsmart is much better in animal care, layout, merchandise, employees, and feeder crickets. a batch from petco are 12 cents each with 75% dead or dying, while petsmart is 8 cents each wit 5-10 percent dead or dying.


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## Strike2 (Apr 26, 2007)

Stephanie said:


> The problem with PetCo is that their rats are sold as feeders, never socialized, and kept in tanks with next to no ventilation. Petsmart handles their rats and they tell you right off the bat these are NOT feeders. I would go with a breeeder though!


This is correct.


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## tehkayla (May 7, 2007)

wow I never knew they were both owned by the same company . 
haha onlyono they wouldn't happen to have posters saying rats live 5-6 years at your petco too would they? I was shocked when I found out that alot of rats live 2-3 years.
I only found this out recently becuase oddly enough my first rat nearly lived to 5 yrs old (so I continued to believe them). theres like nothing out here (in the middle of no where) the closest thing we have is petco and petsmart. but there used to be this small petstore that was kinda far but we went to it alot, maybe they would have healthy rats.


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## Strike2 (Apr 26, 2007)

penelope said:


> But here's the kicker. There is no real difference between the two because they are owned by the same people. I say again PETSMART AND PETCO ARE OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY. So saying that one gets sick rats from a different carrier is wrong. I was complaining to a Petsmart employee about Petco and he said that they were sister companies and carried the same things from the same places, they're just set up a little differently.


This is 1 million percent wrong, I have worked for petsmart (management)and they are owned by different companies...they probably thought that becuase one is geared more towards reptiles while the other does more small and furry, but in actuality they are two completely different companies, with two completely different approaches to selling. Petsmart will always have better practices than Petco.


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## LizLovesRats5 (Mar 28, 2007)

Yeah, Petsmart is generally better, but the ignorance of the sales people still amazes me. Every time I got into one of their stores I end up correcting the employees and trying to tell them when their rats are sick. But, even when they seem to be able to process the knowledge I'm relaying, they don't care. 

There was this one time I was in there to pick something up and I stopped by the small animal cages. There was this full grown rat in one of the cages (which was a VERY small cage), and it had a ton of poryphin oozing out of its eyes. When I was checking out I told the girl at the register that the rat was sick and needed antibiotics or it would die, and she was like, "Oh no, she's fine, she just scratches her eyes a lot and makes the skin around them bleed." Of course, I corrected her, and told her that it wasn't blood, etc. And she was like, "Oh, well I guess I'll see if the manager will put her in back."

I was so freakin disgusted. I mean, you've got a sick animal there, and instead of getting it proper vetrinary care, you're just going to stick it in the stock room?

Disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting.


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## tehkayla (May 7, 2007)

oh my gosh that sounds so awful  
how could you not notice somthings wrong with an animal when its got red stuff oozing out of its eyes? what did she mean by "Oh, well I guess I'll see if the manager will put her in back." (im not really sure what goes on at petshops) Did that mean they would get that poor thing to a vet? probably not Â¬_Â¬


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

'The back' is likely slang for the freezer...


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

The back at petco is just that forensic but at petsmart they do take the rats to the vets in the store. I would rather deal with petsmart any day. I have had SOOOOO many problems with petco it isn't funny. I was going to take back sniffs at first because he was HORRIBLE!! but the chick told me that I could take him back and the next time some one asked for snake food he would be given to them I got the B**CH fired LoL I was in so much shock it wasn't funny I have also walked in there called animal control from my cell phone and waited till they came and pointed out everything wrong. Also I know someone who just walked out of there with a rat LoL. I also took all of thier information sheets on rats and tore them up in front of the manager after pointing out what was wrong with the info sheets. I went back the next day and did the same thing LoL that manager hates me now. I am actually going back there at the end of the month to call animal control if they haven't changed. I am so evil LoL


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## chefner (May 6, 2007)

Stephanie said:


> The back at petco is just that forensic but at petsmart they do take the rats to the vets in the store. I would rather deal with petsmart any day. I have had SOOOOO many problems with petco it isn't funny. I was going to take back sniffs at first because he was HORRIBLE!! but the chick told me that I could take him back and the next time some one asked for snake food he would be given to them I got the B**CH fired LoL I was in so much shock it wasn't funny I have also walked in there called animal control from my cell phone and waited till they came and pointed out everything wrong. Also I know someone who just walked out of there with a rat LoL. I also took all of thier information sheets on rats and tore them up in front of the manager after pointing out what was wrong with the info sheets. I went back the next day and did the same thing LoL that manager hates me now. I am actually going back there at the end of the month to call animal control if they haven't changed. I am so evil LoL


Steph, you go! I love the idea of calling animal control from the store. Way to be the squeaky wheel! 

I have had some of the same experiences as others have posted here. Petco has always been worse than Petsmart. In fact, I haven't returned to a Petco in years due to their poor treatment of animals, sick animals, rude and ignorant employees, etc. 

Petsmart, well, there are still some ignorant employees, but you can usually find at least one that knows what he/she is talking about. They DO socialize their animals - the 2 rats I currently have came from there and have NEVER so much as nibbled my finger or my daughters' fingers even through the cage bars! They use Carefresh bedding, have large, ventilated cages, keep the cages clean, have rat-safe exercise wheels and other toys, feed them proper food, etc. They get their pets from breeders, too. Only problem I have found is that they may come from the breeder sick - mine have had the sneezing and lice. (Getting better now and lice almost gone.) They also DO treat sick animals (at least the local stores here in DFW area, TExas do). 

Lesser of 2 evils - Petsmart. And I do think they have every intention of providing the best care for their animals - just aren't always successful. Petco could care less.

Christina


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## penelope (May 1, 2007)

Strike2 said:


> penelope said:
> 
> 
> > But here's the kicker. There is no real difference between the two because they are owned by the same people. I say again PETSMART AND PETCO ARE OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY. So saying that one gets sick rats from a different carrier is wrong. I was complaining to a Petsmart employee about Petco and he said that they were sister companies and carried the same things from the same places, they're just set up a little differently.
> ...


Well I find this very odd since I've been told by more than one Petsmart employee that they're owned by the same people. Why would Petsmart employees tell me that they're owned by the same people if they werent? That doesn't make sense.


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## penelope (May 1, 2007)

OnlyOno said:


> but i'm sure that the knowledge or expertise that the salespeople have depends greatly on the people themselves, since they don't receive any more formal training than "read the pamphlet we hand out to customers". yeah, like my rat will live 6 years, i wish.



When I went there and talked to the "small animals" clerk, he said that he had rats and knew all about rats and then told me that they'd live for 7 years. I just rolled my eyes. They will say ANYTHING to sell you an animal!


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

Steph, you go for it! if only there were more people like you the world would be a heck ov a lot of a better place, if i had the confidence i would do exactly the same as you! i just dont have the confidence atm!


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## Strike2 (Apr 26, 2007)

penelope said:


> Strike2 said:
> 
> 
> > penelope said:
> ...


Ask a manager, or look it up for yourself...most people (people that work at petsmart or petco are very stupid when it comes to taking care of animals, so how could you think that they have a business sense...I am an avid aquarium person and the advice I have heard from both stores is enough to kill mass amounts of fish)


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

i wanna get a job their and right all wrong but wuld prob get fired within an hour for screamin at them!


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## Strike2 (Apr 26, 2007)

fallinstar said:


> i wanna get a job their and right all wrong but wuld prob get fired within an hour for screamin at them!


Yea I tried to do that while I worked there, but they did not appreciate it very much. Apparently you only have to partially take care of your pets...


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## yonksgirl (Apr 23, 2007)

Petco and Petsmart may be owned by diff companys but I do know the rats come from the same place........I being nieve went on a job interview for small animals care and the place turned out to be a rodent mill...... and they said that they supplied to those stores. I felt so bad for the breeders...Part of me wanted to take the job to make the breeders live's better, but I felt if I worked there I would be condoning what they did.....after seeing that I will never buy from anyone but a breeder! My first 3 rats came from Petsmart and they are healthy I just can not support the condidtions that the breeders are in!


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## lvnoahsark (Apr 20, 2007)

I personally like Petco in my area better then the Petsmart. The people at Petsmart are usually rude whereas at Petco there is usually always people around. I bought fish from Petsmart and they didnt ask me any questions about my tank or the other fish in it. At Petco they usually ask and actually will not sell fish or any animal for that matter if you do not have the proper habitat. Im not sure about other animals at Petsmart because I feel very unwelcome in the Petsmart so i dont shop there very often. A thing that I dont like is that Petco is that they sell mice and rats as feeders.  The females and males are always seperated (although accidents do happen but not very often). 

Unfortunately they are corporations and there are rules that they have to follow. They have to ask the higher up if they can take an animal to the vet and it is usually at least a day after the illness is discovered. And thats what sucks! 

Im not trying to condone either store as breeders are always better than petstores, just saying that not all petsmarts are better than petcos.


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## Hana-chan (May 7, 2007)

my personal experience with both of these stores is that it depends on the individual employee, and to some extent on location. i've found knowledgeable, friendly people at both places and rude people who obviously got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn't looking at both places, as well. but to a great extent, it depends where youre at. for example, i live in a college town. not only that, but CSU has one of the foremost vet medicine programs and an excellent veterinary teaching hospital. that means there are an abundance of vets who are happy to work with "exotics". it also means there are some vets who somehow managed their degree while keeping their preconcieved notions about our rattie friends, oh well. both stores here sell rodents as feeders, possibly because theyre idiotically catering to the customer, even when the customer is misinformed, possibly because they dont know themselves that you risk harm to the snake with live feeding. like i said... idiots. the stores themselves are of course interested in nothing so much as the unholy profit, the employees, at least here, are a mixed bag. the best way to tell which store has the most knowledgeable people regarding ANY ONE TYPE of animal (personally here its petsmart for fish, petco for rats, i trust no one but the vet for my kitties cause whitefoot has a heart condition) is to call up and ask to talk to the person who knows the most about ____, if they have to have them call you back, fine, but talk with their "expert" on your pet. pretend to be considering becoming a brand new pet parent who knows nothing, ask them all sorts of questions and dont correct them, just listen (calling them an idiot wont change their minds or IQ's), then say thank you very much. afterwards, compare what they told you to what you know. dont get nitpicky about details. i.e. everyone has their favorite rattie stuff, they arent necessarily an idiot if theyd recommend a rat condo instead of a ferret nation. just see if what they told you falls within normal parameters of whats acceptable for your pet. if it doesnt, dont ever patronize that store unless youre SURE of what you want and dont need advice. as far as buying animals from either one... the best pets are raised by people, not corporations. it isnt always the corporate policy that makes one or the other a bad place to shop, but i think the corporate attitude in general has a lot to do with why they dont raise good pets (in general). also, if you have a choice, why not give a smaller petstore in the area a try, they are often more responsive to customer feedback, if theyre willing to special order for you (and many are) they can easily make up for not having as much variety. frequently they are more assiduous about properly caring for their animals and provide better service.

PS maybe the people at petco listened to you, the rat pamphlet here now says UP TO 5 years, of course, they dont mention that 5 is a pretty venerable age for a rat, but again, i didnt mention it when i told my son that a rat might live until he was 17 and he had to be prepared to take good care of it no matter what new responibilities and interests he acquired


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## penelope (May 1, 2007)

I know that you aren't suppose to buy the sickly, sad animals at the petstore, but they just break my heart. So of course my last guinea pig I bought was covered in feces and really skinny and sad looking. And I asked them if she winds up being sick if I can bring her to them and their vet will treat them and give her back to me. They said no. They said I could get my money back or another guinea and "if" she could be healed they would just put her up for purchase again later. How stupid is that! So I'm thinking they don't get them healthy again...maybe they just put them to sleep since they get so many in and it doesn't matter to them. I was very upset.

But on the back of the Petsmart 14 day guarentee thing you get when you buy a pet from them it says that they have to give you your money back or a new pet AND call you and let you know when your pet is up for resale. So they totally lied to me. But I still like the Petsmarts much more than the Petcos.


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## camel24j (Feb 27, 2007)

i hate to tell all of you even the small pet shops have bad habits i worked for one we would tell the truth about any animal and wouldnt sell if the people didnt seem to be careing but at the same time if an animal got sick it went into the freezer and all rats mice and some rabits were sold for food and if someone had a snake we would sell them live animals to feed but would tell them how to thump or kill before actuly feeding the snake it alot of the snakes i have only like freshly killed animlas hate to say. after reading this i was thinking about getting a job at petco the one in my area could use someone who know a little about animals and i hate to say but i rather see sick animals put down than suffer till they die. the big picture here is that all most all pet shops are only out to make money. just look around and 90% of people around you would do lie,cheat or what ever it takes to make money thats why i hate 90% of the poeple i have met and just keep to my self. i know how much you love your rats but not bying them at pet shops is not going to stop them carrying them becuse pet snakes and lizards that eat rodents are becoming popular pets. well i guess i said my mind please dont jump on me about this just wanted to point some things out and speak my mind.


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## penelope (May 1, 2007)

Camel you're a bad bad person!! arrgg!

No, I'm just kidding. I hear ya. Those big stores will never go out of business. But it is better to try everywhere else before you go to a petstore. Unfortunatly there aren't many shelters in some areas that are gonna carry smaller pets. Most of them just have cats and dogs. 

The guinea pig shelter in Austin, Texas (here by me) has 180 guinea pigs right now that need adopting. But it's such a long and strict adoption process that many people would rather just go to the petstore. I know that shelters want to find good "forever" homes for their pets, but most people arent willing to be subjected to what they ask of you. So....that's just how people are.

And I agree. I can't stand most people, hence all of the pets. haha.


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