# :x pet stores



## renay (May 30, 2007)

Today I went to ALL of my local petstores, which to tell you the truth aren't all that local, there are 4 of them spread out in great distances. I went to each one and visited the rat section because I wanted to see what kind of conditions they were being kept in. 

It was ridiculous. One petstore had them seperated by age rather than age and sex, but was EXTREMELY clean, and the rats were well taken care of. they also looked extremely healthy according to petstore standards, but you can't always judge a book by its cover...

The second place was appauling, the rats were in dismal condition, the place stunk, and it was dirty.

The third place had the males seperated from the females, had all adults, had lumpy rats, and was extremely dirty, and had about 7-10 rats in each 10 gallon aquarium. 

The fourth place was probably the best. Its where I got my 2 first girls. The guy had two rats a hairless and a black hooded, both were males, in a good sized aquarium and the place was clean. But upon leaving I noticed a mouse that was missing an eye, and had a LARGE lump underneath its arm pit. 

I also found out today that my earless hamster was bought from that petstore.. she turned out pregnant. 

I think its important to really look into who you're buying your animals from, you may spend a low price on an animal from a pet store, but chances are you're getting a crappy quality (health wise) pet. Not only that but a lot of the times the pets are MORE expensive in a pet store than they are from a breeder. I vow NEVER again to buy an animal from ANY pet store. Hold me to my word guys!


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

I hope you're considering reporting at least the absolutely abysmal one to the SPCA?


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

the SPCA in my province doesn't have the power to do anything, they cannot shut down puppy mills, pounds, or pet stores no matter how dismal they are. A few years back a puppy mill was raided by our SPCA and all dogs were seized only to have the government give OVER HALF of the dogs back to the owner condemning them to god knows what fate. Its sad because our province goes out and hires Language police to make sure that people are respecting the French language, but yet they can't afford to hire a proper amount of animal police or even fix proper laws so our animals are protected. Last year I wrote an article on our provinces crappy laws and how they need to be changed, it was really good, it had a lot of good facts in it and it was turned down. Why? Because it was too generalized... This province really makes me sick when it comes to things like this.


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## Leiren (Aug 5, 2007)

Yeah the petstore back at home is pathetic.Not only do they cram all their rats together in a 10 gallon tank but they have betta's in fish bags on the counter.extremly tiny fish bags,im not even sure if theyre feeding them or changing the water.ive reported them a thousand times and sent emails but i dont ever see them changing their attitude torwards anything.The only reason these people are still in business is because theyre the only petstore in the town.


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

Leiren said:


> Yeah the petstore back at home is pathetic.Not only do they cram all their rats together in a 10 gallon tank but they have betta's in fish bags on the counter.extremly tiny fish bags,im not even sure if theyre feeding them or changing the water.ive reported them a thousand times and sent emails but i dont ever see them changing their attitude torwards anything.The only reason these people are still in business is because theyre the only petstore in the town.


...pet stores shouldn't even exist in my opinion... I have yet to find a single one that properly takes care of EVERY single animal in its vicinity. And I'm sorry, why pay $700 for a freakin dog when you can pay $180 from the SPCA and save a life? Its anything for a dollar these days, we people are definately a disease.


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## ratastic (Jul 1, 2007)

Pet Stores have a place, but for pet supplies, not animals. Well maybe fish. Sadly the feeder rats at the Petco here go fast, and they aren't going to people who want them as pets.


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

I don't even think a fish deserves to be mistreated enough to live in a petstore, technically each fish should have one gallon of water, in essence if you have a 20 gallon tank, you can put 20 (small) fish in their to live comfortably, the pet stores here have 5 gallon tanks and about 30 fish in each if not more.. thats no life for any animal...


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

The best kept fish are at fish stores only type places. I think those kind of places are fine as they focus on fish, as long as they also care for them. I've been to a few fish only shops that were well kept and the fish seemed very happy and clean and healthy! I've also been to others though that I wanted to run out of. We also have a little shop near here called Bird Feeder which is a FABULOUS place that only focuses on birds and bird supplies. They keep their birds so wonderfully and breed them themselves! They also screen potential buyers so in all essence it is a bunch of professional bird breeders who decided to open a shop where they are wanted. I think places like that are wonderful as well. Basically private breeders who have the animals health and well being at a top priority above the dollar is the best.

There was a pet store in my home town which was a small locally run business and probably the WORSE pet store ever. They had LIONS and even a TIGER in a tiny enclosed area ): It made me sad to see such a wonderful wild large cat in such a small area where they couldn't run. Sure it could of been worse but I bet the area wasn't even the size of my one bedroom apartment ): Tigers especially are incredibly active and this one just paced. Made me really sad. They also had monkeys in small areas and in singles in cages ): Monkeys are such a social pet to leave them in a pet store alone with hardly any contact is horrible ):


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## Taru (Jun 9, 2007)

There are four pet stores within driving distance of me as well, and like you I have some good ones, a HORRIBLE one, and a GREAT one. 

The ok ones are the PetSmart and the small one in my town. They are ok, and I've seen MUCH worse PetSmarts, but they keep their rats in 20 gallon tanks, and that just bugs me. They only have a max of four per tank, but well it's still not ideal. The small one in my town only has like two rats at a time, but they are kept in a tank as well, and the bedding is not changed enough for me.

The HORRIBLE one is near the mall. It's dirty, the rats that they have are so agressive you can't even get close to the cage. They breed their own feeders there and they are kept about 50 rats to a ten gallon tank. They are all under 2 months old, but still it's disgusting and horrible. Then any of the "pretty" rats that come out of their feeder breeders are sold as pets. I have reported them, but they can't really do anything about it. Makes me sooo mad.

The great pet store is That Fish Place. They are actually more of a rescue then a pet store. They don't breed any rats or any small animals, they are a place where you can surrender your small animals. The rats that are kept there all get Martin's R-670s, and after they are babies they are kept 2 per cage...it's amazing. Also all the people who work in the small animal room have small animals as pets, and handle all the animals daily. I've read a couple places that That Fish Place is the largest pet store in the world, and I would have to believe it. Also something that really makes me happy with them is that they do not sell dogs or cats, rather on the weekends the local SPCA brings in all the dogs and cats that need homes and they can be adopted from the store. It's really great to see such a good pet store for once.


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## chrisstrikeagain (Apr 10, 2007)

Even the petstore i'm at isn't perfect. and it really kills me. My boss won't separate boy/girl hamsters despite many requests from numerous workers... Rats are feeders =[ they are in tanks...probally not big enough. Hairless rats for pets are in tanks too...
oh pleaseee dont yell at me=[ i'm tryin to change all of that and besides those two area's, we have the best of the best. 
pet stores alll have their flaws...i'm happy where i work, but even there bugs me a tad bit.

Poppyseed, How did that place have a tiger and lion and monkey! did it double as a mini zoo?!! were they for sale?


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## Meghan (Jul 31, 2007)

there are like,no breeders that are within the distance that my parents will drive me to to get quality animals,I hate it when I walk into a petstore and see a whole bunch of animals in a small tank,but I also don't want to buy them,because they will just get replaced by another,then another,but I got Ollie from a Petsmart,he is doing fine.


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## naeby (Aug 2, 2007)

I personally think Petsmart has improved somewhat drastically. They only carry males, and in the store I go to, it's only two boys to a tank.
They are kept very clean, and although they are a tad skittish, I'm sure they'll come around eventually once someone adopts them.
Tanks, nonetheless, but at least theres a sort of mesh on the other side.


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## ambernd (Apr 17, 2007)

i have a local pet store that is pretty good... it's called whiteland pet supplies and more and it is very clean and it hardly ever stinks in there. The only time it stinks is when these two girls work there. I don't even think they like animals. I was in there one time and one of the rats had somehow got in with a gunie pig and the girls where so scared to touch it. So I ended up putting it back in there cage. But those girls make me so mad because all they do it sit at the registar and dont do any thing. They don't clean the cages or anything. But when they are not working it's amazing. But they do have feeder rats and they have about 7 in a 10gallon tank. But it's better than a lot of pet stores around here that have like 30 in a 10gallon. This one is a small pet store so i guess it takes care of the animals better.


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

I don't think its necessarily a bad thing for pet stores to have feeder animals... as much as i hate to think of a poor fuzzball being suffocated to death... a snake has to eat to. I think its disgusting that a person can rest their head comfortably on a pillow at night knowing that they have animals in their shops that are mistreated. I'm not talking about the employees so much as the owner itself, I don't think its right to breed and sell... not with profit in mind anyway... all petstores do is exploit animals. And I mean it doesn't even really boil down to just pet stores either, i was searching a classified ads site the other day and i found pure bred timber wolf puppies for sale for $750. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMMING TO? i mean we've already destroyed pit bulls' names.. lets go ahead and let other morons get dogs like these that will be used for no good... $750 is far too affordable for someone to properly care for, and RESPONSIBLY care for an exotic animal such as a wolf... that and I found coati mundis for sale, giant gambian pouched rats, and there was much more.. its freakin ridiculous.


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## Kimmiekins (Apr 14, 2007)

The problem is that most of the time, live feeders are not (obviously) dangerous for the rodent, but also for the snake. There's not many good reasons for feeding live when frozen will do.

Not that I think anyone is going to stop it.


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

Kimmiekins said:


> The problem is that most of the time, live feeders are not (obviously) dangerous for the rodent, but also for the snake. There's not many good reasons for feeding live when frozen will do.
> 
> Not that I think anyone is going to stop it.


I couldn't agree with you more.
Its so much more humane.


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## Meghan (Jul 31, 2007)

well,I'm sure this is the case for some snakes,as it was for my Whites tree frog,he wouldn't touch it if it didn't move,renay has a point,snakes have to eat too,its natural,I'm a vegetarian,but people eat meat,those animals are kept in terrible conditions,I love rats and mice,but I like snakes and other animals too.
Wolves are wild animals,I love them,but eventually,some idiot will get their moron kid a wolf pup,and it'll play alittle too ruff for the idiot,and kill or injure the child,then people will say" wolves are mean and heartless!!!"get a grip people,it's not their fault the parents got their kid a wolf,I mean really,then everyone's new fave animal to get on the hunting list will be,you guessed it,WOLES!!!


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

Meghan said:


> well,I'm sure this is the case for some snakes,as it was for my Whites tree frog,he wouldn't touch it if it didn't move,renay has a point,snakes have to eat too,its natural,I'm a vegetarian,but people eat meat,those animals are kept in terrible conditions,I love rats and mice,but I like snakes and other animals too.
> Wolves are wild animals,I love them,but eventually,some idiot will get their moron kid a wolf pup,and it'll play alittle too ruff for the idiot,and kill or injure the child,then people will say" wolves are mean and heartless!!!"get a grip people,it's not their fault the parents got their kid a wolf,I mean really,then everyone's new fave animal to get on the hunting list will be,you guessed it,WOLES!!!


I don't think it would necessarily be the parents buying a wolf pup for their kid, I think it will be the morons who want "tough" looking dogs to make themselves look better that will cause problems for wolves in general. I'm sorry but its been done to pit bulls, and anyone who has ever owned a properly trained and socialized pit knows that they're the nicest dogs in the world. It just takes one ignorant... you get it... to give a good dog a bad name.


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## Meghan (Jul 31, 2007)

My grandma had a pit bull named Daisy=p,she was really nice,but I was to young to remember her,they had a picture of me as a baby with her laying down


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

i've only ever met one mean dog in my entire life. It was my grandma's poodle. My grandma tried to train him but he was just ill tempered. He actually bit my grandma a few times......she needed stitches but she wouldn't let anyone take the dog away!!!


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

Yeah the only mean dogs I've ever seen have been little. Actually my sister got bite in the face by a little dog when she was younger. She just sat down beside her and SNAP.


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

I think it has to do with people babying the little dogs and letting them do whatever they want and then wondering why they get stubborn and mean...


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

yeh and because of being babied they become possessive over whoever is doing all of the babying.. i've seen parents do the same thing with their kids though.. like parents who think their kids can do no wrong.. sometimes i'd just like to smack them upside the head... the parents more than the kids lol.. :lol:


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

Only sometimes? "How DARE you give my precious little Johnny an F on the project! He clearly deserved an A!" "Lady, he didn't DO the project." "Of course he did! You're a liar!"

AGHHH!


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## Meghan (Jul 31, 2007)

I guess I am kinda spoiled,but my mom gets mad at me when I make an F,lol


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

I was a spoiled kid to but let me tell you i got a couple of good slaps here and there.. I think thats the problem with society today, kids aren't SCARED of their parents... Growing up I was too scared to do something bad.. I snuck out of the house one night and the next morning i TOLD my parents in case they found out haha :s so i was a little pansy?


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

Well I broke the rules....tiny ones....... but I was generally a good kid, even if I was a bit spoiled! When I did something minor I was worried my dad would discover it......little girls don't want to ruin daddy's love!!! 

*edit because i just can't seem to type things that make sense anymore lol*


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

I work at a Art and education store. Many parents do the project FOR the kid ): And I always wondered as a kid why some people's projects looked so awesome and mine looked like a kid made it >_> None of MY parents ever did my project. They didn't even help much other than by some very basic supplies.


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

Lol I was in kindergarten and my teacher asked me to write a story (i will never forget this because it was so hard) I hardly knew how to spell my name... my parents wouldnt help me neither. EVIL! Turns out all the teacher wanted was scribbly hand writing... that one little piece of homework was harder than ANY final exam i ever took :s


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## Mana (Apr 22, 2007)

My parents never did any of my work either... but I never even wanted them to. I did it better myself than they would have ^^;

And the sweetest dog I ever knew was a huge rottweiler named Susie


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

Its definately the person who makes the dog, and not the dog who makes the person as so many think when getting tough looking dogs. It just drives me up the wall to hear people blab on about how pit bulls are evil dogs and such, its more like people are evil.


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## Figment (Aug 8, 2007)

The sweetest dog i ever knew was Bollie (Bollinger) I grew up with her... She was a Rottie! And she wouldn't have harmed a CAT! She was just so sweet and clever, and she would play tug-o-war with me, my stepdad, and my little sisters (now 4 and 9) and she would pull on the rope in varying degrees of strength... specific to each person and how small they were and how likely to get hurt... 

We went and got her from a breeder... She died two years ago this December... Still makes me sad thinking about how much i miss her... I wasn't there when she got dick or died, and i feel so guilty for that...

ANYWAY!

The Pet shop near home is ok, they sell mice... But they don't know how to tell the difference between them, which is how i ended up with two accidental litters from my "boys"... I asked them for three boys to go with my boy at home... They gave me two GIRLS and a boy...

The pet shop near my mum's house is the BEST. They have loads of fish and birds, all with heaps of space! They usually have rabbits and guinea pigs at the front of the shop in the big display things, occasionally they will have some puppies and kittens in those cages too... But they have a proper bed for whatever species it is, plus lots of water, and food. It is a small shop but they have HEAPS of animals products... Shampoo, books, treats, leashes, collars, basically anything that you could think of to do with pets! They also sell FRESH treats for animals... They have Fish, and Meat for cats and dogs, and they have various mixes of mouse and rat and bird feed... Lots of stuff... 

I bought some of my fish there (not all because it wasn't on my way home from school) but they did really well, lasted a long time...

I also bought my baby Dragon there!

They have two tanks, maybe 40 litres, most of the time with mice in it, some of the times with rats... But they are divided by sex, and i have never seen more than maybe 5 mice in there...

Oh, and when i got Dragon... In the food bowl... There were not lab blocks.. But FRESH VEGGIES! (Ok, yeah, they may have been frozen... But the point is, most places just have a dry mix...)

When i bought Dragon, the lady made sure that i was prepared to look after her... She asked if i had any experience with them, and if i knew what to feed them... And even if i was allowed to have her.
(that made me feel really happy, and i know that if i have any rats that i need to find good homes for, and i can't find them elsewhere, i am taking them there!) 
She also said, that if i found that i couldn't look after her or anything... They i could bring her back for a full refund!

Now what pet shop says this that only has money in mind???

Anyway... Over the years that i have been a customer there, i have not seen or heard anything to make me think less of them... And the whole place just makes me feel happy... And i know that the animals have been looked after well!

A different pet shop near my house now... The same chain as the first one i mentioned... Now it seems ok... It is light, and happy looking... But the thing that makes me feel... a little odd about it... Is that all their cat and dog cages are fronted with GLASS! I don't know what you guys have, but here we usually have wire front cages, so that people can stick their fingers in, and see how the puppy acts and stuff... And the puppy can hear you... But this one... The puppy/kitten couldn't hear you very well, and you couldn't pat it or anything...

If you wanted to hold the puppy, the staff had to go in through a back door and open the back of the cage to get it out...

I dunno... I guess it isn't "bad" its just weird!

Oh, but there was also the fact that all of them had poo and stuff in their cage, and not much water...

Then there's the one that i rescued these new ratties from!

That was... Well it was just a big shed, and the rats and mice were in a different section... Everything was in bulk, so that was good... but then all the girl and boy rats were all in together, and same went for the mice tank...

And if a rat ended up pregnant, that was a positive for them, cause they could charge more, and for the buyers, cause then they could get babies and keep breeding them to feed to their snakes...

The poor things... They had been in there for two weeks, and i don't think the cage was cleaned in that whole time... And most of them were covered in cuts as well!


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

A lot of the pet stores around here do not let you touch the kittens or puppies and the glass fronted cage isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinion, I also agree with not touching the puppies and kittens, imagine you had a rat, and your friend had a rat, and your friends rat had this terrible disease, then your friend came over and cuddled with your rat, and your rat caught it from bacteria that was on your friends shirt.. You'd be pretty angry, well in order for the pet stores to give any guarantee on their animals they have to make sure they don't contracept any diseases while in the shop ALSO, the glass fronted cages aren't necessarily a bad thing because overly excited puppies may chew on the bars or get their claws caught on them causing pain so on and so forth :? but thats just my point of view.


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## chrisstrikeagain (Apr 10, 2007)

Figment, My pet store i work at has puppies....and gass fronts are the safest and humane way of carryin puppies. Its cage on one side where customers arent.
What if i went to a puppy store, pet a sick puppy thru bars...then to another puppy store and pet that dog thru bars...then that second puppy store would get an outbreak.
My store the only people who can touch puppies are those intrested in buyin one. no impulses and no playin for the heck of it. However we do socialize them and play time when there are no customers..

And i am so undecieded if im happy with places such as Detriot outlawin pits...I mean, there is alot of dog fightin there, but the poor pits that were pets for good people even had to move or be put down...Dog fightin is for the weak and i wish the worst upon those who fight animals..


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## Lesath (Jul 14, 2007)

My dog is the best of both worlds, he is a rottie/pit bull mix!

Here is the savage beast in action!!


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

You know a lot of people don't like the idea of a ban, and I've been chewed out for saying this before but the way i see it, if a community is using pits to do bad things, then its better for the outcome of the dogs to not be owned there :?


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## madonnaswimmer (Jul 31, 2007)

Keep in mind, however, that those are meant to be temporary homes for those animals. For instance, the humae societies sometimes put 4 rats in a 10- or 20-gallon tank. And the cats' cages are the size of a small cupboard... It's not because they actually recommend keeping animals in cages that size when you adopt, but because they are only meant to house them temporarily.

Anyway, the way you described them sounds terrible. I try to stick to larger chains (petco and petsmart, though petsmart is much better) when it comes to petstores, but I got my babies from the humane society here in Milwaukee. They had a "buy one, get one free" kind of deal, so I got both of them for $2, plus 2 certificates for free veterinary exams by the vet of my choice.


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## Figment (Aug 8, 2007)

I understand the reason that they had that there, but usuallywe dont have that in Aus... Sometimes we have the glass fronted cages that lock at r=the front, and then the glass slides back... I like those cages! Something about the solid glass fronted, small cages, just makes me feel... Weird...


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## Meghan (Jul 31, 2007)

My parents used to have rotties,Brutus and Cesar,lol.My dog's name is Aeris,she is a purebred GermanShepherd,She would have been a fully trained gaurd dog by now if we didn't get her,thats what her HUGE parents do,she probalby would have the best out of the litter,when we went in the kennel,she was the only one who ventured out of the doggie house=).Now she is my big lovable baby=3


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## Mana (Apr 22, 2007)

There's an attempt to get a state-wide ban on "dangerous" breeds of dogs in Minnesota (pit bulls, rottweilers, akitas, chows, and wolf hybrids - I can't remember if mixes are included). If it actually goes through, these dogs will not be legal in this state, and ones that are already here will either have to be relocated to other states or euthanized. We don't have a problem with dog fighting in this state, and as far as I know there aren't even *that* many reported cases of bites - not enough to spur a ban like this anyway. It's rumored that the representative proposing this was bitten by a "pit bull" (who knows what kind of dog it really was) and that's why he's pushing it.

I found this interesting, knowing how often dogs are mislabeled as pits: Find the Pit Bull

(I know this is way off the topic of this thread, but renay's post made me want to throw this in)


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

I kind of like how this topic turned actually, Its important to for people to realize that dogs aren't bad, PEOPLE are. A state wide ban is something i definately don't agree with, here in Canada Ontario banned pit bulls throughout the whole province a few years back, it was a low blow for those of us who have well socialized and nice pits. However I don't think that the representative for your state wide ban will have much grounds, AND it would be nearly impossible for him to enforce a law stating that all preowned pits had to be rehomed or put to sleep, the way it worked in ontario was that all owners of pits that wanted to keep them had to pay like a tax i believe, and their dogs have to be leashed and muzzled at all times. Oh and spayed or neutered..


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