# Sick rats at Petco



## Cyrix (May 2, 2014)

Stopped by a Petco on Thursday and we observed some seriously ill rats for sale as pets in their rat tank. Respiratory illness is pretty recognizable after you've dealt with it and these rats clearly aren't receiving the medical attention they deserve. Needless to say I'm done shopping at Petco, and I sent complaints to Petco, the humane society, and animal control, but I don't know if sick rats will be taken seriously. Has anyone had any luck making a difference in similar situations?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAw_dUunfI8


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## gooseyp (May 29, 2014)

Oh my goodness, that poor hooded, he's barely standing! If he doesn't get care soon his life could end by the end of this week 

I used to work for Petcetera, this company (now out of business) and many others don't provided immediate small animal care. The employees are often left to deal with the situations on thier own, PROBLEM IS, 90% of pet store employees are brain dead when it comes to animals. Which is my biggest pet peeve ever. 

You can get a hold of head office but going into the humane society and showing them that video will help tremendously. It display unsuitable living conditions and mis treatment of animals. If an animal is that ill looking (in canada) we have a law where sick animals are not allowed to be on the floor or in with healthy rats, not sure if this rule applys to your area but if you check it out that might helpo too because here, that's illegal.

I hope you can find some help for them soon! I suggest a trip to the humane society tomorrow and straight up tell those employees what they're doing to the animals! They should all be fired leaving him in that tank is unacceptable.


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## Cyrix (May 2, 2014)

There was another hooded in the tank in identical shape I didn't get in the video  . The albinos don't look as bad but they have that twitch as well.


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## Aeyna (Jun 16, 2014)

While I love my PetSmart and will always stand up for them, I hate Petco. The rats I saw the last time I were there seemed like they were fully grown, so at least a year old if not older. Their fur looked really shabby and dirty, and they were all sluggish. Plus, there were about 4 males in a tiny ten gallon tank. For babies, it would have been understandable, but not full grown rats. If they had been female I probably would have rescued them, but I want a single gender household to avoid problems, plus I promised no more rats right before I got Raichu...

It's really tough that there are some stores who seem to genuinely care while others treat their animals like crap.


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## Mischief (Jun 27, 2014)

Wow that is so upsetting ...


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## gooseyp (May 29, 2014)

ugh. I work for Petculture now, and we have a minimum of 10gal PER rat after reaching a certain size and minimum 5gal per pup. That's just retched. I hate Petco with a passion, always have.


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## Aeyna (Jun 16, 2014)

I love love love PetSmart, and go there at least twice a week for new stuff for the girls. To me, Petco seems dirty, I can never find staff to ask a question, and the animals look miserable. I would rather pay more at PetSmart than support Petco.


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## xColdBones (Jun 21, 2014)

I went to a Petco not too long ago, just to look around. I recently moved so I figured maybe the Petco in my new area would be better. I hated the Petco at my previous location, all the animals looks very sickly and lethargic. I went in and went straight to the rats. At the other Petco, and this Petco, they only had PEWs, which I don't care about variety, but it kind of tells me they're mostly feeders.. I saw they two rats that looked very sick, their fur was puffed out and oily. It made me very sad. Also, the rat were on SALE.. first time I've ever seen a living creature on sale. They were literally on sale for $2. Are you kidding me? I will always hate Petco, it really bothers me how they say the "animals come first." The only petstore I will like is PetSmart. I know most people don't like PetSmart either, but so far, every PetSmart I've been to has been a lot better than Petco. The animals don't look sick, and I got all three of my rats there. They were healthy and friendly. Now I know not all are like this, but I have had good experiences with PetSmart.


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## Mischief (Jun 27, 2014)

Personally I always liked Petland. My dad used to take me and my sister there all the time when we were young. I haven't been to one in years, though.

Where I live now there's a Petculture (I find it funny how ALL of these stores start with the word "pet" lol) that I like a lot. They have an old cat there that wanders around freely, it's very sweet and friendly and loves attention. I enjoy the vibe there, and the employees are super friendly and helpful. I had a long discussion about rats with one of the guys there.


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## Giddychilde (Jun 5, 2014)

Well I know that where I live, Petco rats are feeders so the people working there could probably care less about their condition.

I actually was just their this weekend (and might have ended up taking a boy home because I got drawn in), and I didn't know for sure if they were officially feeders or people just bought them because they were the only place to go. But the guy working their actually owned rats of his own and he said that about 98% of their rats end up as snake food. I ended up taking this big hulk of a rat and he and a bunch of employees were ridiculously happy that he was going to be a pet and not snake food. 

It sucks, but I guess thats how it works.

The Petsmarts on the other hand are explicitly non-snake food, but the ones in my area always only have two or three rats at a time for much more money than Petco sells theirs.


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## Mischief (Jun 27, 2014)

^ OT: Supernatural is a fantastic show and I'm happy you watch it.


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## Aeyna (Jun 16, 2014)

I think the rats at PetSmart tend to range between $8 and $12. I've never bought from a breeder, but I hear that it runs around $30? I can't believe that they would sell them for $2, cause that's basically what you pay for snake food, which is why I guess so many Petco rats go to snakes. 

Three of my girls are from PetSmart, and I got them healthy and social. As much as I would love to have the money/time to take in every rat in a bad situation and give it a better one, I just can't. I think the best we can hope for is educating people on how awesome rats are as pets, and hope that it creates more homes for rats who need it.


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## Cyrix (May 2, 2014)

Sad to hear so many Petco locations are bad. I hope my complaints to their corporate offices and the humane society have some impact. I haven't been to Petsmart more than once or twice, we got our rats from an independent store although I wouldn't go back there. They just had feeders and kept them in tiny trays, 10 rats or more to a tray.


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## Cyrix (May 2, 2014)

Animal control got back to me that they don't cover this area, and the humane society said I should contact Petco corporate. Looks like this is a lost cause :/


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## Trenix (Aug 30, 2013)

All pet stores are the same, it's a business. You think the company is willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a rat that's worth only $3? I heard they usually take sick animals and put them in the back just for them to die and then be thrown out. Also no one cares about rats, they think of them as food because of snake owners. I just don't get how people can abuse intelligent animals and use them as food. Right now I'm starting up a business and will do anything to start up a fundraiser to bring awareness about rats. If I were to have a dog and feed it cats, imagine what people would say. People are just uneducated, they don't get it. My rats are seriously smarter than dogs and cats combined, they truly amaze me everyday. Take your business elsewhere like a tack & feed store or a place that doesn't sell animals, only products.


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## rileys-mom (May 26, 2014)

Sadly, I think most pet store rats end up as feeders so the stores don't care about their health. Your video is very sad. 

Not to mention, it was a pet store rat that caused a young boy to die of rat bite fever last year. Pet store animals, large or small, are raised in terrible conditions and I often wonder what the death rate is for these creatures.


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

Here is what I would do about this situation and what I think you should try. Go back to that same Petco and ask to speak to the manager. When the manager is able to talk to you, explain (firmly but without losing your temper) that the rats in that tank are exhibiting severe symptoms of an Upper Respiratory Infection and if they are not put on antibiotics immediately, those rats will die. Tell them that the rats need the treatment right now and failure to provide it will force you to call their corporate office and report the establishment. More specifically take the name of the person you speak to and tell them you are writing it down so that you can tell corporate specifically which one of the individuals in their chain denied the animals in their care urgent medical treatment. If you want immediate action, you have to go talk to the manager directly as the humane society will not be able to react fast enough to help this lot. To me this looks like something viral that has affected their respiratory systems, I have personally experienced this with my crew and believe me when I say that they go downhill fast. I do not want to insult you or anybody else but generally speaking pet stores do not take enough responsibility for the animals in their care. I have heard very good things about notifying the manager and seeing through that they treat them - someone did that with a blatant parasite infestation and other illness successfully. If they do say they will treat them, re-visit the store and make sure they follow through. I know it is a hassle and maybe you cannot save all the animals in the world, but you might just make a difference to the ones you saw.


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## Cyrix (May 2, 2014)

I did contact Petco corporate and they got back to me claiming they have very high standards of animal care, etc etc, and promising that they will communicate with the store manager and resolve the situation. I don't trust corporations, my guess is that "resolving the situation" would amount to euthanizing the sick rats, wiping the tank with some baby wipes, and putting in a fresh batch that aren't exhibiting symptoms yet before inviting me back to the store to see the 'improvements', but I hope they will take the matter seriously and give them actual care.

I know medical care for rats can get pricey, but you'd think a big corporation could get bulk discounts on antibiotics and the like. It's hard to imagine them paying more than a fraction of what an individual would pay for care.


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## brundlefly (Mar 27, 2014)

That's awful. I work for a Petco and we take really excellent care of our small animals. It's always been opposite for me, Petsmart always had terrible conditions and I've had great luck at both my Petcos. It totally depends where you go.


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## Jessiferatu (Apr 30, 2014)

Poor babies.  I totally get your mistrust of corporations and I would be upset as well. Let's hope for the best possible outcome. Who knows, they might actually do the right thing.

Luckily the rats at my local Petco usually seem healthy (I check them out every time I'm there, lol). But...Ezzie came from Petco and he is the most fearful, distrustful, and skittish of all my rats. He's been a continuing challenge to deal with (still love him though). What annoys me is their "small animal expert" know zilch about their care (she suggested cedar bedding :|) and there are always way too many ratties in one tank at a time.

My local Petsmart, on the other hand, takes very good care of their rats. They have an in-house vet clinic so if something is wrong they take care of them right away. I hate that most pet stores keep their rats in tanks, but at my Petsmart they at least have a limit on how many rats can be in each tank, and they use the right bedding, etc.


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## Aeyna (Jun 16, 2014)

I talked to the manager at PetSmart while I was there yesterday, and she used to work for Petco. She said that they will often take in abandoned rats (something PetSmart doesn't do I guess), so the rats I saw might have been in bad shape because someone didn't want them anymore. She also said that there will be outside groups that keep rescues in the store as well. I'm not saying that there should be sick rats on the sales floor, but there might be more to the story. I think it would be worth going and speaking to the manager.


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## Trenix (Aug 30, 2013)

Surprised that everyone thinks it's the customer's responsibility to report the store's sick animals to the manager. These employees should be the specialists, not us. Otherwise they clearly shouldn't be working there. Personally I found the best way to get any business's attention is to review their store on yelp and googlemaps. Without a doubt, post your pictures and videos of sick animals as well. I'm sure they'll do whatever they can to get your review down. I've had full refunds from crappy vets by doing this.


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## RadiantRatties (Jul 28, 2014)

Petco once sold me a rat from a group of rats that the employees knew bit and were clearly abused and the rat was blind and they tried to pass it off as normal and healthy. I couldn't take it back though. Poor rattie. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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