[aqualaureena]

I went into my local pet shop and 1 of the assistants there was cleaning the boys cage out and to my horror she had put about 20 rats in a VERY small fish tank. There was about 3 layers of rats unable 2 move! It was horrible! I know most rats like a good pile on but this was sick. I walked out and I have decided to completly boycott the shop as I refuse to give these people a profit. I was wondering what stance other people took on pet shops, whether its just dont buy the live animals or dont buy anything at all?

 

[lilspaz68]

I don't go into petstores that sell live animals. I don't condone this, so I will not give my money to their business. It can be difficult sometimes but can be done. I also don't go into petstores and "just go to see the rats"...people usually do this on purpose so they can bring one home.

 

[Forensic]

Did you complain to the manager? Report them?

If you don't say anything, then just not going there is useless.


Unfortunately, all the pet shops here seem to sell animals...

PetSmart is safe for me because it's a female store. :lol:

 

[amandahoney]

i'm fortunate enough to have a pretty reputable petco in my area. a few of my friends work there, and they tell me that even "behind the scenes" it's good. i don't buy animals there, and even though the environments they supply them with there are far from ideal (food, water, and a plastic igloo, at most, in a plexiglass tank), i get the feeling that the staff is knowledgeable and cares and is at least trying to find these animals homes and treat them kindly while they're there. they almost always have a few older animals out for adoption, and encourage people to take a look at those. so i do buy food, litter, treats, etc. at petco.

i will not, however, buy anything from the petsmart near me, because i've heard horror stories from some of the same friends who work at petco now, who used to work at petsmart. but i'm sure each store is different across the country, even when it comes to chains.

 

[aqualaureena]

I didnt complain as I was that shocked I just sort of stumbled out. But where I live I am fortunate enough to know alot of people who are passionate about animal welfare so I am going to do some posts on the internet about why not to shop there and spread the word. Amandahoney, I have heard that too about chains. Here in England we have "pets at home" who I think are quite frankly, shite but people who live the other end of town said the one near them wasnt half as bad.

 

[ladylady]

I try to buy most things from the net

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

The petco near me is horrible. Petco has a bad bad rep near me. its been in news and everyone knows of their animal cruelty. Petsmart by me is ok, well was when i last went(over a year ago).

Where i work, its a small family owned pet store with a strong staff who will know more than all of petsmart and petco staff combined. we care for our animals. my shop has best rep of hte area with little to zero complaints.

not all pet stores are bad, however majority of them are in it for all money purposes. I'm lucky to work at one of the good ones. i wish others would change.

 

[twitch]

i'd like to open a pet supply and adoption center some day but i don't know how well that would be recieved or if i'd ever be able to do it. but the plan would be to have a bunch of different and unuseal stuff on display that can then be ordered, then have of course the normal needs, foods, cages, beddings and basic meds and vitimins on stock for sale there. then have a room or two where they can view a bunch of pictures and descriptions and stories of animals waiting for homes in all the local shelters (perhaps all the ones in the province). people can then be helped with a adoption counsellor to find the perfect match for them. then we contact the shelter and have a meeting with the adopters and the animal where they can then decide if this is the right one to add to the family. that would give people plenty of time to make sure they want to really get the animal and they won't be gouged on price at the pet stores. the adoption center would be like a intermeditary between the shelter and the new owners. but like i said, i don't know how well that would work. there would probably be a lot of problems to get something that large scale and involved working right and then i'm not really sure there would be much interest in it either for that matter. but it would be nice if it would work...

as for boycotting a store or not, well me not going to the store isn't going to stop the store making a profit. its the same as not buying rats at pet stores. that's no skin off the owners nose. most of the rats go as food anyway and those people aren't going to stop going because the rats they feed are taken care of properly. i mean i still eat meat but i know the animals are not taken care of in ways i would prefer and often live attroious conditions. but me not eating meat isn't going to make them change there ways. in order to affect change in these areas you need to track the problem to its source. you need to get legislations passed that make it difficult or better, illegal for companies to treat their animals so shabbily.

but in order for the government to take notice and to pass that legislation you have to get noticed so yuo have to get people mad. this is where a boycott becomes useful. BUT it must be a loud and annoying and persistant boycott of not just the one store but general store policies of all pet stores that sell pets. you have to get to the general public so you can't just be dismissed as animal loving freaks. you have to get joe smoe handing out fliers and walking picket lines too in order to be affective.

all of that is an excessive amount of work and VERY time consuming. people need to work and a lot of people don't have the time or energy involved in running an operation to the size and persistance needed to affect change. it why i commend people that do do things like this. that run protests and miss work and/or personal time for it. they don't have a lot of money that they can really afford missing the time from work but they still go out to protest. its really amazing.

 

[ladylady]

I would love to help with something like that twitch. It is sad to say but money talks-makeing a rescue something marketable and that makes money is the way to go. You can sell anything with the right marketing.
Rescue fees could be low and the money made by the goods sold-essential supplies and cute stuff that animals lovers want to buy-my mum has spent a fortune on ornaments of dogs!

 

[ratastic]

If you boycott a pet store and for argument sake say they do feel the loss of money. Do you think they would connect it with how they are treating their rats? No, they will think they aren't advertising enough. If you wanna help the animals there, you need to do more direct action. Let the manager know how you feel about the rat treatment, or get a job there and change it from the inside.

 

[twitch]

I would love to help with something like that twitch. It is sad to say but money talks-making a rescue something marketable and that makes money is the way to go. You can sell anything with the right marketing.
Rescue fees could be low and the money made by the goods sold-essential supplies and cute stuff that animals lovers want to buy-my mum has spent a fortune on ornaments of dogs!

like i said, its a wonderful idea but do you really think many people would go for it? i mean it would be easier to just go to the rescue or pet store and get the animal right there rather then deal with an adoption center. most people know if they want a dog or cat or bunny. and if they want a dog most know what breed they want or at least what age. the ones that don't care will go to the shelters directly instead. it would probably seem really silly to most people to talk to a person from a store and look at a bunch of pictures when they can go look and interact with the animal first hand.

and really how would you market something like that anyway? come see us and get the perfect pet for you (though it may take a few weeks to actually get the animal home)? its silly and i doubt many people would go for it. and really how much lower could the fees for the shelters be? in my area its $75 for a spayed or neutered animal. considering it cost nearly $100 for a spay or neuter (often much more then that for a spay) getting an animal from a rescue is already really cheap. and its not like the fee would be able to go down. the shop wouldn't be a rescue itself but just an intermediary between new pet owners and the rescue. i think the only difference would be that we'd probably have better customer service then the worn out and jaded shelter workers...

having said all that i would still love to be able to open a place up like that anyway. but i think, given that it probably (at least the adoption side of it) won't work i would need a lot of money that i don't need to invest it so, should it fail i won't be living on the street. which means, unless i win the lottery i don't think it will ever fly.

 

[Zach]

My petshop.... The animals looked very tired/bored/sick, there was a foul odor in one aisle, there were dead Geckos in a tank.... it was like walking through a haunted house. :'(

 

[twilight]

If you go into a petstore and they arn't treating their animals properly, it's your duty (in my opinion) to report them. Animals cannot speak, so they cannot say, "Umm...HELLO?! This is animal cruelty and neglect!" Thats our job. I went into a petstore that had Turtles in HORRIBLE condition. I was to young to do anything so I had my mom report them. They where closed down the next day and never re-opened. Hahaha. *caugh*

 

[mopydream44]

I think everyone has made some interesting points. I have been in some great pet stores, where the staff was knowledgeable and helpful, and I have been in other stores that have told me “Animals are animals! What the owners do with them is their business!” That made me very sad to hear. I don’t understand how people with attitudes like that can work in a pet store. I suppose I’m still a bit naive.

On the other hand, the animals in pet stores didn’t ask to be there, and they don’t deserve to be loved any less than a rat from a breeder! That, to me, is like saying my nephew doesn’t deserve to be loved as much as another child because he happens to have poor genetics!

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

Twitch, also when people adopt a dog through your shop and have behavioral problems due to livin in a shelter or past neglet, the owners of the troubled dog will blame you for it. so it would be hard to do adoptions. not discouragin it, its great to do. i wish where i work, we adopted everything out, as opposed to just kittens.

I really wish government and animal rights people would crack down on the bad stores.

 

[Fuzzie]

don't get me started on the proper care of reptiles :roll: unfortunately my lizard goes through 20 + worms a day, and the nice clean petsmart doesn't carry worms. I have to make regular trips to petco *shudder* they act like every scaled being is the same, one light bulb per tank, around 80 in each. sure, the anoles are fine, but the bearded dragons can't digest their food in those conditions :x they also had a few leopard geckos, each one a dingy white color and, two days after first I noticed them, not one of them had moved 8O

oh they also had 200 dollar ferrets, is this normal pricing ?

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

ferrets at my store are 140$...and they are bred at Marshall Ferrets...they come to us descented and nuetered at around 2-3 months old. so 200 is freakin expensive as heckkkk.

reptiles need diff care. big stores like petsmart and petco dont care. they do whats conveniant forthem. plus iv had numerous customers coem to me from petsmart/petco with 100% wrong info.

ugh, i hate those stores/

 

[Poppyseed]

Lol, six years ago I got my ferrets for $90. They were on sell. Then a couple of years later I got Spazz for $130. If you ask me ferrets SHOULD be as high a price as possible so white trash disposable pet people don't buy them.