Is there such a thing as a "good" pet store?
While yes, an adoption fee can make a bigger dent in your wallet than a purchase from a pet store, the adoption fee from a reputable rescue ensures that you are getting a healthy animal and little to no worry that said animal is pregnant.
Selling neutered bunnies is still wrong. I got my bunny at our local shelter, a few weeks after Easter. There are tons of bunnies listed on Craigslist, especially is April and May. It's really heartbreaking. People get them b/c they are cute, and then don't want them. My husband loves his "IHOP", and treats her like a queen.
I'm glad I asked this question. I see why not to buy animals at pet stores now. Before I did not think it was that big of a deal. I now order most of my supplies online, and try to go to stores that only sell supplies for the rest. I started to see the reasoning after I purchased Junior and he was sick. It was extremely difficult to get him healthy again, and very stressful on all of us. Elmo was purchased and then banned to a basement all by himself. Lexie and Allie were also purchased and kept in a small cage with no exercise at all. They were put in those exercise balls when the cage was cleaned. I think they were very ignorant, and not purposely mistreating them. All 4 are happy, healthy, and treated like royalty.
I still go to PetsMart with my boyfriend sometimes to get snails for one of his dwarf puffers that won't eat anything else.
They haven't sold rabbits or ferrets in years *hooray!*
They've also stopped selling hamsters which is really shocking to me.
Still have rats, gerbils, and birds though =-/ I do my best not to walk by that section of the store.
Also I guess there was an announcement on the dwarf puffer forum that they will stop selling fish in the next year, but I'll believe that when I see it.
They haven't sold rabbits or ferrets in years *hooray!*
They've also stopped selling hamsters which is really shocking to me.
Still have rats, gerbils, and birds though =-/ I do my best not to walk by that section of the store.
Also I guess there was an announcement on the dwarf puffer forum that they will stop selling fish in the next year, but I'll believe that when I see it.
Where do you all buy your carefresh and aspen on line? I need to buy the big bags (my hay loft has this bedding), not the little ones I can find a the grocery store. Only Petsmart, Tractor Supply Co, ect carry the ginormous bags i want. Right now, I'm going to a Meijrs. Meijers (similar to Walmart, just not as huge and with a better reccord of treating their employees) SAYS they will stop selling animals and so far they've closed down everything but the fish. If they don't keep their word (they've stopped selling animals in the past) I need another source.
The carefresh I still buy locally. I go to a store that does not sell pets.
Tractor Supply does not sell animals, do they? I go there or my local Agway for bedding for my other small animals. My boys are on fleece and my new girls will be when they get moved to their new cage.
Tractor Supply does not sell animals, do they? I go there or my local Agway for bedding for my other small animals. My boys are on fleece and my new girls will be when they get moved to their new cage.
Just read thru this thread and it got me thinking -
Yes, I TOTALLY understand why adopting from a shelter is a better idea.
The thing is, there are people who ARE going to breed regardless - they don't care. It's hard to change that.
There are pet stores that WILL buy these babies and sell them.
Education is obviously the way to go, both for breeders and pet stores, and for people buying also. That is a long hard road, educating all those people and getting them to see 'right'.
On the flip side, knowing that there ARE people breeding - either they don't know better, they want to make a couple dollars, whatever their reasons - the poor creatures that end up in the pet store - they should be the focus, I think. They were already born, innocent as they are, they are the ones suffering. They need homes too, hopefully not just sitting there in the store waiting to be bought as a feeder for someone's snake, (though I guess snakes have to eat SOMETHING, but ugh) or sitting in the store getting sick(er) and getting less than optimal care and possibly dying there miserably.
I don't know. Education COULD go a long way. But people sometimes don't listen. Some won't ever listen. I just hate to see the animals suffer for it :(
Yes, I TOTALLY understand why adopting from a shelter is a better idea.
The thing is, there are people who ARE going to breed regardless - they don't care. It's hard to change that.
There are pet stores that WILL buy these babies and sell them.
Education is obviously the way to go, both for breeders and pet stores, and for people buying also. That is a long hard road, educating all those people and getting them to see 'right'.
On the flip side, knowing that there ARE people breeding - either they don't know better, they want to make a couple dollars, whatever their reasons - the poor creatures that end up in the pet store - they should be the focus, I think. They were already born, innocent as they are, they are the ones suffering. They need homes too, hopefully not just sitting there in the store waiting to be bought as a feeder for someone's snake, (though I guess snakes have to eat SOMETHING, but ugh) or sitting in the store getting sick(er) and getting less than optimal care and possibly dying there miserably.
I don't know. Education COULD go a long way. But people sometimes don't listen. Some won't ever listen. I just hate to see the animals suffer for it :(
Last edited by PigPig3 on Sun May 04, 2008 1:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
When you go and "rescue" one of those petstore pigs, the petstore sees the empty tank, calls the breeder to order another pig, the breeder sees that the petstore is still ordering, and breeds their sow again. The petstore makes money (when you buy the supplies for the pig), the breeder makes money when the petstore buys the babies. People are motivated by money, and they won't quit if they can make more money. The babies move out of the petstore fast enough (because you wanted to "rescue" them) that the breeder and petstore don't have to treat them for Mites or a URI. You took them off their hands before anything became a big issue!
Don't buy pigs from a pet store. Ever. You are the fist step in the process that starts the breeder getting her sow pregnant.
SOme of my rescues came from a breeder who neglected her pigs horribly. They had skin that looked like raw meat. This breeder had some seirous mental health issues and was taken into custody. Clearly not the typical breeder. The rest of my rescues came from a breeder who seemed quite responsible on the surface. The baby pigs in the petstore were unusal colors, healthy looking, and cute. The problem arose when someone went to her house to buy a baby directly from her. The pigs who were making the babies were left un treatd for mites, URI, tooth issues (she was breeding roans), ect. Plus, they were living in wire cages with urine from the pigs above dripping on them. She thought this was all OK since they weren't pets and could make babies faster as non-pets!
Anyways, just don't do it. The pigs in the store right this second are suffering, but by buying them you're condeming the breeding stock to more suffering and all their future babies to the same.
Don't buy pigs from a pet store. Ever. You are the fist step in the process that starts the breeder getting her sow pregnant.
SOme of my rescues came from a breeder who neglected her pigs horribly. They had skin that looked like raw meat. This breeder had some seirous mental health issues and was taken into custody. Clearly not the typical breeder. The rest of my rescues came from a breeder who seemed quite responsible on the surface. The baby pigs in the petstore were unusal colors, healthy looking, and cute. The problem arose when someone went to her house to buy a baby directly from her. The pigs who were making the babies were left un treatd for mites, URI, tooth issues (she was breeding roans), ect. Plus, they were living in wire cages with urine from the pigs above dripping on them. She thought this was all OK since they weren't pets and could make babies faster as non-pets!
Anyways, just don't do it. The pigs in the store right this second are suffering, but by buying them you're condeming the breeding stock to more suffering and all their future babies to the same.
SHOP AMAZON