Disgusting Pet Shop

Dont know where to put this but figured I would post it here.

So my family and I went out to dinner this evening, decided we were going to stop at the pet store down the street. We all walk in and with the first breath of air you are hit with the smell of decomp. Decided to got into the fish section and browse around, what a mistake that was.

One of there curved DT was absolutely horrible. Five to six inches of empty shells from hermits and snails. Some you could still see the animals inside. The surface water looked to have a oil look to it. Red slime algea all over the rocks, with a few of the fish that were visible looked liked they were starving for air. The other fish in the section were covered with ich. The FW section had so much hair algea I could barely see through the front of the glass. All water in the section had the oil look to it.

I quickly left the section disgusted with what I saw and proceeded to browse around the rest of store. In the reptile section of store there were just as many dead animals as live ones... Rabbit the size of a basket ball in a cage that a gerbil might find suitable. Bird section as dirty cages caked with fecal matter.

Horendous store and will not see any of my business. Nor will I ever send anyone their for business.

Sorry for the rant.....

 

hmmm wonder if any actual laws are being broken...

Thanks for the share.

 

Report them to the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of the police department in your area. They are probably breaking laws. About 8 or 9 years ago, I found a pet shop in similar conditions here in Tucson. I had guinea pigs at the time, and they had three large guinea pigs (about the size of a man's sneaker) in a 10 gallon tank with a glass top. Like, guinea pigs need air! I was horrified. And then I saw a baby guinea pig, no bigger than a tennis ball, underneath the three big ones, gasping for it's life. It was being smothered. I stormed up to the man at the counter and told him what I saw. He said, "Oh well. We'll just feed it to the snakes." I freaked out. He ended up letting me take the baby guinea pig home. I called the Animal Cruelty Taskforce and they documented the conditions that I told them. Within 6 months, the store was shut down.

I don't know if it had anything to do with me calling, or if they just went out of business because no one in their right mind would buy anything from a store like that.

On a side note, the guinea pig I took home (I named her Brilla) was pregnant. She was just a baby herself. She died while giving birth because she was too small to have babies.

 

Well I wish it was that easy in my state.... my state is very corrupt where money gets you out of everything...

I plan on call DEM tomorrow who regulate pet stores in my state. I am hoping that they will go out and fine if not shut the store down. Although back to my first statement money talks here.

 

Good. Usually small operations like that don't have a lot of money to spare. Even a fine would hurt them, and hopefully force them to make some changes.

 

That's so sad to hear. All those animals that have no choice but to try and survive.

 

Isn't that every state now? Good luck if you decide to rescue any of the animals or fish they may bring disease or other probs to your tank.

 

say i want a pure breed puppy and no pound has one...im confused about the morality of pet shops...should i by my pup from the petshop or are there other ways to not support them and still get the puppy i want...?

im asking because i have never bought anything from a petshop other than some fish supplies and the occasional fish...

but no mammals, so whats the right thing to do as i really dont know...

 

The problem with "rescuing" animals from places like that is, as long as you pay money for them, you are only supporting their unethical practices It's a catch 22 for sure. You don't want to just leave the animals to die, but you sure as hell don't want them to profit from what they are doing, either.

 

Definitely don't buy a dog from a pet store. They are notorious for getting them from puppy mills and charging tons of money for animals that often end up sick. Instead, look up a purebred rescue in your area. There are tons in every state that specialize in certain breeds (like the dogs that I found abandoned on base went to a dachshund rescue here in Tucson. They had 75 dogs waiting for adoption at the time I dropped those guys off. Yet for some reason, people are still paying breeders for dachshunds?!?! My mom got her purebred mini schnauzer, purebred great pyrinees, and purebred tibetan mastiff from rescues -- all the dogs came from "breeders" that were providing pet stores with dogs, and were shut down because of animal abuse and neglect). If you can't find one there, why not just adopt a mutt that the pound does have? You would be saving a life instead. Every time you buy a dog from a breeder or pet store, you are condemning another dog to death -- a perfectly good dog that is waiting at the pound for a home, that you could have otherwise adopted and saved. Lots of shelters will also keep waiting lists of certain breeds, so when one comes in, it goes to the next person on the list. www.petfinder.com is a great resource -- you can search by breeds, and all the registered breed-specific rescues are part of it, so you can get pretty much any breed you want.

I am 100% against pet store selling dogs and cats. Up to 14 million adoptable dogs and cats are euthanized in this country every year -- adoptable ones, that are healthy and happy with no behavioral problems. There's no need to pay someone to purposefully breed animals that are already in such abundance and waiting for homes.

 

You will never find a better pet than a mutt.

 

i understand about adopting to save a life...

Ok say i have saved 10 dogs from the pound but still want to have my fav dog too...what are my options? Are breeders just as bad as petshops?

 

Not all breeders are bad. However some breeds have been inbred so much its time to free em up

 

No. Check petfinder.com first! Not all breeders are bad. There are some very responsible breeders out there. But it can be hard to find out which ones are which, and it's still always better to save an existing life than purposely create a new one.

 

There's always craigslist, too. Lots of people giving up "pure breeds" (take with a grain of salt, even if they have papers). I got my Yellow lab off craigslist (who might be mixed w/ a chocolate lab because of her coloring). But they claimed they had papers (which weren't important to us, really, because we weren't looking for pure breed anyway), but they couldn't find it and never sent it.

EDIT: Ok, I did a ltjoker LOL This is actually wontonflip, and I was checking the forum through hubby's computer Forgot it was logged on as him.

 

lol :d

 

Most reputable breeders will also offer you a reference list of other buyers so you can speak to them directly and get their feedback. A good breeder may also ask you a bunch of questions about your home, your habits, your family members to make sure that the dog will be going to a suitable home. If they ask you nothing about your living situation, or offer you no references, you may want to dig a little deeper.

 

YES not all breeders are bad. When I got my pug a breed that is notorious for bad geans with hip and no sinus problems I did my research and found the right breeder for me. luckily it was only a car ride (6hours) but if you want a specific dog and don't want a puppy mill dog you will pay $ for the dog and getting the dog to you. I signed more paper work buying my dog than my car! Along with all of that I got a 6 generations AKC registered of heath history on both sides, I met Einstein's mom (Heather...my GF name lol) Dad (Lokie). I have not had any issues with Einstein and with my GF in vet-tech school Einstein goes to class and every vet that sees him can tell that he is a 'very nice pug'... the breeder I got Einstein from was pretty sad that I didn't want to show him. He was the pick of the litter