always complaining...

[LaGypsyEyes]

everyone on this thread always complains and warns others not to get hamsters or any other small animals from petsmart/petco or other stores such as them. But I dont get it. you realize that if you stop buying pets from there, that the hamsters will grow old in those cages and die without affection? I agree that the people who work there give no effort to those small animals...but its so sad how you all warn eachother not to get hamsters from there.

I got Panda a month ago and she's the most skitterish animal I've ever had besides my guinea pigs. (and yes I know, my first priority should be to get animals from shelters, but the shelters that I did find near me only have dogs and cats-and Im not allowed to get those) But anyway, I got Panda from Petco. When I first saw her, I got her because she was cute and all...but the second reason was because she was all alone and no body would buy her. Later on I found out why. When I brought her home, I left her alone in her cage for two days. On the third day, like I do with all new animals I get, I tried to get her to sniff my fingers and get used to me. She nearly flipped. Later on as days went by, she didnt calm down at all. Im not afriad of her biting me, but more afraid that she'll bolt out of my hands when I hold her-cause she has. *Sighs* My little panda girl is very paranoid. She needs constant care because she's all skitterish and Im afraid that any little sudden movement will give her a heart attack. But I still love her so much.

I know petco doesnt give the best animals you can find out there. But you gotta admit, the ones that you do buy from there steal your heart immediately and either way, you feel better because your providing a home for a pet that doesnt get looked at twice in stores like petco, petland discounts, petsmart...etc...

Btw, big stores like them also give vaccinations to hamsters when they're young so that they can be protected from wettail at a young age. It kills off the bacteria just in case its been passed on through birth. Wettail after that can be caused by an unclean environment. But atleast those stores make an effort to keep their small animals healthy during the selling process.

*sighs* Im sorry..I ranted. I just couldnt help it.

[riegfinnid]

actually, the main reasons people say not to buy from petco and stores like that is because those big corporations put money first, and walfare of animals way down on the list...you should see what goes on in the back of petco...true, not all petcos are THAT bad but petco has been battleing a law suit for the last 13 yrs i believe BECAUSE of the way they treat/breed animals

they often sell sick or pregnant animals and thier excuse is 'its hard to tell the sex of a small rodent'...which is NOT true, anyone with half a brain can tell sex.

the law suit thats against that is to prevent them to sell animals and only sell supplies since they are not up to code on their lets say technique....

and yes, many of their animals are skittish becuase they just stick a bunch of them in cage, let them breed disregarding genetics...and then stick the babies later to be sold and they never get handled.....but guess where some of those babies go? snake food.

i've seen people return rodents they bought there because they're sick, guess what they do with them? put them right back into a cage to be sold...

do you know what petco uses to catch rodents that escape? sticky traps that KILLS them.

and the list goes on....

i dont want to start an arguement, but to each its own.

[OmniscientOnus]

Actually riegfinnid, I believe the whole reason LaGypsyEyes said that it's not such a bad idea to get hamsters from places like petco is so that you can save those hamsters from that kind of environment. Although, it probably will mean a little extra care on the part of the new owner to make sure those hamsters get extra special care after being saved from those places. But if everybody stopped buying hamsters and rodents from places like petsmart, it would be the equivelant of not saving pets who come from abusive owners just because there prone to have problems. Why let these animals suffer just because it means you're going to have to put up a little extra effort to keep them happy and healthy? And, just like you, I'm not trying to start an argument either.

[riegfinnid]

No i see your point, and i've bought sick pets from petco just because i didnt want them to die there...

But MY point is..if people stop buying from petco then they WONT sell pets as they wont be making a profit. Thats what the whole law suit is about against them...is to STOP them from selling pets period since they dont do it up to code.

i'm at work now, but when i'm home i will find the website all about with all the nation wide articles talking about cruelty of petco and the lawsuits against it

if you keep buying, they will keep selling, see MY point?

[HammysRme]

I see both sides understandable... but in situations like these, there is nothing much we can do but try our best to make things better. It is true that if we keep buying they will keep selling and if we stop, the hamsters will have to suffer. But i dont think thats going to stop the pet store from getting more. We are just stuck like a rock is on the side of a road.

[riegfinnid]

yeah its a no win situation...thats why that law suit is going on.
if petstores sell animals without taking proper care like sick or pregnant..where do you think they end up? either dead or at shelters, so petco is contributing to that whole problems.

what law suit is trying to do is STOP major companies from selling pets since they dont comply with laws 100%...and some people go to a petstore and get an animals just becuase their kid bugged them enough and THAT animal ends up in a shelter or sick because they didnt think through and didnt do any reseach...

i mean, there're A LOT of issues with this...and nothing will change unless PEOPLE as society change.

[LaGypsyEyes]

actually what you said isnt true. they wont stop selling it if no one buys it. I've actually seen this happen in a store. No one brought their hamsters, so they kept marking the prices lower. Then it became so ridiculous that they'd make it like "one hamster free if you buy one at a half price" or something like that. And then..if nothing else works, they get little kids that know nothing about hamsters to get them. They tell them how entertaining and how low maintanence one hamster can be which makes it more and more desirable to a young child. Yeah I do agree that they do it for money only, but I'd rather give them my money than have them sell the hamsters as if they were just another toy on the shelf...always ready to restock.....

But I do see your point. Maybe its cause I've never gotten a sick hamster from stores like that...I dont know..but either way...I wouldnt want to suddenly not buy them because I've already seen what they would do when they get desperate. And of course they sell some for snake food...its nature. Its what happens out in the wild. If a snake where to see a hamster it would be chomp chomp for that hamster. but its better to buy them instead of watch them go to the mouths of snakes. *sighs* I love my hamsters. I've had over five hamsters-most from petco and I cant express how happy I am to save them from a cold environment like petco/petsmart and so on and so forth. Im glad they have my love instead of the indifference from those store workers.

[HammysRme]

My opinion is that it isnt really necessary to warn or persuade somebody not to get an animal from a petstore. I think it should be there choice and if you should tell him/her facts, you shouldnt be bias on it. That's the biggest problem here.

[riegfinnid]

like i said, there will always be problems...its PEOPLE who need to be responsible and educate themselves.

all my hamsters were from shelters.

nothing will change in petstores or shelter or anywhere else if people wont be responsible

[hammiehelp]

I just wanted to add that in big chain petstores, it's not always the case that animals are abused. I worked as a cashier at Petsmart last year, and all my co workers were nuts about animals. The dog people loved dogs, one of my friends there even wanted to be a vet. The bird and small animal people took really good care of the animals and even often stayed after hours to play with the parrots and hamsters, and other animals of course. My brother also worked with the birds in another local petstore, PJs Pets, and we ended up adopting a one-eyed sick hammy because they had her in the back - no one would buy her but they didn't want to kill her either. She turned out to be a great little hammy.
I'm not there anymore, and I certainly can't speak for other petsmart or petco stores (which we don't have in Canada) but just to let you guys know, not all people are evil!!!

ahaha, this is starting to sound very propaganda but rest assured, i have no personal investment in petsmart or anything like that. I just get sad reading about how all petsmart/petsco workers abuse their animals and have no interest in them... all of my coworkers learned a lot and were only hired because they showed keen interest in pets. I remember even during my interview for cashier, my manager asked about my pets and how they made me feel, and stressed that people love their pets and we want to back them up in taking good care of them.

then again, maybe that was just my manager, or my district. I have no trouble believing that other managers don't see anythign wrong in animal abuse backstage, and hire people who only want to work to get money.

[riegfinnid]

yeah some petco are ok......some arent.

i really didnt want to start any kind of arguements lol

[LaGypsyEyes]

aw you didnt start any arguments...

I just wanted to get that out. But Im glad a lot of people have opinions on this as well.
I just wanted to get mine across.

[Fluff N Roll]

I just wanted to add...

I see on both sides like some people said, but i have bought two hamsters from two different petstores. I have also seen really crapy petstores and animals in terrible conditions. I felt so bad because i couldn't do any thing at that piont, i was like 6-7 something like that. But ya some of those stores are good some are bad. I have a petsmart right up the street from me and me and my sister walk there all the time, it's so well taken care of!! And the people that work there are so caring, i always see some one in the hamster area cleaning the cages/ playing with them/ putting new ones in.

But i never see any one buying any wonder why? ha!
Anyways i agree with both sides, but there really shouldn't have been sides!! :no:

[lpn1993]

I have mixed feelings on this also. I've bought from pet stores and I've adopted from shelters. Some pet stores are good about taking care of their animals, and others aren't. :( On the one hand, I don't want to encourage the bad conditions of some pet stores by buying from them, but I feel so sorry for their hammies. I usually don't buy from places like that, though, because I'm afraid the hamster might be ill or prone to illness. As a matter of fact, once I notice bad conditions in a pet store, I don't usually go back there, because it makes me feel so sad. I've called the SPCA before over conditions in a pet store, but it didn't do any good.

I prefer to adopt from a shelter when I can, but I don't see anything wrong with buying from a petstore if they care for their animals properly.

[riegfinnid]

thats what i do. if i see a petstore where animals are sick or conditions are bad, instead of buying the animals to save them and giving the petstore money to buy MORE animals...i call and report them. and i've called on petco many times. the animal cruelty and abuse investigator knows me by my first name...how sad is that?

[Chaos]

You're right, the animals will grow old and die in those cages. So you "rescue" a hamster, take him home and let him live the good life. You think that cage will stay empty? No way. The pet shop will notice that the hamsters are selling well and order more, and the fate of more animals is sealed, to grow old and die in those cages. Or be bought by someone who dosn't knwo how to care for them. You save one life, but its replaced by another. Sorry, I don't see this as rescue. As sad as it is, the best thing you can do is not buy them, because thats all you're doing is supporting the pet shop.

If you see animals in bad condition in a pet shop, the best thing to do is report the pet shop and hopefully things will change. Instead of buying one of the animals and "saving it" to be replaced by another equally innocent animal.

Many people think it won't matter if they save "just that one". But it does, because every one one you "save" promotes the pet shop to do nothing to improve the conditions of all the animals, they just know the animals are selling.

[LaGypsyEyes]

But again, when you stop buying, the animals...they dont not buy anymore, but instead make the prices more and more ridiculous. I'd rather give that hamster in that cage loving moments before it dies from sickness or what not than seeing it die in a place like that.

Im sorry its just my opinion. I'd still continue to buy them. Why let a poor hamster die in a place like that when you can tend to their needs? I dont care if Im wasting money or supporting them. Its just how I am..and if there was an animal shelter around my area that had hamsters, I'd save from their too...but since they dont, Im good getting my small pets from the big corporate stores who'd rather cut the price in half to attract young naive buyers.

[hamsterhaven]

do you know what petco uses to catch rodents that escape? sticky traps that KILLS them.

and the list goes on....

i dont want to start an arguement, but to each its own.

YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT!!!!!!! I fell in love with a little dwarf hamster at Petsmart. The only thing was that he was still in quaranteen. The lady told me that he would be out in 2 days and that I would be called to come get him. I filled out a paper and everything on the exact one I wanted. (There were about 10-12 in the bin with him, but he was the only one of that color and he was the calmest one I had ever handled.) After 2 days went by, I went to the store thinking that maybe they had just forgot to call me. When I found no hamsters in the tank I asked someone about him. He told me that when they came in the morning that they had all escaped out of the bin, which was only about 4 inches high. He did inform me that they caught 3 of them. When I asked if I could see the ones they found, he told me that wouldn't be possible as they had caught them on the sticky trap. :mad: He was rather amused by the fact. I thought it was pretty sad. He said the back room was starting to stink, so it would only be a matter of time, before they found the rest. SICK!!!

[hammiehelp]

That's really sad.
Ugh, I just can't understand people. Why do they want to work at a petshop if they show no sympathy towards animals?

In the petsmart where I used to work, my manager never hired anyone unless they showed signs of serious animal lovin'. In our lunchroom, petsmart would send us posters and we'd study them to answer questions and win possible prizes each month. The posters were all about proper animal care, and i especially remember the hamster one about how to handle them so they don't bite or get scared, how to deal with sick hammies, etc. We also didn't keep our hamsters in bins where they could escape.

It just doesn't make sense. I wonder if the petsmart people who run the whole thing know about these individual stores who don't care for their animals properly. I bet they do, and just couldn't care less. All in the money, as you guys say...

It's just weird, anyway...