118 replies to this topic

[Christmas_hamster]

Yes hence why adopting/rescuing is not supporting huge chain stores. ;) And sometimes those people/idiots that get bored with their pets get them from back yard breeders which are a whole other problem.

This topic is old but people take PETA with a grain of salt, most of what they say is 98% crud.

[pyro78]

I work at petsmart and our store doesnt sell rabbits or chinchillas. We sell guinea pigs, dwarf hamsters and fancy rats. All our rodents are extremely over priced so snake owners wont come here for feeders and if we have the slightest hint the person owns a snake we will refuse to sell an animal to them. When we get our animals in we put them in what we call new arrivals room where they are quarantined for a few days. They are givin three inches of bedding an igloo, chew toys, a full bowl of food and a clean water bottle. Every morning at 9am we give them a bowl of fruit and veggies that are then taken out three hours later. Their food and water is changed and cleaned every morning and night. If one animal shows ANY signs of illness they re put in the sick room and taken to banfield veterinary hospital even if we have to pay and emergency fee. Our animals are taken care of very well their all nice and clean when we get them and most even socialized already. This also goes for any animals we get birds and reptiles alike. I do recognize the name rainbow though and that does bother me alittle and I will bring this up to my manager, though nothing will probably happen, all our animals have been in good shape and care when we have gotten them from rainbow the only thing we ever have to deal with is some of our rats we get from them have upper respiratory infections.

One of the petsmarts in the area actually has a small branch of banfield in them, we used to take my dog and cat there to a banfield down the road, they really are great vets. I know that the petsmarts in my area treat all the animals very well, and way above the standards of a few shops. One of the little local shops closed and i was so happy because of how the cats and dogs were treated, now for the last local one i know of to close and i will be happy, they treat the dogs and cats well but the birds and rodents are treated like product not as animals. But i have never had a problem with the local petsmarts as they seem to be so kind and loving to all their animals, rainbow scares me though, i hope little kirby never had to be there =( shes to sweet to have ever needed to see such things.

[Fudgehamster]

the petsmart where i live is great. the people there know their info and the animals are well kept after. It is a small petsmart, compared to the other one near me which is much bigger and the people there are completely clueless and the animals are in much poorer condition. That said, I dont think its fair to say every chain petstore is bad, because it depends on the people.

Also, there is a reason so many people dislike PETA.

[hidamari_hammy]

It's not the petsmarts themselves that are so awful. Conditions in the chain of stores is well looked after because they have standards they must uphold to be sure they aren't shut down, as does any store. The providers are the cruel ones. It's like this for most pet stores actually, a cheap quick way to mass produce their "product". Thought if you look a little deeper, there are more and more pet stores who are actually taking in animals from shelters that were abandoned, accidentally bred, or even handed over in attempt to relocate them into a better homes. This includes hamsters! I've bought a hamster from petsmart before. He was timid but young and healthy. These petstores don't sell pets directly from the provider, mainly because selling sick animals is grounds for closing or opening a private lawsuit against them. This goes for all pet stores.

It's a terribly sad video, and brought me to tears. But just know that it's hard to find animals that don't come from these environments first hand. The most we can do indirectly, is give our hammies and other pets a happy healthy life when they finally get to us. :3

[Luci]

I read the article, and it constantly said "Oh, another one died!" and stuff like that. I realize that all hamsters have to die and some do die horribly even after vet treatment. It's not totally Petsmart's fault! It's like going to a hospital and writing an article saying that another person died horribly. Life happens, death happens. I got my hamsters from Petsmart and the people there are kind, considerate, and helpful.

Edited by Luci17, 06 May 2010 - 11:51 AM.

[Christmas_hamster]

Keep in mind that it depends on the location. ;)

I got a lot of my hamsters from petsmart and even a mouse with only one problem. Now, however, I prefer to adopt/rescue though.

[jeangenie18]

I like our petsmarts around here. They keep syrians in separate tanks compared to petco and another local petstore I visited that had 5-6 syrian babies in one tank with no wheel I reported them to our SPCA but I have not heard a reply since. They don't have a small animal shelter I believe which is disappointing for a city this big to not have a small animal adoption agency. My syrian is from petco and he is otherwise fine but was in a tank with no wheel with 3 other males. I wouldn't buy from them again. I shop at petsmart frequently. I have two in a 5 mile range and one tends to have more rats such as dumbos and guinea pigs while the other has guinea pigs and chinchillas. I got my robos from there the other day and asked the lady a lot of questions and she was very knowledgeable about the hamsters.

[Peanut123]

this video really bothers me!
but i dont support the sale of animals at petsmart
they arent that knowlodgable near me.
but at the same time i dont like peta, when i was a hermit crab owner (a mighty fine one) they were trying to shut down my hermit crab forum because they think that keeping crabs is cruel, when actually we are the ones fighting hermit crab cruelty. :@

[ChloeF]

I live in the UK so I don't think we have PetSmarts and Petco's, but I think the main two we have here are Seapets and Pets at home.
I think it's terrible how such cruelty could go unnoticed, surely a vet would've alerted someone? :S
The pets at home in my area seems pretty good though, quite clean and lots of questions about my experience with hamsters, just to make sure I had all of the basic knowledge for my little Pablo settle

The seapets near me is totally different, the majority of their food products contains bugs. D:
The branch near me don't seem really that clued up either.
Another good thing about pets at home is they've recently added an adoption section, so you don't only have the choice of pet shop hammies as the rescue centres near me don't tend to have hamsters. :(

[HaruChan]

I have shopped in petsmart ever since I was in Kindergarten (because I have 2 older brothers) and I believe that that has been 9 years (since I started kindergarten when I was 3) Anyways we have bought 12 Budgies, 4 Hamsters, and 2 Guinea Pigs and we never had a single problem with them. I found this video on youtube and I was shocked but then I found a an article and video about how PETA was actually trying to cover up what they did by making fake videos about petsmart being cruel to animals , and even several workers at PETA confessed on live T.V that PETA has been torturing animals. They even went to court ,I don't know what happened to PETA sorry . I will try and find the links but here is a couple for now:
• http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
• http://www.thisistrue.com/peta.html
• http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/h/3227-peta-animal-cruelty-trial-starts-today
Hope this helps

[Bakaga]

I do agree with Punk about it not being in every petsmart though. I volunteered there one day and I saw how they treated the animals. They take them out to play, change the food, and hold them gently. I don't think the petsmart near me is a threat to the animals well being. I do however know that places like petland and petco are very cruel to their animals.

I think the main point here is WHERE the animals come from. While the individual store clerks/attendants might be attentive and kind, it is the suppliers that are mainly at fault. That's not to excuse the stores that support such places by acquiring their pets from them. It's a vicious circle.

[Bakaga]

I have shopped in petsmart ever since I was in Kindergarten (because I have 2 older brothers) and I believe that that has been 9 years (since I started kindergarten when I was 3) Anyways we have bought 12 Budgies, 4 Hamsters, and 2 Guinea Pigs and we never had a single problem with them. I found this video on youtube and I was shocked but then I found a an article and video about how PETA was actually trying to cover up what they did by making fake videos about petsmart being cruel to animals , and even several workers at PETA confessed on live T.V that PETA has been torturing animals. They even went to court ,I don't know what happened to PETA sorry . I will try and find the links but here is a couple for now:
• http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
• http://www.thisistrue.com/peta.html
• http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/h/3227-peta-animal-cruelty-trial-starts-today
Hope this helps

As with any organization of such colossal size, there will always be discrepancies... you have to remember that the people that work for Peta are just that... regular people. And as we all know, people are prone to bad decision making. I myself am sometimes wary of Peta but try to keep in mind all the good that they do for animals. They advocate animal rights like no other. Their investigative work is also like no other. Bottom line is that they do more good than bad. Can the same be said for Petsmart/Petco?
I understand that some Petsmarts/Petcos are not as bad as others but by supporting one Petsmart, you support them all. In the light of this particular conversation, it is more about HOW the animals get to a pet store, rather than how they are treated once they get there (that's not to say that the latter is unimportant).
It is true that the animals you have purchased may have been healthy but by buying from them you are unintentionally supporting the mass breeding of animals when there are so many out there without a home. The problem with such mass production is that it is all about productivity and MONEY. Not to mention that places like this have even lower standards than puppy mills. Try to think of the bigger picture... would you even want to take a chance on supporting something like this:

https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3130

[ipaige]

My friend told me once that in one pet store (I don't exactly know which one or if this is even true) this employee put the hamsters that didn't sell in a bag and crushed them. If that's true, it's COMPLETELY inhumane and disgusting! I can't stand that. It's so sad and heartbreaking.

[dancer854]

At my local PetSmart I was shocked how well they kept their hamsters. Every five hamster had their own fairly large aquariam and each aquariam was one gender and breed (gender so they dont mate) and there was a fairly large wheel, a fairly large home, the right amount of food, tons of bedding for them to burrow, a good sized water bottle, tubes and such for them to play in, and a large amount of chew toys. I know alot of people dont support buying pets from stores but I will most likely getting my winter white from there. Also all of the hamsters there looked very healthy. All where either sleeping (we came at around 6) or playing with eachother. All had shiny coats and eyes and none had obvious problems. So I'm proud of our Petsmart

Edited by dancer854, 21 November 2010 - 11:41 AM.

[VanillaTea]

Hmm..I believe that only the company that supplies the animals is truly bad. Petsmart only sells them. I like their products and they try to keep the animals healthy...at least that's what I saw...