Petco care sheet

[CorneliusChins]

Well folks, I had to make my bimonthly trip to Petco this evening to buy dog food, and I am always curious to see if they happen to have chins. This time they did and I was actually pretty impressed with what they've done. Last year the chin situation was horrible, but today they had one grey chin by herself in a fairly large cage. She had nice clean bedding, food, water and a good supply of hay. (now if it were me there'd be many more things for her to chew and play with). What I'm wondering, I always pick up the care sheet to make sure that the information is correct as I see it. The newest copy is definately an improvement, but how many of you like this statement. "A well socialized chin likes to be cuddled and carried". Maybe it's just my luck that I don't have any chins that like to be cuddled, and I know that many of you have chins that love a little cuddle, but is that the norm? I'm just thinking that people might get the wrong idea when getting a chin for a child or something like that. The other statement that bothered me was "Chins acclimate well to average household temperatures" I live in the Pac NW and lately it's been over 80. If there wasn't A/C I'd be feeling for my poor furry friends. Should I bother with filing a complaint with Corporate Petco, or are my efforts fruitless. Does it take a few more than one to make a change with them? I know there's people out there who've fought the great fight, so i'm looking for any suggestions you might have. Thanks - Jessica I'm just trying to look out for my little obsessions.

[equus_peduus]

Well, in a sense they're right on both of those... a well socialised chin, depending on its temperament, might well like to be carried and cuddled... most would rather be off on their own exploring, though...

Official room temperature is 20-25°C, or about 68-77°F. These temperatures are fine for chins... They could proabably, if slowly acclimated, even take slightly (but not much) higher temperatures. I don't recall if the caresheet mentions (in the "what to watch for illness-wise" section) symptoms of heatstroke or not...

It's my thought that the info on the Petco care sheet (I've looked at it as well) isn't ideal, if the buyer uses a bit of common sense (ha!), it should be enough to at least get started... However, it'd be better if the care sheet did have better/more complete information. The Petco near me does have a couple books on chins (which I haven't really looked at) but I think between those and hopefully a decent small animal person working there, the chins from Petco won't suffer too much. It's probably too much to hope for, but at least the sheet isn't completely erroneous...

It probably wouldn't hurt to file a complaint. Thinking about it, I might as well...

[Micahsmom]

If I ever saw chins mistreated anywhere, especially a petstore, I'd file complaints to all the people/organizations I could. I have a strong opinion about petstores and live animals, especially mammals. It breaks my heart to see those poor animals in such terrible condition, going to uneducated owners who'll do the same. Your petco must be a lot better than mine, though. Good luck with your decision.

[Michael80]

Personally, we have less than a dozen chins, but as far as a care sheet goes...well, there's SO much to chins that I hope they handed you a small novel ;) We got one on a turtle once, and pet-co's was pretty good. Chins are too intelligent to be raised "by the book".

I have to agree, though. I think to buy goldfish, or hampsters, or rats, or gerbils, or maybe even finches and parakeets are ok for stores to sell.
When you hit the chins, ferrets, and kittens ("of course they look sad, they're in a cage!" as quoted by me to a former GF) you're going too far there...some pets need extra care and special needs, and have elevated levels of intelligent.

Mind you, I dont want to pick on any goldfish or hampster lovers, but they ARE a "dummy pet" and more often than not die within a few years (maybe...more like 1 year) if cared for carefully...but they're a good suicide pet for teaching kids about life, death, and responsibilities that come with it. Like the poor (and cheap) damsel you throw mercilessly into a cycleing salt-water tank >:)

I dont think anything more intelligent than a finch or rat should be sold in a chain-store though. Impulse buying is far too frequent, and as such, leads to poor life quality for the creatures who are victim to circumstance.

[Miss Grim]

Mind you, I dont want to pick on any goldfish or hampster lovers, but they ARE a "dummy pet" and more often than not die within a few years (maybe...more like 1 year) if cared for carefully...but they're a good suicide pet for teaching kids about life, death, and responsibilities that come with it. Like the poor (and cheap) damsel you throw mercilessly into a cycleing salt-water tank >:)

Erm... the reason that most goldfish die so quickly is because people don't get adequate information about their care. People are quick to be concerned and offended about other pets not having accurate care sheets, but nobody seems to mind much if a person buys a goldfish for a pet and walks out of the store completely misinformed. Goldfish produce more waste than any other type of fish and *must* be kept in a well-filtered tank with two gallons of water for every inch of fish (*not* in a small, unfiltered "bowl"). Many people don't realize this, and never learn that their goldfish could have lived 10-20 years and grown to be between ten and twenty inches long, depending on variety.

I've had goldfish for years, and frequently visitors ask me what kind of fish they are because they just don't realize a goldfish could be that big. It's sad that a pet that has such a long potential lifespan and can grow to be so large and beautiful is frequently considered a "beginner" or "throwaway" pet merely because it's not commonly known how difficult they are to keep.

EDIT: Here's a good site for people who have koi or goldfish and want to learn more about them: http://www.koivet.com/

[BabyChins116]

I would tell them that the care sheet is greatly improved but theres one or two changes that need to be fixed. I dont agree that a well socialized chin likes being cuddled and carried. Yes, some chins tolerate being held, but the truth is chins would much rather be off on the ground exploring, and some chins dont like being held at all. I think 80 degrees is way too high, yeah chins might be able to stand it, but they shouldnt have too. On the paper, it should say in summer time, an AC room is a must. Heat stroke can be deadly to chins. Hey, sometimes just one person can make a difference. I would call the manager and set up a meeting where we could sit down and I would tell him whats wrong on the sheet. They shouldnt give people false information for the pets sake.

[thedustbath]

In my house, if the chin's area is about 72 degress, I start getting really worried. They'll survive, and they'll even survive VERY short stints (minutes) in higher temps such as 75-80, but it isn't recommended.

As far as the cuddling....

wellllllll, some chins can be cuddled. There's pros and cons to them putting that in the care sheet. On the one hand, no one should go into purchasing a chin expecting it to be cuddly. However, to really enjoy their new pet, they SHOULD maintain lots of holding/cuddling time with their chinchilla. If their chin is going to be cuddly, it will only be if the owner works on cuddling with the chinchilla and giving it lots of attention.

I don't know if I'd file a complaint over something like that. You may just want to mention it to someone next time you go in. That, or write a helpful letter to the company. I would file a complaint if the cage were filthy, the water and food poorly maintained, etc... but not for something small on their care sheet like that.

Hope that helps. :)

[CorneliusChins]

Thank you everyone for replying. I did call to see if I might be able to speak with the manager and found out that a woman is surrendering two chins she purchased at petco (male and female - wish I could kill them for selling opposite sexes) because they aren't cuddly enough for her 4 year old child.. So we all know that arguement, but aside from that, I'm hoping to contact myfawny about possibly taking on the chins (i've plum ran out of room here until i start building cages and that'll be at least a couple weeks out) At least with someone like her taking them on, I would be 100% assured that they would get wonderful and loving care and would hopefully be able to recover from the horrible scary 4 year old... Thank you all again, and hopefully my meeting with the manager will iron out some of the inconsistancies I see.

[Boo-Boo's Mommy]

Well...petco is not my favorate but it sounds like maybe all these law-suits, complaints, etc. are actually helping. As far as the whole cuddle thing...that could be a little dangerous to the chins, Little kids would probably hug them too tight. Little kids shouldnt really be having chins! I know this 3 year old (my b/f's neice) wanted to see my chins, I was like "ok what could happen, she isnt touching them, I will just tell her no touching or loud noises"...yeah OK! As soon as we got up there "BOO-BOO! HI BOO-BOO! BOO-BOO" I was not a happy camper. I told her that she better not be loud anymore or she will not beable to see them anymore, she was quite for like 2 seconds and then "GET UP BOO-BOO! GET UP!". she also hit the cage! I took her out of there as fast as I could and she started to kick me and hit me. She started to scream and cry and she just told her dad that "I WANNA SEE BOO-BOO! I WANNA TOUCH HER! CASEYS WASNT NICE TO ME!" *sigh* I learned my lesson about letting kids seeing them. Now kids around 5-7 might be a tiny bit different but I donno my little sister is 5 and I could see her taking care of a chin right, like finger nail size treats, and not to hold it tight and dont pick her/him up by the tummy and dont hang the chins, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! I would just say something to petco but dont expect a change too fast...they have hard heads. So unless they get a whole bunch of complaints or another lawsuit, they probably wont think about changing. I like the way they changed though. Now if only they could learn a little bit more about the animals they sell, and not use that ceater(sp?) crap...

[Arf2184]

I would file a complaint about the temperature thing. Let them know they are improving though. The whole cuddly thing sounds like they're just trying to make a sale and I don't know if you could get anywhere with that (wouldn't hurt to try though).

In regards to goldfish, I've got two fish here that my little sister won at a carnival...EIGHT years ago. We've also got another fish in with them. I don't remember what he is exactly, but he's type of sucker fish and helps keep the tank clean. We've had him for about six years. While goldfish have a e1eputation for dying within a short amount of time, I think with better education in regards to their care that rep might change.

As for rats, my rats are just as intelligent as the dogs. They are very friendly and have great problem solving skills.

While selling animals in pet stores is not ideal (because stores are in it for profit, not all of them care if the animals are housed and fed properly, and anyone can walk in and buy an animal regardless of whether or not they know how to care for that animal), I don't think it's going to stop anytime soon. All we can do is promote proper care and housing and try to educate as many people as possible.