Pet Store Chins

[Southern Belle]

Last night I went to purchase litter from a well known national petstore.
This petstore sells everything except dogs and cats. Anyway a store clerk was assiting a couple in deciding between a guinea pig, ferret or chinchilla. The couple had held the guinea pigs and played with several ferrets and now it was time for the chinchilla. The clerk went over an unlocked the chin cage and plucked it out allowing all three to play with the scared chinnie. The part that upset me the most is no
one washed their hands our used the sanitizing lotion between handling all the different animals. And to top it off they were feeding the chin rabbit food!!!!

Of course one of the customers said "oh it is so cute" at that time I came forward and simply stated, yes they are very cute and soft but do not interact the same way a guinea pig or ferret would and off I went to check out, because if I didnt go at that time I would have taken over the clerks position by educating these people.

I do not totally atest to pet stores selling chins, but people need to be aware that some pet stores are definately better than others. Alot of times the smaller Mom & Pop stores are the best as they can be more educated on their animals.

Anyways, just wanted to vent. :)

[Karin]

this is about the zillionth thread pertaining to pet stores and there lack of education, care for the pets.. and we continue to rant because there isnt much more we can do... i don't enter petstores but one, and thats for bedding and right back out... i don't even look in on there animals.. breaks my heart to..
we won't change them, we can't monitor there actions everyday... so, we get angry and angrier... one day, maybe..

[Tails]

Yup too many bad pet-stores and not much we can do cause they don't listen. Also if they here you complaining all the time then they know you when you come in and start avoiding you like the plague.

I went in the other day and they had must've only been just weaned chin kits. I asked their sex and she said she didn't know and they only guarantee the sex of dogs and cats. Well I asked to see them and she would only let me hold them if I was going to consider buying one. That's because they have to unlock their cage that has a huge bolt on it, the only animal cage that does. What do they think they are going to attack people?

They are selling these standards for $230!!! Also I was so thankful they turned out to be both boys! Because I don't know why whomever they get them from doesn't tell them the sex so they can separate them. They keep all chins in the same cage-what if one got pregnant and at a young age? Honestly I swear, the girl told me they keep ordering them cause they were "cute." Do you know what they had in with their rabbit food(bad enough), peanuts in the shell!!!

I don't get it and frankly I can't stand to go in there but that's the only place we can get Kali her live bugs so we go twice a month. Really should head straight to get the bugs and outta there but I feel so bad and can't help looking. :(

No pet-store should order exotics because they don't know how to care for these critters and neither do their future owners. An exotic is not something that should be bought on a whim.

[grahamkracker]

I dont even bother to shop[ at the big stores...... I do not feel that my money should go to a store which doesnt give a s**t about it's animals or educating their employees...... NO PETCO, PETSMART OR PETLAND!!!!

smaller stores need my business more and i get better deals with the store i shop at! The owner works with me when i need something and dont have cash!

[Chinchified]

I work at a pet store. They are not all as bad as you say. I don't let people buy a chinchilla until after I have scoured them for nearly an hour on how to take care of chins and whatnot. I have handmade pamphlets on the care of chinchillas and give them my personal number. And maybe my abrasive nature is the reason that some of our chins end up in the store for so long because I am rather dissuasive. But I do what I have to do to make sure the pets placed in good homes.

[Driggs]

I just went up to Petco because I was bored today (I've been temporarily laid off so I have a lot of free time on my hands). They had a standard grey male there with a gorgeous coat inside of half of one of those plastic round cage type things (Other half had a teddy hamster). He was laying inside of one of those plastic dog balls with all the holes inside of it. His eyes were half open and he wasn't moving. (I'm hoping he was just asleep, its 2pm but the fact his eyes were half open had me worried) The edges of the ball had been well chewed as had the opaque blue plastic igloo in the cage with me. Other than a wooden block to chew on there was no shelves (not that the cage was high enough for them) or anything else for him to jump off of or play with.
Gritting my teeth I left fairly quickly and upset. I just pray they let him out nightly so he can have some excercise and fun.
I'm really glad you do that Chinchified.

[EBB]

Pet stores for the most part just take peoples money and send them home with somethiong that they most likely werent preparedfor. It's not just chinchillas its all animals. I'm a pretty experienced bird breeder and just the other day had to go and correct a pet store worker who was trying to scam an innocent lady by selling her a grye which cost 79.99(already way too much) as a lutino for 100.00(definately too much).I had a really hard time controlling myself at that moment. However it can't all be placed on the pet stres, people need to research before getting into any kind of animal. I researched for a year before I got my first chinchilla and still have tons of questions that ask all the time. People as a collective are just unintelligent and gullible.

[Bouncy]

Grrrrr.. I myself despise the major pet companies. They have so many faults and problems with their products and pets they sell that I dont even bother to buy bedding and stuff from there. I live near a place that sells pet stuff, and it is an independant pet store that I shop at.
It really makes me mad and sad about how these major pet companies deal with their live animals. They feed them the wrong food, give them the wrong toys and accesories that are unsafe, keep them in small cramped spaces, and let people looking for pets just handle them like they were some kind of object. Ooooh, it makes me mad!! :angry: What disturbs me most is the unwillingness to change these horrible circumstances for the pets/products they sell and make things better. I once saw a petco that had a guinea pig in a cage with nothing but bedding in it - and the cage itself was only like one foot by one food big. Horrible, isnt it? I wish there were some way to change these major pet companies ways easily. it disgusts me how these giant buisness conglamorates are only in buisness for the money and really dont care about the people's pets they are selling to. Ill get off the soap box now. :p
I think that someone should make a major petition or something to these companies to change their ways. It seems that just by people emailing them and things, its not really working. If we want to change the circumstances that these animals are living in, we need to do something as a group. ( I know all this sounds really corny and ranty and stuff, but I have had bad experiences with these companies, very bad experiences.) :soapbox:

[Chinchified]

*shrugs* I feel like I am going to be ostrasized for this, but I feel I have to defend myself and my job. I know some stores are bad, but when store seperates males from females, has 6 story melamine cage, no more than 2 of each gender of a time, a strict diet, good toys, etc, then they should not be critisized. You can't assume all pet stores are bad.

[parkerspetchins]

It's pretty simple if you ask me, don't shop there. Not every person that walks into a pet store is an idiot. Not every person that works there is an idiot. If you don't have a pet store you like near you I know you have a computer so buy from the people you trust and/or have had good experiences with on-line. Yes, you will have to pay shipping if you shop on-line but I have found reasonable shipping rates you just have to check out who has the best rate for your area. Just don't shop there if it bothers you that much - why put yourself through it? :winkgrin: