Makes me so sad...

[m.e.]

I was at this new pet store in town, which isreally great, becauseit has all three of the premium cat foodbrands I buy (not an easy thing to find), plus loads of pet supplies.Very cool stuff!

But....they had baby bunnies there. And I mean, they couldn't have beena day over three weeks. They were impossibly tiny, in these largeplastic boxes, basically, with some shavings and a food dish. Nolitterbox, no place to hide, or snuggle in, or play in, oranything...:XIt made me so sad. They had other animalstoo of course, and all I could do was say a silent prayer that theyeither got the right home or managed to die peacefully (and quickly)

*sigh* I need to hug my bunnies...

 

[mygrl2k3]

Thats so sad!!! My petstore does have bunnies. Its petco and i have never seenbunnies that look to small there. but i still perfer to get a bunnyfrom a shelter.

Cristy

 

[Carolyn]

I know exactly how you feel, m.e. I often don't even go into pet stores because I walk out brokenhearted.

-Carolyn

 

[AnnaS]

Once at a pet store, I saw little kittens in acage and everybody could pet them. They were very small too. So I askedthe guy that works there, is it good for such small kittens to betouched by so many people. He got very offensive and started tellingme, if I am a veterinarian and why am I saying that its bad for them.Basically, he said who are you to tell us its bad. I really think hewas boss's son or something, otherwise he'll get fired.
I started telling him that he can't talk like that to customers andthat my question was very reasonable. And then other sales people cameby and started telling that he did not mean it. BLAH BLAH.
I was very mad.

 

[rabbitgirl]

Bunbun was about 3 wks. when we bought him. Poor little fellow, he was far too young, a hand-size ball of orange fluff.

That turned out well and he had a long happy life but they still shouldn't be away from mom that young!

Rose

 

[AnnaS]

yes, same with kittens and puppies.

 

[bunsforlife]

Thus the reason I dont go into the 'big'petstores. Any store that sells anything bigger then a guineapig I try to avoid. Even if it means paying more for aproduct.

Some petstore owners are responsible. But many of them arenot. Everytime I walk by the petstore in the Mall I wish Icould take every one ofthose poor little puppies, kitties and bunnieshome. Shivering in cold metal cages, with no soft pad forthem to lay on. some of them sitting in their ownwaste. It breaks my heart!

I mean the reason I have Guin at all is because the pet store ownerwanted to 'get rid' of her. Guin, the sweetest bun I haveever known! When I first got her, she was as big as Gir, andher feet were stained yellow instead of that pretty bluish greycolor.

Now she is litter box trained and lives in a four story, carpettedbunny condo! The only grievence in her life these days would probablyrevolve around not enough treats, and the horny baby bunny that is hercompanion.

 

[snaphappy14]

Carolyn wrote:

I know exactly how you feel, m.e. I often don't even go into pet stores because I walk out brokenhearted.

-Carolyn

although, you can still go in and cheer the pets up. i like to do that,although, it is hard to leave...in the pet store here in town, the guysmokes around the pets in the store and your not allowed to pick up theanimals...

 

[MyBunnyLovesMe]

I got peppy from the pet store when he was 4months old. They have baby rabbits there too, there was actually onewho looked EXACTLY like Peppy. It must have been from Peppys mom. Therabbits there looked to be 6-8 weeks old. They have little things tohide in and lots of food and shavings. So...I guess I'm fortunate tohave such a nice pet store in the area. I know I've seen some whereI've wanted to steal all the animals from it.

 

[StickyBird]

Yeah, luckily, the petstores around my area are actually quite nice. However, onepet store in particular stands out in my mind. My family wentthere to buy a new parakeet (after Sticky died), and the owner had thissort of medium-sized parakeet aviary in his store. When wehad picked the one we wanted, he opened up the door to the aviary, andwith a net, attempted to catch the parakeet we wanted. Hemissed a few times, and I could see why considering every one of thebirds was racing/flying away with all of their might from hishumungously scary net. A yellow parakeet (not the one wewanted) escaped the aviary and flew across the store, and ran smack inthe middle of his store's front window! I mean, that parakeethit it at a pretty fast speed for a little bird. My Momlooked absolutley horrified.

As a matter of fact that I still kindafeel bad about doing, the parakeet (her name was Sky)webought from that place was so skittish and afraid that everytimesomeone moved around the area of her cage, she would freak out and bashherself around her cage. We tried to give her time to calmdown and realize we weren't going to hurt her, but it just didn'twork. So we took her back. Poor thing, I hope shehad a better life after that... somehow I just don't thinkso.

At least it's comforting to know that that pet store isn't in business anymore.

--Melissa and Umbra

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I wont go into pet stores anymore that sell pets.I'll go into a few because they only promote adoption, they have catsand dogs in the store but they are there for promotion of adopting fromthe SPCA.

I know what you mean about skittish birds, we had 2 cockatiels that meand my brother lost interest in because they were so afraid of humansand we couldn't do anything with them. We ended up finding them goodhomes and I learned to only pick the friendly birds such as hand fedones or from the SPCA.

 

[StickyBird]

I know what youmean. Hand-fed birds all the way. Our favorite ofour parakeets were the hand-fed ones that we bought when they wereyoung. I miss the three of them... Sticky themost. Jade and Grapey too, but they weren't as friendly asthe Stick-Wick.

--Melissa and Umbra

 

[bluebird]

Im glad the pet stores in my area dont carry bunnies.bluebird

 

[Stephanie]

I agree with the pet store thing. Recently, Iwent into the pet store here at the Mall and was horrified by therabbits! They were very small, for one thing, and there was oneparticular rabbit that was clearly ill. All skin and bones basically,huddling in the corner. I was very very tempted to buy him/her just toget the poor thing out of there, but I don't want my healthy rabbitsgetting sick. I'm still tempted to go back though, as we do haveanother cage and could isolate the bun in another room to see if he/shewould gain weight and get better.

 

[AnnaS]

thats horrible

 

[Stephanie]

I know. The more I am thinking about it, the more tempted I am to go out there and see if he/she is still there.

 

[snaphappy14]

i think you should, think about the bun. wouldntit be so happy to have an owner that cares for them? and, if somethinghappens, wont you be able to take it back? theres a return policy,right?

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I hate to say it, and I may sound cruel but itneeds to be said. Ifpeople keep buying pets from pet stores,pet stores will keep selling pets. By buying one a person is not onlysaving a life perhaps, but supporting the pet store and the pet storebringing in live animals like that.

Honestly, the best thing to do is let the ones in the stores suffer. Iknow it sounds horrible, I'm an animals lover, but the sad truth is ifwe don't stop supporting pet stores, more will end up in thatsituation. Sooner or later pet stores will stop selling animals, butonly if people stop supporting them. I really wish all pet stores wouldrefer people to the local humane society.

 

[SLRabbits]

There is a pet store about 45min from my mom'shouse that I used to go to all the time. It was little, but the peoplewho owned it bred almost all the animals in the store. Because they didthat, all the animals were in great condition, and had adequite (sp?)caging, looked happy, ect. And the people actually knew what they weretalking about, so that is always a plus. They bred chinchilla's,rabbits (mini lops, lionheads, and english angoras), feeder rats/mice,guniea pigs, several reptiles, and I feel like I am forgettingsomething.. but yeah. That kind of store I support. They don't everoverstock, and only breed quality animals when needed, not in masses.But I would still buy from an independent breeder rather than a store.