# Sigh.



## astral-disaster (Jan 18, 2012)

WARNING: RANT AHEAD. I know it's potentially obnoxious since I'm new here, but I just need to get this off my chest...my apologies.

So I work in a pet store, and it's really getting me down lately how many things we carry that are simply _terrible_ for animals. For example...

- Pretty Pets hedgehog food. I'm a total n00b and haven't even gotten my first hedgie yet, but one glance at the label told me that something was seriously wrong with this stuff.
- Bearded dragon pellet food, containing about as many bad things (carbs, fillers, etc.) as the Pretty Pets. Because lizards totally need corn and flour in their diet.
- Wire rodent wheels (BAD for little hamster feet)
- Hamster balls, guinea pig balls, etc. These things make me nervous, as there is no way to tell whether the animals are enjoying their time in them, or simply running in a futile attempt to escape.
- Rabbit and guinea pig cages that are WAY too small. I try to recommend the largest size to everybody, but most people don't want to spend the extra $10 or $20...and they figure since it's a product advertised for the pet in question, it has to be okay.
- "Complete" hamster setups lacking a wheel and hide
- "Complete" reptile setups that come with 10-gallon tanks, when very few of the reptiles we sell would be happy in a 10-gallon for more than a few months.
- Unhealthy small animal treats -- okay, not really so bad, but still, my tolerance for the very existence of garbage-quality pet food is rapidly diminishing.
- Appallingly tiny betta bowls/habitats

That's probably about it for the products themselves, but another thing that bugs me is that my coworkers (and even the owner) don't always give customers the best advice. I do understand that the store is a business, and it doesn't make sense to discourage your customers from buying the products you stock...and obviously, there is a demand for these products. A large portion of the blame does rest on the manufacturers. But when it comes down to it, just because these products are out there doesn't mean we HAVE to sell them. I'm sure people would appreciate being enlightened about the dangers of certain popular pet foods, toys, accessories etc., and shown better alternatives. I'm honestly not sure if I should chalk it up to ignorance or apathy on the owner's part, but either way it's very frustrating not being able to do anything about it. And I truly can't, because I'm 100% certain the owner would just laugh and refuse to take me seriously if I brought the issue up.


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## sweetergrrrl (May 5, 2009)

I work at a pet store too and it really bugs me too that we don't carry ANY hamster chews that are made in the USA. A lot of the hammy food we carry too has artificial coloring that has been known to cause cancer in small animals. It sucks. I have 2 hamsters and I have had to go to a rival store to get the best quality chew sticks for my pets -_-; so much for the employee discount. 

ANOTHER problem I have with my store is how sometimes the odd associate has to feed the fish, herps, etc. The problem with this is some of the animals don't get fed or don't get fed properly. We had some aquatic turtles that hadn't gotten fed in almost a week because someone was covering for our normal guy. So the turtles started eating EACH OTHER. I will say the managers rushed them to the vet and spent a ton of money on the exams for all 3 and the meds for them all too. But it is so easy to feed turtles that I can't believe it wasn't happening. 

So, I agree whole-heartedly with your sigh and add my own. 

*sigh...*


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Same boat. >< I also work at a pet store and I'm getting increasingly unhappy there. Most people that come to our store are regulars, and most of them are older. Probably 75% (more than that, I'm sure) buy the crappy foods for their dogs/cats, and since I'm a cashier, I'm not really allowed to engage them in a discussion about quality of pet foods. I rarely even get to help someone find products, beyond a simple "It's in aisle 3, on the left.". I always have to call someone else to help them. And the problem with that...Most of the stockers don't know what they're talking about, especially for small animals, reptiles, & birds. For example, one of my friends was getting a set up for rats. One of my coworkers told her to get cedar bedding (which they already knew not to get, but.). 

I don't even know how to take complete care of half of our reptiles, to be honest. And the reason I haven't bothered to do much research on them...I know I wouldn't be allowed to make any changes to how we care for them. Which means it'd do nothing but drive me INSANE that I can't do it right for them. I wouldn't even be able to give proper information out, really, since we almost never sell animals at my store. Most of the birds (2 love birds, 2 parrotlets, 3 zebra finches) have been at the store for at least a year now, and are unlikely to be sold. We keep way too many parakeets in a cage. It just drives me nuts. And we also have issues getting our reptiles fed as well - I'm not sure how often they get fed when I'm not working, or if they do at all. I had to badger all three of my managers all last week before we finally fed our two ball pythons - it's been over a month since they ate. -_- Cage cleaning is a major issue sometimes too, and I'm usually the first one to even notice if a cage hasn't been cleaned in over a week (they're supposed to be done at least once a week). 

And to say nothing of the bad products we carry as well - crappy food, small cages, harmful toys, harmful treats. It's gotten so that I'm afraid to look at ingredient labels for most foods/treats unless I know they're a higher end brand. So many of them have BHA, BHT, and/or ethoxyquin in them, all linked to cancer in dogs. This just makes me flinch whenever I see them, with Lily having had a cancerous liver that we put her down for, and my dog currently has a tumor in her bladder. I just hate going to work lately, between all of these things adding up.


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

I've never worked at a pet store, but I can say that it's definitely frustrating to see things like this being marketed as "good" products for certain pets when I know they aren't. I think more often than not, people assume that if something wasn't safe or healthy for an animal, it wouldn't be sold in a store in the first place. 

When I was in elementary school, my parents bought me a guinea pig. We didn't do any research beforehand, probably because my parents assumed that the pet store employees would help us get everything we needed. For the most part, the supplies we bought were safe. What bugs me is that the guy who sold me my guinea pig swore up and down that an aquarium was the best possible housing for a guinea pig. That was a SO NOT TRUE! (I'd like to point out that he also told me that the guinea pig was a girl. :roll: The "Mommy, what is this thing sticking out of Sweetie's tummy?" conversation was extremely awkward.) Just like our hedgies, guinea pigs need large cages with ample ventilation. Not to mention the fact that the darn aquarium was near impossible to clean. Unfortunately, I didn't figure out that we had been using the wrong type of housing until my guinea pig had died, and I still felt absolutely terrible about keeping him in such a substandard cage for his entire life.  

That's why it's so nice to see that there are pet store employees out there who are knowledgable about the animals they sell and who are at least making an effort to recommend the best, safest products to customers. I know that you both must get so incredibly frustrated at times, but you're probably doing more good than you think.


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## sweetergrrrl (May 5, 2009)

I am a cashier too! I totally know the feeling when a customer brings up a bag of purina 1 or science diet and I can only look at them and ask if they have a rewards card with us. -_-; 

I have owned or worked with about 80% of the animals in the store and it bothers me when a leopard gecko is simply skin and bones in the cage and I take it to the manager and he tells me to simply put it in the animal care room with some wax worms and pinhead crickets so we can fatten him up in about a week. It doesn't always work like that! I actually set him up in a nice little 10 gl aquarium with his lights and everything, a bowl of small mealies and ground up crickets to syrenge feed. He is getting a little fatter, day by day, but it is hard when I am only a part time employee and work around 3 days a week!! (Not that I wouldn't love to be there every day...) 

Luckily though I have gotten a little reputation in the community and the store and I get calls every few weeks from a customer that either wants, recently has purchased or has owned a hedgie for a while. I give them the info that I can and direct them to this site for any other questions they may have. Atleast the "Hedgehog Lady" here has helped a little.

P.S.!!!! I picked up the "Critters USA" magazene that we sell in the store and there was a 4 page article about hedgies. They actually listed this site in the sources and have really reasonably accurate info. Or atleast better than most commercial hedgehog books have in them. They mention everything from fleeece liners to foot baths for, and I quote "poop boots". I was happy to see my store carry information about small animals that is correct at least. :lol:


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

sweetergrrrl said:


> I have owned or worked with about 80% of the animals in the store and it bothers me when a leopard gecko is simply skin and bones in the cage and I take it to the manager and he tells me to simply put it in the animal care room with some wax worms and pinhead crickets so we can fatten him up in about a week. It doesn't always work like that! I actually set him up in a nice little 10 gl aquarium with his lights and everything, a bowl of small mealies and ground up crickets to syrenge feed. He is getting a little fatter, day by day, but it is hard when I am only a part time employee and work around 3 days a week!! (Not that I wouldn't love to be there every day...)


Well, he at least let you do that much with him...I had a horrible day a couple months ago with one of our little leopard geckos. I'd been keeping an eye on him because he seemed to be having a bit of trouble with shedding, and I was worried. He was smaller than the others, and end up getting his tail bit off. Two days when I went in, I noticed that he could hardly open his eyes, from dry skin that was trying to shed. So I don't think he was able to eat, since he could hardly see to hunt the crickets (besides his cagemates being bigger). On top of all of THAT, the place where he was hiding was under a metal lip, and he'd dug up the top of his head, which had sand stuck to it. I still feel like I should've done something sooner, but I didn't. I did end up coming in an hour early, the next day I had to work. I wanted to bathe one of our ball pythons, who was having trouble shedding as well. After I was done with her, I took the little guy out to see what I could do for him. I got his head cleaned up and put some antibiotic ointment on it. I'd brought turkey baby food with me, hoping I could syringe feed him, but with how bad off he was, I wanted to give him something more. I asked the manager on duty if I could open a container of the carnivore Reptiaid powder to try syringe feeding him. He told me no, because the little guy was going to die eitehr way and it'd be a waste of powder. -_- He was tiny, it would've been a waste of, what? A pinch of powder? I didn't pick a fight, but he knew I was extremely displeased with him the rest of the day and tried to avoid me when he could. Worst part was, the little guy WOULD eat, he was happy to lick up the watered-down turkey baby food I syringed to him. He ended up dying over the weekend and they just didn't tell me.

And another thing I wish was different...we don't have an animal care room, only the regular store display cages, and then the back of the store (where product comes in to be unloaded, a couple storage rooms, and the break room) where we keep feeder mice and rats, and any animals that are obviously sick or injured and can't be kept in the display cases. It gets freezing back there, especially in the winter, which makes me worry about the mammals kept back there. They generally seem to do fine, at least. But it's definitely not an option for reptiles or birds, and when they're sick, we have only a 2.5 gallon tank (big enough for NOTHING) to keep them in in the office. Generally the sick reptiles end up dying in their display cages. We just had a tokay gecko that died this past week, still not sure what was wrong with him since I hadn't worked much recently to see him.


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## Emiry (Nov 24, 2011)

I would love to work at a pet store, but I know for a fact I would get fired for telling customers, not to buy this or that, and order in this instead, go to that store and go get your puppy from a breeder, and not from here, and the like. Why? Because I care for the animals. I want to open up a petstore that carries items that are good for animals, and actually educate my staff on proper care of the animals we sell/ products we sell. 

I would also have a refuse to sell policy in place so I can refuse the sale of an animal to someone who I know will not look after the animal.


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

There's a place around me that is OVER zealous with it's care... and they won't let you take a fish home unless you are 110% on the exact number of your water levels. Uh. Not many people know them exactly. :|


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## sweetergrrrl (May 5, 2009)

There are some crazy stories out there.

The little skinny leopard gecko was dead this morning when i went to check on him.  And now there is a water dragon with a crusty eye and trouble shedding. The manager did take him to thevet todday though. The hungry, hungry turtles are doing a lot better and I make sure to feed them all any time I go back to aquatics. lol.



Emiry said:


> I would love to work at a pet store, but I know for a fact I would get fired for telling customers, not to buy this or that, and order in this instead, go to that store and go get your puppy from a breeder, and not from here, and the like. Why? Because I care for the animals. I want to open up a petstore that carries items that are good for animals, and actually educate my staff on proper care of the animals we sell/ products we sell.
> 
> I would also have a refuse to sell policy in place so I can refuse the sale of an animal to someone who I know will not look after the animal.


To be completely honest, I do sent people to other places for food or toys or w/e. If you can go to walgreens and get vitamin e or flax seed oil for a pet with dry skin then why pay $15 for the bottle we sell in the store? I checked and it is all the same ingredient. :roll: I do tell people where they can get things cheeper and when I am on the floor (like today) I direct dog and cat owners to our natural food section. If the managers want to fire me for telling people what and where people can get things cheaper, let them. In this economy and as a broke a$$ college student myself- I appreciate it when I can save 4 or 5 dollars.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Poor baby gecko.  I'm glad the turtles are doing better though, and your manager took the dragon to the vet. I wish we could do that with our animals...The only things that would ever get approved for a vet visit (and to be honest, who would still be alive for a vet visit by the time we even got the request approved) would be the expensive animals - ferrets and maybe the bigger birds like the ****atiels, parrotlets, and love birds.

I've sent people to other stores before as well, and haven't gotten in trouble so far...I know the UVB bulbs we sell in our store are bad and even harmful to bearded dragons, so I've told one or two people the website to get the correct bulb. I've also sent people to the C&C cage website to make one of those rather than buying a smaller, but more expensive cage from our store, and last week I sent a couple to an exotic animal store in the area for birds. They were looking at our parrotlets and love birds, but all four birds have been at our store for over a year and haven't been handled, so they'd take a lot of work to be socialized, if they can by now. They were first-time owners, so that wouldn't have been a great situation. This other store is actually one I'd like to work at...It's kind of the opposite of ours. Ours is 10% animals, 90% supplies and food. The other one is 90% animals, 10% supplies, usually just the basics for the animals that they sell. But their animals are all well-taken care of from what I've seen, they give correct information, they're very careful about who takes their animals (I know for the birds, their policy is that you have to come visit several times before they'll send the bird home with you, so you and the bird can kind of get acclimated to each other, and know if you really want it), and they have vets (the same vet clinic I took Lily to, actually) that come each week and check over all the animals. I have an application in there, I need to call and follow up to let them know I'm still interested.


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## sweetergrrrl (May 5, 2009)

@Lilysmommy

Do that! Follow up on that position. I wish there was a place like that around, but the big chain set stores (like the one I work at) have driven a lot of the mom and pop pet stores out of the area. It is a sad fact, and I feel bad contributing to the problem, but sometimes you just need a paycheck and atleast I get to play with the kitties that are up for adoption and the other animals in the store. :roll:


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## astral-disaster (Jan 18, 2012)

Oh my...I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back to my own thread, but I've had a pretty hectic week!

I'm glad to know that others can relate to my frustrations, but saddened to hear of those the poor animals' demises.  So not cool. I work at a local mom & pop store, and, while in some ways we might be better than a big chain, we have the disadvantage of being a small shop with limited selection. At least in PETCO, one can find lots of good-quality options in addition to the harmful or questionable ones. For instance, we carry ONE brand of dog and cat food: Science Diet. ONE brand of hedgehog food: Pretty Pets. Etc. etc.

If an animal gets sick, we do make an effort to do what we can for it (which oftentimes isn't much), but the only ones that ever get vet care are the expensive ones (i.e. dogs and cats). So far, while working there I have seen die: a bearded dragon, a skink, a leopard gecko, a couple of turtles, a ball python, and probably some others I'm forgetting. Oh yeah, countless fish, though I know that's probably difficult to avoid. It breaks my heart. I dream of working at one of the reptile specialty stores around here instead, where every animal is kept in perfect, pristine conditions in its own tank by experts with 30 years of experience. I've never seen an animal there that looked even remotely unwell. If only we lived in a perfect world where every pet store could be that way.


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