# Pet Stores Make Me Sad :/



## CourtneyLA (Jun 20, 2014)

I just have to vent this out.
My sister, friend, and I went to a pet store that allows you to handle the animals. There were three little hedgies in the cage so of course I pick one up and it snuggled right into me (so adorable!). Anyway, that's not why I'm annoyed/sad. The lady came by and told me "Hold it lower, it's really young so if it falls it will do a lot of damage." I politely told her that I'm okay, I have one at home. I was tempted to say: "It's perfectly safe in my arms, more so than in your cage. This little one should have a heat lamp, a foot bath, water without poop, proper food that isn't pellets, and it's nearly old enough for a wheel. So please sort out this cage before this little baby ends up drinking dirty water or, worse, hibernating." 

My sister tempted me to put them in my pockets and run lol it was quite tempting and I really wish I would have called them out on the cage set up.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Can you go back to the pet store? You could try making up a little care sheet that explains that cat food is healthier, and heating lamps are absolutely necessary, at least, along with links to this forum & this care book - http://www.westcoasthedgehogs.com/files/hedgehogbook/download.html A wheel would be nice, but to be honest, it's kind of a catch-22 with pet stores. A wheel means a messy hedgehog, and there's no guarantee the pet store would give them foot baths or do it properly so they don't catch a chill. I would push for a better food & heat though. You could include the wheel & any other basic info on the caresheet, print out several, and see if they would be willing to give the sheets to whoever buys the hedgies.

Another thing, something that's a common issue with pet stores - if you do go back to take caresheets or anything like that, try to take all three of the hedgies out & check sex. If there are females & males, you should stress to them that they need to be separated NOW & explain that it will look bad to customers if they send home pregnant hedgehogs that could possibly rack up big vet bills.

Make sure if you do any of this, be as polite & nice as you can. Try to make it clear that by doing these things, they'll keep the animals healthy so they can sell them. It sucks, but not all pet stores are 100% concerned with animal welfare just for the sake of the animals. Pointing out that healthy animals can be sold & won't die (and lose money) or cause a customer to be unhappy with the store may get you somewhere if the store manager isn't entirely an animal person.

Good luck! I hope you can help these hedgies. If all else fails & they're not listening to a nice, polite explanation, you could always throw a fit. :lol: I managed to get a pet store to put heating lamps on their hedgie cage when I found one hibernating. I took the poor girl over to an employee who was with some other customers, demanded she feel her belly, & told her that if they didn't provide heat, the hedgehogs would die. The other customers were quite shocked & the employee immediately put a heat lamp on their cage. And then watched me suspiciously while I walked around the store with hedgie under my shirt until she warmed up. :lol:


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## CourtneyLA (Jun 20, 2014)

Lilysmommy said:


> Can you go back to the pet store? You could try making up a little care sheet that explains that cat food is healthier, and heating lamps are absolutely necessary, at least, along with links to this forum & this care book - http://www.westcoasthedgehogs.com/files/hedgehogbook/download.html A wheel would be nice, but to be honest, it's kind of a catch-22 with pet stores. A wheel means a messy hedgehog, and there's no guarantee the pet store would give them foot baths or do it properly so they don't catch a chill. I would push for a better food & heat though. You could include the wheel & any other basic info on the caresheet, print out several, and see if they would be willing to give the sheets to whoever buys the hedgies.
> 
> Another thing, something that's a common issue with pet stores - if you do go back to take caresheets or anything like that, try to take all three of the hedgies out & check sex. If there are females & males, you should stress to them that they need to be separated NOW & explain that it will look bad to customers if they send home pregnant hedgehogs that could possibly rack up big vet bills.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the tips! I'll have to do that, the thing is that I'm swamped with school and work. I'll try to get it done in the next couple of days! And you did what was right though, the poor thing.


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