Banning the selling of animals in pet stores

Where I work, I get a few customers that ask me, "Where are the dogs?" or "Do you sell dogs and cats?" And the answer is "No. The city doesn't allow the selling of dogs and cats anymore."

So I had a conversation with a customer the other day about this. And he vaguely expressed his disagreement with the bylaw and didn't completely mention why it was bad for animals. Although, I had always thought this as a good thing. If pet stores aren't selling puppies and kittens, then people are "forced" to go look to shelters for pets and possibly fall in love with an animal they would have never thought to have. 

(Side story: I told one customer that our local city shelter has lots of cats for adoptions and she responded with, "Are the cats there like the messed up ones with one eye and stuff?" And since I had to remain professional, I told her, "You'll find all kinds of cats that are looking for homes" instead of saying what I really wanted to say...  )

I did some googling, and the main reason why my city decided to pass this ban was to potentially stop pet stores from purchasing puppies from puppy mills. However, it mentioned some cons to this, arguing that pet stores only make up a minority of puppy mill sales and that pet stores are regulated. And once pet stores aren't allowed to sell puppies and kittens, all those kitten mills and puppy mills will still continue to sell - only to more unregulated buyers. 

What do you think about this? Is this common in most cities? I never gave this much thought until now and I actively avoid reading up on puppy and kitten mills because I don't think I will be able to handle it emotionally. 

There is some cities where the pet stores sell animals from shelters. I have been here to some places here and they are shelter cats that are for sell. Grove City just won a city ordnance that will ban puppy mill sells in Pet Smart. 

Louann Jude said:

 
There is some cities where the pet stores sell animals from shelters. I have been here to some places here and they are shelter cats that are for sell. Grove City just won a city ordnance that will ban puppy mill sells in Pet Smart. 

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Yes, that's right! Most of the pet stores in my city house cats from shelters for adoption. You don't deal with the pet store, but with the representative from the shelter when you want to inquire about a pet. 

I've never seen animals for sale in a pet store, except for fish and a local mom and pop pet store that has gerbils and other small animals.

The two major chain stores that have franchises here (PetSmart and PetCo) both have space within the store for local rescues to put cats who are up for adoption. But they're not for sale, they're strictly for adoption, with applications, adoption fees, etc.

I'm no expert in this area, but mostly what i've seen are breeders who have their own websites, so they can sell directly to stupid wealthy people like my cousin, who pay a few grand for her ridiculously small, "designer" Yorkshire Terrier.

There is only one chain in this area Petland that sells puppies and kittens.  The puppies do come from mills the kittens are from people bringing in litters.  People have campaigned against them and many of their stores have closed including the two that were close to me.

Even with the kittens it creates issues because they are giving people an easy out for their unwanted litters and are far less likely to get their kitties spayed/neutered.  They sell their kittens at a ridiculous price also.  When they were still in this area a few years ago they would sell their youngest kitties for $150 and the price would come down as they get older.  They hadn't been spayed/neutered or even vet checked.  The store would deworm them and give them those initial kitty shots.  At least they did get them started on the shots so they didn't have panleuk taking out all of the kittens.

I remember once I was in there and a little girl wanted one of the kittens.  The mother asked about the price and she backed off real quick.  Of course her daughter was really unhappy but she told her they would go to a shelter and look for a kitten.

Plan said:

 
I've never seen animals for sale in a pet store, except for fish and a local mom and pop pet store that has gerbils and other small animals.

The two major chain stores that have franchises here (PetSmart and PetCo) both have space within the store for local rescues to put cats who are up for adoption. But they're not for sale, they're strictly for adoption, with applications, adoption fees, etc.

I'm no expert in this area, but mostly what i've seen are breeders who have their own websites, so they can sell directly to stupid wealthy people like my cousin, who pay a few grand for her ridiculously small, "designer" Yorkshire Terrier.

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Same here. I remember distinctly in high school and elementary seeing cages full of dogs and cats behind glass doors. Now these places are gone or empty. 

I think buying from a breeder is okay AS LONG as they socialize the animals and care for them correctly. And have all the papers and yadda yadda. But I would definitely go adopt before I look for a breeder. Before I adopted my cat, I always imagined having a cat with a specific look but now, I know it's not about looks but really more about rescuing an animal and giving them a great life and learning and growing from each other. 

Denice said:

 
There is only one chain in this area Petland that sells puppies and kittens.  The puppies do come from mills the kittens are from people bringing in litters.  People have campaigned against them and many of their stores have closed including the two that were close to me.

Even with the kittens it creates issues because they are giving people an easy out for their unwanted litters and are far less likely to get their kitties spayed/neutered.  They sell their kittens at a ridiculous price also.  When they were still in this area a few years ago they would sell their youngest kitties for $150 and the price would come down as they get older.  They hadn't been spayed/neutered or even vet checked.  The store would deworm them and give them those initial kitty shots.  At least they did get them started on the shots so they didn't have panleuk taking out all of the kittens.

I remember once I was in there and a little girl wanted one of the kittens.  The mother asked about the price and she backed off real quick.  Of course her daughter was really unhappy but she told her they would go to a shelter and look for a kitten.

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Is $150 considered too high or too low? I'm really surprised the price is so low, honestly. 

And wow... I can't believe you can just drop off kittens like that. Imagine suddenly receiving 20+ kittens. How can any one care for so many so suddenly? I'm glad people are protesting against this. They should at least spay and neuter them! 

I always have a deep distrust of people buying animals for the first time and I used to think that was unfair. But... honestly, after working at a pet store, I understand why shelter workers can sometimes be distrustful during adoption inquiries. Not spaying or neutering animals before selling them can become an irresponsible way of selling, in my opinion. You can't guarantee a new owner will go and spay or neuter their animal. I have a friend who bought two frenchies from a breeder and still haven't spayed both of them. She was even considering them having babies and I just... could not agree with her!!! I really hope she spays them soon. 

The Petco and Petsmart by me host adoptions from local shelters. They do sell birds, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, etc. Many people don't realize that these animals are also often found at shelters and rescues from owner surrenders. We have a specialty pet store in town that sells puppies- many breeds but I've never been there so I have no idea where she gets them from. We're a strictly shelter/rescue pet household. 

We still have a few old time kind of pet stores that sell dogs in my NJ county (Union).  They keep getting written up, shut down, etc but somehow nobody can get them outright banned.

The big box stores all have fish, amphibians/lizards, birds and small mammals like guinea pigs/hamsters.  I'm no fan of this at all.  They also do cat/dog adoptions at many of them which I'm ok with. In fact, the rescue we got Cocoa from has a weekly adoption event in 2 of them locally.  

I think 150 is very high for a mixed breed kitty at least it is in this area.  The highest I have seen for adoption fees from rescues in this area is 100 for the little kittens and often they drop that price when they are getting overloaded.  The adults are usually around 50.  The kitties from rescues have been spayed/neutered, vet checked and usually come with a discount coupon for their first vet visit.  

Petsmart and Petco do not sell cats and dogs. They host the through adoption agencies-the pet stores do not get a portion of the adoption fee, but they do gain customers who adopt an animal and then by all their pet supplies there.

Practically ALL animals sold in pet stores come from mill conditions. They would not be profitable if the animals were cared for properly. A good breeder will not make very much money if they even break even. Puppy mills are the most visible, but the laws are not enforced enough even to keep these most sympathetic animals safe. And the plights of lizards, birds, and rodents are not given much attention at all. Fish even aren't usually kept in the proper environment in the store, so I doubt they're cared for well prior to being put on display, either. 

Even most of what is sold in stores to feed and house these small pets is usually completely wrong for the animal and they are unknowingly abused by their owners for the rest of their lives. All of these animals need much larger habitats than they are sold in. As a result they literally go insane from being kept so confined, but their symptoms are behaviors that people assume are normal. These animals are also supposed to have much longer lifespans than people generally think because their living conditions are so poor that they die much too soon.

Denice said:

 
I think 150 is very high for a mixed breed kitty at least it is in this area.  The highest I have seen for adoption fees from rescues in this area is 100 for the little kittens and often they drop that price when they are getting overloaded.  The adults are usually around 50.  The kitties from rescues have been spayed/neutered, vet checked and usually come with a discount coupon for their first vet visit.  

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Those are typical prices for an adoption agency, but those costs represent much less than they spend on each animal. Donations allow them to keep fees so low, but a spay/neuter, vet check up, first round of shots, etc, usually runs over $150 even with the discounted services they have access to, not to mention the cost of food, litter, toys, etc. And that's assuming the cat is healthy otherwise, which is very often not the case.