Kittens at pet-shops...

I'm sure I'm going to be sorry I asked...but does anybody work at a pet-shop here? Or worked at one before? My little brother often asks me to go see the kittens over there, and of course I can't say no because they are so cute. But I always come out sad and worried about the lonely little things that meow so pitifully in their little cages...Are they treated good? Do they stay in these little spaces even at night? Don't they have time to exercise? And what if they don't get bought and they get older and nobody wants them? I feel so bad right now...I wish someone's got an up-lifting answer...

Well I have no uplifting answers so how about taking your brother to a shelter. I've seen lots of kids at the shelters I've been to in the UK with the staff being very kind to the children answering their many questions!

I never worked at a petshop. Most of the shops here refuse to sell cats and dogs, because often the animals sold are from puppymills, where they are just bred repeatedly, with no eye to good traits. Also, they are bred too often, to the harm of the mother's health.

That said, I have a dog who was purchased from a petstore. We got her at 8 months, from the original owners, and she is a dream. She is living a happy life.

Petsmart has kittens in cages on saturdays, from foster homes. The cats are home all week, and just in a cage from 12-4pm. Thats how we adopt out our kittens from my rescue agency. You could call Petsmart or Petco, and see if they host adoption shows. The stores do not profit, except by new owners purchasing products. In fact, they give the rescues a lot of bags of food and litter which has a little tear in it.

Maybe you can talk to the people who work there about the conditions for the cats and kittens. Life in a cage is not very pleasant.

This is a article I wrote some time ago about puppy mills- double the numbers for kittens that arrive in pet shops nationwide. It was quite an education writing this

Puppy Mills

It all depends on the petstore. sometimes I go to petstores and I'm sad for the animals there. Usually that's the case for puppies though, when they put them in those little glass aquariums it gets me so mad!
We have a local petstore here who take in animals that can't be cared for. They take litters of kittens which the local OSPCA can't take in and sometimes when there's a horder exposed they'll take a huge portion of their small animals. Then they adopt the kittens out for $35 including a litter pan, some food some treats and some bowls for the food. The man who owns the place says that he just wants to break even with it, but I actually think he's loosing on the deal. He also makes sure to adopt them to people who promise to spay/neuter the cats at the right time. I think he's doing a huge service for the community and I try to shop there whenever possible.
SO in conculsion, I'd say that yes, there are a lot of bad petstores out there, but there are also some who are making a difference. I think if you're going to one of those bad petstores maybe it is indeed a better idea to go to a no kill shelter. It might make your experience more positive.

I got my first kitten from a petshop and he had a number of health problems. When we went to get him neutered, the vet had to perform some invasive surgery because he was developing testicular cancer. Then at about 1, he developed a degenerative neurological disorder that the vet told us was untreatable. Eventually, he was unable to walk, eat, or use the litterbox by himself. He was put to sleep when he was about 3 and it was heartbreaking because he was such a sweetie. I'm not sure if these health problems were a result of poor breeding from a kitten mill, but I will never get another cat from a petshop.

Neither of those two (last) conditions can be attributed to the store as they're congenital. I've only bought one cat (from a large reputable-if it's possible- store) and he's the healthiest, happiest thing around.

Unforntunately most pet stores keep their pets in the store in the tiny cages over night. They are generally not exercised properly and often have to sit in their own poop for quite a while before someone will clean it out.

Most kittens have liquid oozing from every orifice and carry fleas and/or lice.

But in saying this, some pet stores are fantastic and take care of their animals really well, but in general pet stores are not a nice place to be if you are a animal.

Most of the time the animals are too young to have been taken away from their mothers - But this is also the responsibility of the person who sells the animals to the petstore in the first place! We got a kitten who was supposed to be 8 weeks old but she was more like 4 weeks!! We had to wean her thats how young she was! But she turned out just fine.

The point is if you get a pet from the petstore you can get a perfectly good pet - But it may come with some initial problems and it only encourages them to buy more animals.

Unfortunately, it is a lose-lose situation as you are trying to do the right thing by the animal but in doing so you are encouraging it to happen again!

I have a friend that works in a pet store, and they are the exception. They do not sell pure breed cats for inflated prices like many of them do. They are cat lovers, and they take kittens that would otherwise be taken to the shelter and euthanized. They sell them for enough to cover the first shots. They must have been given a clean bill of health, and had the shots before they come in. The owners are reimbursed for the shots when the kittens get homes. The employees are encouraged to play with them, and people can come in and interact with them. I go in about once a week to play with the babies and get my kitten fix. I have yet to see one stay more than a few days. They have one occasionally that does not get a home, and when they get too old to be adopted, the store owner have them spayed or neutered and takes them to his farm to live out their lives as barn cats/pets. He can often be seen around the store carrying a kitten while he works.

Originally Posted by Larke

Neither of those two (last) conditions can be attributed to the store as they're congenital. I've only bought one cat (from a large reputable-if it's possible- store) and he's the healthiest, happiest thing around.

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If they are selling animals from puppy mills, they are aware that they are selling low quality animals, and encouraging the mills. I'm glad your kitty is fine!

He wasn't from a 'mill', but a private citizen, and I even got to speak to the orig. owner (not a breeder).

I think selling kittens and puppies in pet shops is discraceful! I've seen puppies in a pet shop window in Spain, and the poor little things ruined my day. I'm so happy it's not done here.

They have started selling kittens and puppies here in pet stores. The one up the block from me has a vet on duty during the day but at night, they sleep in those cages all alone. It is heartbreaking.

i made the mistake of getting my cat from a pet store too... well initially, she was fine, but after 2 weeks, she developed ring worms and so on... it took months to nurse her back to health and now she is doin great...