mall pet stores

I went to a pet store in the mall today. It is heartbreaking because the animals look sooo sad .

I have never bought an animal from a pet store, we always go to the animal shelter. I was wondering though, if the animals at the pet store do not sell what happens to them? Are they put to sleep?

-safron

What a sore subject for me!! I REFUSE to shop at pet stores that sell puppies and kittens. They get all of thier animals from puppy and kitten mills. These poor things are taken from thier filthy homes WAY too early, given vaccines WAY too early, and then usually shipped on a truck for god knows how many hours or days with other sick animals. Generally if a pet store has an animal that is not adopted it goes back to the breeder or to a humane society.

I HATE pet shops!! They disgust me to no end and the people who buy from them make me so angry. Fairly recently I went into a pet shop, just out of my curiousity on what they had for "sale". They had a couple cages set up and they were divided into little dogs and big dogs. In the big dog cage they had a Bullmastiff and on the cage was a little sheet of paper with a paragraph about the breed. It totally made me sick. Someone will buy that puppy and not realize he is going to grow into a massive dog! That's when they wind up in shelters...

I often see clients who buy dogs from pet shops because they like the look of them. They'll go on and ask me "Labs don't shed a lot do they? Am I supposed to have my Bichon groomed? My Rottweiler won't get any bigger than 50 pounds right?

I mean come on!! Didn't you do your research!?!?

Not to mention all the health problems they have and where they came out of. And who knows how the mother and father are doing and what they're like.

i would never buy from a pet store nor a breeder. not when theres thousands of animals put to sleep everyday. just because some one does not love them or they don't have a home. i am mainly talking cats here. there are so many more cats put to sleep than dogs. if i had a dog, i would prefer a pure breed dog as they seem much smarter. but any mutt will love you just the same. even if he is a little stupid.(and ugly):laughing2 if i were to go to a shelter, i would pick the most ugly cat, just because chances are, someone else would not take him. it's whats on the inside that counts.

Hey!! Purebred are not smarter! I have a Purebred Lab and a Rottweiler mix. The Rotti cross catches on much quicker than the lab and in my opinon he is quite the handsome devil.He is so different looking people stop me in the woods just to ask what breed of dog he is. Natala is kind of dopey but sweet but she is very stubborn and wants her own way.

Mutts are nothing less than different breeds mating together and in a lot of cases you get the best of both worlds. In Scooby's case I get the fun loving additude and working drive of the Rotti while I have the athleticism and intelligence of the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Plus they don't have as many problems as purebreds. Natala has SEVERE hip dysplasia, Severe arthritis in her spine, Premature onset of Neuclear sclrosis and there's something funny going on with immune system now because she's developed demodex mange... All before the age of 7.

Natala I adopted from a shelter because I was about to buy a Doberman Pinscher puppy but decided I'd see what the shelter had and came home with a 5 year old lab. I would never change a thing because I love her to pieces. But Scooby is definatly a mamma's boy

Plus he loves the kitties more. In fact Xavier used to suckle on his dew laps when he was a kitten.

now see, thats what more people should do. check the shelter first. chances are some poor animal will steal your heart. i'm not a dog person. just know what i hear. truth is i'm scared of dogs, but at the same time... say there was a big mean looking dog outside my door. i'd throw a couple hot dogs out and shut the door real fast!!:laughing2 :laughing2 :laughing2 (just in case he was hungry)

This is our dog ethl, she is about 4 years old. A heinz57 and verrry smart. I love it when people ask, "What breed is she?", I think you tell me. We think she has some beagle b/c when she lays down her front feet spread apart in a V formation.

-safron

Mom bought a miniature Schnauzer, from a mall pet store, once. He was one sick puppy, for a long time. Mom spent a fortune on Charlie. He DID live about 12 years and was a good dog. As for breeders, some are good. Mom has 2 basset hounds, right now. They aren't show quality, so Mom had to sign a contract, saying she wouldn't let them breed and, if she couldn't or wouldn't keep them, she had to return them to that breeder. The breeder raises them , all in the house and makes potential buyers come over, several times, to interact with the puppies and parents. If she doesn't like the way the dogs respond, she won't sell you a dog. If I was that crazy about bassets, I'd go to this woman, for one. I'm a mutt lover, though. I go for personalities, not pedigrees.

I have got 4 of my cats out of pet stores, and they are perfectly fine. Actually, The one that didn't come from a pet store was the one that was sick. And, i have to agree that purebred dogs are smarter... I have a purebred Golden Retriever, and He is So0o0o0o0 Smart! My aunt used to have a Lhasa Apso Shih-Tzu cross, and boy was he stupid. I mean, he was a nice dog, but not very bright...

The cats you got at the pet store may not have been sick, but by buying them there you're helping support Kitten and puppy mills. If the animals didn't sell, the owners wouldn't get more.Do some research on mills and you may have a bit of a different perspective in the end.

As far as dogs and their intelligence, it depends a lot on the owner too. If you don't spend time with your dog properly training it of course its going to seem stuipd. Dogs don't always instinctively know what people want from them. Good owners make good pets, IMO. All the dogs I've ever had were mutts (with the exception of our soon to be Retriever puppy) and not one of them was 'stupid', Thats exactly the misconception that keeps the mixed breeds in the shelter from being adopted and the Puppy mills in business.

Ethl is adorable!


pet stores....bad!

There is one up the street from our house and they only buy animals from people who do not have their cats and dogs spayed and neutered. When they do buy the animal, they tell the person to take the money and save it toward a spay and neuter fee. The people who run it are really nice, and they always have animals running under your feet when you go in there. Now I realize this is not the norm, but I sure wish it were! They had one cat last year and she had one litter of kittens she had been dumped at their door, so they made her a shop cat. Right after she had her babies they had her spayed. Now she is the friendliest little girl you ever did see. While her babies were suckling on her, she was a neurotic mess. She was just to young to have kittens, and I know she is grateful now that she can't.

I have to admit, we did get Trent from a mall pet store. We really weren't planning on getting another cat when we went in there, but he chose us as his people from the first time he saw us. We were in there for a long time and he didn't respond to other people the same way he did to us, so we didn't have a choice. I can't say that I regret that particular decision because I love the little guy with all my heart. When the time comes to get another cat, we will definitely be going to a shelter and give one of those kitties a chance.

I do have a question for everone, though. When it comes time to adopt, do you go to a no-kill shelter and support them or go to a kill shelter and save an animal from being put down? I've thought about it a lot and haven't come up with the "right" thing to do.

Ethl is adorable, BTW. I grew up with Weimerieners (sp) and Dutchess was very smart. Then we got a little pit bull/everything else mutt and Felicia was too smart for her own good, and had more personality than any dog I've ever known. Guess it depends on the breed, breeder and most important the dog.

Thank you valanhb, that's my point. It depends a lot on the dog, the breed(or breeds), the owner and the way the dog was raised.

I've seen the norm and the total opposite for almost every breed. I've seen nasty Goldens, Stranger friendly Chows, Labs with half a brain, calm Dalmations and american eskimos and I've seen an english bulldog do agility and do it well.

IMO it's everyone's choice to have the pet that they really want. Weather it's a pure breed or a mix. The biggest problem with the whole thing is the way the animals are treated. If you want a pure breed animal, go to the breeders facility and see what kind of care they get. Do your homework before you buy a pet on impulse. People need to research any breed they are looking into to make sure it's going to fit thier lifestyle.
I AM a breeder, I also have 6 rescued cats and a dog that we got an hour away from death. This does not mean I don't like having pure breed cats in my home, or change the fact that I would at some point like a Welsh Corgi. Now that I have 12 cats and a dog, I can't go rescue another cat from death, but I can volunteer with rescues and make donations to worth while shelters. There are so many ways you can help the homeless and stray cats without bringing one home.
Valanhb, If I were in your position I would take a cat from a bad situation and possibly save it from death. Then if you like, you can make contributions in other ways to the no kill rescues.

A really good site on puppy mills

http://www.nopuppymills.com

I have to add That I know nothing about how well my dog was trained. All we know about his history is that he has epilepsy.

I think pet stores are bad also, with a few exceptions.

As for mutts not being as smart as purebreds(can't remember who said that)...I have a purebred German Shepherd, and a mutt(that somebody droped off where I work, and I took him home a couple years ago)....The mutt is twice as smart as the Shepherd, though I love them both dearly. The mutt's name is Scruffy, and nope, he is not an attractive dog. But he is beautiful in my eyes, and highly intelligent!! I'll never regret rescuing him!

I can't help but look at the pet stores, I can't resist any animal but I would never buy there. I was looking at some dogs at a mall pet store, and this one dog had a really dry nose with sulfur colored crust on it and I brought it to their attention and they dismissed it! Oh, he's fine. BS! I could've cried, I felt so bad for all the puppies. (No cats there)