What's the deal?

In the pet stores around here, they get their kittens from backyard breeders. Therefore, if you buy from them, you're supporting the BYB that is getting kickbacks from the pet shop and therefore encourage them to make more kittens. IMO, it's just best to get a kitten from a shelter, period.

In the pet stores here, farmers and irresponsible pet owners let their cats run wild breeding whenever they want. Then they take the kittens and sell them to pet stores, and the store turns around and sells them for $200 or more. (Rediculous to pay that amount for a moggie that isn't even altered, when you can rescue from a shelter for half that amount or less, and they have so much more included in the adoption fee!) In some cases, the pet store owners breed their own cats for kittens to make a profit. You've heard of puppy mills? It's basically the same as a kitten mill. Some people sell them to pet stores to make money. If we do not encourage this behavior by buying kittens from pet stores, it might help diminish the amount of cats sold. In a perfect world, that is...

I've seen very few pedigreed cats in Tucson pet stores. The mixed breeds, that I have seen haven't looked healthy. One store has a price of $99.99 for mixed breed kittens.

I get mine at the Humane Society. Their price is $85.00 and includes shots, s/n, microchipping and 3 months pet insurance. The pet stores just sell you a sickly kitten.

Some of the stores in the States, like Petsmart and Petco, instead of "selling" animals, instead provide a way for the public to come into contact with shelter animals by providing adoption days instead, which I think is a wonderful idea!

There's one place in town here which seems to take animals from real breeders (some of the dogs had pedigrees hung up displaying their breeding, which included quite a few champion dogs) so I haven't made up my mind yet as to whether they are reputable or not.

But for the most part, pet stores tend to sell animals from "mills" which are in the business of producing as many animals as possible with no regard to health or upbringing. I have already told the story of my former roommate's puppy a few times - but she came to us from a pet store, sick with coccidea already, and no manners whatsoever when it came to people or other dogs. My cats, on the other hand, came from a reputable breeder after lots of research, and were only allowed to leave with me after a certain age, a contract, and well-mannered and litter-trained. A world of difference!

There is a place in Perth which is a `pet store' which sells purebred puppies. It is a specialist puppy shop, with vets that are associated with the store, that offer discounts for spays, neuters and appointments etc when you buy your puppy from there. The people who work there are all very experienced, you can find out about the parents of the dog that you get, they come with all their paperwork and details fully available to you. That's where we got Ruby and Chester, and they have turned out to be the most beautiful doggies.

My kitties (except for Sashka, who is purebred) are from shelters, but growing up we had cats from pet stores. Here they are 99% of the time beautiful kitties, that are healthy and not expensive. There is one chain that sells `purebred' cats and they are very expensive - I don't know how they compare to a breeder but they had Ragdoll kittens there the other day for $700 a pop. Mostly, though, pet stores don't have the same negative connotations in Australia that they do elsewhere. Also, quite often I think that if someone is prepared to pay $700 for a kitten then they are going to look after it, because that is a lot of money!

In Japan, kittens and puppies do not receive the best treatment in pet stores. They are locked in cages about 1 ft. all around--the litter pan takes about 1/3 of this space. They are lucky if they get a toy to play with. Kids are constantly banging on the glass. The kittens and puppies just look depressed. I saw that their litter box had not been changed, even when it was pretty clear it needed it. For dogs, it's worse. About six years ago, in a pet store in Kyoto, I saw a puppy eating something he shouldn't have.

Last week, I came within moments of buying one of the cats I had seen in the same store a month ago. The only reason why I couldn't take it is because I have to go back to the US permanently in a month and the quarantine procedure for exporting animals without microchips is about 4 months. Additionally, I have decided that if I get another cat, I will bring Miya to the shelter or store so that she also gets a say as to who her new playmate will be.

All the cats are pedigree, and a lot of Japanese have this attitude that if the cat isn't pedigree or if it came from a shelter, then they aren't worth owning. While this is going on, the pound comes around during the spring and rounds up all the homeless cats and kittens and exterminates them. This is the same with dogs, as well.

Because of this, I have a strong prejudice against pet stores keeping animals. If someone wants a pure-bred cat or dog, they should go to a certified breeder who takes good care of the animals. I feel the practice of having pets in a pet store should be banned because it's inhumane. I am not sure what it's like in the US, as I have only been in a pet store maybe twice in my life there.

Wow. I would have a real problem with that. The animals in pet stores here are all so spoilt, for the most part, people aren't allowed to handle them or be too noisy, unless they are seriously thinking of buying. Customers are pretty thoroughly quizzed by the pet store staff (in my experience, anyway), and the animals are all taken out of their pens and either taken home or put in a quiet sleeping area each night. Their pens are spacious with fresh newspaper or straw, food and water, toys and wherever possible playmates for them. They are usually all glass so are quite sound proof and people can't poke their fingers in or tease the animals. The stores themselves are very well-equipped with information, products, food and other pet-related stuff. On the whole they're very good, here. The only time I've ever been upset was at how one store was keeping Siamese Fighting fish - in the tiniest little tanks imaginable, the poor things looked miserable. I know they don't need a lot of space, I used to keep them, but this was ridiculous.

But puppies and kittens have a pretty good life at the pet stores here.

There's also a couple of specialist pet places/warehouses that don't sell animals, just pet products, but have a cat or two, usually at least two dogs etc that belong to the staff and just hang out at the store all day. They're really cool.

Here is an article I did on Puppy Mills and Pet Stores

Puppy Mills

Fortunately it's illegal to sell kittens and puppies in pet shops here. I've once seen puppies in a pet shop window in Spain, and those poor little thing ruined my day.

Although there a few pet stores that have pedigreed cats in my area, most of the stores now have adoption days with cats being bought in from the shelter, or the cats on "display" are shelter cats and you must fill out an application to adopt them. They absolutely break your heart, but they are the lucky ones.

At long last it's illegal to sell them at pet shops here in the UK

Although i got Rosie from one when she was a kitten i had a job finding one, so hopefully she was the last the shop ever sold.

Seriously? I didnt know that! thats brilliant do you know when that law was enforced? Mark wanted a budgie (I have no idea why) before we got the cats and we were actually in a pet shop looking at cages when we saw this beautiful little gray fluffy baby in a tiny little cage. I could have taken him home then but didnt. Thats what changed our minds to getting a kitten. But that was only last year. I hope the little fella got a good home

IMO? I would prefer to adopt a pet from a hs shelter because the volunteers there care about the pets, play and interact with them and will give an overall good recommendation to you on the pet's personality.
The Pet shops hire 16 years who are working there just for money. Most of them couldn't even tell you the personality of the pet. Around here they always say to play with it and figure it out yourself.

Plus, my brother has adopted 2 dogs from the pet store...those dogs have major problems...i.e. one has anxiety problems and the other pees everywhere.

The pet shops here have shelter animals-at least cats. But when Grizzly was young and had litters I had an ad in the newpaper (with a small price tag) for the kittens. There are many people in this area who do not like one of the larger animal shelters and the insanely strict policy on pet ownership so they resort to ads in the newspaper. The are hardly ever any ads for cats/kittens mainly for dogs which hopefully is a good thing.
A long time ago we had a German Shepard and DH would like to get another one sometime done the road. I wouldn't mind using a rescue organization but I don't know how that will work

It's illegal to sell puppies and kittens in pet stores in Germany, too, and has been for ages.

It wasn't long after i got Rosie and she's 4 years old in march.

wow maybe I should be making a little phonecall about that petshop then! Because that Kitten was definately for sale. Also a friend of mine couldnt find homes for all her kittens and she found a pet shop who were going to take the last one for her - thankfully I managed to find him a home before she had to do this.
Unless the law is different in Scotland...?

I have never actually seen kittens or puppies sold in pet shops! I am opposed to the keeping and selling of any animals from pet shops - I just can't stand to see them cooped up there, waiting.

Oh they might be Lauren?!. It might be an idea to ring the RSPCA to ask them.

[quote=KitEKats4Eva!]There is a place in Perth which is a `pet store' which sells purebred puppies. It is a specialist puppy shop, with vets that are associated with the store, that offer discounts for spays, neuters and appointments etc when you buy your puppy from there. The people who work there are all very experienced, you can find out about the parents of the dog that you get, they come with all their paperwork and details fully available to you. I disagree with this also. Just because someone has more of a disposable income doesn't mean they are going to care more. This is obvious when you see a woman returning a $1000 teacup (blech) chihuahua because it was too dark for her furniture....

Petco and PetSmart have cats for adoption from the Allen County Animal Care and Control, our biggest shelter. Pet Supplies Plus has cats from two no-kill rescues and the ASPCA. The cats in each of these places lives in these giant, muli-level "cages" where they have three separate areas- one to sleep in, one to do their business in, and one with a medium size cat tree to play on. Each cat has about 4-5 feet by 4-5 feet and there are usually two or three cats per enclosure. It's pretty nice. They don't sell cats. We do have several pet stores that sell cats and dogs for profit. These animals come from mills and BYBs and they always look horrible and sick. They are kept in rabbit cages or plexiglass cages that aren't very big. The cats usually have one scratching post, but there is very little room and several are placed into one cage.

This I agree with...

That's so true... I never thought of it that way...

Susan, I've seen kittens for sale in pet shops jst over a year ago.

The man across the road from me (such a sweet old guy), his crack head junkie daughter just lets her unspayed female roam and sells the kittens for £50 each to a petshop.

(She lives miles away from me so theres no way I cold intervene).

Nacho and Orion were both purchased from the petstore here in town. Both healthy as hippos. By my brother and his girlfriend mind you.. I doubt I would have bought them, after hearing and reading about sick petstore animals.

But this petstore is different.. the kittens come from ordinary homes. Just people who didn't spay there kitty, and ended up with a litter of kittens that they didn't know what to do with. Though when my friend called to see if she could get a strays kittens in there, they said they had too many kittens waiting to come in already. So I sent her to the rescue I volunteered for.

Anyhow, not all petstores are bad. Mind you, most of them are supplied by animal mills.

RosieMac - I am not 100% sure it is illegal to sell kittens and puppies in pet shops, I know it has been done recently in Blackpool - I do think they have to have a special licence though. I haven't seen any pet shops sell anything more than rabbits, birds and fish in years though. I would never buy any live animal from a pet shop, there are more than enough in shelters (although I rarely get that far, they tend to find me)

I bought all of my cats in local non-chain pet shops because the shelters in my area make it really hard to adopt a pet. The applications ask for a lot of personal information that I'm not willing to provide. I know they have the best interests of the animals at heart but there's no reason to treat potential adopters like criminals. Our dogs came from a small rescue that takes in mostly puppies .. all they wanted was a $25 adoption fee which we gladly paid. I just hope that all shelters aren't as badly run as the ones in my area.