Rather upsetting trip to the pet store.

We had errands to run today, one of which was stopping at the petstore for aquarium supplies.

We decided to hit up Petsmart as we were in that end of town.
We always go look at the adoption kitties every time we visit.
Today it was just absolutely heart breaking.

The cat room reeked of very strong urine, enough to burn your nose and the door was even open.
All of the cats were beautiful and super friendly, but two of them had no business being there.
One was a little cow cat, a long haired boy, sweet as can be, but he was absolutely filthy, and he smelled sick and had feces clumped in his fur around his little bum.
They had him listed as a 1 yr old, this baby was not any older than 7 months if that.
The second was an older girl, maybe 4 years old, a calico, who for whatever reason, was recently left homeless and was not adjusting well to life in a cage.
She was loving, but very obviously stressed and showing signs of URI.

I talked to one of the staff, who agree that they should not have been brought in, she brought them to the attention of the on duty manager, who will hopefully contact the rescue these kitties belonged to.

I sure hope they get to the vet and I hope to older girl will be moved from the shelter and placed in foster care instead.

I have never been so saddened by the adoption kitties before.

Awww...those poor babies! I sure hope they can get the older girl in a foster home & take the younger one to the vet. I cannot imagine what it must be like for those kitties to be in cages being looked at all the time.

That's so sad. Petsmart is usually a lot better than that. so this was a new rescue group they were showing cats for? I'm always sad after seeing the kitties there, but that's because I can't take them home, not because of the bad conditions.

Its surprising what we find out about petstores.

I went in my local pet shop only afew weeks ago,which I have been in a lot of times before,I was being served by them and I overheard a telephone conversation between the assistant and the store owner.

It became obvious that they had sick kittens and the assistant who was about to shut up shop didn't want to leave them in the shop over night,as one of the kittens had already died.
The store owner just told her to 'shut up shop,if they die, they die'. The assistant was very upset.

I was disgusted I telephoned cats protection for advice.

We asked the assistant to sign the kittens over and we would take the kittens to a vet,she telephoned the store owner who was very unco-operative and she refused to do anything to help the kittens.
So the only option to try to help these kittens was to report it to the Rspca.

They are now trying to revoke the shops licence.

when I think, I went in that shop and gave them my custom not even knowing what they were like,I feel sick.

As far as I know, yes, it was a new rescue group, or at least not one of the Petsmart regulars around here.

I know that Petsmart is not responsible for the health of the kitties, the rescue is, but I also know that there should have been someone there making sure the cat room and cat cages are kept clean, and odor free.

If someone had been doing that job at least, they might have noticed two sick cats there.

I really wish I could have spent the $160 to adopt them both and take them to my MIL who runs a sanctuary and is equiped to deal with kitties in poor health.

i went into pet quarters two days ago and i was appalled at what I saw.

there were two young cats waiting to be adopted. I took one look and I spoke right up to one of the cashiers, "did you realize that this cat is really sick? She has one pink eye and both of her third eye lids are showing?>??????" The cashier said, 'really, the shelter is only supposed to send us healthy cats. I'll have to call them' but I know she didn't.

I volunteer for a local rescue group with an adoption center in Petsmart. I am fortunate in that this organization is zealous in recruiting excellent volunteers who really care about the cats and makes sure there is coverage at all times with backup. It is not often that the cats are left unattended, and when anyone is on shift if a cat is sneezing, lethargic, vomiting or has diarhhea we immediately have a volunteer medical person who will come in to look them over and help if possible, and if not, contact the foster to remove them from the center for their own good and the health of the other cats. We clean every day and night and do not let the litters of kittens mingle with other cats or litters.

However, I know that not all organizations are as well run as the one I am lucky to be associated with. I know volunteers from other groups who get frustrated with the shelter management and lack of organization in their program which only ends up hurting the cats. At the Petsmart where my center is located, the staff and management are pretty good and have even cleaned up after a very sick cat when a volunteer was not there.

I would very strongly suggest (to anyone) that if you can get the name of the rescue group (maybe they have a website or perhaps someone in the store will know - it should be on the cage cards of the cats, too.) to write to the head of the organization and the head of the fund raising committee to tell them of your experience. Hopefully they will do something immediately to change the situation and no non-profit wants to get a bad rep because they won't get any funds. And try to find the name of the person at Petsmart that is responsible for allowing the group to use the space at the store; it is very possible that if the group is not treating the animals properly that Petsmart will not allow them to continue to use the space. Email Petsmart corportate if you have to and give them the dates, times and location.

Believe me, once an organization thinks it is getting a bad rep and Petsmart thinks its reputation is being diminished (lots of people don't know that the rescues are not part of Petsmart) something will be done. The bottom line for Petsmart is that it is a business and they need to have anything in their store (including employees) project their corporate image. Good luck and let me know if I can help.

I feel so bad that you had to have that experience and I really, really hope that help arrived for those cats.

They've been contacted (by me)and I've informed my vet, who is very active in animal (especially cat) welfare and she will be checking in on the cats this evening.

Good. Sorry for the long post but this is an issue very close to my heart and it hit close to home. I am so glad you were there to let someone know about the conditions the cats were in.

I hope it all goes well and soon. Bless you.

That is awful... I have left petsmart in tears so many times...calling my husband on the way home

Usually this has been one of the better stores aside from having a hard time getting help in the fish area and their tanks being snail infested.

It was just this one rescue group, most of the time, the cats in there are from another group, and always in the best of shape, always with rescue volunteer on hand.