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I worked at two Petsmarts in Houston. We only adopted pets out through our stores- we didn’t sell them. Petsmart saw not a penny of profit- the adoption fee (which was something like $60 and included a spay/neuter if necessary, and the first vet visit) went right back to whichever rescue/shelter the animals were from. If you go into a Petsmart and see the cats in the kennels behind the glass, they are 100% rescues/shelter cats.
We always said the cats that came to the store were the lucky ones; they almost always got adopted quickly, and they had a ton of one-on-one time both with people looking at them and the employees. Not to bash the kind folks that ran the shelters, but they just didn’t have enough time to really tend to each animal at the way overpacked Houston shelters, and most of the cats that came to us were sick, mostly with URIs (very contagious especially in a shelter situation). We kept their enclosures sanitized, and with a vet clinic in-store we get them medicated when necessary and adopted them out once they recovered. It was hard not to fall in love with them.
Then, every weekend, Petsmart invited a different rescue group (e.g. Husky Haven husky rescue, etc) to come in with their dogs, to talk to people about them and adopt out to approperiate homes. They got a lot of exposure and we rarely had a weekend go by when less than 5-10 animals got new homes. 🙂
They are a pretty good company as far as pet stores go. My only wish is that they’d stop selling birds and go to adoption-only like they do with dogs and cats. Many, many pet store birds come from the avian-equivalent of a puppy mill (especially cockatiels, lovebirds, and budgies/parakeets). Yes, there are bird mills, and it’s very depressing. Birds are even more special needs than most cats and dogs, and a lot of people don’t realize that there are currently thousands in shelters and rescues, that need homes. But that is another rant for another time…
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My art: featherdust.comYeah, I usually don’t care to look at pure bred dogs from a breeder because they are too much, and there are too many animals at the shelter, so I usually go there. I did get really mad with our local pet adoption place because I adopted a dog and even though this dog had met the dog that it was going to live with, a few hours had passed after we brought her home, and both dogs were really starting to fight and be viscoius with one another, so I decided the best thing would be to return the dog I just got to the shelter. I let a few months pass, and I decided to try to adopt again, and when I went through the process of being checked out, the woman pulled up that record and became really nasty with me and was saying that I should have trained the two dogs to like eachother. She was treating me like I take adoption lightly. I didn’t adopt the dog that I liked that day because my dog was acting neutral to the one in the pound, so I decided not to take a chance again. Suffice to say, I will not adopt at that shelter again, however I will (and have) adopt from a no-kill shelter which is two hours away.
Personally I love shelter dogs, but I don’t discriminate. My dog came from a pet store, but I fell in love with him from the first moment I saw him! He’s definatly the quirkiest I’ve ever had and he’s my only *purebred* I have ever owned. I have found that pure breeds come down with many more illnesses and seem not to have as much as a life expectancy as a mutt does.
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsJennifer wrote:I worked at two Petsmarts in Houston. We only adopted pets out through our stores- we didn’t sell them. Petsmart saw not a penny of profit- the adoption fee (which was something like $60 and included a spay/neuter if necessary, and the first vet visit) went right back to whichever rescue/shelter the animals were from. If you go into a Petsmart and see the cats in the kennels behind the glass, they are 100% rescues/shelter cats.
We always said the cats that came to the store were the lucky ones; they almost always got adopted quickly, and they had a ton of one-on-one time both with people looking at them and the employees. Not to bash the kind folks that ran the shelters, but they just didn’t have enough time to really tend to each animal at the way overpacked Houston shelters, and most of the cats that came to us were sick, mostly with URIs (very contagious especially in a shelter situation). We kept their enclosures sanitized, and with a vet clinic in-store we get them medicated when necessary and adopted them out once they recovered. It was hard not to fall in love with them.
Then, every weekend, Petsmart invited a different rescue group (e.g. Husky Haven husky rescue, etc) to come in with their dogs, to talk to people about them and adopt out to approperiate homes. They got a lot of exposure and we rarely had a weekend go by when less than 5-10 animals got new homes. 🙂
They are a pretty good company as far as pet stores go. My only wish is that they’d stop selling birds and go to adoption-only like they do with dogs and cats. Many, many pet store birds come from the avian-equivalent of a puppy mill (especially cockatiels, lovebirds, and budgies/parakeets). Yes, there are bird mills, and it’s very depressing. Birds are even more special needs than most cats and dogs, and a lot of people don’t realize that there are currently thousands in shelters and rescues, that need homes. But that is another rant for another time…
Well when I worked at the SPCA in Grande Prairie there were two birds there the entire summer, they were doves of some kind. My fiancee almost got fired when he cleaned out their cage, because he put a support in a bit crooked and their egg fell into their water dish. Thankfully they decided not to… it was a small mistake (although it did kill the egg), and certainly didn’t warrant being fired. Maybe you get more birds in where you live Jen, but there isn’t many up north. They tend to get eaten or freeze. 🙄
Dragon87 wrote:Maybe you get more birds in where you live Jen, but there isn’t many up north. They tend to get eaten or freeze. 🙄
No, I don’t mean ‘strays’ that are outside– sadly yes, most birds that get loose don’t have a good outlook. I mean in general- those that are given up or dumped. There are over 1,000 on Petfinder alone, and that’s just a small number of the homeless ones out there:
http://www.petfinder.com/breeds/Bird
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My art: featherdust.comHey Dragon you got to come with Khym and I some day, I’m hoping by the time he’s 2 he’ll be doing the same thing in PJ’s!!! 😈 I’m teaching him, and hopefully those around as well!!
Jen Petsmart here does the Cat Adoptions, I remember them doing the Dog ones too, but that was nearly a decade ago. ‘Though I do agree with you on the Bird adoptions, and wish they’d also work with the Ferret Rescue society as well.
Lupin wrote:Hey Dragon you got to come with Khym and I some day, I’m hoping by the time he’s 2 he’ll be doing the same thing in PJ’s!!! 😈 I’m teaching him, and hopefully those around as well!!
Jen Petsmart here does the Cat Adoptions, I remember them doing the Dog ones too, but that was nearly a decade ago. ‘Though I do agree with you on the Bird adoptions, and wish they’d also work with the Ferret Rescue society as well.
There’s one on 137st that does dog adoptions, and the one that I go to (on 50th) doesn’t. I think it depends on the petsmart. But yeah, I do agree on the bird thing, though there aren’t as many people who own birds up here, I find. Either that, or everyone I know is the exception to the rule. 😆
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