Never going to Petco again!

[Joyius]

So on Friday my mother took me to go buy the best animals of my life, rats! We get there and I pick out two medium females, Patch (shown in the photo) and Puzzle(she doesn't like being held yet). A few hours go by, and I see that Patch is sneezing her poor little brains out, so I look it up, and she's sick! As rats shouldn't be sneezing AT ALL! We call Petco, and they tell us to bring the rats in to look at them, so we do, they tell us there is nothing they can do, aside from exchange them for different rats. Riiight, I am not giving Patch up, she is the sweetiest little rat ever! Puzzle I could care less for, but still love her all the same. So we tell them we're going to a vet, and they tell us they can't reimburse us, despite on the paper we filled out to get them that it says if within the 15 day period they need veterinary care they will reimburse you if you tell petco they need to see a vet. Never going back to that petco!

[Joyius]

I actually use a petsmart brand that is made of recycled no-chemicals added, ink removed newspaper, paper, and cardboard bedding, basically it's just paper pulp. It smells nice, and they seem to love it, Patch loves burying herself in it.

[raudf]

It's not just that Petco!

I bought two male ratties last year from Petco. They only had one clerk working the WHOLE store and she didn't sound as if she cared about any animal at all. One, Dutch, died within a week. The other, Mickey, required $150 in vet care after he developed head tilt due to a horrible ear infection that has left him in a perm state of jitters. That $150 is spread out over several vet visits due to the vet only charging me for the meds after the first visit.

The third rat, Buck, was a rescue rattie. He's a very healthy male and was the reason I had bought the other two. Any more of them will either be Petsmart or breeder, which ever I can get to first.

I actually use discarded clothing for bedding and aspen chips for their potty boxes. The two boys have a HUGE cage and the trays in it won't hold chips, so I asked one of the girls at Petsmart that also bred rats what I could use. She recommended old clothing that's had buttons/zippers/etc removed. They like using this for nesting. For their "litter boxes" I use aspen chips.

PS, last I heard, the Petco in my area was no longer selling live animals, due to not having enough people manning the store.

[Slave to the Phone]

PetCo sells rats as snake food. The mice are also snake food. PetSmart won't sell rodents or goldfish to anyone who says that they are buying live food. PetCo employees will just reach into the small glass enclosures and grab the rodents by the tails and put them in a small box without asking about how they will live when they get home. PetSmart employees will ask and treat the lil critters gently.

I'm not a rodent fan. I am an animal fan, and I think that rodents need to be treated as kindly as any other critter.

[Seshat]

My vote for pet purchases:

* Rescues (reputable rescues)

* Breeders who are working very hard at improving the breed/species; who know what weaknesses their breed has and are actively trying to breed those weaknesses out, and the strengths in.
(Note: these breeders are expensive. They have to be - the costs for scans to detect breed weaknesses in both sire and dam aren't cheap, nor is good veterinary care for the pregnant dam.)

[Joyius]

I only went to petco cause they had females. Although I semi hate my decision now, I'd never give Patch up.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My mom may or may not have purchased a guinea pig from Petco that turned out to be pregnant.

There was at least one other, purchased from a different pet store in town, that was also pregnant.

Mom wasn't too enthused about this, but at least the babies were delivered with no problems and lived long, healthy lives.

[gremcint]

My mom may or may not have purchased a guinea pig from Petco that turned out to be pregnant.

There was at least one other, purchased from a different pet store in town, that was also pregnant.

Mom wasn't too enthused about this, but at least the babies were delivered with no problems and lived long, healthy lives.

And tasted great, right?

[LillFilly]

Maybe the rats had a reaction to the bedding you used? I know certain animals should not have pine, some should have cedar, some shouldn't have either, etc. The oils irritate their noses. My one rabbit sneezes after I change her bedding and the dust hasn't settled, but since there's no nasal discharge or difficulty breathing I realized she was fine.

That's why I like local breeders too; unless they're fancy rats/mice they're mostly destined as snake food.

[Joyius]

She is having nasal discharge, how I know is cause my hand is wet if I'm handling her and she sneezes, and it isn't the bedding, as I said, no added oils or chemicals, just natural paper pulp.

[PepperElf]

kinda like rat-style kennel cough?

[raudf]

If she's got porphyrin (redish discharge) along with the sneezing, do take her to the vet. Don't wait for Petco, just do it. And do it ASAP, because it's a sign of high stress (also illness) in rats.

[ShinyObject]

I hope whatever is causing the sneezes clears up quickly. Rats are so tiny their sneezes seem disproportionately large.

When I got my two girls at PetCo the clerk was absolutely delighted that they were going to be pets. She kept fussing over them and telling them they were going to live happily ever after.  It would kill me to sell animals knowing they were to be food.

[Dreamstalker]

One of my petsitting clients is a family with...five rats right now (I think; one of them was ill the last time I was over there and I don't know what happened). All of their ratties are rescues either from the MSPCA or a friend who has connections with several local organizations. I love taking care of them; cute as anything, really smart and the Houdini of the bunch almost stowed away in my coat one day (good thing I doublechecked before I shut the cage!).

We're actually tempted to get a rat or two, the only issue would be we don't really have a 'safe room' to let them out of the cage.

[Joyius]

the only issue would be we don't really have a 'safe room' to let them out of the cage.

We don't have a safe room either, aside from the bath tub, which is why I'm considering getting a rodent play pen for them...