I was going to post this on a g. pig forum I visit until I saw one of the moderators quickly closed a thread about some improvements a local Petsmart had made in housing small animals for sale. (They don't want improvements; they want no animals sold in stores because they come from mills, and I understand and support that because I'm opposed to animal mills...I'm just not too thrilled about towing that forum's line 24-hours a day). Anyway, I didn't share the story after the OP got flamed and the thread was closed immediately for "promoting" pet stores (which honestly wasn't her intention) and sharing her surprise in that the store had improved the care of their animals. So I'm posting my story here since I probably won't get flamed to death, and if I do, so be it. Here's the story:
Brett and I took Brown, Charlie, and Deuce to the vet this morning while my mom babysat Grey. Yes, I actually had her babysit [
](and he did great!). Brown had been limping the last few days after apparantly straining his knee (he's better today, though). Charlie and Deuce were in for their yearly hoo-rah. So after Brown made a new girlfriend in a female chocolate lab a guy rescued, we visted the vet and waded through the sea of people at the payment desk. While I'm waiting, I noticed a girl in a Petsmart shirt, but I assumed she was picking up her own animal. Soon, a tech comes out with a rat, who had a neat setup in his crate. At this point, I still assumed the rat was for her, and after the tech explained how to administer the rat's meds, the girl said something to make me realize the rat wasn't her for; it's for Petsmart. When that finally hit me, I was floored because of all the horror stories (in general) I've heard about pet stores selling sick animals, letting them die, etc. Heck, I've witnessed that first hand years ago in a small local store, as that's how's I acquired Permanent, the blind, cystic, occassionally-hairless guinea pig. I then learned from one of the receptionists that this Petsmart brings to the clinic any animals who become sick in transport or just sick in general. So that definitely surprised me, but even more so, I was surprised that they paid to have an employee drive to the next city over to go to the best clinic in our area. I'm sure they probably have a deal with the clinic, but negative pet store buzz aside, I am somewhat relieved to know that they (at least the store here) are providing medical care to sick animals even though they still sell them. Obviously, they can't sell sick animals because they'll make no money in that department, although I'm sure some do, and it's not eliminating the mill problem because every purchase perpetuates the cycle, but I am, in a way, relieved that a sick animal is getting care.