Yesterday, before spending far too much money at Home Depot, Brett and I stopped at Petsmart to look at fish. Well, that was my excuse...I really wanted to see the cats available for adoption.[
] While standing by the cats, I was quickly annoyed by a mom and several of her annoying children. The young girl, probably 9 or 10 years old, was knocking on the glass to get the attention of three kittens who were asleep in their litter box. Her older sister, the loudest, most obnoxious teenager on the planet, did the same. She then made some stupid comment like, "The paper says they're litter box trained. That must mean they sleep in their litter box." So yeah, they really knew nothing about cats other than they meow and look cute. By the time I started reading the info sheets, the entire family had crowded up the area. So, as the mom kind of wanders away, the youger girl calls for an employee to come to the adoption center because she wants a kitten, and when her mom returned, she didn't even tell the kid, "No, you can't have a cat." She said, "You better get one you like. We already had to get rid of one dog." Now, I didn't hear that part, but Brett did. Can you say red flag?!!?! Do not adopt to these people! Unfortunately, representatives from the shelter weren't at the store, so they couldn't screen potential adopters, and most employees there are indifferent, so there's no telling who can pick up an animal in an impulse adoption. Our rescue group does bring cats there during adoption days, but NO ONE can EVER leave with an animal that very day...potential adopters have to be screened, vet records have to be checked, homes have to be visited, etc. The humane society in our area has a similar protocal so I know their cats aren't flying out of the Petsmart either. Unfortunately, the shetler can't have someone there all the time, so whoever comes in can adopt, even though they do have to sign a contract.
By this point, I had already told Brett, "That family DOES NOT need an animal. It'll end up with a worse life than it had before." Then he told me the "getting rid of the dog" thing, and I prayed they didn't adopt one of those poor kittens so I stopped one of the employees and distracted her lol. I don't know if the family left with a cat or not, but I pray they didn't.
After that incident, we were on our way out when we saw a sign that read: Free to good home--Fancy Rat, Black Russian Hamster. The rat was already taken, but I inquired about the hamster. The employee informed me that he was mean and bullied his cage mates (duh, if you have 400 hamsters in one spot, someone is bound to get annoyed), and I said, "I'll take him." I haven't had any problems with him so far, but he's been so occupied tunneling through his Carefresh bedding that he hasn't even run in his wheel yet. We had another dwarf hamster for four years, and I had kept all of his old stuff so it was only a matter of fixing up his cage and giving him a name, Steve. [
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