mad at petco again

[crayfishguy]

yesterday i went to petco for mite spray and rats, when i looked in the reptile section they had two uromastyx the bigger one was not doing well because they had NO heat at all and the smaller one was one,compacted and the employee new it but didnt do anything. it also had absolutely no fat.it had its stomach caved in so much it looked like the ribs wer going to poke through the skin. when i told them they said he was supposed to be like that,i told them i own a uromastyx and finnaly i got them to take him to the vetit made no moves when she picked it up.

 

[leuc11]

I saw a tokay gecko once at petco and It was starting to get sick I came back the next month and then saw it. It had never moved both eyes were huge and swelled up his skinn was rotting he was missing toes he was skin and bones I felt so bad and the best part was there was a under observation not for sale sign on the tank 2 rows down from it with a pacman frog that looked fine to me

 

[Sylvias]

I really wonder how these petco's stay in existence... the corruption must go beyond the single store because that would instantly fail an animal walk in my store.... the regional and district animal companion specialists (among other big bosses) periodically visit the stores to make sure all is running as it should. We get graded on a variety of things but having an animal that obviously sick in the environment is an automatic fail.... which has serious consequences... not quite sure what they are cause i've never been at a store that got that..... but i can't imagine it's good... probably lots of budget cuts.... lay offs...etc...
That being said... I wasn't even aware we could order uromastyx but it varies by region..... it is possible though that someone just left em there as well... we get a lot of abandoned pets all year long and it's usually something they can get from us but every now and again it's just some random thing we don't carry and then we have to figure out it's care pretty quickly.. although in that case they should be back in quarantine...not on the floor....
I am not really trying to defend petco because I know a lot of them suck and even mine does **** that annoys the hell out of me that I unfortunately cannot change... just not sure how stores like that get away with being like that...even from the corporate side....

 

[A. gigas]

To clarify, the temp in the cage was ~78 degrees, the thing was on Calci-sand (hence the impaction), and literally had NO muscle or fat on him at all. Skin and bones, that was it. I couldn't even believe he still had organs in him, it seemed impossible they could fit in him like that. Just plain sad.

 

[Wiggles92]

The PetCo by me is pretty terrible now, too.

I'm friends with a former employee who basically kept the rest of the staff from killing off the fishes & herps with their incorrect husbandry techniques by putting some of his own money into getting the animals the care they need. PetCo policy prevents the use of certain important food items, housing arrangements, and such, so he was buying the correct food for some of these animals so that they'd actually have a chance at living. I've applied to work their multiple times now, and he explained to me that they probably will not hire me simply because I have experience with fishes & herps and would thereby actually know the proper way to care for these animals rather than just going along with PetCo's cheap and incorrect way. Yes, that's right, they'd prefer if you have zero prior experience whatsoever in order to get you to push their inappropriate husbandry practices.

 

[Tropicalfish34]

The Petco I go to is pretty good. The main reason being that most of the employees are herp and fish fans and take really good care of the animals.

 

[Aquafreak]

Can't say that I would shop at the local PETCO. Petsmart is way better here, but is still leagues behind where they should be care wise.

 

[A. gigas]

I've applied to work their multiple times now, and he explained to me that they probably will not hire me simply because I have experience with fishes & herps and would thereby actually know the proper way to care for these animals rather than just going along with PetCo's cheap and incorrect way. Yes, that's right, they'd prefer if you have zero prior experience whatsoever in order to get you to push their inappropriate husbandry practices.

Yep, heard that story very frequently..

 

[Sylvias]

The manager makes all the difference... both the stores I have worked at have managers that do care at least a little for the animals well being... although my current manager is brainwashed by the whole petco policy thing and their first concern is that everything looks good.... THEN that everything actually IS good... while making sure it is all within policy and not costing more than it should.... that being said... in most cases the policy is broad enough for us to get pretty close to good care and sometimes provide excellent care even..although i'll admit that's rare.... most times it is just adequate for short term housing...and that is all it is supposed to be, short term housing for anything living there.
The vet also makes a huge difference though and that is easily my biggest annoyance with my store.... our vet knows absolutely NOTHING about reptiles.... i doubt if she even knows the basics about small mammals and birds for that matter, we had a parakeet once that was looking terrible, looked like it had been swimming in oil, feathers where all greasy and clumped together but it was clean....no idea what happened but it was obviously unwell. she comes in to look at it and says it's just having a bad molt and to spray it a few times a day and it will get over it. well the poor thing died not to long after that and that was a short week or two before the coccidiosis outbreak -.- useless woman.... she just prescribes baytril and/or otosooth for EVERYTHING! I basically had to beg to get eye drops for a water dragon with an eye infection and when I did I got reprimanded for it because "well the vet already looked at it and said to just try to rinse the eye out." But it hasn't gotten better so obviously thats not working >=/ Not like I've spent ya know... my ENTIRE LIFE studying reptiles and their care... not that I am going to school myself to SPECIALIZE in this... not just a regular general vet but a herp vet.... Nope. I couldn't possibly know anything better than the common cat and dog vet >=/
Sorry..... I have to rant every now and again.... there are a lot of annoyances when your bound by corporate policies -.-

 

[Wiggles92]

The manager makes all the difference... both the stores I have worked at have managers that do care at least a little for the animals well being... although my current manager is brainwashed by the whole petco policy thing and their first concern is that everything looks good.... THEN that everything actually IS good... while making sure it is all within policy and not costing more than it should.... that being said... in most cases the policy is broad enough for us to get pretty close to good care and sometimes provide excellent care even..although i'll admit that's rare.... most times it is just adequate for short term housing...and that is all it is supposed to be, short term housing for anything living there.
The vet also makes a huge difference though and that is easily my biggest annoyance with my store.... our vet knows absolutely NOTHING about reptiles.... i doubt if she even knows the basics about small mammals and birds for that matter, we had a parakeet once that was looking terrible, looked like it had been swimming in oil, feathers where all greasy and clumped together but it was clean....no idea what happened but it was obviously unwell. she comes in to look at it and says it's just having a bad molt and to spray it a few times a day and it will get over it. well the poor thing died not to long after that and that was a short week or two before the coccidiosis outbreak -.- useless woman.... she just prescribes baytril and/or otosooth for EVERYTHING! I basically had to beg to get eye drops for a water dragon with an eye infection and when I did I got reprimanded for it because "well the vet already looked at it and said to just try to rinse the eye out." But it hasn't gotten better so obviously thats not working >=/ Not like I've spent ya know... my ENTIRE LIFE studying reptiles and their care... not that I am going to school myself to SPECIALIZE in this... not just a regular general vet but a herp vet.... Nope. I couldn't possibly know anything better than the common cat and dog vet >=/
Sorry..... I have to rant every now and again.... there are a lot of annoyances when your bound by corporate policies -.-

You would think that they'd try to get specialist vets for these stores since they don't even have dogs & cats for sale and that's all that most vets know how to treat.