I guess petco is even worse

[Godofgods]

I decided to go to a local petco the other day for a few supplies. I figured if i had another option other then petsmart that id take it. I don't like supporting petsmart seeing how they treat there animals.

But i was quite saddened to see the state the chins were in when i got there. First they had all the same stuff wrong that petsmart does. Plastic water bottles, plastic huts, some type of recycled pellet paper as litter, plastic wheel etc.

The chin was kept just a little bit in past the opening doors of the store. The cage roof had whole on the top for ventilation which meant no temperature control. I even saw some small white feathers laying in the litter. The chin needed a dust bath. - Under the display cage were unsafe chew items and a death ball being advertised for the chin.

I went to check for the supplies i needed since i was there. They had no aspen or pine litter at all. Only there brand of mixed wood litter shavings. They had no Oxbow hay. Just dome bran id never heard of before. They didnt even have any of the ferret food i needed on the shelf.

It almost made petsmart look good in comparison... wtf

And just to top off the bad experience, my shipment of two bags of American Pet Diner (special chinchilla food for my chin with diabetes) arrived from amazon yesterday. Both bags had a big whole in it. So now i gotta return it and get replacements. - Hope it gets here before i run out of food for him. And hope it gets here in one piece!

Usually i always keep a small stock pile to make sure nothing ever runs out in cases like this. But since it was the first time i was giving my male chins this food; i only got one bag. (and at $20 for a small bag i don't want to waste any ><)

 

[lightningturtle]

Alas, while Petco is comparatively kind to their animals their small animal section sucks. Some stores carry Mazuri, but Oxbow doesn't supply to them. Aspen bedding is in the reptile section, and some of their bird toys are suitable chews.

 

[Sue]

Do you have a feed grange near you? Most farm areas do, well, we do and we're not even a farm area. Ask them if they would be willing to bring in your feed. Ours didn't supply our pellets, but they did supply another animal feed from the same supplier (alpacas). So I asked. I had to special order it for a couple of months. Now they have it waiting for me. Sometimes a grange just needs to know what your needs are and they are most willing to supply them. And now they post my ads as I sell animals and they sell feed for those animals.

 

[Godofgods]

I dont know what a 'feed grange' is. Never heard of it. That being said, now that ive moved over to PA my options for pet supplies are a little bit better.

I get my chin food Select Series Pro from tractor supply as well as my aspen litter (now that im in pa and its closer)
I get my other chin food American Pet Diner on amazon. I hate the price/quantity, but my guy needed a better food for his diabetes. And i haven't found a better option yet.

That really just leaves oxbow hay and my ferret food from petsmart atm. Tractor supply had hay iir. But it was all some brand id never heard of as well. And as a farming type store, they dont have much for ferret supplies either.

Edit: i wouldn't call it a farming area as were right near the appellation mountains. But there are a lot of country type ppl, so there are a fair amount of stores suited to them.

 

[Chindiccted]

I have a local pet store right down the street for me they have discounted prices on everything and carry all the correct and great foods try looking for a local pet store mine has a huge selection for everything bird, small animal, reptile, ect.

 

[Shenanigans]

The main stores near me-Petco, petsmart and pet supplies plus all kinda suck in their selection. (as do the couple small off brand pet stores) I've gotten bird toys that are chin-safe but that's about it. There's some tiny feed stores and a Tractor Supply Co. that I get most stuff from, but I order Mazuri straight from their website. (Lots of the small stores offered to order for me when I was talking to the people there, but i figured I could and not deal with a middle-man) It's way better to go through feed stores than pet stores around here. Also, I've taken to viewing everything as "how could I turn this into a chin thing?" Usually it doesn't turn into a chin thing, but my sisters pet rats have gotten some interesting toys.