OK, i'm not going to Petco again *warning gross*

[AlCzervik]

so i go there earlier in the day to pick up food for our guinea pig, i get home and put the bag down on the kitchen floor, about an hour later i see something moving near the bag....i pick it up and it's got maggots all over it. I just got back, they were cool, they gave me money back and told me that they went through that brands bags and they were all spoiled. I declined the free bag they offered and went to another pet store. I won't be going there again because this is the second time this has happened only last time it was spiders....yuck.

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. you dont like thier free pet with purchase policy

Lol

[AlCzervik]

3. no, a rodent is about as much pet as i can handle

i don't even want to think whats in a bag of spider chow, proably maggots.

[7th_Sephiroth]

5. lol

probably

[Eurobabe]

31. haha good one, but gross anyhow

eww maggots are vile!!

[shawcomm]

2. First spiders, then maggots?

yikes.

I'd hate to see the third surprise.

[tridim]

4. That reminds me of the time my friend bought a candy bar

out of an old vending machine. When he opened it, it was completely covered with ants. Thousands of them.

[7th_Sephiroth]

7. mmmm chocolate covered ants

people pay big money for that

[AlCzervik]

8. thats nasty.

[fairfaxvadem]

6. Yup, that's a gross out.

And far worse than my trip to Petco where I saw the rat scurrying across the floor in broad daylight.

The place is filthy. I don't go there anymore.

[AlCzervik]

9. and the smell, it reeks in there. I usually go to small shop in my town

which i love, the owners let their cats come to work with them as well as their dog but i didn't have time to make it there.

[fairfaxvadem]

13. ha! same here.

That Petco is so stinky.

I finally remembered that there was a family run petstore some miles down the road, and have started going there. They have the store cat (no rats there!) and bring in their dogs. Plus they are pretty straightforward with answers about the products they sell, and they'll order anything you want if they don't carry it.

On average, they are about $1.00 more on things I usually buy for my two cats, but that's fine with me. I'd rather support the local business.

On the other hand, I did adopt my two boys through the Humane Society at the local Petsmart where they go once or twice a month for adoption Saturdays. That particular store is in far better shape than the Petco. So if I'm in a pinch and can't get over to the other place, I'll go there, and that's it. But I try not to.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. Never liked Petco, and now I know why, but at least...

there are a few PetSmarts around here.

Fewer private pet stores around, though, and that's a shame.

[AlCzervik]

12. we only have 1 small pet store in town and thats the best one

i take Bob to get his nails clipped there, when our other piggy died in the spring the owner gave me Bob because he knew how upset we were and he said that we were the people Bob needed. I try to only buy from him but sometimes the traffic is too much and i ahve to go to petco, no more, i'l going to start buying in bulk.

[RebelOne]

11. Please post this on the Pets forum, so that others will

be aware and not purchase from Petco.

[Kat45]

14. Reminds me of the time I was at my (ex) boyfriend's place.

I saw something moving across the floor, and said WTF is that, and he said, nonchalantly, "Oh. It's just a maggot with a bird feather stuck on it." Can you say, "Euuuuuuuuuwwwwwwww!"

[Digit]

15. Not Petco, but a similar supersized pet store...

I purchased some wild bird seed for my outdoor feeder.
Soon, I began noticed little moths in my kitchen.
Those damned things infested my home for TWO YEARS and it was extremely difficult to get rid of them. I had to throw out alot of food. Each time I thought I had gotten rid of them...they came BACK!
I had to clean out my entire pantry, paint it and open each and every item, rebagging when I could. I even found eggs in my baking chocolate and eggs inside the screw tops of some of my spices.

[driver8]

16. That sucks...however, our Petco sponsors a lot of pet adoption

days so I will continue to shop there. Also, they are right next door to Trader Joe's so I get two errands done at once!!

[maveric]

17. And that stinky, maggoty store has a ballpark named after it too.

PetCo Field, San Diego.
A dumb name for a major leauge ballpark IMO.

[Evergreen Emerald]

18. Petco where the pets go. Petsmart where the pets....

...go too?

[Padraig18]

19. He's just so sweet!

Every time I see him, I want to get another one.

:)

[AlCzervik]

20. i've taken to calling him Princess Bob because of his dainty front feet

[yellowdogintexas]

21. PetCo near us is very clean, well kept, sponsors cat adoptions

constantly and has pretty good store brand kitty litter in bulk buckets


I like Pet Smart too but PetCo is closer. None of the problems youmentioned at all. Must be just a bad manager. Report them to the national company....?????

[AlCzervik]

23. i'm calling Hartz mountain tomorrow.

it's owned by them but it was actually made in Ontario. When i lived in houston the Petco i went to was clean but here all the ones i've been have been dirty.

[RebelOne]

28. Hartz Mountain products are the pits.

Their flea products have been known to be lethal to cats and dogs.

[radfringe]

27. Petco near us also sponsers adoptions

next weekend we are suppose to meet the greyhound org. at the Petco for an adoption even...

our Foster greyhound may not be adopted at that time, but he'll get some exposure and who knows --- he may have a forever home soon

meanwhile -- tomorrow he gets neutered...

[Madrone]

22. Petco is BAD. I've boycotted them - it's a nationwide problem.

There are tons of links online documenting this - this is the first one I came upon in a google search.

http://www.petcocruelty.com/index.asp

[BiggJawn]

24. Maggots or Mealworms?

What's guinea pig food made of, grain?

Little critter might enjoy the mealworms. Snakes do.

[AlCzervik]

25. maggots, i've seen mealworms, these were fat and slimy

[BiggJawn]

26. Yuck.

I'd change stores, too.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

29. Princess Bob is such a handsome feller!

I'd go with the independent as long as he doesn't buy from puppy mills, and Petsmart is good too. But they have their problems too, though, there are the good ones and the bad ones. A lot of them neglect their betas. Most of them are dying. It's sad. But the rest of the place seems great. And there is a no kill shelter here called Pets and People that they use as an adoption partner. They are great.
Duckie

[Lorien]

30. I went to one in Columbus, Ohio

That was crawling with mice; they were even running around the legs of the people standing in line!I mentioned this to the store manager, and she said "yeah, they come in on the trucks". Oh yeah? then why were these multicolored mice, very similar to the "fancy mice" sold at their store?

[Bertha Venation]

32. PETCO SUCKS

Their clerks are rejects from the penal system and have service skills that would make the soup nazi look like Mother Teresa.

Their prices are way too high -- the markup is unbelievable.

I loathe Petco.

Try http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ -- good selection, pretty good prices, great shipping record.