Gentle Jungle Pet Store

Category:	Pet Store
Address:	470 Lewis Ave, Meriden, CT 06451, USA
Phone:	+1 203-238-0507
Site:	gentlejunglepets.com
Rating:	3.5
Working:	10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–9PM 11AM–6PM

Location

Photos 97

Reviews 5

Squidney Tentacles

I never, ever imagined buying a puppy from a pet store. I visited this store a few times to get my puppy fix and play with some puppies. I mean who wouldnt want to play with puppies? Free stress relief. Anyways, the staff is great, very nice. Not the most knowledgeable though, it seems mostly run by teenage girls. Over the course of several months there was this one black pomapoo puppy that for whatever reason kept getting over looked. Eventually they lowered his price from 1800 to 300. At that point he was 5 months old. I ended up purchasing/rescuing him. Imagine living for 5 months in a wire cage? No one would play with him because he was rowdy and a little crazy in the visiting rooms. Well, what do you expect when you lock up a puppy in a little crate for 5 months. As much as I hate puppy mills and pet stores, I got a fully vaccinated, well socialized, confident little puppy. Hes so great. Hes 8 months old now, has flown through obedience class, gotten 2 clean bills of health from the vet (check ups and neuter). My biggest complaints are: - he was filthy. He smelled like pee, had poop crusted to his butt and paws, because the crates are so small. -they really pressure you to buy all of your supplies there. I dont crate my dogs. I told them this and they looked at me like I had 5 heads. They kept insisting that he needed to be crated and could only be let out for 1 hour a day or he wouldnt grow properly. They also tried to force me to buy their food. I bought a few cans to switch him over to a new food, but they tried to get me to buy a full bag. It isnt even a good food. I ended up saying I already had bought everything the day before to get them to leave me alone. -one bit of advice I got was "dont let him play with the same toys as your other dog, because hes a puppy and might get sick" what? My other dog is fully vaccinated and not sick..this puppy is fully vaccinated..how woul dhe get sick? All in all, I got a great dog, but please just go to the shelter.

Lisa Ransom

Lexi was a refreshing end to a very long and excruciating experience to our adventure buying a German Shepherd from Gentle Jungle. After finally buying said German shepherd yesterday she will be the only reason we would step foot in that store ever again. The first time I went there with my son and my soon to be daughter in law to fill out paperwork to finance this puppy we dealt with Brooke ( talk about rude with no hope in site of being customer friendly) she was far beyond rude and obnoxious! My best friend went in on Sunday and was filling out the paperwork for financing to help my son buy the pup when she was told that she didnt qualify ( which if you dont already know that their financing is something I doubt anyone will qualify for) she has a credit score of over 900 so that should tell you something about that scam. Im actually kind of sad Brooke wasnt working yesterday when I brought my girlfriend back to Gentle jungle because I would have actually said something about her customer service skills while my girlfriend handed over her credit card to pay for the pup! She is a nasty, verbally sarcastic, mean spirited piece of trash who thinks shes better than the people around her. But I have a surprise for her that puppy has more personality and class than she will ever have in her lifetime! Lexi thank you for all your help yesterday and I hope there is commission on that sale because you deserve every penny and more! Even though we only met you and were there for a short time the experience was a joyful one and I will make sure that anyone I know who is looking for a pet to tell them to call first to make sure your there to help them! Thank you so much! The 5 star rating is all yours! I wouldnt have rated at all if it wasnt for the pleasant experience with you! Lisa & Christina

Laura Chapman

Horrible experience!! My friend and I bought puppies from this store. Each puppy rang up close to $2,000! For the price we paid we expected HEALTHY PUPPIES. Within one week of owning our new puppies they both experienced BAD kennel cough that got worse each day. We brought them to the vet and they were both put on antibiotics. The illness was no match for the antibiotics! These pups were headed towards death! My friends puppy ended up in a 24/7 vet clinic for a week treated for phnemonia ! Her cost at the clinic EXCEEDED the amount she bought the puppy for !!!! && My puppy is on 5 different medications, has seen the vet 3 times within one week of owning her and had to be given iv fluids !!! Our total for care is getting unbelievably close to what we paid for our puppy!! Im wondering why they are allowed to sell sick puppies !!! These pups NEED help and FAST!!!! Please beware when buying a puppy here. They are extremely cute but VERY SICK almost on the verge of death if not treated within days of arriving home !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be ready to spend ALOT OF EXTRA MONEY ON VET BILLS POSSIBLY EVEN EMERGENCY 24/7 CARE!!!!! Worst part...the emergency 24/7 vet told my friend more pups from the GENTLE JUNGLE had come in for treatment!! I am sick to my stomach. These are all pups from different litters and breeders. My friend bought hers a week before me. They had not been in contact once to this day besides being from the same store (She referred me). The puppies do not deserve this sick treatment. They NEED to be shut down!!!

Emma Johnson

This store had overcrowded and dirty conditions for the small animals. The hamsters, rabbits, chinchilla, and ferrets were in unlocked bins that were meant to be opened up by shoppers for easy handling. Although this allows buyers to meet the animals, its also risky for the person and the animal. Im surprised there isnt a legal issue with the risk of bites and infection (at least, to my knowledge there have been bite lawsuits towards pet stores before). I saw zero regulation about who dug their hands in the plastic bin/tanks and bothered these terrified animals. People were loud, bustling around, shouting to their friends/family to "Come look!", picking up the animals improperly, and ultimately stressed the pets out. The dogs had tiny (but admittedly clean) kennels with metal bar floors, some with and many without something covering the uncomfortable flooring. The puppies were all different breeds, likely came from a puppy mill shipment instead of reputable breeders. Even if this is the case, if you want a well-bred dog, please just skip the pet store and buy from a breeder you trust directly. Or better yet, adopt from shelter or rescue (I have a huge personal bias towards rescuing and re-homing). I want to say that I dont think the workers and staff here are bad people, despite the icky conditions of the store. If anything, the management is in charge of making decisions about the conditions of the animals. I would not recommend giving this place any money. Its not worth supporting them in any way.

Stephanie Geer

My boyfriend and I purchased a chocolate lab from this store in April of 2015...a week after we got her we had to bring her to a pet ER because she had a UTI it turned out under NO fault of the pet store she had a genetic defect that was easily fixable at the time we got her spayed/neutered. The owner was so amazing and went above and beyond to help us. He covered the medical expenses with no questions asked. We were so satisfied with his customer service we then purchased a French bulldog from him in August of 2015. Both our dogs are so amazing beside the small hiccup for our chocolate lab we have had zero health problems with either of our dogs. The workers their are always so kind and helpful and every time I go their, there are people cleaning the dog cages. My boyfriend jokes that we are not allowed to go their because we always leave with a new addition to the family. I never thought I would want to buy a dog from a pet store, and even some reviews on here are horrible, but in my experience I would recommend this place to anyone. When and if we plan on extending our doggy family we will be going to see Pete the owner again. Please visit their before you let the bad reviews steer you away they really are amazing and I wouldnt want any other dogs than the two we purchased from the Gentle Jungle. Stephanie Geer and Dustin Tresselt