Petland

Reviews 3

JE

Jenna Cameron

It is extremely unfortunate that Petland sells puppies, kittens, rodents and birds for many reasons. While Petland is a cruel chain of stores that supports puppy mills and should be shut down to begin, I personally think the St. Paul location needs to be shut down immediately. After hearing about poor conditions of the animals at this location, I decided to check it out for myself. Upon entering, the noise of bird squawking, little animals squeaking and rustling, and the smell of feces and bedding is overwhelming. In the rodent "bins", which are open at the top, all sorts of species are jumbled together with one plastic hut per cage to hide in from grabbing children, people who want to pet them and anything else that may fall into the bin. Baby guinea pigs zoom around bigger rabbits together with other small animals. Its hard to distinguish not only separate animals but species as they are all kind of cluttered together in this open bin system. The birds are similarly cluttered and frustrated in a giant wire cage, which is full of droppings at the bottom. When I was there, one of the employees had a towel under an adult cat, and was feeding him or her something from a bottle. The cat didnt look too well. There was another adult cat in a wire cage, which was wire all around, including on the bottom. I asked the employee if there were usually more than two cats, and she replied yes and that the kittens go really fast so the big cats usually were stuck there longer. The puppies were housed in cages that had wire bottoms with one bed, food dishes and some scattered towels or maybe blankets? It was honestly hard to tell due to the number of puppies per cage. The front of the cage was clear glass or plastic so people could see inside and look at the puppies. I noticed that while some of the cages were organized by breed, other cages had a hodge-podge of puppies, especially the older or bigger ones. The cute little ones, like the pomeranians and huskies were put more towards the front and center. The bigger, random puppies were more towards the bottom and sides. It was really unfortunate the number of puppies crammed into one little cage (about 7-8). They were all sleeping or struggling on top of one another to get the good spot on the bed. The less fortunate pups were forced to lay on the uncomfortable wire bottom of the cage. I noticed that many of the puppies were dirty, had eye-crusties or seemed generally lethargic. Sadly, one of the white, curly-haired puppies had poop smeared on his head. The cages were not clean at all, and in one cage a constant clacking sound was all that could be heard, from multiple puppies chewing on the same plastic bowl repeatedly for something to do. Overall, the conditions in this store were dirty, sad and dismal. I sincerely hope this store goes out of business soon so that more puppies arent subjected to this kind of life. People need to realize that by purchasing puppies or kittens from Petland, they are not only perpetuating the industry of puppy mills and breeders, but also condemning a dog or cat in a shelter to certain death. There are 6-8 million unwanted dogs and cats that end up in shelters every year. Of those, 3-4 million are euthanized. Please, please dont selfishly support Petland. Adopt from a local no-kill shelter, and do the right thing. This location especially needs to be closed down. I have also uploaded a photo to the description of the company, showing several of the puppies crowded into two cages. I had other photos showing the condition of the dogs, but most had a glare from the glass.

DO

Donna

NEW OWNER! The old owners bought from some puppy mill places but the new owner is MUCH more careful and buys from good breeders who welcome visitors to their facilities and are so confident that their puppies are healthy and sound that they guarantee them for at least THREE YEARS. I do dog agility competitions and the "reputable breeders" my co-competitors and I typically go to have gotten to the point where they guarantee their puppies for a whopping 72 hours. That says something when the commercial breeders stand behind their dogs more than most of the "reputable breeders"! The new owner could make a lot more money buying from the "puppy mills", but she believes in sending home healthy, happy, sound puppies she and the people she gets the dogs from are proud to stand behind, so she pays more to get dogs from top breeding facilities where the dogs live in excellent conditions and are well-cared for, and the puppies health reflects that! Each Petland is independently owned and operated (except for some corporate ones) so while some Petlands DO buy from the nasty puppy mills and auctions, this isnt one of them! They make supporting good breeders with exceptional USDA inspection records a top priority. This store is clean and the puppies all are very well-loved and cared for. In addition to puppies, this store now carries a LOT of REALLY AWESOME foods and supplies for dogs. The new owner is very knowledgeable about pet nutrition and will educate you about the best products to feed for a healthy dog. Petsmart and Petco buy foods in bulk where they sit in warehouses for who knows how long. Smaller, independent stores get fresh foods from the BEST companies, like Orijen, that wont sell to warehouse stores like Petsmart and Petco. This store also has a freezer where they are carrying some raw foods now, which are about the healthiest you can get for your pet! They are also offering customer loyalty programs where you buy a certain number of bags and get a bag free. They do not carry ANY crappy brands of foods so you know that whatever you feed your pet from here, it will be great! The owner and staff REALLY care about the puppies and finding the right homes for them. They dont just sell any puppy to anyone, they make sure they are making the right match for each family. This isnt just a store to go to for puppies, this is a store to go to for all your pets needs. I was SUPER impressed with the store and the staff.

JE

Jenny Saufl

Visited the store on 1/5/13 to inquire about a specific toy for my rats that Ive been having trouble finding at other stores and was sold out on Amazon. Ive never been in this store before, and thought I would give it a shot. They didnt have the toy, the associates were incredibly UNHELPFUL in locating it. The store itself smells awful. There is a wall of puppy cages, the puppies are crammed, 4-5 in cages really meant for 2 or 3 puppies, but they all seemed happy enough and upon my glance were clean, didnt like that they had wire cage bottoms. I then walked over to a couple female rats in a very tiny hamster cage (two rats should be kept in a pen NO smaller than 18x18x12, An associate, young girl with long brown hair came over to offer assistance. I asked how old the rats were, she didnt know, I asked her how long they had them, she didnt know, I asked her who the breeder was, she didnt know. She then went to reach in to grab one of them and hesitated saying "please dont bite me"....clearly lacking handling training. I then asked her where the male rats were, as I find them more sweet, and generally better, and she told me that they no longer have male rats because someone had let open the rat cages after hours and they all got loose and started breeding. She went on to tell me that the rats were all located and they had to destroy the female rats. She informed me that the employee who was on duty that night had been let go. I could not believe the way this store is run. After that conversation with the associate, A: not knowing anything about the rats, how to handle them, where they came from, how old they were, etc.. B: employees not taking proper precautions to keep animals safe, and C: destroying animals due to employee error. I will never be back to this store, orr any Petland store. Very disappointing experience. Lastly the rats were $20 each, I can get a pair of rats from a real breeder, who I can meet, and see their rattery for less than $20. What a joke of an establishment.