Care-A-Lot Pet Supply

Category:	Pet Supply Store
Address:	1924 Diamond Springs Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455, USA
Phone:	+1 757-457-9431
Site:	carealotpets.com
Rating:	4.4
Working:	8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 9AM–7PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

Megan Byerly

Working at Care-A-Lot has never felt like actual work. After going to school and working through college I started working at Care-A-Lot in the doggie daycare as a kennel attendant. I knew that this was the place for me. I got my degree but decided loving my job is worth more than any amount of money. The animals here become an extension of my family. As they mature your heart grows with pride and enjoyment. We hear this phrase a lot “ I bet this is the best job because you get to play with puppies all day long.” Well that is only half true. Yes, it is the best job. No I don’t play with puppies all day long. I do housekeeping of some of the smelliest things you could imagine, train adolescent puppies, and those rebellious teenagers as well as moderate play groups. Every day is a new and exciting challenge. The dogs can’t clean up after themselves so being able to do it for them makes me feel as though I am contributing to a healthy lifestyle for them while they are here. The dog handling experience has increased my patience that has helped in my personal life. Our days here are like living in the funniest YouTube video. Have you ever seen Huskies talk to their owner? Imagine having 5 of them talking to you. Opening a can of wet food or shaking a bag of treats in the cattery becomes music to our ears with all the cats “meowing” for some of the goodies. When something may become stressful, we get to go and cuddle with a dog or cat (or lizards, rabbits, and birds!) Science has proven having animals in your life extends your life expectancy and brings down stress levels. Other jobs you clock out and leave the premises to alleviate your stress. I have trained puppies that would do seven back flips and thirty-six jumping jacks before they would ever consider taking a command! Now, they know the minute they see our door they must sit and stay. Then you have the dogs that are elderly. These dogs are few and far between but we get to treat them like the kings and queens for the little bit of time that they may have left. This job isn’t for the faint of heart. We get attached to the dogs almost instantly and when they move on to other places a piece of us goes with them. That’s part of our Companies motto; “Your Pets are Our Babies, too”. And that’s how we treat them, just like our babies.

stacey fortson

I moved to VA beach about 18mos ago and discovered Care a lot driving by the Diamond Springs store. Ive lived in several cities so am familiar with the big super pet stores. Whenever I could, I would support any available mom and pop store. Currently, I have 2 rescued Border Collies and a parrot. So far, Care a lot is my favorite pet store, ever. Just a couple of days ago I finally got a friend of mine who has a big dog and is a PetSmart customer, to come with me to "my" pet store. She loved the store and is no longer a PetSmart customer. In my opinion, this store specializes mostly in dogs and cats. The bird section is very small and I have noticed imperfect fish tanks. That being said, I visit the store at least twice/month and my local bird store, about once every 3 mos. For Care a lot to maintain what I consider fair pricing policies, they adjust inventory accordingly. So would any owner. If I want a huge store with everything from snails, to birds, to rabbits, to reptiles, etc etc etc, thats what the giant stores are for. I dont need nor want that. I prefer the size, service and location of Care a lot. I have also found their employees friendly and informed. Someone always welcomes me when I walk in the door. Ive never had trouble finding someone if I needed help. Ive even been escorted to what I was looking for as opposed to pointed to. For these and many other reasons, such as their 3 days, annual outdoor dog party (my word, not theirs), Care a Lot has a loyal customer in me.

A Private User

These people dont know the first thing about pet care. I went in for their little interview process and temperment test and told the girl who worked there I was babysitting my moms dog for a few weeks and wanted to send him to daycare while Im at work. She told me he needed a shot for kennel cough (bordetella) so I went to the vet and paid extra to have it done intranasally so it would be in his system. I went back to care-a-lot and it was then the girl decided to inform me there is a 30 day waiting period after the kennel cough treatment. She couldnt have told me this before I spent $80 on a shot for a dog which I expressly stated would only be with me for a few weeks?? Go to "Thee dog house" instead. After this experience I decided to take my dog there and the owner told me the 30 day waiting period is ridiculous and the temperment test is garbage, the dog isnt going to act the same as when hes not around the owner or when hes left alone with certain dogs or if hes in a bad mood, there is no way to test that in a short interview process.

A Private User

Avoid the fish dept.!!!!!! I purchased three saltwater fish from them on Dec.19, 2011 and by Christmas day all but one had stopped eating and died of unknown reasons in my well established aquarium, over a 100 bucks literally down the drain!! I have 8 other fish that are very healthy and I even added two butterfly fish purchased from a different store the day before and they are doing fine. I should have know better than to buy from Care-A-Lot when I noticed several tanks of fish doing poorly and exhibiting some of the same symptoms that my fish did before they died, but seeing as the fish i was looking at were in a separate rack of tanks, I was hoping they would be fine. My guess is poor quality livestock from a poor quality supplier mixed with improper care in store, I will never buy from there again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rosario Pascasio

Beware! We used to use Carelot for our grooming and supplies for our 2 dogs. Until they almost killed our Corgi! They called us to pick him up claiming he was stressing and hurt himself trying to get out of his collar because of the dryers. Which has never ever happened before. His eye was bulging out of his head and bleeding. The vet told us that a dog will not inflict harm like this from just pulling. we found out it was caused from leaving him unattended on the table and he slipped and almost choked!! The cameras were so poor that you couldnt even see all the tables. They only refunded our grooming money - should have charged them for neglect and the vet bill. If you care about your pets...DO NOT USE CARELOT!! They will never get my money again and I will always refer away from them!!

Lindsay

I have been going to this pet store for years and have no complaints. The employees are quick to ask if I need help with anything and to point me in the right direction. Great customer service! I recently got into Tropical Fish keeping and the staff in the fish department are patient, eager to answer all my questions, and very knowledgeable. As I have been researching and shopping around at different pet stores, I realize how spoiled Ive become with Care-A-Lot. Im not going to go into details about the poor service Ive had elsewhere, Im just going to say "Thank you" to the staff at this location for making this new adventure a fun and exciting one :)