Hi all,
My name is Kathy and I am an animal specialist with Petco and have been
with the company for many years.  Obviously people are going to have
their opinions on pet stores no matter what.  In my opinion, as far as
my company goes, animal care in the stores, and I have worked at several
different ones, depends largely on management.  I am speaking of the
general management in the stores, not corporate.  If the manager in the
store happens to be an animal lover who truly cares about the welfare of
the animals, then they will fight to make sure employees are doing their
jobs, and take an honest interest in the animals.  Sadly, in the all the
time I have spent in this company, managers like that are few and far
between.  More often than not, as is the case where I work now, the
manager is more concerned with aesthetics and making sure the district
manager is pleased enough not to fire him or her.
 
In all the area stores around me, I can honestly say that animal care
is seriously lacking.  Things could be much better.  Understand that
everyone who I come into contact with in my company knows my views on
how they care for the animals and what goes on in the stores, I am
basically lucky to still have my job and I have been told more than
once,"You have kids to care for, it would be wise to quiet down about
things"  But I won't, if People don't speak up for the animals, what
then?  It is frustrating though because for all the things said and
promises to change, corporate does NOT back up what they say.  I
personally have to laugh when I hear the Petco slogan" Where animals come
first" because although it sounds good, I have never seen proof of that.
When the allegations of animal abuse happened in a nearby store some time
ago, Petco was more concerned about watching their ass then improving
things, How can I say that?  Because as soon as the heat is off, things
go right back to the way they were.  When bigwigs from CA come down, the
store has to look great, animals have to look great, what about the rest
of the year?  As you can probably tell, I am a bit frustrated with my
company because I have seen so much potential for good, and nothing ever
comes of it.  Petco has a huge responsibility to the animals they sell,
and they claim the animals come first, I just haven't seen much of that.
 
Once again, I am speaking only for the stores that I have worked in and
the corporate issues I have dealt with.  If stores in my area are taking
care of things well, it's not because it's the standard, it's because
they have good management which is rare.  Maybe things in other areas of
the country are different.  I hope so.  I just think that Petco claims a
lot of things, the time to act should be now.
 
Kathy
 
[A later P.S.]:
I forgot to add the point that I to, feel that Petco should not carry
animals.  The number of sick and dead animals is staggering and that is
largely due to the poor suppliers we have for everything.  What was said
is true, most anyone can clean cages but they put the responsibility of
caring for animals in the hands of untrained people.  These untrained
people are responsible for not only feeding and cleaning cages but
medicating the wellness area(sick) animals.  Sure, Petco gives training
classes, but in a few hours can you adequately learn all there is to know
to properly care for all the animals Petco sells?  And that's even if
everyone makes the classes.  Believe me, many people get out of going.
It makes me crazy when customers come back with sick animals, dead fish
etc- because they were give incorrect information or they weren't given
any info at all on the animal they were sold.  Two people last week told
me they weren't informed that the ferret kits they bought from us shots!
How completely irresponsible on the part of the staff is that, That could
put the ferrets life in danger!  I am sure by now you get my point.
Petco should not be selling animals!
 
Kathy
[Posted in FML issue 4342]