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]