Dear FMLers, I know that I have posted about this before, but I would like to reiterate my prior postings to those that are new or did not read what I had to say the last time. I am currently employed in a Petco, where I was recently promoted to Small Animal Specialist. I have been there for over a year and overall have been pleased with the way that my district handles animal care. If I was not, trust me, I would have waved goodbye a long time ago. Everything that I have heard about Petco comes down to one important point. Each store, even within a district, is different. Different locations possess employees of different qualifications, and different managers feel differently about the animals. To give a flip side to Marguerite's story, I will tell you about my experiences. When I first started working at Petco, my store was not giving the baby ferrets moist food because of a lack of knowledge. I quickly changed this, and educated my fellow employees about why this was necessary. They were all open to learning. I also noticed that the babies were being shipped with prolapsed rectums, and after about three shipments of babies that I had to nurse back to health, I told my manager that something had to be done. We then made a district wide switch from PVF to Marshall's in an effort to make a statement against the condition of the animals. Then a little deaf ferret came in that was a horrific biter. I knew that he couldn't be sold, because if the wrong person got him, he would never have a good quality of life. I convinced my manager to release him to me, because I work for a Ferret Shelter and could find him a suitable home. The district manager immediately approved it. Later on in the year, two ferrets from one batch happened to develop leg injuries that paralyzed their back ends. Rather than having them put down, I had these animals released to me as well. After about six weeks the one with the sprained ankle almost fully recovered, and the one with missing bones in his foot was as good as he would be. All three of these ferrets have wonderful loving homes, and I keep in touch with both of the owners. Unrelated to ferrets, but definitely related to animal care, someone dropped off a pregnant guinea pig and her babies from a previous litter for adoption. During the mother's pregnancy, she developed an ulcerated cornea. Petco has paid for all of her vet bills involving this injury, even though they have nothing invested in her, and now we have been able to save her eye. Along the same lines, two of our Hairless Guinea Pigs developed pneumonia from the distribution center, and not only has Petco paid their bills (one of them is chronically ill and Petco still pays for every vet visit), but after several bad experiences with the distributor, we have since tried out several and have finally found one that we like that sends us healthy animals (the horrible one is ANIMALS ETC). Furthermore, aside from filling all specialist positions with highly qualified associates, they have also allowed me to hold adoption days for the Ferret Shelter in store, and have no problems with me pushing for ferret adoption before the sale of a kit. Overall I am extremely satisfied with the level of commitment to animal care, and wanted you all to know that all Petcos are not that bad. I am a firm believer that the animals do come first, andin my store they do. Just two cents from someone who never settles for less than perfect when it comes to animal welfare. With Love, Sara, MJ, Nibbles, Oracle (a former Petco Kit), and Gizmo [Posted in FML issue 4340]