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Is Petsmart a safe place to buy a hamster?
I have been looking into buying a hamster and I am almost ready to do so, but the only petstore I have found with easy access to in my area that sells hamsters is Petsmart. I've heard people say bad things about Petsmart, but I don't necessarily subsribe to PETA propaganda. Has anyone had any problems with Petsmart? Will my purchase be safe?
Maybe I can help. I worked at PetSmart AND Petco and I hated them, but I also hate PETA.
The biggest problem about these huge corporations is that they really don't care about the animals. Every decision they make is based on making money, not on animal well-fare. Another issue is that when it comes to corporate chain stores, the quality of the store is NOT dependent on the people who work there. The rules and policies these stores follow are the same for every store in the company. When one is 'bad', the others are bad too. You don't need to visit every PetSmart to know that the company isn't a place you want to support.
Do a search for Rainbow World Exotics and read some of the sites. A lot of them are supported by PETA, true, but PETA isn't the only animal well-fare organization who has uncovered evidence against RWE. Rainbow World Exotics is the vendor who breeds and supplies the animals that come to PetSmart. They treat their animals like crap. They don't socialize. They feed crap foods. They don't track genetic health. And the animals aren't babies any more when they are sent to the store.
By contrast, the little tiny pet shop I work at has been selling hamsters for 10 years, and we have never had a hamster with wet-tail. Ever. But when I was working at Petsmart, 1 or 2 animals out of every weekly shipment would be sick. PetSmart is not up-to-date on current animal husbandry standards. Their vets are not up-to-date on current vet care practices for exotics.
Try looking for a rescue or shelter instead. Your local SPCA should be able to point you to someone who takes in hamsters. Check petfinder.com. Check pet-ark.com. Check your local craiglsist.com to see if an individual in your area needs to find their hamster a new home.
You can also type your state and "hamster breeder" in Google to see if you can find a quality private breeder who has hamsters. If you can't find one close to you, email the closest one anyways and see if they have suggestions.
There are other benefits to getting your hamster from some place besides a pet store too. You are more likely to get healthy, friendly animals who have been kept properly. Your money will be going to a good cause.
I actually ended up taking PetSmart to court and quitting my job because of the horrible things that happened at the PetSmart I worked at, and my store was one of the top rated stores in the company. We almost never got complaints from customers because PetSmart is good about hiding the evidence. But I can show you a few dozen pictures of dead hamsters is PetSmart cages if you're truly interested.
I run my own rescue for exotic pets, and over half of our incoming animals come from corporate pet stores and the owners are surrenduring them for behavioural or health issues that could have only been prevented if stores like PetSmart and their vendors would treat their animals better.