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Sick / Neglected Guinea Pig Information

Pet Store	Description	Pictures
PetsMart 8520 Four Winds Dr. San Antonio, Tx 78239 Petland 13486 San Pedro San Antonio, TX 78216	I rescued C.J from Petsmart, My first day of working there I was taken to the back where all the sick animals were taken. The sick animals get put in a room, usually in the back of a store, they get looked in on twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, Any sick animal that gets noticed goes back there and they see a vet if the manager decides to take it, My manager did her best to get them there, but she could only do so much when her hands were bound by corporate policies. This piggy had his front right leg bent at an odd angle, he is a brown and white abby with a patch over his eye, and his paper said he was up for adoption, and he had apparantly been back there a little while. Well I asked the person if I could hold the piggy and the moment he was placed in my arms, he started purring and was happy. So I went home and scrubbed out my rabbit cage for him, made sure the people I lived with were ok with it, filled out the adoption paperwork and brought him home...Love him to death....I took him to the vet, his leg had been broken as a baby, he had ear mites, and since he had been raised on pine, he had breathing problems, but Petsmart had him on Carefresh and I have him on Aspen so thats all worked out and good now. The animals at Petsmart constantly came in Sick, I was very upset by this and pointed out on several occasions that we had a female guinea-pig in there with the males, and my manager had to fight corporate on the ability to take proper care of some of the animals on multiple occasions. I got my female Guinea-pig at Petland, she was pregnant, I found homes for the little ones, 3 boys, 1 baby was stillborn, Her name is Keira, she is a sweet piggy, who has always made a breathless whistling sound and a silent purr rather than normal noises. Jack lives with one of the babies who we named Panda, cause he likes his company. Keira seems happy either way, and I am waiting till I have more time to devote before getting her a cage mate...and for just the right piggy to appear on your adoption list as well.	Panda.
PetsMart 4005 W. Airport Freeway Irving, TX 75062	I purchased a guinea pig (Tigger) from PetsMart on Nov. 25, 2002. Shortly after his purchase he started having problems, he has been to 3 different vets, one in Irving, one in Grand Prairie, and one in Southlake with vet bills totaling $1,727.66. We went back to PetsMart to see if they would help cover vet expenses since I had only had him for 30 days. They told me no, that he would have to be put down. I refused the offer and he has been to the vet on and off for the rest of his life. He only made it to his third birthday. The vet said that Tigger had neurological problems, and may have had a tumor.	Tigger in his cage
Petco 4184 Town CTR, Sherman, TX	"Arthur" was a brown guinea pig with pink eyes. He was in healthy condition when I bought him, or so I thought. I brought him home and he shared a pen with my other guinea pig, "Erich." "Erich" has been with me for over five years, and he is in healthy conditon. "Erich" was born on my last day of high school, so I always thought of him as the perfect graduation present. "Erich" also looked like a skunk, black fur with a white stripe. A few days later "Erich" got sick. He wouldn't eat, and he made weird noises. I bought him a new cage in hopes that he would get better. Perhaps he liked living alone? The next day after I bought him the cage he died. I found him in his tunnel. He had mess all over his fur. A few hours after he died, "Arthur" began acting the same way "Erich" had. Sure enough just like "Erich," "Arthur" died shortly after. He was found in the corner of his cage, his toe nails all curled up like claws, and there was mess all over his fur. I believe that "Arthur" had some kind of disease and he gave it to "Erich."	No Pictures Available
PetsMart Raleigh, NC	I bought Spaghetti-O, a tri- color female at Petmart. After a week she developed an abcess. I took her back to the store and they kept her for 2 weeks. They never returned my calls requesing information on her condition. Three months later she died, she was only 4 months old.	No Pictures Available
PetsMart 8520 Fourwinds Drive San Antonio, TX 78239	The first guinea pig I purchased from PetsMart was sick. I took him back to the store and was told that they would get him vet care and then I could get him back. After a few days, I was told he was better, but when I went to pick him up I could see he was still sick. So I returned him once again and never hear anything back from PetsMart. During this time I had also purchased a second male guinea pig as a friend for my sick piggy. So, now this male needed a new friend. So, I went to a shelter and rescued another male piggy. A few months later I noticed my PetsMart male was getting round. I took him to the vet only to discover that he was now a pregnant "she". I wrote a letter to PetsMart and they said that they would pay the vet bills, but if she needed a c-section, it would be the owner's responsibility. They offered that I could return the mama and they would give me a male in exchange. But, my daughter and I had already become attached to her, so I told them that this was not an option. So instead, they offered me a 20% discount on my next purchase, oh wow 20%?!! (sarcasm) Well, the babies were born early this morning. So far, mama and the 5 babies seem to be doing all right, I just hope everything stays that way.	Mama before, during and after the pregnancy.
PetsMart Park and the North Dallas Tollway Plano, TX	I have to tell you about my experience at Petsmart on Monday. I went in only to get cat food and we stopped to look at the guinea pigs and hamsters etc. The guinea pigs were in a big area on a layer of carefresh; however, the larger rats were in the small glass cages. I looked down on the bottom cage and saw one of the rats laying with his face pressed against the glass looking like he was gasping for air. I leaned down and realized he was taking his last breaths. Then one of the other rats jumped on top of him and started bitting on his fur and skin. The rat never even moved. I felt sick to my stomach realizing the rat was dead and the other one was trying to eat it. I was so disgusted and told one of the employees nearby that they had a dead rat in one of the cages and he said he would take care of it. I'm trying not to hit the guy and my daughter announces "I need to go potty". So we went to the ladies room in the back of the store. On our way out I had to pass by the cage and see if the rat was still there and it was (still being chewed on). The employee I had talked to was inside the cage showing some birds to other customers and it was obvious he never even looked at the rat. It took everything I had in me not to buy all 4 of the guinea pigs I saw just to free them from that horrible place. I finally came to my senses and went to my car. As we were leaving I passed someone who appeared to be a manager who said "did you find everything okay?". I told him I had seen enough to never set foot in his store again. Thank Goodness my daughter was was with me or I might have ended up in jail for causing a public disturbance. When I got to my car it hit me how horribly hungry those animals must have been to be eating on each other. I know animals in the wild eat there prey but not in captivity when its the pet owners responsibility to take care of them. Is this how rescue's are started? I learned a very valuable lesson that day and am on a mission to pass out as many of your flyers as possible. Bottom Line petstores don't care about the well being of the pets only the $$$ generated by selling them. My husband made me promise him I would never go in a petstore again for any reason.	No Pictures Available
PetsMart Petsmart - # 1232 Greenville Ave, Dallas	Sunday night July 3rd, our son discovered his little piggie "Angel" who was part of our family for 2 years, had passed away. He was so upset. Monday, July 4th, he asked me to take him to "Petsmart" to look at the piggies. We went to the Petsmart near our house, # 1232 located on Greenville Ave in Dallas. He immediatly fell in love with 2 sisters. They were so sweet. We bought them and took them home that afternoon. Later that evening he began to worry, one of them was not acitve, not eating and not drinking. The other one seemed ok, but did sneeze several times. He observed them the next day and phoned me at work to tell me he was very worried. The one that he had named "Star" was just sitting in the Igloo and still had not eaten or had any water. He attempted to hand feed her, no luck. The one he had named "Crystal" was active, chirping, popcorning but continued to sneeze. He then noticed that "Star" had a bare spot on her hip which was tender to touch. He made a decision to return them both back to Petsmart. He feared that if Star was sick and Crystal was sneezing, both might be sick. I returned them that afternoon. The manager was very cooperative with the return. He seemed to be very concerned at Star's condition. I requested that we be notified as to their condition after being seen by the vet. Today is Wednesday and we still have heard nothing. I did visit the store again and did not see the piggies. I am in hopes that they are caring for them and will notify us soon. His Daddy and he are beginning to make their plans to build a custom cage for the piggies we hope to adopt from the TX Rustlers Guinea Pig Rescue. On Saturday we plan to visit TX Rustlers GPR and meet some of the piggies. I am truely convinced to NEVER buy from a petstore again. We also own 2 dogs and 2 cats who were all rescue animals. They are a big part of our family and we hope to adopt 2 piggies to add to our happy household.	No Pictures Available
PetSmart Madison Avenue Murrieta, CA	Hermione, thought she was healthy the next day she had her eye shut. The vet at PetSmart said it was an eye infection and treated her and sent her home with me. Emma, bought her at the same time as Hermione. Thought she was healthy, but she sneezed a few times. Yesterday she wouldn't let us pick her up. We took her to the vet and she died last night. The day we picked out these two pets, there was another one there that had crust on its ear. The salesperson told us that it had an ear infection. Why were these pets kept together in the same tank if they were sick? My 9-year-old that did research on the internet and the library and worked really hard with me to set up the cage and everything is devastated. Even though we only had Emma for about 10 days, he had become very attached. It's a very sad situation. Had I known this was possible I never would have bought these animals from a pet store	No Pictures Available
PetSmart 1040W Arkansas Lane Arlington TX 76013	Bucklie was purchased in July 2005 from Petsmart in Arlington. He is a short haired black, brown and white guinea pig. He has not been around other Guinea Pigs since his purchase. He started losing his hair and scratching madly at his face and shoulders. By December 2005 he had lost most of his hair and had gaping wounds on his face, shoulders and back, he was screaming in pain and was not able to be held. Bucklie was relinquished to the rescue at the end of January and is being treated for mange mites.